Well, simply put, the marriage was arranged and intended to be for the sake of Romeo's family and their social lives. A noble family that had their wealth squandered by the father's gambling addiction. With little respect remaining, the Josephs reached out to many people with the offer of their son ------ almost all refused, all except the Tewkesbury family. Well, Dowager Lady Basilweather.
Annie refused, however, but for the sake of them, she has to accept. All of her grandmother's forces and her uncle and mum's pleading, she can't say no to them. She has no choice but to be in a forced marriage.. or an arranged marriage, both?
And, in honesty, Annette had low expectations. How could anyone besides her mother and father, even love her? The marriage was purely political.
Atleast that's what Annie went into it thinking.
She came out absolutely enamored with Romeo. There was something about him that drew Annette in and wished she'd never leave his side. His delicate yet divine features drew her in and his spirit and personality kept her locked in. The two balanced each other, not quite yin-and-yang but something similar.
The first day she met Romeo, they went into the woods and have a lovely picnic there, with flowers surrounding the spectacular scenery. She was reserved, he tended to speak his mind. She was still cold in her emotions, Romeo was an open book. Romeo loves music, when the sun shone and exploring. Annette loves books, the sound of rain, midnight, and exploring. Too.
Their differences brought them together even when they have only known eachother for a week.
••
4 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿..
She's on a runaway.
Lady Annette is on a runaway.
She's on her way to the train, her family trailing not so far behind her. Her wild raven hair that was pinned up into a proper bun came down into a lose as the girl kept running. Her hand was clutching onto her blue silk dress.
She brought two bags with her: Empty large suitcase and a bag where she has money around £750 pounds, important items and valuable things in it.
She realizes she doesn't have any tickets when she reached the train station. It took her to gave the guard £35 pounds sterling and a croissants bread that she had for breakfast just for him to let her get on board.
Today is Annie's engagement day. The day she's gonna get engaged to the noble man, Romeo Joseph. All these days she had been with him, she realised she loved him. And he loves her. But no, she has no love to gave him, she was afraid. He wanted a bride, but she wanted to make her own name.
So she ran.
And the moment she gets into the train, she search for an empty carriage and tossed her suitcase upwards, upon hearing her mother's worried voice. She looked around outside the train and find her mother, her uncle and her grandmother. She saw a strange looking boy making his way to her carriage so she quickly climb up into the seat and before she knew it, she was inside the bag, a little knife in her palm.
Her quickening breath is the only thing she heard inside of the suitcase as the door to the carriage slowly opened.
The soft sounds of boots and a slump on the cushion were heard. The sound of the train loudly whistle, meaning the train will aboard.
A soft sigh release her lips as the train moved in a slow pace, slowly starting to speed up.
This is her chance to get out of the deadly bag. Oh how is she still alive?
The knife that was recently in her palm is now slowly brought it's way above the bag, she dig it upwards and cut it to the bottom. She immediately let go of the knife and rip the bag open, moving her body a little to the left, she completely forgot she was on top of the carriage so the bag fall onto the cold hard ground.
She let out a yelp before sitting up straight, not even think to glanced up at the strange looking boy that was in the train. She groaned as she brushed her blue silk dress. She comb her hair using her finger then look through the bag to find a hair pin.
A soft gasp making her look upwards, and she find a strange looking boy looking down at her with a terrifying look. It was the same boy that she saw in the hallway. "Oh, hello." She greeted awkwardly, a hair pin on her palm as she stands up to take a proper look on the boy's feature.
He was... strange?
"Please get out of this carriage." The boy spoke, his voice somehow sounds feminine. So she answers, "I can't, I'm in hiding." She plopped herself down on the cushion across the boy.
"Bit of a to-do. Bribed a porter to put me in this and get me onboard." She inhales sharply. "Very daring." Her lips smirked at the boy. "Get out of this carriage right now." His voice commands.
Annette stares at him, taking his features for the second time, looking at him up and down. He looks like a girl, her eyes, her cheeks, her lips. "You're a..." She spoke, "strange looking gentleman."
"You think you look normal?" The boy glanced at her dress and her hair. "You're not a boy at all." She kept her head high as she slightly shake her head.
"I might be a boy." It was his turn to let his head high.
"Who are you?" Annie craned her neck.
"What are you?" He glares at her, tilting his head to the side.
"Well, that is just rude for a man to speak to a woman like that. However, I'm Viscountess Annette Tewkesbury, the Marquise of Basilweather." She let her hand out for him to shake.
"You're a bimbo." Bimbo, an attractive but unintelligent or frivolous young woman.
Annie's lips pursed as her hand slowly turned into a ball of fist as she bring it back to her side. "I'll have you know, I have just undertaken a particularly daring escape---"
"You have not escaped. There is a man in a brown bowler hat currently on this train searching for you, and once he finds you, he will think I helped hide you and I will be endangered by this."
'Oh, isn't this just great? First, I'm going to be a bride and second, there's a strange man I didn't even know is on his way to find me.' Annie sarcastically thought whilst looking around.
"Therefore, I ask you to get out of this carriage." He snapped. It was silence as she tried to processed what was happening. All she wanted was run away from a marriage and her unhappiness family, but what does this man in a brown bowler hat want from her?
They stared, glaring into each other's eyes in silence. It's not even five minutes and Annie already dislike the boy, "You remind me of my uncle." She rolled her eyes, her tounge poked inside her cheek. "I've left him at the station. Well, I got there before he could reached."
"He's bossy too. Left them all: my mother, my grandmother, my fiancé. But I'm fine. I'm free."
'Fiancé? But this girl is young.' The boy thought.
"Good. Get out of this carriage, then." He replied in a monotone voice.
This boy is annoying, Annie thought.
She slightly nodded as she softly smack her lips, "A man in a brown bowler hat?" She breathed heavily as she opened the door.
Annette glanced at the boy, before looking back out. "It'll be fine," she told herself as she breath deeply. "It'll be fine." Then, she set off.
It's okay, she can handle it. Or she thought she can handle him.
The boy sigh in relief.