Chapter 6

~Sara~

"With all my heart and soul, I take you as my partner, my love, and my best friend. I promise to love and cherish you, to stand by your side through all of life's joys and challenges." I read the last paragraph of one of the vows, scrunching my face as those words left a bitter taste in my mouth. Now I realized this marriage was going to be harder than I thought because saying these dreadful words in front of an audience, like I actually mean it, has to be the scariest thing ever.

I dropped the paper with a sigh, leaning back on the headboard, wondering over and over why my life was this miserable. About a minute later, a knock came on the door.

As much as I didn't like the disturbance, it was much better than someone intruding into the room. I stood up with a low groan and opened the door to see two women standing outside. "Hello."

"Hi!" One of them gasped, her eyes widening like she had just seen a ghost—or a goddess, maybe. "I'm Leigh, and this is Eloise. We'll be helping you pick a dress for your wedding!" It was obvious that Leigh was a very vibrant and enthusiastic person. Before I could say a word, they pushed their way into the room, giggling excitedly. It seemed like they loved this wedding at the same rate I hated it.

Leigh plopped down on the bed with a sigh, dropping the fabric bag she was holding with her on the bed.

I shut the door, walking in to meet them. "Hi, I'm Sara-"

"Oh dear, everyone knows your name already." Leigh chuckled, waving her hands dismissively, and picked up one of the papers of vows on the bed. "I see you're so excited about the wedding. These vows are so sweet! Eloise, check this out." She gushed excitedly, handing the paper to her friend.

We spent the next 30 minutes trying to choose which of the ten dresses they brought was up to my taste. Or maybe I was just deliberately wasting much of their time, 'cause I honestly didn't care what I wore to the wedding. In fact, a black dress would do because, from my perspective, this was more of a funeral than a wedding.

In the end, we settled for a sleeveless white dress with a corset that had a lace-up back, and the bottom half adorned layers upon layers of soft lace. Maybe if it wasn't a forced marriage, I'd have seen the beauty in these dresses.

"Come on, let's get you ready. Wedding starts in less than 2 hours." Leigh spoke up after folding the remaining dresses into the bags. I've come to notice that Eloise, although she shared literally the same enthusiasm as Leigh, was a little quieter, just smiling often.

Another bright side of this whole marriage thing; the people I met weren't so bad or unnecessarily mean. Although I've not met a lot of people, I feel it's a little okay to judge on the few I met. The polite maid from earlier, also adding to the count.

I took a quick shower and wrapped myself in a pretty pink robe I saw in the bathroom before heading back into the room. Leigh led me to sit on the stool in front of the dressing mirror and pulled out three of the drawers to reveal different sets of makeup tools.

I tried my hardest not to shriek at the sight of it because I've never had so much makeup—I barely even had any. My personal stash was only a mere eyeliner and pink lip gloss that Lilah had abandoned on her bed when she left for university.

"Eloise would be the one doing your hair and makeup," Leigh spoke, cutting me off from my reverie. "Trust me, she's the best at it. Come on, turn around. You're not allowed to look into the mirror until she's done." Leigh giggled and settled on the bed, leaving Eloise to work her magic on my face.

Nearly an hour later, Eloise used the last pin to hold my hair and released a tired sign, brushing a few stray locks from her face.

I'm about to turn around to see what I looked like in the mirror when Leigh shrieks and leapt off the bed swiftly, firmly holding my shoulders in place. "No! Not now, you need to wear the dress first, trust me. It'll make the moment more heavenly." She clasped her fingers together like she was barely able to contain her excitement. As much as I wanted to detest everything about this marriage and succumb to depression, it was difficult doing that around this woman. Her expressions and enthusiasm made me smile against my wishes.

"Come on, let's get you into that dress." Leigh grabbed the dress from the bed and tilted her head at me, as if silently asking me to untie the robe, so she could help me into it.

"Uhm, I would prefer to do that in the bathroom… alone," I tell her nervously, clutching the robe's tie as if it would suddenly come loose and these women would see what sets of old or out-of-fashion undies I was wearing.

"Oh, it's okay." Leigh's voice came out softer and a warm smile settled on her face as she gently handed me the dress.

I grabbed it and rushed into the bathroom almost immediately. I loosened the robe and froze, staring between the sleeveless dress and the black sports bra I had on.

"What the fuck?" This has to be the deepest shit ever.

I leaned against the bathroom wall, wondering what kind of quick magic or hack I could do now to make this work. But none, nothing could ever fix this, and I was too shy to walk out of the room and tell those women that I wasn't wearing the right bra for this dress.

And even if I do, what if she asks me to change to something else with a removable strap? How the fuck am I supposed to explain to her that all I had was just the regular, boring sports bras?

"I forgot to give you this," I gasped in terror and quickly wrapped my robe around me when the door clicked open. But Leigh didn't step in. Instead, she stretched her hand through the small opening and handed me a small bag, looking away.

I grabbed it speedily and shut the door, bolting it lock, and regretting my decision immediately after the click was so loud both women would've heard it.

Anyway, I opened the bag to see a white set of underwear—a strapless bra, to be precise. I let out a breath of relief and quickly removed the clothing I had on, before putting on the underwear that surprisingly fit perfectly and then the dress.

Leigh gasped the moment I stepped into the room, but immediately frowned lightly, walking up to me to adjust the dress. She tugs at the corset lace at my back, redoing it since I did a lot of nonsense back there. Once satisfied with the look, she grins widely, leading me to the standing mirror to finally take a look at myself.

"Tada!" she shrieked as we stood in front of the mirror, probably expecting me to have the same reaction as her.

Eloise surely did a good job, and I looked really pretty and breathtaking, but still—it was a forced marriage. I couldn't get the bubble of excitement expected. But I pretended, of course, managing to form a fake smile and lie to Leigh about how happy and excited I was. Telling her how everything was precisely how I pictured my wedding to be, and I couldn't be any happier.

Fortunately, a knock came on the door a few minutes later and a guard announced our time was up, and they had to leave immediately. As soon as they did, the door went open and Father stepped inside dressed in a black two-piece suit, holding a bouquet.

He paused for a while and stared at me plainly before a smile crept up his face and he suddenly raised his hands, coming to hug me. And that was when I noticed the guards behind him.

Another play pretend.

"You look absolutely stunning!" He exclaimed. "I'm so proud of you!"

Yeah, proud of me for bringing 'greedy you' more money and fame. At the expense of my freedom because there was no other explanation for giving me out for money if not being sold.

I bit the insides of my cheeks to stop myself from gagging at his disgusting pretense.

He finally disengaged from the hug and stared at me for a while, obviously trying to portray the look of an emotional father seeing his daughter getting married.

Letting out an emotion-filled loud sigh, he hands the flower to me, tucking a strand that was supposed to be left on the side of my face behind my ear.

He offers his arm to me like a gentleman, which I accept with a forced smile, putting up a good father and daughter show for the guards. "Shall we?"

This has to be the sickest part of today.