Considering an Arranged Maraige

Chapter4 Considering an Arranged Marriage

"...I gave your parents a proposal to think about. Today was the deadline.”

“What was the proposal?” I asked curiously.

“A marriage proposal,” he said hesitatingly.

I didn't think I heard him right. “I'm sorry, what?”

“I want you to marry one of my sons.” I was certain I was hallucinating now. I shook my head.

“Now I’m hearing things” I said sighing.

“I'm serious. I want you to marry one of my sons.”

“But why?”

“You know the stereotypical rich person? Arrogant, cocky, selfish-”

I cut him off, adding more of my own.” stingy, annoying, demanding, player, idiotic-”

This time, he cut me off. “Hey, that last one was uncalled for!”

“You're right,” I told him, after thinking about it for a second. “How could an moron make so much money? What I meant was the offspring of the rich people.”

“Well, I wouldn't go that far to describe my own children but I admit I’ve seen kids like that. The point is that I need someone normal to balance all that out. Someone like you.”

“And you want to do that by making me marry one of them? Someone I don't know and even has all those horrible traits? Couldn't I just befriend them?”

“You'll have a year to get to know them, that is if you say yes.”

My parents were on the sidelines, silently watching our exchange. My dad chose to use this moment to say,” I won't let you do that!”

“I just want you to hear me out. To at least listen and not just blindly say no.” Mr. Hughes was looking straight at me, ignoring my parents. I did likewise.

“Go on.” I finally said.

“Can I take that as a yes?” he asked.

“You can take that as a maybe.”

“There's not much too tell actually. You just have to come and live with me and my family for a year. Then at the end, one of my sons will pick you as his bride. Should the case be that there is more than one suitor, you get to decide. The same applies if no one picks you.”

“Wait, so there's a possibility that they won't like me? And I’ll still have to marry them? Doesn't that seem a bit, I don't know uh, WRONG?!?!”

He reconsidered it.“ You're right, I’ll simply decided it later. Should anything happen, it will be decided there and then. You know, worry about the present. There's also a chance that you'll ignore everyone for the yea or develop a horrible personality.”

Dammit. I should have thought of that first. “You spent a lot of time on this, didn't you?”

“I must admit yes, I have been planning this for a long time.”

“The effort show.”

“So,” he concluded, “you have to be yourself. That way, someone may like you for who you are, not hate you for what you aren't. After all, I hear you're a pretty convincing actress.”

I flushed, both with pride and in horror. Great, he probably had a file on me somewhere. He probably knew what my favorite ice cream flavor was (Vanilla). Still, I had to do it. If it meant saving dad, I would. I took a deep breath.

"Alright," I said, hating every word I was saying and going to say. "I'll do it."

The worst thing was that he didn't seem surprise at all. In fact, he even had a contract and everything! He had taken out a thick packet out of a case I didn't notice he have. Currently, we were in the living room. Certainly, my parents protested but I ended their argument by stating, "If we're not doing this now, we're doing this later when I turn 18. But by then, dad'll be in jail. So really, it doesn't really matter. Just that the sooner I get out of here, the sooner I'll come back."

That shut them up. So now, they were anxiously looking behind my back. Meanwhile, I eyed the stack warily.

Noticing my nervousness, he asked, "What's wrong?"

"No offense but I kinda have a feeling I'm making a contract with the devil. Is there any way that I can, I don't know, read this first?"

"You can certainly take the copy with you," he said, not minding the devil comment.

"Oh god," I said to no one in particular.

I rubbed my hands on my pants and took a black pan that was given to me. I clumsily wrote my name on what seemed to be every other page. Finally, I was at the end where a red ink pad thing was offered to me. I looked questioningly at Mr. Hughes.

"You have to stamp your thumb on the paper," he said.

And so I did. When we were done, he took the papers and carefully put them back in his case. He stood up, shook my parents' hand, and then said, “Marvelous! Now that it's decided, you have a day to pack. See you in England.”

“Wait a second," I said, starting to feel panic. "A day?"

“Yes,” he confirmed. “And now may I introduce you to my oldest son. He'll be staying in nearby hotel while I'll be gone. He's also my favorite but don't tell anybody that.”

“Awww, dad. You're making me blush,” the hot guy who saved me earlier said. Contrary to his words, he was smirking. He looked directly into my eyes. “I'm Nathan. Nathan Hughes.” He took my hand and did something I never saw happen in real life: he knelt down and kissed the back of my hand.

“I’m Kaydence,” I stammered.

“I know,” Nathansaid. Crap, his smile was starting to affect me. I mentally slapped myself. Stay on topic, I told myself.

“Wait, Mr. Hughes!” I called out. "A day isn't enough. Couldn't I have a week or something? I mean, if I disappear so suddenly, people might get suspicious. Shouldn't I have a plausible reason as to why i'm going away for a year?"

"You're right," he said, nodding thoughtfully. "A week it is," he declared. "Nathan, you'll have to stay here longer than planned. Sorry, I know you were looking to skiing in the Alps."

"No problem dad," he said grinning. "I don't mind, especially if I’m going to be around a girl like Kaydence."

And that was that. i had a one week, seven day, 168 hours, 10, 080 minutes, 604,800 seconds to wrap up my life and leave the place i call home forever.