I internally groaned. Oh god, save me!
Alicia, on the other hand, looked too excited and nodded.
"Well then, I'll let you children continue," she said. She moved from us to another group, probably telling them the same thing. The song was over and we moved back to our seats when Adrian joined us.
"May I have a dance with my cousin-in-law?" he said. Before I could reply, he grabbed my hand, pulling me away and I nearly tripped over, again. I guess that was one thing that ran in their family, not asking if their partner was happy about it.
"So tell me, cousin-in-law. How do you like your new husband?"
"Is cousin-in-law even a word?” I questioned. It had to be, it sounded like a word. He shrugged, cocking his head to the side pretending to think.
"I am sure it is a word. I just don't know the meaning. We should find out one day, shouldn't we?" he asked.
Adrian had pale green eyes, not as dark as Darius’s but much more joyful as his eyes crinkled when he smiled. Maybe he should teach his cousin how to have fun. But instead of Darius’s neatly cut hair, Adrian had slightly blonde hair that was overgrown to his neck and was ruffled messily.
"No point avoiding the questions, my cousin-in-law," he said, twirling me around and pulling me back a bit closer than necessary.
"What question?" I asked. How was one supposed to answer that question when they barely knew the man for a couple of days, not to mention he kept avoiding me and vice versa.
"The question about my ridiculous stupid cousin," he said. So he agreed his cousin was stupid.
"Oh that - eh, I g-"
A hand wrapped around my waist and I jumped as I tried to move away. What part of “I am ticklish” did this man not get?
"Adrian, we have to go. Come by the house tomorrow if you want," said Darius.
"I'll be there, couz. Later, my lady," said Adrian, giving me a mock bow and winking.
I waved a hand muttering ‘whatever’ as Darius dragged me away.
The limo ride back home was just as quiet as the one before. Margaret greeted us as soon as we got home.
"Thank god you got my message. I was afraid you hadn't," she said. Darius shrugged out of his coat and handed it to her, unbuttoning his sleeves.
"Of course I did, Marge," he said.
My heart dipped. So we actually had a reason to leave and here I thought he was a little jealous, or at least acting in public, of me dancing with Adrian. I nearly scoffed. Why the heck would he?
"Why? What happened?" I asked, looking between them. Darius loosened his black tie that had made his eyes even darker than usual and headed up the stairs. Gee, thanks for the answer.
"Oh, it's nothing big. I think it is quite lovely, dearie. It might give you some time to bond," she said with a small wince.
"What will?"
"A whole week. Think of it, how much fun it would be, dearie. Did you eat anything, or would you like me to serve something up for you?" she asked, leading me to the kitchen. Oh god yes, I was starving!
"Ma, what are you talking about?" I asked as she handed me a piece of garlic and cheese bread. The bread was delicious, soft and buttery with a hint of spinach in there.
"Oh, nothing. Your parents and Darius's have given you the week off," she said smiling. I chewed softly and swallowed my bread before clearing my throat.
"What do you mean? Week off what?” I asked. Margaret busied herself with cleaning the crumbs off the table then placed them in the bin.
"It's exciting! You and Darius will go to the cottage house to spend the week there! There is plenty of stuff to do on the other side of the town and you both will finally get to know each other!" she said, clapping her hands.
I choked on my bread and stared at her. We are what?
Were our parents crazy? There wouldn't be any 'bonding' going on. We aren't bloody atoms or molecules!
"That's a horrible idea," I said, putting down the bread and suddenly losing my appetite.
"Oh, dearie, you won't know till you try it," said Marge, cleaning up and leaving the room.
"Oh, and you're leaving tomorrow. I have packed some of your bags. Take your normal clothes," she said, smiling. "Enjoy this moment out of the house, dearie. I know how you feel in here," she said.
I sighed and walked upstairs. The only plus point was that I could be me, in my clothes, in my hairstyle, as I like. So what if Darius won't talk. I'll just spend the week with myself!
Oh, that got it going. A whole week to celebrate by myself.
This may actually be fun.
Chapter Seven
6 Months Ago
I stared at the envelope my parents had left in front of my door after I had refused to come out.
Photos, it said on the front of it. I scoffed as I picked it up and then locked myself in again.
Yes, I was being childish, but sometimes that's the only thing that would work!
I sat on my bed twisting the envelope in my hand. So inside was apparently my future husband’s photos. Now, do I really want to see an old balding man with three gold teeth?
NO.
That was for sure. I wanted to see his photo as much as I wanted to marry him, which was 189% no because 100% was just too mainstream. I looked at the burning fireplace in my room and then smirked.
They wanted me to play by their rules, hell no.
Walking over, I knelt down beside the fire and smiled. Without a second thought, I dropped the envelope inside, watching the fire claim it.
Goodbye, Mister Hubby. You'll burn just like that if you enter my life.
Present Time
Arriving here, it was definitely not what I expected. It wasn't a small cottage house by the farm. It was a double-storey house with a cozy warm ambiance.
The inside colours were soft on the eyes and there were paintings and vases and flowers everywhere. It actually looked like a house that people lived in.
I opened the back door and walked to the backyard, thrilled to see a flowerbed and a pool. This was brilliant! The kitchen was right beside the backyard and walking back in, I ended in the kitchen. It was small and like an actual kitchen rather than the ones in restaurants, a bit like the one back home, a massive kitchen for all of the cooks to prepare food.
I walked back down the corridor to the lounge room after the entrance and looked around. There was a three-seater couch and two recliners with a coffee table with flowers in the middle. The TV was on the wall on the opposite end and there were curtains.
I walked over, slightly pulling them open to let some light in. The curtains were of thin red material and I clipped them to the side. There was a thin-patched white curtain that allowed us to see the outside but not the other way around, which I found was a nice touch.
I went upstairs. There were two bedrooms. One was closed so I assumed that was Darius’s and walked into the other one with the open door.
There was a double bed in the middle with two bedside cabinets and a door leading to the veranda. I opened the curtains to let some light in and sighed, spinning around and plonking down the bed.
The blankets were warm and the mattress was soft and I closed my eyes. If only I could live in this house every day.
I walked back down in jeans and a blue thick woolen top with a leopard’s face on the front. Oh boy, it had been ages since I was able to dress like this and to be honest it was the comfiest thing I had worn in a long time.
I jumped onto the couch and switched on the television, thrilled to see my favourite cartoons were on. Don't judge. I may be nearly twenty-one but nothing beats watching cartoons on a Monday morning.
I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and switched it on. It seemed like an eternity since I used this thing. I scrolled through replying to Rose and Alicia who had messaged me ages ago, my bad, and opened the Internet to Google this suburb.
Maybe there were fun things to do. I scrolled through the page and sat up, my eyes widening. There were tons of things to do!
There were a
rt galleries, theme parks and even a small carnival festival running! I looked up more information and nearly yelped when I noticed all the games and prizes to be won.
Turning the TV off, I ran upstairs to my room, wincing at the sound my pounding feet made. I grabbed my leopard carry bag. I didn't want to take a purse; it was too fancy for this event.
I shoved my wallet, phone and a water bottle in.
I opened the door, raced down and grabbed my boots sitting on the floor. I slipped them on. They were knee-high brown boots with a belt at the top of them and laces all the way down.
Just as I was tying the last foot, Darius came down wearing a questioning look on his face.
"What are you doing?" he asked. I think that was the first time he spoke to me on his free will. Either that or Margaret called him and told him to check up on me. It was probably the latter, seeing the phone in his hands.
"Going to a carnival," I replied, tying the last knot a bit too tight and fixed the belt while getting up.
"You can't go by yourself," he said, looking at the time. I rolled my eyes. It wasn't even lunch yet. Plus, if he was going to be a boring person doing work all day, I wanted to do something fun in my time. It's not like I haven't done this before.
"Eh, yes I am. Go do your business work or something. You'll barely notice I am gone and by the time you do, I'll be back," I said, fixing my shoes. I grabbed my bag off the floor and he watched me looking like he was thinking something.
"Fine, I'll come with you," he said.
I looked over my shoulder, my hand on the door.
"Like that?" I asked, stifling a grin.
"What's wrong with this?" he asked as he looked down at his suit.
"Oh nothing, nothing at all. Hurry before we miss it all," I said, opening the door. I grabbed the car keys and walked over to the parked Mercedes on the road then he caught up and grabbed the keys from my hands.
"Hey!" I yelled.
"I drive," he said. I shrugged and crossed my arms as he got in. It wasn’t fair. After all, I did get the keys first. First come first served! Finders keepers, losers weepers. Hadn’t he heard of those sayings before?
Furious, I stormed into the car, counting to ten. Come on, Ivory, this isn't something to ruin your mood over. Think of all the candy cane and prizes you can win, I thought, smiling instantly. Oh, this was going to be fun.
"What is this place?"
I looked at him in disbelief. Had he never been to a carnival before? Oh right, he was probably running his businesses and was too busy for these things.
"This is called a carnival, also known as a fair or exhibition in some countries," I said. He shot me a look as I walked into the entrance.
"I know what it is," he said. Whoa, okay then, robot boy. No need to be rude.
I paid for our tickets, since robot boy was just standing there not knowing what to do and I rushed to the first game. I had planned on playing every game and winning at least one thing in every stall.
The last time I did this, I was sixteen with a bunch of my closest friends, whom I also called my fake brothers, and we had managed to win a massive softy toy from each stall.
"Round up, round up, miss. Would you like a shot?" asked an old man holding up what looked like a fishing stick but was made of magnets.
I let out a small squeal and rushed over to him, paying for a game that was three tries.
"Do you want to have a shot?" I asked politely. Even if he was a robot, I was brought up being polite. He looked confused but took the stick.
"What do I do?" he asked. The man explained the rules and Darius's eyebrows knotted like he was concentrating hard. I stifled a giggle while looking around. People were staring at him, maybe it was the lavish business suit one does not wear to a carnival or maybe the girls were checking him out.
I think it's both.
Darius had his first shot trying to pick up a duck and I let out a laugh as he kept missing. He turned and sent me an icy glare.
"Haha! Oh god, hurry up," I said, laughing. Even the old man seemed to be having a show. It had been five minutes and he still hadn't picked up a duck. There was a small crowd around us, either waiting for their turn or found this amusing as I did.
How hard could it be?
"You try it then," he grunted, handing me the stick.
"With pleasure," I said, grabbing it. I positioned myself in the middle just like I was taught to do. Closing one eye, I focused on the middle ducks; they were the hardest to get but they had the most points.
Leaning in on my tippy toes, I reached out, snagging a duck. A cheer went from the crowd and I stared at him with an "I told you so, it's easy," expression and he ignored me, blankly staring back.
I picked up my next two ducks just as easily and shrieked when I got a big penguin. The crowd clapped and let us leave, probably happy they could finally have their turn. I ran to the next stall, which was Archery.
"Here, hold it," I said, turning around and pushing the penguin into his arms. He held up the penguin cautiously and turned it around.
I sighed, shaking my head and paying for my turn. This was going to be fun.
An hour later, I was tired but there was still another half the carnival and I hadn't even started on the food or rides yet. I looked back up, shaking my head.
"Keep up!" I yelled.
Darius glared at me as he carried all my prizes and I stifled a grin. He should suck it up. I even put the smaller ones in my bag so that he only got the soft toys, which were quite a few. I grabbed my phone and took a quick picture of him. This was perfect black mail material, him holding a penguin, whale, duck, chicken, three bears, two banana shaped one and some other random stuff. He looked and I quickly put my phone away.
"What next?" he asked.
"That one!" I yelled, running to the Strong-o-metre. I had never been able to win at this game. I went up and watched the current player swing the hammer at the small button. It seemed like he hit hard but the bell didn't ring and it only went up half way.
I frowned. I'd be surprised if mine even went up.
"Who's next?"
"ME!" I yelled. Shoving my bag in his already full hands, I folded up my sleeves and walked over. Oh, this was going to be fun. There was a laugh and whistle from the crowd when I could barely lift up the thing and I turned over, glaring at whoever it was.
My first try was just as bad as my tenth; the thing barely rose.
"Come on, there are others waiting!" yelled some man from the crowd.
"Oh, shut up, toad face," I replied back, concentrating. The man who ran the stuff had no problem, partially because he was having too much fun taking my money. This damn thing was rigged, I tell you!
"Hurry up!"
"Get your girl away from that!"
I rolled my eyes at all the protests. Yeah, good luck with that. There was no way I was leaving without winning something.
I felt a shadow over me and looked up to see Darius frowning down on me.
"What?"
He took the hammer thing from me and pushed me away. What an ass. Like he would do any better than me.
I mean, please, I used all my strength and- oh...
I watched as the crowd finally clapped and I sulked. Fine, he did better than me. He at least got it to the top?
“What would you like, Sir? Perhaps a cute teddy for your girl?"
"Get the peacock," I whispered. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow and then turned to the man.
"The bag" he said.
My jaw dropped. What!?
I watched in horror as he got the horrid looking suitcase.
"Why on earth did you get a bag?!" I yelled. He opened it up and stuffed all my soft toys and winnings in it, or as many as he could and zipped it up.
"I wanted the peacock," I whispered. He grabbed the suitcase and shrugged and walked off and I rolled my eyes following him. And here I thought he was going to win me something. Yeah right.
I didn't miss the way girls would
bluntly check him out as he walked through the carnival with a suitcase behind him and his jacket casually draped over one arm. And I had to say, I was a bit jealous of the other girls.