Ersatz Marriage •OHSHC•

Prologue

(OKAY SO I PROMISE I WILL UPDATE ONE OF MY OTHER STORIES ((ONE DAY)) BUT I HAD TO PUBLISH THIS CAUSE I THOUGHT THIS WAS A UNIQUE IDEA AND I HAD IT FOR MONTHS SO HOPEFULLY NO ONE STOLE IT YET.)

She brushed back her blonde locks, fingers weaving through her curls. It had been quite a while since she had styled her hair as the way it is now. Usually her hair was stick-straight and monotone, but she had even considered to add some black highlights to her hair.

And all for what?

A man she had never even met.

"Miss, are you okay?" The maid asked her, not lifting her eyes from the jewels that were embedded into her wedding dress. Ayaka could almost espy the envy swimming in her maid's pupils as she bunched up the hem of her own maid uniform with her fists.

Ayaka frowned, smoothing out the creases of the modish dress as seated herself on her duvet. Her fingers slowly traced over the intricate design of her plush blanket.

"I'm getting. . .married," she whispered for what seemed like the umpteenth time that day, exhaling shakily.

She felt her chest tighten at the thought, the fear and absolute awe churning her stomach into goo. She had just hit the peak of her adulthood, fresh into her 20s.

She was getting married.

Ayaka almost laughed at the thought, feeling the tears prick her eyes. The maid seemed to have sensed her apparent melancholy and handed her a napkin, watching intently as she rapidly wiped her eyes to keep the tears from accumulating. As Ayaka lowered her head, the maid stepped forward and fixed the elegant bun she had fixed her hair into. A stray curl fell on her forehead and the maid brushed it back, clipping it with a flowery hairpin.

Ayaka grimaced at the care the maid had taken to ensure that her hair was flawless. She had never been so dressed up in her life, and she almost felt her insecurities break past the careful walls she had built.

She didn't even comprehend why she was overreacting. Both of her elder sisters had married off into a different family just to strengthen the conglomerate's connections, and they were even starting to search for a wife for her younger brother.

Maybe it was because she was always entranced with the prospect of bubbly love. Like an obstinate child unwilling to let go of her faraway fantasies, she clung on to the dream that one day she would elope with her true love and she'd have what she always wanted.

A happily ever after.

She sniffled, trying to will the tears away.

"Momoka," she called just as her maid was opening the doorknob and exiting the room. There was desperation dripping in her voice as she enunciated that one name, as if she were fearful of being left solitary with her own thoughts.

The maid turned around at the sound of her name, lips pursed with exhaustion. She had been preparing Ayaka for the wedding the entire morning, and the maid most likely wanted a relieving rest.

"Do you, by any chance, know my husband's name?" She questioned, throat constricting as she pronounced the words. She almost found it ironic how she was marrying someone whose name she didn't even know.

All she knew was that he was part of the prominent Ootori family. The Ootori conglomerate was even more vast and branched out than her own father's company, which was a rather considerable size.

A company that, of course, was only larger by a margin.

The maid scrunched her eyebrows, deliberating on whether or not she should inform Ayaka. It was not a part of the orders she were to complete today, but after some contemplation she decided that it couldn't be much harm.