Status: completed.
His back was towards me, hunched over in defeat, I didn't want to bother him but I've been worrying all day and I needed to know if he was okay. I took hesitant steps towards him, the hardwood ramp creaked beneath my feet and I w...
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Arabella's POV
Never has a week gone by so quickly in my life before. I haven't been able to sleep, eat or even spend quality time with the boyfriend I might or might not lose in a week to come.
My mind has only been drifting back to my family and the conversation that Tyler and I had. Will I be living with the guilt that everything my parents have worked for will be ripped away from them if I do something about this and breach the contract?
Technically the contract was signed and stamped in Japan where arranged marriages are legal but if I am to get married on North America grounds here in the United States then it isn't legal which means I can go to the court and plead my case.
This is the chance I wanted right? This is the opportunity to get out of this bind? But I won't have time do this! The marriage is next week and these court cases take weeks, months even. There's no way I'll be able to do anything even if I wanted to try.
And even if it did work, the Marks can still sue my parents for everything they have–for everything I have and my parents will be in nineteen years of debt without a business to keep us and our future generation upon.
Even if they don't sue my parents then there won't be a company to save my dad's business in time before it crashes. The whole reason why we're getting married in a week is because there's no time to waste.
So that's it then?
I either say screw my parents and I run away or I get married, forfeit my love for Tyler and marry another man in order to save my parents, their business, my school, my job and my family's future.
All of this pressure was put onto me when I didn't even ask for it. Right now I'm the one holding my family's life in the palm of my hand and I can either set it free or crush it.
All this thinking and contemplating haven't given me a chance to sleep at night. I bet Ryan is sleeping soundly in his bed enjoying every moment of this. He wants to marry me, he has feelings for me and although he's past the age of 21 he won't forfeit the contract and give me the chance to back out.
I'm nineteen I don't have two years to wait. In two years I can either be halfway across the world or in bed with Ryan.
No, don't think like that, Arabella.
There must be another way out of this without any legal action. Without wasting time and money in court when this can take months. The only other thing that I can do is run away.
I need to runaway or marry Ryan.
There are more cons in running away than pros but my freedom and right to marry whoever I choose overpowers all those cons. But will I be able to live with myself knowing that I just needed to sacrifice five years of my life with Ryan for my family?
