It's almost every little girl's dream to find that amazing love of their life. The one that sweeps them off their feet and live happily ever after, creating a family and a lifetime of memories growing old together.
And Belle was no different. She's read every book that's probably ever been written and she believes in the fairytale romance that she's been patiently waiting for. For her Prince to come in and sweep her off her feet, love her unconditionally, risk his life for her if they lived in a world where there existed damsels and heroes.
But that was all until yesterday when she was given the heavy ultimatum that could ruin her chances of finding true love and her outlook on the classic happily ever after.
"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." She reads in rhyme to the classroom of children that sit in front of her, all gazing up in youthful admiration and curiosity.
"That was said by the ever so famous Dr. Seuss!" She closes the book with a smile looking into the future of possibilities of legendary writers.
"Miss Rose," one little boy raised his hand.
"Yes, Christopher?"
"I think reading is hard when I don't know all the words," he pouted.
"Oh, you just have to practice and every time you will get better and the new words will come easier to you."
"Why do you like reading so much?" Christopher questioned and she leaned in as if she were giving away a secret.
"I always like to say, reading is like dreaming with your eyes open!" Her face beamed and the children seemed to lean in closer. "Books are magical! You never know what things you'll find when you keep turning the pages. And I just love when a story takes me away to far off places." Belle smiles brightly at the children, seeking each one's interests.
"Maybe I'm on a pirate ship in search of a great lost treasure!" Her student Christopher's eyes grew with a smile peeking through. "Or maybe I'm a mermaid queen in the deep sea!" another student, Amelia giggled at the thought. "Or maybe I'm a lost princess stuck in a castle guarded by dragons waiting for my Prince Charming to come rescue me!" She was so caught up in her fairytales she didn't hear the commotion right outside her classroom door.
"Is that him, Miss Rose? Is that your Prince Charming?" Her students called out together pointing to the door.
She turned her head behind her and seeing who it was, she huffed under her breath. "No, he's more like the villain," she mumbled to herself, rising from her seat to answer the door.
"What are you doing here, Jackson?" she spouted with clear agitation in her voice.
"That's not a proper way to greet your Prince Charming," he said in his arrogant cocky tone.
"Who is it, Miss Rose?" the kids called out.
"Miss Rose? I thought your name was Belle?" Jackson asked, leaning against the door frame making himself comfortable.
"I-it is but the kids like that my middle name is a flower so it stuck," she said, getting all flustered forgetting why he was here in the first place. "I asked you what you're doing here?"
"Mmm, Rose, I like that." He raises his hand tangling around his finger a lock of her hair that fell around her shoulders.
"You're interrupting my class, Jackson!" She pushed his hand off finding his touch was tantalizing.
"For good reason to." He lifted himself off the door frame and pulled something from his pocket. Proceeding to get down on one knee, he opened a small velvet box and looked up at her.
"My Rose, my love," he said in a sweet but fake tone, "will you make me a happy man by being my lovely wife?" Shining in her eyes was the largest diamond ring she's ever seen. It looked like he stole it out of a museum from a royal queen's collection of jewels.
"I-wh-Jackson!" she stuttered on her words before being blinded by flashes of lights, realizing there was a swarm of paparazzi standing behind him capturing the moment for the tabloids. It made her enraged.
"I did NOT agree to the contract!" she spat angrily through clenched teeth so they wouldn't hear.
"Looks like I made the decision for you, my flower. Can't really say no now." He said with a twinkle in his eye and a devilishly handsome smile on his face.
It made her stomach turn in knots and her blood boil all at the same time. Why was she feeling the least bit confused when she looked at him? She should feel outraged and nothing more. He cleared his throat still down on one knee waiting for her response. She realized she hadn't thought of any other way to help her father and felt even more helpless now. There was no way out of this. She felt her throat closing in on her as the tears swelled. One drop released, trickling down her face and she heard the paparazzi squeal before she could even silently nod yes for her answer. They mistook her tears for tears of joy, but they were tears of sadness. Sadness for all the books she's ever read about the fairytale loves she envied and wished for. All the magic she's filled her heart with turned to dust. The magic fading with the feeling of all her favorite tales being turned to the last page and the book closing forever.
***
"I mean, you really couldn't find a bigger diamond?" Belle said sarcastically looking down at her finger where the enormous rock now sat.
"You don't like it?" Jackson asked with worry slightly in his voice. Belle looked over at him as they sat side by side in the back of his car while his driver took them to Mason Enterprises to finalize the contract with Marcel.
"Seriously? It's beautiful. But how am I going to work with my hands ever again? You do realize I work with kids and tie shoes all day, work with glitter and glue...it's going to be ruined by the end of the week," she remarked looking at it again.
"So don't go back to work then," Jackson shrugged.
"You're kidding, right? I love what I do!"
"Well, it's your job to love me now so that ring is never allowed to leave your finger!"
"I'm only your wife in the eyes of the media, Jackson. There is no love between us and there never will be. You expect me to quit my job just to put on this charade?"
"Yes! You'll be expected to attend dinners and parties as my wife and I can't have anything getting in the way of that. Plus, the paparazzi will always be on your ass so they will just be a bother to you when you're working."
She released a sigh knowing the point about the paparazzi was probably accurate. Just getting out of the school building was a nightmare.
"Well, what about after when my life goes back to normal? I'll just be thrown back out to the streets with no job!" She huffed in irritation crossing her arms over her chest. He turned his head to look at her and stared for a brief moment before he spoke.
"Do you really think I would do that?" he sounded offended and she had no words to answer with.
"I would see to it that they give you your job back." He turned his head back to look out the window and the car filled with dead silence until they reached the office.
"Miss Le Fleur, good to see you back. We have the contract all ready for you to sign." Marcel stepped into his office with a fancy espresso in hand, sitting back down at his desk while Jackson was busy with other business to attend to.
"Jackson has already signed his portion of the contract, all that's left is yours." She flipped through the pages briefly scanning the words of the contractual agreement but Marcel placed his hand over the turning pages to stop her.
"No need to read all the lawyer lingo, my dear. It's pretty straight forward. You will be married to Jackson for a period of time until the media is off our backs and in return, we won't exploit your father. When we feel it's the right time, the marriage will be annulled, all contact with you and Jackson will cease, and each of you will go your separate ways." He nudged her pen to the signature line with a smile.
So far everything she has read was the same as Marcel explained and even if there was an issue with the contract, it was unlikely they would fix it per her terms. She signed her life away on the line as Isabelle Rose Le Fleur.
"When do we start this debacle?" She asked.
"Right away now that the contract is signed. The media has already gotten word of the engagement. Before the end of the week, we will have movers sent to pick up your personal belongings and have them brought to Jackson's house. The wedding is in one week. You'll get a call for your dress fitting which you will have to attend but other than that, there is no need to busy yourself with the planning, it will all be taken care of," Marcel explained as he busied himself with filing the contract away.
"I have to live with Jackson? But what about my father? I'm his caretaker, I'm all he has."
"Given the circumstances with your father and this company, Belle, I'm afraid it's written in the contract you have to cease all contact with him for as long as our agreement is active."
"What!" she shouted enraged, already feeling lied to.
"Your father has embezzled money from this company. It is his ass we are saving!"
"He did no such thing, as I have already explained! And I am just as much saving Jackson ass and this company by agreeing to do this!" she yelled.
"I'm sorry Miss Le Fleur, the contract is signed. You're under a legal obligation to uphold your end or else your father goes to prison." Marcel stands from his seat and buttons his suit jacket up.
"I don't see anything more to discuss. You can see yourself out."
By the end of the week, the small apartment she lived in with her father was filled with boxes. Despite not having much, the large number of boxes filled the entire place, yet Belle's whole life only fit in two of them. Besides her clothes and toiletries, she had packed her favorite collection of books. Mostly Jane Austen classics and a French dictionary that was weathered being one of few things that were her Mother's.
"I'm sorry, Daddy. It was the only choice I had. I couldn't let them send you to prison!"
"Belle! My whole life has been a prison with my mind the way it is. But at least I had you, my flower." he said sorrowfully.
"Daddy, don't say that. This is only temporary and once it's done, our lives will go back to normal." She tried to reassure but he began to sob again.
"I promise I'll be ok. But you need to promise me you'll take care of yourself. Take your pills and eat the food Mrs. Cullen brings you." She cups his face in her hands so he can look at her. "They don't know about Mrs. Cullen taking care of you so once I'm settled, I'll call. She's agreed to let me talk to you using her number. They won't know I'm talking to you."
"Please be careful. I don't trust them, Belle!" her father, Julien, warned just as they heard a knock on the door.
"Mr. Beaudelaire," Belle announced, not expecting to see their landlord and quickly rising real estate businessman at the door along with the movers.
"Belle, I've told you time and time again to call me Andre," he said with a smile.
"If you insist, Andre." She reluctantly blushed knowing Andre's liking towards her.
"What is this I hear about you being engaged to Jackson Mason?" he said with a scowl. With it being the first time she was confronted with the charade, she had no words; only holding up her hand parading the gigantic ring.
"Miss Le Fleur, we don't have all day," the movers interrupted, which she was actually thankful for.
"Excuse me, Andre. I was just on my way out."
The movers cleaned up the unused boxes, taking the two with her belongings in them. She gave her father one last hug. "I love you, Daddy."
"I love you, my beautiful rose flower."
She followed in toe with the movers down the lobby as they agreed to give her a lift to Jackson's house. She briefly glanced back at what was once her humble life, seeing Andre watching as the movers pulled away.