I stretch and open an eye. Sunlight was slipping through the mint green curtains, stripping thin slats of light across the rumpled sheets. As I reach for my phone to check the time, I hear the sound of a throat clearing. Immediately, I look towards where the sound had come from and find Ovian stretched out on my sofa. Our eyes meet and hold for about ten seconds before I break contact and look at my phone instead.
8am, what is he doing here at this time? I am about to get out of bed and remember that in my exhaustion after my bath last night, I had slept in just my panties. Damn!
"Good morning to you too." Ovian says and to my consternation, he came to sit on my side of the bed.
"What are you doing here this early?" I ask, scooting further into the bed and pulling the sheets higher up to my chin.
Feigning a hurt expression, he says, "Can't a man come to see his fiancee?"
"What? I'm not your fiancee. At least not yet."
"Not according to today's papers." He says and extends a couple of newspapers towards me.
I groaned. I had forgotten about our society debut last night. Careful not to show any other part of my body apart from my shoulders, I take the newspapers from him and quickly scan the headlines. 'Charlotte Hawthorne is Alive!' In another paper, it reads, 'The Prince is Engaged Again to Charlotte Hawthorne.' I drop the papers and sigh.
"Ovian, we need to talk."
"Yes, we do. My father-"
Shaking my head, I say, "I know all about Princess Clarissa."
He looks at me, and says, "Okay? What about her?"
"When I asked you about Charlotte, you said she had been a friend but I have come to realize that she was more. You both were in love and bethroted to each other. But because your father may be forcing you to marry Princess Clarissa, that's why you accepted my proposal so quickly."
He got up and clapped his hands. "Bravo! You are quite the detective. You know, I never pegged you for someone so smart. You always appeared like someone who didn't have brains to-"
"Stop it Ovian! I will not be used or become a pun in your foolish plans with your family."
"Oh, what did you just say? When you blackmailed me into marrying you, you didn't realize you were messing with my family?"
"I am sorry I did that. I was desperate for a different life but now, I want out." He began to laugh.
Speaking louder than his laughter, I continue, "I want out Ovian. I will destroy all the pictures I have and promise to leave you alone. I will return everything back and leave with only my own things. I will sign-"
"Oh, you think I don't know that you don't have any pictures? My pretty Tania, I knew from the moment your brain began to form the blackmail that you were a gold digger. What you don't know is that while you were in the hospital, I had sent my people to your apartment block to find out if anyone knew who we were. Unfortunately for you, nobody did. When you were making your proposal, I was making a plan of my own and you fell right into it."
Tears were threatening to fall down my cheeks. I have involved myself with a maniac. Someone who would not hesitate to kill Taylor and I. Oh Taylor what have I gotten you into? I bury my head in my hands.
He came back to the bed and sat down next to me, "This is what is going to happen. The two of you are going to play it just as we had all planned. You will pretend to be Charlotte and marry me-"
"For how long?!" I shout.
"For as long as I want! For as long as it takes!" He shouts back. "You will be my wife and do everything I tell you to. The moment you or Taylor try anything, I will erase you from this lavish life just as easily as I brought you in it."
I gasp, the tears falling down. "Ovian please-"
He reaches out and wipes away my tears, "You don't need to be afraid of me. But if you cross me, I will not be able to control myself. Listen to me, Tania, I will do whatever it takes to make this happen. So, get it into your pretty head, we will be married."
With that, he gets down from the bed and heads towards the door, then stops and says, "I will be waiting to have breakfast with my fiancee in an hour." And he left.
I cried for a long time. I don't know for how long. Finally, I drag myself into my bathroom and stood in front of the mirror. I don't know how I'm going to do this. All my plans have gone up in smoke. I am in a prison I can never get out of. To make it worse, Taylor is stuck with me. The tears begin to fall again. I hear a knock on my door, then Jasper's voice came through, "My Lady, good morning. My prince says to remind you that he is waiting for you at breakfast."
"Thank you Jasper. But please tell the Prince, I will not be joining him." With that, I close my bathroom door and lock myself in it.
"My lady," I hear Jasper murmur faintly and leave. Minutes later I hear the door to my room open and Ovian calling for me. "Tania! Tania, where are you?" I hear the wardrobe doors slamming shut. Then he came to the bathroom and tried the door. "Open this door Tania!"
"Why? So you can kill me?" I shout.
"I... Tania, open the door so we can talk."
"I may have brought this whole nonsense on myself but I will not become your slave Ovian! I refuse to become your slave!"
"Who said you will be my slave? You will be my wife!"
"I don't want to be anything to you! I hate you! You are cruel and... and... dangerous!"
"Tania?" He shakes the handle again. "Tania, the whole house can hear us. Open the door so we can talk like civilised people."
"Yes, I want everyone to hear about your plans Ovian. I want them to know the kind of prince they have! Someone who can kill! Maybe its a good thing you will never be king, at least, they will not have a murderer on the throne!" I shout. A few minutes passed, then I hear my bedroom door open and close. I stood there in my bathrobe, shaking. I had let my temper get the better of me. Oh God, I was making things worse! What if he sends someone to kill us in our sleep? I panicked. Oh God, Oh God!
"Tania?"
"Taylor, is that you?" I ask. Maybe he is using her to make me open the door. Maybe he has a knife to her throat. Oh my God Taylor!
"Tania? Why did you lock yourself in the bathroom?"
She doesn't sound threatened. "Are you alone?"
"Yes. What's going on?" She tried to open the bathroom door. "I heard noises. Then Ovian left angry. Did you guys fight again?"
At that I open the door. I step out and hug my friend. "I'm so sorry I got you into this mess. If only I had listened to you!"
"What did you do?" She asks looking me in the eye.
"I told him we knew about everything. And... and..." I sob, tears coming down again.
"And what?" She holds my hands reassuringly.
"I begged him to let us go but he refused. He always knew there were no pictures." I sniff.
"Oh my!" Taylor says as she leads us to my bed. "Sit down and please stop crying. It will be alright."
"How? How Taylor? Everything is out of control. He runs the show now. Oh God, I'm being forced into it no matter what! I can't. I just can't!"
"Calm down. Let's think this through."
"What if he decides to kill us?" I whisper.
"Did he say that?"
I frown trying to remember his exact words, "he said he will erase us from this life."
A smile began to form on Taylor's lips. "Why are you smiling? How can you-"
"If you could just calm down for a second and think, you would smile too. Look, he needs you to stop his marriage to the Princess. That means, he would rather marry you than the princess. Which also means, he has to be married to you for as long as his father is alive. Don't you see? You are important to his plans. In short, without you, his plans can't work. So nothing is going to happen to us. We are safe, at least for a long time, which gives us enough time and resources to plan our escape."
I wipe my face and stare at Taylor. She was just a year older than me but, she was already so wise. Everything she said sank into my subconscious and I realize she is right. Ovian needs me. "But what about the things he said?"
"He was just trying to scare you so you would succumb. Tania, if we play our cards right, we can eat our cake and have it back."
"I don't know Taylor. We could just leave right now."
"That will not be wise. We don't know for sure what he will do. We can't put our lives at risk like that. Play the role Tania, get the policies and whatever you wanted to do done, and be his wife as best as you can. Before long, we will escape." Taylor says, pulling me into her side. "I will be with you all the way. Remember, you still have to find me a suitor," she joked.
That made me laugh and I sniff again. "That I will. Someone very handsome and wealthy and influential."
"Good. So, why don't you wash up and let's get breakfast?" She says as she follows me into the bathroom.