"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 twentyone 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 art 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.