Chapter 4 Two- Faced

"Y-Yes, I- I do," Evelyn stuttered, unable to take her eyes off him. This… surely wasn't who she was expecting.

From his hair to his suit, tie, shoes and wristwatch, her husband didn't look like the pauper that everyone had portrayed him to be. He looked… well fed, put together and organised.

What the hell was going on?

"By the power vested in me, you may now kiss the bride," the priest continued, oblivious to Evelyn's inner conflict.

Wait! K-Kiss-

"I'm sure we have plenty of time to do that once we get home, don't you agree?" Lucas interrupted her thoughts, flashing her a flirty smile that heated up her cheeks.

Last night was still burned in her memory that she blushed silly, unable to look him confidently in the eye for too long.

Evelyn nodded stiffly and turned to the Priest who smiled and had no problems with it.

"Shall we?" Lucas offered his hand and she stared at it for a little while before sliding hers in. His hold was firm and tender than for a moment, Evelyn forgot she was pissed about the arranged marriage and once kicked against it.

Well if they had told her sooner he was this good looking and the same man who--

"E-Excuse me," Olivia hurried towards them as Lucas led his new bride down , careful not to hurry her too much, her heels looked quite high.

"H-Hi, I'm Oli-"

Lucas, with his head held high, walked past her like she was glass without as much sparing her a glance.

Evelyn heaved a sigh of relief. That was close. If Olivia had mentioned her name, that would have caused a lot of problems. Did she forget that she married Lucas bearing Olivia's name?

Taking her eyes of a shocked and embarrassed Olivia, Evelyn looked up to her husband. She scanned him from the fair nape of his neck to his wide shoulders, lean muscle and finely sculpted back.

Her head flashed with images of last night as she remembered how her nails dug into his back, her soft moans of pleasure and his tenderness all through the night.

Thinking about it only turned her face red like a freshly ripened tomato.

"H-How dare him!" Olivia stomped her feet as she watched Lucas and Evelyn exit the hall still holding hands like real couples. She had never been so embarrassed and ignored in all her life.

"She's fucking wearing my dress and he couldn't even say 'thank you'," she scowled, biting hard on her bottom lip in annoyance. She was squeezing her fist by her side as her blood boiled.

When her eyes landed on her mother, she finally erupted, "This is all your fault!" she screamed, causing Diana to jerk in fright. "If only you had investigated properly! How can I fucking lost to that bitch?" she screamed with tears in her eyes.

"You said he was ugly and short and smelly and poor-"

"Olivia!" Diana yelled. "Calm down-"

"Don't tell me to calm down!" she yelled back. "If he wasn't all that and I knew, why the heck do you think I'll give him to someone else?"

Diana rolled her eyes, palming her head as she suddenly developed a pounding headache. Had she been fooled by the Graham's all along? How could she have missed such an opportunity? But even the media carried the news that Lucas was a nobody in the family.

He couldn't possibly be the heir of Graham's fortune. She didn’t want to accept that she had been fooled. Once again, she would trust the Graham's on this one.

"Ignore it, Olivia. You're young and still have lots of years ahead of you. Good looks are not all that's needed in a man," she scoffed. "What's important is money and wellbeing. Lucas doesn't have shit to his name. Is that what you want?"

"B-But-"

"What you see today could just be his family's scrap," she sounded so sure and convinced that Olivia found herself relaxing at the thought of it. "Everything here was Graham's family arrangement. They've done their part, now it's time for Lucas and Evelyn to carry on. Let's see how that goes, hmm?"

Maybe it was her mother's calming voice or the smile on her lips but Olivia felt relieved. She wasn't missing out on anything.

Yes, in the end, she would only get the best and brag about it.

*****

Evelyn and Lucas walked out in total silence. He still held her hand like a pampered egg.

"You're staring," he smirked and her heart skipped a nervous beat.

"S-Sorry," she said and looked away only to notice they were approaching a black shiny car. Her jaw dropped in surprise when he led her to it and pulled the door open.

It looked brand new and expensive too. What kind of fantasy was this?

Didn't they say he was poor? Perhaps she was thinking too little of him but… no poor man should be able to afford this kind of ride.

Sensing his wife's hesitation with the concerned and questioning look on her face, Lucas decided to step in.

"It's rented. Be careful not to get it dirty. It'll cost so much."

"O-Oh, r-right. Sorry," carefully, she climbed in and settled down on the seats, feeling rather uncomfortable. She couldn't begin to imagine the cost of repair or even cleaning.

She had no money to her name and her husband wasn't well off either. It would be stupid of her to be a burden on the first day.

Lucas let go of her and shut the door before turning round to the other side of the car to get in. Once he was all settled in, the car drove off.

The silence was a bit too heavy for her as it suddenly dawned on her that she had a one night stand with her husband last night.

Squeezing her fist over her thighs, Evelyn lowered her head and shut her eyes hoping the car seats would open up and swallow her.

Besides the blush on her face, she knew she had to address it or have her husband think she was nothing more than a prostitute.

Shit! Why was her luck so bad at every point in life?

Summoning the courage, she lifted her head and turned to him, "You see-"

"I don't care what you do," Lucas interrupted her with a sigh as he kept his face straight and his voice hard as steel.

Where was the man who smirked and held her so tenderly just a few minutes ago?

"Our marriage is a contract and it doesn't matter if you were a prostitute. What matters now is that you're my wife and you simply cannot return to that life. Have a little respect and dignity now that I'm your husband."

"Wh-What?" Her jaw dropped in shock, unable to process what she had just heard. "That's not what happened-"

"I clearly remember you throwing yourself at me last night and begging to be fucked," he turned his eyes to her and she was almost burned by the coldness in them. "If you've forgotten, did you simply have too many customers that night-"

Her nose flared in anger and her hands trembled. She was lifting her hand to smack him across the face when he caught her wrist in the blink of an eye.

His eyes only glared harder, sending a chill down her spine with a warning behind them.

"It's too early to be violent, don't you think, Olivia? Unfortunately for you, I wont tolerate domestic violence-"

Evelyn jerked out of his grip, returning his glare with one of her own.

"Smart choice. Let's hope you remember my warning."

Did he get switched before he got into the car? This wasn't the same man she met at the altar nor was it the same one who made love to her last night.

Who was this person and how- just how could anyone emit such cold aura?

The air grew thick and heavy as neither of them said a word to each other. The drive to wherever they were going was a long one and by the time the car slowed down, Evelyn finally looked out the window to observe her new environment.

The first thing she noticed was the old house they pulled over at. The environment was nothing like the one she knew all her life nor grew up in.

This place felt like a remote area and the house looked haunted. The lawn looked like it hadn't been touched for months, the door was dusty and she could bet her life savings-- to which she had none-- that it would creak like an old rusty thing.

"What is this place?" She couldn’t help but whisper. Her home back at William's mansion was like a god next to this trash.

If her father knew this was where she was living now-- wait, he didn't care. He wouldn't care at all. The man didn’t even bother to attend her own wedding even if it wasn't a wedding of love!

"You can get down now," Lucas said. " I still have something to attend to."

Turning to him with wide eyes, she stared at the nonchalant husband, "You're leaving me here? All by myself?" he didn't reply nor spare her a glance and Evelyn took that as her cue to get off.

She stepped down from the car brimming with anger but with the car being so expensive, she couldn’t even vent by slamming the door. What if she broke something in the process and her husband from hell asked her to pay for it?

He drove off immediately, leaving her in the dust.

She sneezed a few times, glaring as the car soon went out of sight. She turned to her new home and heaved a deep sigh, preparing herself for the worst.

"They did say they kicked him out," she shrugged, trying to be strong. She made her way to the door and alas! It really did creak when she pushed it open.

The dust was thick inside and the floors dirty and most of the tiles were broken. The chairs were dusty, the staircase needed renovation-- in fact the whole house needed help!

Her shoulders slumped in a defeated sigh as she grabbed the necessary tools for cleaning. Soon, she began to wonder if Lucas meant for her to clean the place herself.

She got to work without stopping for a moment to rest and by the time she was done, it was evening. Her arms and legs throbbed like they would fall off at any minute and the room was chilly as there was no heater.

She cleaned the chairs and arranged the room but the lawn was reserved for another day. After a cold shower that almost had her freezing to death, Evelyn stayed in the living room, waiting for Lucas' return.

She counted the minutes and seconds as time dragged on.

It was 10p.m when she finally rubbed her eyes and decided to give up waiting for him. She climbed the stairs to her bedroom to sleep alone in her cold bed on her wedding night.

At least, the house reminded her of Lucas. Cold.

How could he leave his bride all alone on their wedding night? Just like him, she also didn't want the marriage but they could at least make it work. Why was he proving difficult?

Tears gathered in her eyes as she laid under the sheets, left unattended to like an object. She clenched hard on her jaw to stop her tears from flowing but it proved impossible when her thoughts flashed to her mother.

"I know you'll find love in this life, Evelyn. Someone who will cherish your kind heart and value you for the rest of your life," she would always say with that kind smile on her face.

Who knew that when Mother made such fine promises, her ill fate had other plans? Nothing had ever gone fine in her life. Not one thing.

Her heart broke and ached so bad that she laid curled up in bed and cried her eyes out.