MARRY ME NOW

The walk to wherever I was walking to took 3 minutes. I’m really not surprised, like I said, this building is huge. We got to a room with a huge dining table.

There were glass cups, cutleries etc, arranged on the table. “Please sit and make yourself feel at home.” Austin’s mother said with a warm smile. I just nodded my head and sat Anne on a chair, before opening another chair next to her and sat down.

Austin’s mother sat opposite Anne and Loren sat from opposite me. My wish of not having her around seems to not come to pass.

Just a few seconds later, A male chef and 3 other female chef walked in with two huge trays of food with them. My eyes widened, how can four people possibly eat that?

On one of the tray was huge meat. I gulped down watching the chef cut down the meat. It looked so good. What am I doing? I quickly looked away from the food. Soon enough it was served.

It’s a good thing Anne knows how to serve herself. She dug in immediately. Okay, it’s a good and a bad thing.

I watched Austin’s mom and Loren ate. They eat really slow and they were using cutleries. I always eat normally with a spoon, never had to use a fork and a knife.

I didn’t know how to. I looked at Anne, she’d drop her fork and knife and started using her hand. Oh god. “I’m sorry, she- we’re not just.. used to this.” I apologised.

“I’m not surprised, you came from a really bad trained home and-” Loren try to say, but stopped when Austin’s mom gave her a sharp look. She shut up immediately, murmuring a ‘sorry’

“It’s okay. Like I said, make yourself feel at home.” She said smiling, she looked at Anne with a grin on her face, Anne grinned back then went back to her food.

I managed to eat with the cutleries. “So..” Austin’s mother began. “I know it’s the wrong time, but I’m Carla, and you must be Tessa, correct?” She asked. I nodded my head as there was food in my mouth.

Her name is just as beautiful as her. She is a very good looking woman. How’d she know my name though?

“Are you with the father of your child?” She suddenly asked. I choked on my food. Loren glared at me.

“No.” I replied.

“Unfortunately, she cheated on her husband and he did same to get revenge. She might look innocent, mother, but she really isn’t.” Loren said. I shifted uncomfortably.

She’d use every chance to give me a bad name. How’d she even know I was cheated on? Of course the part where I cheated isn’t true.

For some reasons, I really didn’t want Carla to see me as a bad person. I shook my head. “No, no. I never cheated but he did.” The smile returned back to Carla’s face. Hope she believes the truth. She seems to believe though.

“It’s his lost, Tessa. You’re a really beautiful lady, I don’t know how someone could possibly cheat on you,” She said. “So.. You’re not in a relationship?” She asked.

“No.” I replied.

“What? You’re too beautiful to be single.” I heard a male voice. A chair beside me opened and a young man flopped on it. For a minute, I thought he was Austin, but he isn’t.

He looks a lot like Austin, they’re probably brothers. It’s confirmed, good looks runs in their family. I blushed. I’ve had enough compliments today. Oh please! Say no more.

“Tessa, this is my second son, A-” he cuts his mother off by completing her sentence. “Alec.” He said with a flirty smile.

“Alec, please stop. You’re making her uncomfortable.” Carla said. True. I was uncomfortable and shy at this moment.

“Am I?” He asked me with a smirk on his face.

I couldn’t answer him. I heard footsteps. I looked from behind to see Austin and his dad walking towards us. Jesus, could it get any much worst?

Loren immediately jumped out of her sit and practically ran to Austin. I watched her call him ‘baby’ etc, placing kisses on his face.

I cringed.

She really has no shame. And it’s funny cause he paid no attention to her, instead his eyes was at me, well not anymore, as his eyes was now on Alec’s hand which was now over my shoulder.

For a second, I thought he scowled at it, but again, it could be just my imagination. Alec was being really flirty. I guess he’s that type of person.

“Alec, I mean it. Stop it, she’s obviously uncomfortable.” Carla scolds Alec. He rolled his eyes at his mom and took his arm off my shoulder. I sighed in relief.

Austin and his dad joined the table. It became more awkward. “I see you’re okay, now.” Austin’s dad said.

I nodded my head. I looked down the whole time, unable to look up to meet the eyes of the people in front of me anymore.

“You know, we’re not down there, but up.” I heard a voice whisper in my ear making me shiver. I turned my head to where the voice came from to meet Alec in my face.

He wasn’t going to stop, was he?

“Alec.. are you okay?” Austin asked. The way he sounded proved he didn’t ask that to know if he was fine or not but it sounded like he was insulting him.

Alec scowled. Oh, they’re that type of brothers who don’t really get along. “Why? She’s single and don’t poke your nose in here, you’re engaged, remember?” Alec emphasised.

Loren obviously didn’t like what was going on. She nudged Austin’s arm, calling him ‘baby’ again. I hate it when she calls him that. Oh God, what am I thinking? He’s engaged to her, remember?

Austin rolled his eyes, he dropped his fork back on his plate which made a loud click. he stood up and walked away. “Austin, where are you going? You haven’t touched your food.” Carla said, he ignored her and continued walking. “I’d go talk to him.” Loren said and followed behind him.

“Don’t get bothered, he’s sometimes like that.” Carla said shaking her head. After a few minute we were done eating. Carla and her husband unfortunately had to go somewhere.

And Alec got a call. I couldn’t find Jake. I noticed the sky was starting to get dark and no, it wasn’t getting late, I think there’s going to be a storm.

Oh God, how am I going to get home? It became darker in minutes. I don’t think Carla would be able to leave the house now, because of the storm. I sighed sitting down on a chair with Anne on my lap.

It was getting cold. A minute later Carla came towards me. “Tessa! I know you want to go home, but unfortunately, the weather won’t allow that. It’s so bad that everywhere has been shut down. It’s cold out here, you can use the room you used earlier, here are the keys.” She handed me the keys.

I smiled at her gratefully. A part of me is more than happy to use that room again. She walked away. Where was the direction to the room again? I looked around until I saw a long passage. That must be it.

I got to the passage and looked for the door. I took me almost two minutes to find it. I opened the door and walked in with Anne and my bag.

Anne ran to the bed and began jumping on it. We spent hours together in that room. Anne fell asleep. I tried calling Jake over and over again but his line wasn’t going through. There was no network.

I didn’t know when I fell asleep.

~

I woke up when I heard a knock on my door. Another knock followed quickly after. I could hear the rain pouring heavily from outside the windows and it was already dark.

I frowned. I looked at the time 6pm. I got up from the bed and grudgingly walked to the door. I looked through the peephole to see a lady in uniform.

Opening the door, I saw a tray of food on her hand. She bowed down slightly and stretched out the tray for me to take it from her. I did so and bowed down slightly, thanking her.

I locked the door and placed the tray of food on a small table in the room. I heard another knock on the door. I walked to it and looked at the peephole. It was the same girl of earlier.

I opened the door. She had some set of clothes on her hand. She stretched it out to me. I thanked her and closed the door.

The clothes was really beautiful. One was a tiny gown which seems to be Anne’s size and the other seems to be my size. I placed the clothes on the bed and woke up Anne.

I took her to the bathroom and we had our bath. Coming out, we dressed up. I looked at my phone to see 9 missed calls from Jake.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

I quickly dialled him back, it went through this time. He answered on the third ring. “Hey, sorry. I had to go to a hotel for a meeting and it got shut down cause of the storm.”

“It’s okay. Are you okay?”

“Yes, you?” We talked for a while. He can’t leave the hotel tonight, cause it was still stormy. I and Anne ate. Minutes later we were done and of course, Anne went back to sleep.

I couldn’t sleep anymore. I just laid down on the bed. It’s a good thing the room was warm, my house isn’t warm like this. Whenever rain falls, it gets really cold in my house.

After practically hours of staying in the room completely bored, I stood up from the bed and wore my robe. I had to get out of here, it’s so boring. I kissed Anne on the head and walked out, locked the door and I took the keys with me.

I walked along the large and long quiet passage. I was practically taking note. There were statues, arts which might be expensive.

Yup, every single thing in this house was expensive. Even the floor. The cost of the tiles on the floor could pay my rent for 5 years, maybe even more. Stop thinking about this things.

I can’t help myself.

I was halfway the hallway when I heard someone clicking a bottle. I turned to the right where I thought I heard the noise came from.

It was almost completely dark. There was no door this way, the place was a bit wide. “Who is there?” I asked. I heard a groan in response.

I squinted my eyes trying to get a look at whoever was there. I saw a man figure. Oh God. What if there is a burglar in the house.

I was about to scream ‘thief’ but a hand suddenly slammed my mouth keeping me from screaming. The person was right at my back, my back was pressed against his chest.

“Shhh” I heard the person say. The person was obviously drinking as his breath stank of alcohol. The scent of the person was really familiar.

The scent alone kept me calm. The person is Austin. He released me when he was sure I’m not going to scream. I turned to face him.

I noticed the scowl that quickly formed on his face. He sneered at me. “What are you doing here?!” He snapped angrily.

“Um. I was passing by and I noticed someone and uh. Decided to find out if he was a thief or not. I’d just go now.” I said. His face softened a bit. A. Bit.

I turned around to go but he stopped me. “Wait. Please, don’t go.” I heard him say. Did he just say ‘please don’t go?’ It took almost a minute for my brain to process what he just said.

I slowly turned around to face him. I raised an eyebrow in question. “Please, stay.”

He’s drunk. Remember that.

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