THREE: MARRIAGES, CHOICES.

Elaine was fidgeting, her hands plucking at the hem of her gown.

It was happening rather too soon. Not up to twenty-four hours ago, she told Frank Xavier she was going to court and marry him. Maybe she hadn't given her decision enough thought but what did she have to lose? Ever since she made the decision to work at the Xavier mansion she had made a mental conclusion that her life wasn't hers. She was simply the soul trapped into the body that was bound to live for others. If she had concluded she was going to be spending the rest of her life worshipping the master and the Xavier family, what harm could it be to do it right by their side. As a part of the family. As a Xavier.

Frank said nothing but Elaine had a good experience with people so she could read them easily. All he announced was the wedding that was going to be coming up soon but Elaine knew it was going to be coming up very soon. Even sooner than she might have expected. He was excited. An excitement Elaine couldn't bring herself to fathom. But one thing was sure- as long as that excitement was still in existence, it wouldn't allow him delay the wedding.

What were weddings about anyways? Promising to love and cherish each other till death do them part? She could do that. Love? Maybe not at the moment cause she barely even knew what that meant or felt like. But cherish? She could cherish Frank. He was only doing her a huge favour by deciding to lift her from the grass to grace and if that wasn't enough reason to cherish a person, she wondered what was.

Love however was something she had no idea how to do. She loved Lacy for example but definitely not the type of love to make her want to get married to her. Her parents definitely must have loved her but she had no memory of how that felt. Did her presence make them smile? Did making her happy make them happy too? Or was it just a natural feeling as they were responsible for her existence?

However whatever it might have felt like, they must have loved her. She must have experience the feeling once so definitely the feeling of love and to be loved would be deep rooted in her somewhere waiting for the right person to awake it. Would it be Frank? She couldn't tell but if it would even ever be awaken, that she couldn't tell even more.

Her thoughts got interrupted as she heard footsteps approach her. Slowly, she looked up to see whose footsteps they were, a gasp immediately escaping her lips.

It wasn’t an unfamiliar face. It was a face she had seen more times than she’d seen her period and one she had secretly began to dread ever since she accepted to marry Frank Xavier.

Dress in exquisite clothes as always with his hair falling loosely, Young Master Alexander Xavier was walking towards her.

She barely had enough time to think about what was going on before he appeared in front of her.

“Hello,” he spoke in fluent elite. “Are you Elaine?”

Elaine swallowed, slowly raising her hand to nod. “Um, young master. I’m Elaine.”

“Oh, it’s you?” his face immediately screamed disgust.

“Yes, young master,” Elaine bowed her head. “Um, may I be of any help to you?”

“I doubt that,” he eyed her. “Just wanted to know what you looked like.”

“Young master,” Elaine was trying to stay calm. She had been warned that he might not take her getting married to his father happily and that seemed to be the case. “I don’t understand.”

“What is this?” His voice was getting louder and like ants getting attracted to sugar, it was attracting stares and whispers. “Are you trying to play dumb now?”

“Young master,” unlike his, her voice was getting lower. After all, he was still the young master she had been serving for years. “I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

He spat. “What exactly did my father see in you? Tell me. Ah, I can see you’re quite a beauty. Was that it? Did you-“

“Young master,” she cut him off, her voice unable to remain under the covers. She looked at the maids lurking around, the whispers getting louder. It was true. There was no other reason the young master would be interested in getting to know and obviously hating her.

She had unintentionally gotten involved with the Xavier family of billionaires.

She might have still being young but she’d been in and involved with the Xavier family for long enough to know that getting involved with them or their matters would definitely bring more harm than good.

“Could you, young, master, please stop causing a scene here?”

Her words that came out as a result of both suppressed fear and over tested patience attracted a lot of gasps.

“How dare you!” Alexander Xavier’s voice was the loudest it had ever being. He looked around him and grabbed her by the arm. “Fine. I guess you still have a little shame in you.”

He grabbed her by the arm, aware of everyone’s gaze on them as they walked out to a more secluded area. As they got to the young master’s preferred location, he let go of her arm not bothering to apologize for the pain he inflicted on her arm during the short period of his grip.

“Young master-”

Before she could speak, he cut her off. “So you really want to get married to my father?”

“Young master sir,” she didn’t even know what to say. “I promise i-“

“Stop pretending, will you!” he yelled. “Me and my father’s relationship might not be the best but I know him to an extent. Why? I guess you took advantage of the fact that you’re a mere servant thus you’re able to get first hand information about your master and his wife’s relationship and knowing how amazing it is, you decided to use it an opportunity, isn’t it?”

“Young master-“

“Tell me,” his voice grew harsher with every word. “What did you do? How did you do it? Did you seduce him?”

“Sir!”

“Don’t even try to act like a decent person in front of me!” he yelled in return. “Was that it? I know I shouldn’t expect much from a maid but did you perhaps sleep with him?”

“Young master!” Elaine could no longer keep quiet. “I might be nothing but a mere maid but I shall not be insulted or tolerate having my honor dragged in the mud.”

“What did you just say?” He smirked, taking steps towards her, having her move backwards. “What did you just say to me? The thought of my father getting married to you must have gotten to your head and your honor? I can’t even believe you said that. You-“

He stopped to sigh. He looked at her. Her head bowed and her hands behind her. He could spot tears on her cheeks and that only irritated him.

“Look,” he continued regardless. “I don’t know what you’re thinking or whatever your reason might be but you’ll never be able to break our family so you’d better stay away from my father. It’s a warning.”

Without another word, he left Elaine trembling with tear stained cheeks.

---

"Father."

"Alexander."

Alex watched his father give him a quick glance and continue flipping through the pages of the newspaper on his lap. Taking a deep breath in, he mentally recomposed what he had to say to him.

After lashing out on Elaine, he had felt only a tad bit better. The thought of him getting married was still lurking in his mind and the more he tried to forget it, the realer it became, making him realize his dad wasn’t joking and meant every word of getting him married.

“About my marriage,” he breathed out. “Are you serious?”

“Oh, yes I am,” he flipped through the pages of the newspaper. “The Constantines are already planning a date to have the two of you officially meet.”

With a deep sigh, he decided to push his luck.

"Can I not?" Alex said in a whisper audible enough for his dad to hear. “Can I not get married?”

Frank shook his head. "You need to. Sooner or later. It's good for the face of the business and yeah, an heir too. It was going to happen anyways and at this point, I think sooner is better than later."

"For the face of the business?" Alex said in disbelief. He wasn't disappointed by his dad's words. Instead, he was disappointed in himself for being so surprised such words were coming from him.

He exhaled, trying to calm himself down. He knew better than to get angry. It was going to be useless and only end up as a waste of emotions.

"I'm not ready though."

"I'm not asking you to get married tomorrow," Frank laughed at his own words. "I'm just informing you. Might not be tomorrow but definitely soon so just get yourself ready."

"Can I at least get a while?" Alex's voice was screaming desperation. He wasn't ready. It was a lot to take in at once.

"How long?" Frank asked, looking at him straight in the eye.

Forever?

"A month or two?" Alex couldn't help but build castles in the air. "A couple of em?"

Frank laughed at his son's request. "What? Am I a joke to you? Does all of these seem like a joke to you?"

"I know right?" Alex laughed too. His, a sardonic one.

"Fine," Frank finally broke the short-lived silence between them. "You want a couple of months, I'll give you a couple of months."

"What?" Alex's head shot up. "What?"

"You heard me," Frank exhaled. "Elaine asked for the same so it's fine. I'm not in a hurry."

Alex couldn't put how that made him feel into words so he remained silent.

"But," his dad wasn't done talking. "For your marriage to be postponed for a while, I have a condition."

"I knew I was building castles in the air," Alex tutted to himself. "What? A condition? What is it?"

"It's simple," Frank smiled, making Alex shudder. "You just have to change your personal assistant."

"What?"

"Elaine," Frank said, watching Alex's expression change. "For the meantime, I need her to fit in. And I can't think of a better way to do that than to allow her work outside the mansion for a while. So I want her to work with you. And be your personal assistant."

"What?" Alex was perplexed. "That's your business to deal with not mine. If you want her to work, have her be your personal assistant. Why drag me into this?"

"I don't think she'll be comfortable at the branch here," Frank replied.

"Wow," Alex clapped his hands. "How thoughtful of you. How is it that i no idea you were this thoughtful all the time I've known you."

"Alex-"

"That's sick," Alex spat. "I don't even need a new personal assistant. My personal assistant at the moment is good at her job and I certainly do not need someone like her around me."

"I’ll give your current personal assistant another and an even better job in the company," Frank said. “You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Why don’t you give her that better job?” Alex was irritated. “I’m sure she’ll prefer it.”

“I want her to work with the family,” Frank continued. “She-”

"Don't even," he cut him off. "Fuck it. I'm not doing this."

"Alright then," Frank said, getting up from his seat. "Prepare to get married to Vanessa Constantine in two weeks."

That seemed to get to Alex as he stopped in his tracks. Slowly, he turned to meet his dad's gaze.

He felt his shoulder slouch. He couldn't get married. He just couldn't. He wasn't ready. He couldn't afford to get himself or any one into such a mess.

"Do you really have to do this?"

"I'm sorry, Alex," Frank's tone was unapologetic. "But it needs to be done and you leave me no choice."

Alex exhaled, mentally weighing his choices. A couple of months were definitely better than two weeks. He wasn't ready and didn't see himself being ready in a few months but stalling was definitely going to be nice.

"Fine."

Frank pretended like he didn't hear the words Alex said in between gritted teeth. "What did you say?"

Alex glared at him. "Fine. Your- she can be my assistant. But only if you promise to postpone this marriage till I'm actually ready."

Frank smirked. "Sure, you have my words."