Chapter 3 - Then Just Say 'I Do'

• ‘Go ahead, make it fast. Every second, my money is wasted. I don’t want to be kept waiting,’ Mr. Lancaster, my soon-to-be (dear Lord, strike bolts of lightning on me) hus...mhmm...hus...ack...husband.
• That realization hit me when I found myself in a wedding ball gown, my right arm intertwined with his, a long veil covering my face and a wedding ring on my finger.
• Ha! What’s wrong with this picture?
• ‘Mr. Lancaster, I know you can’t hold on to your urges anymore especially with your soon-to-be-wife next to you,’ the priest, Father Walter wearing a cassock stated, ‘but at least you can give me time to do my job right.’
• Glancing up, Mr. Lancaster’s face looked constipated, but even with that, he sure still looked handsome and delicious.
• ‘But that’s not what I meant,’ he clarified to the priest.
• Father Walter shrugged his shoulders.
• ‘Whatever you say.’
• ‘I said that’s not what I-’
• ‘Okay, do you want me to go on or I could just sermon you about the carnal needs of a man?’
• I held myself from giggling. Mr. Lancaster slightly shifted his stance and cleared his throat.
• ‘Right. Go ahead, Father.’
• And the priest started, mentioning the sanctity of holy matrimony and the duties a wife and a husband were expected to do.
• I didn’t care to listen. We don’t need to do those considering this as just a fake wedding.
• ‘This will cost you, you know.’ Mr. Lancaster leaned a little and whispered in my ear. ‘I’ll deduct this from your salary. I’ll record this in file 459M.’
• ‘Who says I want millions of flowers in my wedding?’ I pointed out, painstakingly suppressing much of my voice so that Father Walter wouldn’t hear. ‘This is just a fake wedding. You can just hire someone, say the vows, and be done with it!’
• His hand on mine tightened.
• ‘I had to make it look real. Otherwise, my grandmother wouldn’t believe us.’
• ‘If that is so then you can’t subtract my salary! You are supposed to add it! Make it ten times more! By me undergoing this infernal ceremony, you are now indebted to me!’
• I heard a rumbling noise at the back of his throat and the temperature of the church we were in, supposed to be filled with warmth, dropped down to equal that of Antarctica.
• ‘What use do you have the money for anyway? You will be marrying the richest man in the entire continent. You don’t need to save.’
• ‴Tis none of your concern,′ I seethed.
• ‘Excuse me, are we still doing the vows?’ Father Walter somehow noticed us arguing.
• ‘Yes,’ my hus...err...hus...eww...husband-to-be, ever the enthusiastic, replied.
• 'Then just say ‘I do’ and we’re done,′ the priest stated. He gestured to me first. Immediately, the sane mind in me yelled a loud ‘no!’
• ‘I do,’ I said, taking note that this was a fake vow anyway, but that didn’t mean my insides didn’t twist. I tell you, my stomach just somersaulted into the deepest abyss in which regret would be waiting.
• ‘Good,’ Mr. Lancaster expressed and...smiled.
• Smiled!
• The son of a bachelor actually smiled!
• Right then and there, I believed it to be the devil’s magic.
• He nodded at Father Walter, signaling him to go on.
• The priest did and after a moment, I heard Mr. Lancaster vomit out his words:
• ‘I do.’
• Claps instantly erupted. I felt my whole body got surrounded by an ice-cold fire.
• Oh God. This is really it. I’m officially Mrs. Alyana Hayes Lancaster. Am I allowed to faint now?
• I don’t think so.
• ‘With your vows, I now pronounce you, husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.’
• ‘Is that necessary?’ Frantic, I asked, my knees beginning to shake.
• ‘Of course,’ came his more than swift reply. ‘Remember, my family is watching.’
• Oh my Lord.
• My lungs paused its physiological process of breathing when, for a slow, torturous moment, Mr. Lancaster pulled me close to him and lifted my veil up.
• ‘Here my wife, let’s make this wedding look real shall we?’
• His sky-colored, frozen-by-blizzard eyes somehow managed to warm me up inside. It held so much emotion, so much secret that I’m also beginning to see through his silence.
• I couldn’t resist. I am damn already lost in it.
• ‘Well, if you insist.’
• But just like its predecessor, my dream didn’t end up with our kiss. It ended up with me in another location.
• In a cabin, aboard the ship, Victoria.