"Who?" She asked again, as though she didn't get what Amelia had said.
"Xavier Garcia"
"Oh my God, Ami" was the only word that could make its way out of her puzzled lips as she looked at confused Amelia
"This is unbelievable" she exclaimed and ran out of the kitchen to her room, leaving Amelia perplexed. She returned shortly with her laptop in her hands, laid it on the kitchen cabinets, and beckoned on Amelia.
"Is this him?" she pointed at the screen and Amelia immediately recognized him. It was a picture of him in what seemed like a red carpet-event. He had on a blue tuxedo, with one hand dipped into his pocket and the other on his tie. His eyes were transfixed directly on the camera and for some reason, Amelia felt like he was looking directly at her. He looked as stunning as she last remembered.
"Are you fucking serious?" Wendy exclaimed, and that snapped Amelia back from her thoughts.
"Yes"
"Do you realize that Xavier Garcia is the owner of Fegal, and he is also the sole heir of Hardik" she stated as Amelia looked at her puzzled, not having a clue of what she was on about. She had never heard of Fegal nor had she heard of Hardik.
Wendy sighed in exasperation as she looked at Amelia. "And I'm guessing you haven't heard of those?" she cocked an eyebrow.
"No, I haven't"
"To be honest, I am not surprised. You are always too busy to know certain things like this" Wendy said with her palm on her face. "Fegal is one of the most popular car companies in the USA and worldwide, while Hardik is a huge fashion company. They produce different brands ranging from, katieg, sarealo, gheriad, down to fego" she stated, and it took Amelia a while before it finally hit her. She widened her eyes as astonishment took over her.
"Wait, do you mean, fegal cars?" She voiced out with her voice louder than she intended.
"Finally, you got out of the rock"
"Oh my God, I had no idea," she exclaimed, still trying to absorb the fact that she might be getting married to a well-known billionaire.
"This is huge, Ami. You do not know how popular this man is. How did you say you met him?".
"I met a certain Lucas, who said that Xavier Garcia needed a contract wife. Well, I later found out that the two of them were brothers. I was taken to his house and he said he would send the contract as soon as possible". Amelia explained but the look on Wendy's face showed she wasn't impressed.
"A contract marriage?"
"Yes, for a year".
"So, let me get this straight. You would be getting married to the owner of fegal for a year?"
"I guess so," Amelia said with a slight smile as she shrugged. This was bigger than she thought
**********
Amelia stared at the contract with different thoughts clouding her mind. A moment ago she would have signed immediately it was sent to her, but now she had suddenly grown skeptical.
She knew ther was no way she would get married to him and still have the normal private life that she had always enjoyed. Probably she might start appearing in magazines, TV, and social media.
The thought alone made her shriek. Another part of her didn't care about it. It was a little price to be paid for a better future. She hated how she was being greedy, but couldn't help it. Life had never been fair to her anyway. Now that it had finally given her an opportunity, she was going to grab it.
*In most cases, party A would be allowed to do as she pleases, but would succumb to her party B's orders whenever they are amid people* she read out loud in bafflement.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" she exclaimed out loud without realizing this wasn't her house. She watched as passersby stared at her like she was going nuts. A blonde guy, in particular, kept on staring, making the situation look more awkward than it already was.
"The fuck you looking at?" she scolded in annoyance, introducing her coping mechanisms which she always used whenever she was placed in an embarrassing situation. The fellow scowled and turned away from her.
Amelia groaned in frustration, rummaging her hands through her already messed-up hair as she looked at the content of the paper. She placed the tip of her pen lightly on her lips as confusion overtook her.
*Party A isn't allowed to go outdoors from the assigned time of 4 pm. There would be a strict curfew at the time stated above* she read out and erupted into laughter, not being able to resist.
"Is he being serious now?" she asked in disbelief, fighting the urge not to burst into another peel of laughter in reaction to how ridiculous the statement was.
Amelia hadn't spent enough time with him, but she could tell that he would be very bossy. Curfew was a very absurd thing to place in the contract. The fact that she was old enough to make decisions for herself, but she had to succumb to another human being made her sick to the stomach.
"His money, his rules" she breathed out sharply through her mouth as she brought down her shaky hands to the paper, bracing herself up to sign the contract. It felt like she was selling her soul off to the devil for a year, but for some reason, it felt good.
'It's just a paper, sign it already" the voice in her head kept singing. At that point, her brain felt retarded, unable to reason sensibly. She couldn't even reason well enough for a second as her crazy mindset just kept speculating different things that could go wrong.
After several minutes of her eyes being fixated on the paper, she brought the pen down to it and did the dreaded, she signed it.
Still seated there, Amelia heard the chair in front of her being tugged as it made friction against the hard floor. Looking up and realizing it was Peter, she looked back at the paper, totally ignoring his presence.
"My God, Ami. Could you acknowledge me a bit?" he said with his face revealing a faked hurt expression and Amelia smiled at his childishness as she flicked the pen in her hands.
"I'm in a quite difficult situation, Peter. Acknowledgement is a big request". She said truthfully and Peter shrugged.
"Fair enough. Not surprised, you are Ami anyway".
"Excuse me?" she looked up at him, and he shrugged again,
"What are you reading?" He asked, trying to grab one of the papers, laying on the table, but Amelia was swift enough to grasp them before he could, causing him to look at her perplexed.
"Those are uhm" she bit her lips nervously. "Marriage documents. I'm getting married" she added with a slight smile and her arms stretched out as she grinned,
"What do you mean?" He said rather too gruffly. That was the least expression she was expecting from someone of Peter's personality. She had expected him to chortle in mockery as a result of her stupidity, but he wasn't doing it, and that caused turmoil in her.
"I'm getting married," she repeated, with a laid emphasis on the last word to get her message across.
"Oh" was the only word that made it out of his lips as he glanced at the paper. Something flashed through his eyes, but it was too fast to be deciphered.
"Aren't you gonna ask me who I'm getting married to?"
"Who?" He complied, but Amelia didn't fail to notice the hesitation and void his voice held.
"Xavier Garcia," she announced, but he only gave her a slight nod, making her amazed by his sudden dispassion. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah" he flashed her a quick smile, but she was not dumb. That smile was forced. "When is the marriage taking place?"
"Two weeks"
"Wow," he said in an unusually dull tone, rather than his normal bubbly tone. "I had no idea, you were dating someone"
"I never did...." She stopped mid-sentence. "Are you okay, Peter, what's the problem?
"I'm fine"
"You don't look fine"
"I already told you, I am fine, Amelia '' he snapped coldly which took her aback as she looked at him in bewilderment. His face softened as soon as he realized how harsh he was. Elbows on the table, he rummaged his hand through his hair and finally turned to her after some time.
"I have to go, Amelia," he said, standing up as soon as the last word left his mouth. His statement gave her the cue that something was undoubtedly wrong. Peter had never called her by her full name. For him to do that, then there was something going through his mind.
Amelia watched as he left with the confusion still lingering inside her
*****
Amelia exhaled sharply the moment she got into the car, muttering a brief acknowledgment to the chauffeur. Words couldn't explain how nervous she felt inwards. She wiped her already sweaty palm on her jean trousers, staring out the window to catch the beautiful sunset.
She had expected Xavier to delay a bit and probably have her picked up the next day, but apparently, he wasn't the patient type, practically sending for his chauffeur to get her immediately after she told him she was done signing the contract.
She wasn't even given the time to pack her belongings. Well, that wasn't a problem, she could always come back and grab whatever she needed to get. She didn't have much to take with her anyway.
One looked around the car and a smile crept on her cheek. Never in her life had she thought of being driven in a car like this. The biggest she had ever wished for was for her to be able to fund herself through school, but here she was, riding in one of the most expensive cars in the world, about to get married to the 7th richest man in the world. She wasn't particularly happy about it nor was she sad, rather she felt numb.
If a question was thrown to the public on how people would want their marriage to be. Majority of the ladies would want their marriage to be filled with love and affection, but Amelia, on the other hand, wasn't concerned about love. She didn't deserve love, so she believed it was something that could be impossible for her to get.
"I should be happy" she whispered under her breath, nodding incessantly, trying to reassure herself that everything was going to be fine.
She was so deeply engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't realize that the chauffeur was taking another route. When she finally realized, her paranoid self abruptly panicked as she looked around confused.
"Where are we going?"
"We are going to sir Xavier's house".
" But this isn't the route we took the other day," she said. One could hear the panic in her voice
"Oh, I'm deeply sorry ma'am," he said as realization hit him. "Sir Xavier clearly instructed that you should be taken to the estate. Apologies for the short notice"
"Oh no it's fine" she smiled awkwardly. " One more thing, I would prefer if you called me by my name. Amelia"
"I can't do that ma'am, soon enough you would be sir Xavier's wife and I must show you the due respect"