Unfathomable Phantom (COMPLETE)

XXIX. the proposal

After half a minute, I am greeted by the very familiar door and I don't have to knock twice before it opens.

Right after the door flew open, a very serious unfamiliar man stood right in front of me, wearing a black suit. A man in his middle thirties, I can tell.

He looked at me from head to toe and suddenly, I felt ashamed of my muddy clothing. I should've gone straight to my room first and changed into something decent. Forget that I still haven't washed my maid uniforms since I am on a day-off.

The man did not open his lips, he just stared at me, he then went to the dark corner.

"Sit down," exclaimed a very familiar authoritative voice that made me forget about the intimidating man who opened the door.

I hurriedly walked towards the chair near him and sat, I bit my inner cheek as I waited for Mr. Douglas to speak.

Mr. Douglas was, as usual, sitting on his black leather chair. He opened his drawer, fished for tobacco and lit it, smoking right in front of me as I forced myself not to cough.

The whole time, I was just staring at me, pretending not to be really nervous. Mr. Douglas raised his brow at my clothing but chose not to say a word about it which I guess is good.

"I've known you for a while now, Miss Wright," spoked Mr. Douglas after inhaling his tobacco.

I just nod at him because I don't know what to say, I swear.

"I have one simple request, Miss Wright. Well, let's just view it as a marvelous present to your side,"

My hands are now beginning to sweat.

"You see, my son has been asking me about you and of course, as a good father, I cannot help myself but to grant him his request but first, I've hired someone to investigate about you,"

I don't know why but I have a very bad feeling about this.

Mr. Douglas then opened his drawer once again and there he had a piece of paper in which he placed it on top of his desk.

I cannot read it from my spot but I don't need to since as soon as I tried to read it, Mr. Douglas read it aloud.

"Let's see, I was born and raised in a very poor orphanage in the province. Has a little background in education. Father was a mere farmer while your mother was a factory worker. Poor you, child. Had no known relatives. At age 15, escaped from the orphanage to go straight to London to work. Alternately sells newspapers and gums and works at the wax factory for a while until you almost got fooled into working like a damn prostitute at age 17 and then, for some reason, someone in my household whom I don't know who hired you,"

Oh wow, so, that's my biography in this era?

"That explains why you are bad at cleaning," commented Mr. Douglas.

But wait, what did Augustus request from his father and why did Mr. Douglas need to check my background? Had I been too suspicious?

"To be frank, when my son requested me to please allow him to marry you, I laughed at first and was furious when I realized he was not kidding. I see nothing special about you, well, perhaps your looks but wealth is what keeps us on top. I was enraged when I learned this pathetic background of yours, imagine the shame you'll bring to my family but since Augustus will refuse to take the family business when he did not marry you, I had no choice but to grant his stupid request."

Wait, what? Marry his son?

My eyes totally went wide as soon as I heard him.

"Surely, you're mistaken here, Mister Douglas. Your son and I are not in a romantic stage or whatsoever," I argued as soon as he finished talking.