Chapter 5

• AMARA:
• "Ah!!" I screamed, almost causing the driver to have an accident. I was so shocked to see the face of the man I am supposedly married to.
• "What's the problem, my lady? Are you alright?" Mr. Timothy asked me in concern as he slowed down and gazed at me cautiously through the car's rearview mirror.
• "I'm sorry, sir. You can continue driving; I was only shocked to see my husband's face online," I replied nervously.
• Mr. Timothy smiled understandingly, and I took it as a mental note not to scream out so foolishly again.
• The drive continued, and I kept looking at the face of the man who was about to become my husband, Darlington Briggs.
• I had seen him before when I got into the university. We crossed paths, and I mistakenly stepped on him, not knowing when I was walking with my friend, Esther Peters.
• Esther was an accountant; she was a seductive person, and she never failed to observe all the handsome and wealthy guys in the university.
• I wondered how a rich girl like Esther Peters would be so easily swayed by money when she wasn't from a poverty-stricken home. Her parents were billionaires, but since we graduated, Esther had traveled to another country, and I lost contact with her.
• Esther was not on social media, which would have made it easy for me to search for her online and get her new contact, but she hasn't contacted me either, despite knowing that I use my real name online.
• I marveled silently at the handsome sight that occupied my phone screen. Then, I apologized to Darlington, not knowing his name, and told him, "I'm sorry." He only stared at my face in shock, not responding, and then he strode away.
• Until I finished my schooling there, I never got to see Darlington again. I learned that he may have been a final-year student, and Esther was the one I told about my secret crush.
• Now, looking at the more mature handsome face, I think Darlington was the only guy I saw and admired.
• I saw some other guys too who usually admired me, but I didn't give them a chance. I had gone out several times with Esther in the hope of crossing paths with Darlington again, at least to know his name and get to know him better. But I never did.
• I couldn't stop thinking about Darlington, about how my heart had accelerated when he held me close to prevent me from falling after I mistakenly stepped on his feet.
• Feeling his firm arms wrapped around my waist and caught me closely, before I would drop to the floor like a dummy, after getting lost admiring him. I think maybe that was why Darlington didn't speak to me.
• I learned from Esther that it wasn't good to drool over a man, and you should form a classic and stone-cold nature and allow the man to drool over you instead.
• Well, that was not intentional. Darlington was tall; he looked so handsome in the casual clothes I saw him wearing. Even when he walked away without responding to me, I saw some other young ladies in our school glaring at me, as if I had intentionally stepped on him to get his attention.
• I sighed and asked myself, "So this man is my husband now?"
• I couldn't believe my eyes. How handsome Darlington now looks. I exited his profile picture to stare at some of his timeline photos, but then my eyes grew sad as I saw a photo of him and another lady.
• "Did my father not tell me that Darlington was single and would be expecting me?"
• My heart broke as I saw a photo of Darlington proposing to a slim, formidable-looking model.
• Seeing the smile on their faces and how he went down on one knee broke my heart.
• I could hear the shattering sound of my heart, seeing how lovely they look together and how Darlington captioned the post, saying, "She said yes to me. I am so happy now."
• Tears welled up in my eyes, and my heartbeat accelerated. I felt the urge to scream and tell the driver to stop the car and drive me back home.
• But I remembered my father telling me to return home with his future grandchildren. Not only that, I remember asking my mother if Darlington was already in a relationship.
• I knew I had not been in a relationship; I was untouched. But it would be rare for a man who grew up in the city and whose father is a billionaire to be single, according to how my mother described them and told me not to pack too much the previous night. My mother wasn't pleased with my fashion sense.
• I didn't know that I was crying; I felt cheated upon seeing the photos of Darlington and his girlfriend, and I saw him tag her profile as "my baby."
• Her name was Jenna Colton, and she had a million followers. She was a celebrity in Country Z, and I wonder how they would treat me now.
• "I'm sure Darlington didn't know that he was married to me. I'm certain he wouldn't accept me, not when 'his baby' was there. I didn't want to continue the journey to the city, but I still wanted to obey my parents, even if it was the last thing they wanted me to do for them, before I became an independent woman. I want to get to the Briggs Family Mansion to see Darlington and his family, to know if I am indeed married to him or not. Or my father was deceived by his best friend, who was the one who had settled everything.
• I didn't want to believe that I was married off to my father's best friend, with the disguise that I was his son's wife. Well, when I get to the city, I will find out.
• I feel sad after seeing many photos of Darlington and that pretty, fair-skinned lady. I didn't look sophisticated like her, and I knew that I would be cast away and labeled as a wicked person for coming into another woman's relationship. But I wanted to confirm the whole truth before taking a concrete decision.
• I relaxed my back to the car seat as the driver drove ahead, cutting through the landscape and continuing for hours to the city. Soon, I fell asleep at the back.