How to find a Husband in 100 days

Thirty One

With a deep breath, I gathered up a few files on my desk and neatly piled them up. I knew I couldn't run away from this meeting with my father. If I had known what it was about, I would have rescheduled. I should have told Hugh to ask first before agreeing to anything.

I took the elevator to head one floor down even though the stairs would be faster. After wasting a good fifteen minutes, I finally stood outside the door of the boardroom. I could faintly hear a conversation going on inside, making me curious of the other people who were inside.

As I entered the room, four pairs of eyes greeted me; two were from someone I didn't expected to be present in this meeting. I stared at my grandfather and glanced briefly at Hugh's father before looking at my father last.

"Michelle, you are finally here. I thought you'd stall us some more," my grandfather spoke up first, making me look at him.

He sat at the head of the ten-sitter table in the middle of the room. My father sat on his right while Hugh's father was on his left with Hugh beside him. I continued to stare at him as I lingered by the door.

"Please close the door, Michelle," my father instructed, snapping me out into focus.

"What is this?" I asked after following my father's instruction. But I didn't take any indication on seating down.

"Seat down first, honey, and then we shall start talking," my grandfather gestured towards the chair across from him.

I hesitated a bit and then my grandfather gave me an encouraging smile. I walked stiffly towards the chair and sat down with a grunt. I glared at the men across from me, my eyes lingering a little bit on Hugh, who was looking at me with a poker face.

"What is this really about?" I asked as my anger slowly seethed in.

"Since you two are here, I don't see why we have to prolong it any longer." My father stated as he glanced between my grandfather and Hugh's father. "The marriage thing was a lie, Mitch," he added after a brief silence.

"What do you mean a lie?" I asked, a little confused. "Do you mean that you had me put through all those months, dating random man, for nothing?" I added, my eye twitched as I tried to remain my cool.

"It wasn't all for nothing, Michelle. We had given freedom to choose anyone you like in that short time. If you had found someone... you wouldn't be here talking about this..." My grandfather replied, his voice almost sounded guilty but his face remained indifferent.

"So, I hadn't found anyone yet. Now, tell me why I'm here with him." I demanded as I made a quick glance at Hugh, who had become completely still for a second.

"I know why we are here," Hugh interjected before any of our parent's could reply.

My head snapped back in his direction. "We are here because they've already made a decision before even giving you that chance, Mitch. We were already engaged," Hugh continued, his eyes darted around the room and landed at me after his short speech.

"You knew? How did you know about that?" Mr. Barns asked in disbelief as he turned to his son.

"Do you remember that day you called me in at office a few months after I graduate? You wanted to talk to me about work and stuff, but before our meeting you met mom. I overheard what you two talked about," Hugh replied confidently like he wasn't ashamed that he was eavesdropping on his own parents.

"Wait. If you knew... then, why did you agree to work for me?" I asked directly, stopping his father from reacting to his confession.

"I wanted to tell you. But when I found out that you were trying to look for someone to marry instead of me, I though you already know and didn't want to tell me," he admitted.