Chapter 14: He Must Be Pretending

“All you want is to fuck me?” Crystal asked skeptically. “And then you will forgive my debt?”

“No, not just fuck,” Nathan laughed. “I want you to give yourself to me, fully, as my wife!”

Crystal gasped as Mike produced a marriage certificate. Nathan had laid a much bigger trap for her than she could have ever imagined. Crystal contemplated the proposal for a moment before addressing Mike, his lawyer. “I only have two questions,” she said. “The first question is this: if I sign it, does it mean that I don’t need to pay my debt?”

Mike: “Yes. And your second question...?” 

Crystal: “Okay, I haven’t reached the legal age for marriage yet, so even if I sign it, it won’t take effect. Is that right?”

Mike was just about to open his mouth to answer the question when he was interrupted by Nathan. Nathan raised his hand and said, “If I say that it is effective, no one will dare to say that it isn’t. Do you believe that?”

“I suppose so,” Crystal admitted. She hesitated for a moment, and then she signed the marriage certificate. What other options do I have?- she asked herself - None!

Mike was overjoyed as he gathered the papers, and as he left, he kept saying, “I will help you two with the rest of the procedures. Congratulations to you, Mr. Davis. And Ms. Smith, I wish you a happy life with Nathan.”

Crystal sighed as Mike left. I had better start making the most of my situation - she told herself, after all, who knows what the future will hold for us? And even though we are married, we may get a divorce in the future.

Just then, Susie appeared with a bowl of oatmeal for Crystal, but she’d lost her appetite. “I’m sorry, Susie,” she said, “but I’m running late. I have to go.”

Crystal grabbed her backpack from the living room and rushed out the door.

I am married! - Crystal realized as the sun hit her face. She had promised herself that she would only marry for love - but now look at me! And at that moment, all of the energy in her body left her, and she collapsed on the ground. She was crying harder than she ever had in her life, but she was barely aware of it.

Her mind had gone completely blank. And after a moment, she lost consciousness altogether.

After a while, Nathan came out and joined her. He sat down beside her, picked her up, and placed her in a sitting position on his lap. He wiped the tears out of her eyes, ran his fingers through her hair, and eventually, Crystal came back to him. And when he saw the light return to her eyes, he said, “There, there, do you think being my wife will be so terrible?”

“I do,” Crystal admitted. “You have been so cruel to me. I don’t know why my mother left this house to you or why she would leave me in your care -” 

Nathan suddenly reached out to grab her chin. She was caught off guard, and she had no recourse when he kissed her delicate lips. Next, he kissed her sensitive eyelids, and then he began to kiss away her tears. His lips were soft, and his actions were tender, but they did nothing to alleviate the profound helplessness and unhappiness that Crystal felt at that moment. And even though Nathan intended to comfort his new, young wife, his gesture was just another form of rape, and perhaps it was even more intrusive than the way he had sexually assaulted her in his office the day before. “I am not a bad man,” he whispered as he kissed his way along her neck. “You will see, and you will come to love me.”

“No,” Crystal cried, and she tried to push him away. Crystal began to panic again when she realized that Nathan wasn’t going to let her go, and she began to look around for help when she suddenly realized that she was in his room! Apparently, when he’d found her on the lawn, he had carried her inside, and she had been out of it to realize what was happening.

Nathan’s room was exactly as she remembered it: it was neat and tidy. The floor was spotless, and there was no hair anywhere. His clothes were as he liked them, ironed and smoothed flat. A man like this - Crystal realized - with an obsessive-compulsive disorder would have no reason to want to be with me. He must be pretending! And she hoped that he wouldn’t be able to maintain the charade for long.

Finally, Nathan let Crystal go. “I have to go to work now,” he said. He cupped her left breast in his right hand, gave it a gentle squeeze, and said, “but we can pick this up tonight, where we left off. Don’t worry about going to school if you don’t want to, not on the day of your wedding.”

Nathan escorted Crystal out of his room and locked the door behind them, and he left her there without another word.

The company that Nathan worked for was called Brilliant Group. It was located in the center of the city, and it was so tall and robust that it dwarfed all of the other buildings around it in comparison. Nathan wore a pure black suit, and compared to the other company elites, he was as majestic as an emperor.

When Nathan got to work, he went straight to his office and called for his assistant, Andy, who came straight away. Even though Andy had worked with Nathan for five years, he was still intimidated by Nathan. Thus, when he arrived, he was nervous. “I am here, boss,” Andy said, with a slight tremor in his voice. He thought that, since he had been called to Nathan’s office, he had done something wrong, and he was afraid that he was about to lose his job.

Nathan asked Andy to close the door and take a seat, and then he asked Andy how long he’d been married. “Married?” Andy stammered. The question had been so unexpected that he was struck dumb by it. His boss had never asked about his private life before. In fact, he hadn’t even known that his boss knew that he was married.

“How long have you been married, Andy?” Nathan asked again. And he sounded somewhat annoyed to have had to ask twice.

“One...one year, boss,” Andy stammered.

“That’s interesting,” Nathan said contemplatively. “Can you think of a reason why a woman wouldn’t want to marry someone?”