"What?" I mouthed as she winked at me cheekily. She raised her eyebrows, smiling, and I whispered, "What?" still not getting what she meant.
"Nothing," she said in a singsong voice and stabbed her pastry with a fork till her eyes widened and she realised what she was doing. She looked around, seeing no one else was watching us, so she grabbed a tissue and scraped it off her plate.
She smiled cheekily as she chucked it under the table and smiled and I laughed, shaking my head.
The night went by fast as I stuck with Alicia as we walked around and she introduced me to more of her friends. They didn’t seem too bad. It was good to meet people our age. We hurried back to our spots as dinner was being served. Good, because I was starving.
I looked at my plate and frowned. Seafood. What was with rich people and seafood?
Alicia dug into her plate and I sighed, picking up the fork and moving the piece of prawn around the plate.
"What's wrong?" asked Alicia when she finished hers and mine was still full.
"I hate seafood," I said, flicking a prawn around in the plate. When was dessert being served?
"I love seafood. I just hate crab though," she said, wrinkling her nose. The guys were in a deep conversation so I swapped plates with her quickly and she stared at me till she understood and smiled, finishing off my plate for me.
"Thanks. I don't want to offend anyone," I said.
She waved a hand. "It's fine. The plates were tiny that I could fit yours in there too. Just remember I'm carrying your food," she said and I let out a laugh. I looked around and saw Adrian raise an eyebrow at our plates and I looked away quickly. Damn, did he see?
"How about green roses?" asked Alicia.
I leaned back in my chair and thought about it. "I don't think I have actually ever seen a green rose now that you mentioned it," I said. A bright light came in her eyes as she sat up.
"We should plant them!" she said excitedly and I shook my head with a laugh.
“I don’t think it’s that simple.”
"We'll just do what we do to get the other coloured roses with the cloth. If it works it would be amazing, if not then oh well, nothing to lose, right?" she asked. I shrugged. I guess we could do that, and I decided I wouldn’t mention the fact that the other roses didn’t exactly turn out like planned.
"I guess if-"
"This is my favorite song," she said, cutting me off, and I stopped and listened to hear soft music by the live orchestra.
It was soft like a lullaby and I looked over at the other couples dancing. How on earth did she hear the music above the loud chatter?
Before I can comment, Jake Cartwell stood up, and like a true husband, asked her to dance. She looked at me giggling like a schoolgirl and hurried off and I smiled at the cute couple. I turned back to face the middle of the table where there was a fancy tower that held all of the pastries.
"Would you like to dance?" I heard a voice ask me before I could muster up the courage to try one of the pastries. I looked up to stare into those mesmerizing green eyes and froze.
Did he just ask me to dance?
Chapter Six
6 Months Ago
What do I say? WHAT DO I SAY? Did she just ask me-
“No!” Was she absurd? Have they both lost their damn minds?
“Are you trying to ruin my life? Do you even know this guy? What if he is some type of serial killer? Are you kidding me? Dad, say something!”
Father nervously tugged at his collar and faced my mother who had an expressionless face as she stared at me.
“Maybe we should think-,” he began, but she cut him off with a simple look and faced me as I stared at my father. Was he so scared of her that he was just going to let her dictate my life?
"Ivory, you really have no option. If you break this deal, you will cause a rivalry and a war. He has no problem so why should you? This is the final decision. Do you want us to go poor? Do you want us both to live on the road and you as well? We are doing this for a family outcome. We cannot lose," she said and with that she elegantly walked out.
I didn’t care about money. We could live fine with what we have. We don’t need big houses and drivers.
And about that war, this wasn’t the ancient days when arranged or forced marriages were the custom. And what rivalry? It was just business. Can business be more important than your child?
"Dad," I whined, tears brimming in my eyes. How much can one handle in one day?
"I'm sorry, Ivory. Your mother is right. You should end things with that boy and marry this man," he said. I sighed as he left and I yelled in frustration and kicked the chair. Of course, James was the small boy and this so called man was the brave man, wasn’t he?
I scoffed. Why in the world I was protecting the guy who just deceived me was beyond comprehensible. Maybe this won’t be so bad. But who was I kidding?
Marrying a total stranger? I'd rather eat seafood for the rest of my life.
Present Time