Chapter I : "The lace on your dress tingles my neck."

Curse my hazel eyes.

Yes! curse them.

           My round hazel eyes were the cause of my current dilemma, the true bad guy in my story.

          With a bitter taste in my mouth, I scrutinized myself through the mirror, tightening my lip to pronounce just how upset I was.

Was that necessary?

Not in the slightest, but I did it anyway.

      "Sometimes, I want to strangle you!" I yelled at my reflection, aiming with all my might to take her down with my deadly glare.

         Needless to say, she was tough and refused to give in. Instead, she returned the same ghastly face to me.

The Audacity.

         I halted my parsing around in front of the mirror and sighed.

          "This is all because of your beautiful hazel eyes." I uttered referring again to my reflection alone in my cream-colored room, frustrated beyond compare.

        "I knew it from the moment they gazed upon my eyes that this would occur." I threw my hands in the air whilst exaggerating my competence.

        "They complimented you and you smiled stupidly and now, now they've decided to get you married to their son?" I said scolding myself over something I had no control in.

        A while back, in my pre-teen years, my eyes were the highlight of the compliments I had gotten.

         "They're so pretty." Kaden and Charlotte would repeat with bright smiles earning a grin for my pre-adolescent lips.

      My eyes were pretty, younger me would bash in being the center of attention.

       Before, I thought my eyes to be innocent. They were harmless, I would tell myself.

Oh! how the fallen have mightied.

       Glancing another time at the person in the mirror, I said.

       "Malia Ditton. You are going to march downstairs and give mom a piece of your mind. Once and for all." I hyped myself up.

        "You are brave and courageous. You can do this." that was the mantra I kept repeating to myself over and over again as I picked up my purse from the bed, straighten out my golden cocktail dress, shut the door, and marched downstairs towards my mom.

        Mom stood restless by the sitting room which was in clear view from where I stood at the top of the stairs.

        I took steps down but, stopped mid stairs as her focus turn to me.

       She ogled at me lovingly with a bright smile across her face. I almost crumbled at the sight.

      The origins of her smile prevented me from doing so.

       Not today I told myself that smile would not convince me today.

False bravery filled my heart as I inhaled and said from where I stood.

"Mom, I won't do it. I can't marry him."

Relief failed to wash over me for the words also failed to leave my lips.

My lips paid no attention to my mind's command or at least not the one I wanted them to.

Mom help a worried expression on her face and anxiety hit me like a wrecking ball, my palms became sweaty and I couldn’t bring myself to say anything

........

Daydream land...

Violins sounded pleasant at a distance as they played the all too common wedding procession song.

I was back in front of a mirror, this time however wearing a wedding dress. Mom behind me trying to place a veil on my head.

Tears flowed from my eyes freely, at the realization of my biggest nightmare. I broke into sobs, but no one seemed to take notice. They went about with their business not minding my outburst.

Mom covered the white bridal veil on my head whilst wearing a bright haunting smile. She assisted me up and led me into the wedding hall.

Delirium was fresh in my mind as I absent-mindedly walked towards the doors of the hall and to my would-be husband. Taking one step, two steps before stopping dead on my tracks, my sense resumed function.

What was I doing? I couldn't do it. I couldn't get married to this pompous asshole. I stare at my soon to be fiance and turned ready to take heel and head for the mountains.

What I would do there? I had no idea but anywhere was better than here.

Someone grabbed onto my foot just as I was about to take off, I turned to see my unofficial fiancé holding me by the ankles. My eyebrows scrunched up as I tried to get out of his grip but ended up tripping.

You're probably wondering why my fiancé, who was a good few feet away, was suddenly on the floor holding on to my leg so I wouldn't become a classic runaway bride.

The hell I know.

I don't just go around questioning everything that happens in my head.

Do you?

Defeat was not an option. I began to crawl my way out, clutching the white cotton carpet for support. My captor didn't let go, in fact, he tugged even more. I yelled and yelled and yelled, but it was to no avail.

Still desperately attempting to crawl out of this horrific situation, I heard a faint voice.

"Malia! "

"Malia!" My mom yelled, snapping me back to reality. I blinked at her, my teeth turned sour as the horror of being engaged to the person I disliked the most enveloped my conscious.

"You've been standing there for a while. Where's your head at?" she said climbing up the stairs to meet me mid-way.

She grabbed my hand without waiting for a response and pulled me down the stairs and out of the house. She practically forced me into the car despite my non-existent objections and drove off.

I had half the mind to call the police and have her arrested.

This was inhumane. It didn't matter if I wasn't able to express my displeasure to my mom, I told myself. She was my mom, mind reading is supposed to be possible for her.

She drove swiftly and silently to where my not so prince charming was waiting.

I sighed in reservation, resting my head on the window, staring at street lights we drove by.

If I told you I didn’t want to marry Athier right now would you understand? I wondered at Mom. It’s been a few years since the event that changed our lives. By now I believed she would let go of her resolve.

My initial silence on the matter was due to anxiety and my constant habit of running away from my problems until they finally catch up to me. Dangerous and addictive habits were easy to start but difficult to end… kind of like riding a bicycle for the first time.

Her obsession was out of my control and even though I knew there was no way I’d marry Athier I still couldn’t bring myself to clear up the mirage in her mind.

End it now! I tried to convince myself, aware the climax of this issue would be bad. Better to rip off the Band-Aid with swift precision.

With that thought, I let out a soft bitter scoff. This could never end well.

I sighed and leaned on the door of the car silently humming a ballad. Today wasn’t the wedding after all and the philosophy of leaving tomorrow's problems to future me hasn’t let me down yet. I shrugged.

“Is something the problem?” Mom asked, glancing my way.

The street lights illuminated her features. Time had begun to show itself on her face, her eyes had calm lines underneath which became pronounced every time she smiled.

I stare at her and shook my head wordlessly.

“Don’t make the same mistake I made. This union is the best for you, when you get older you’ll understand.” She stated.

No. I don’t think I will.

Just then a face popped up in my head. Ethan.

I smiled at the thought of him. My anchor in my rollercoaster of a life.

Maybe we could elope! I deliberated the rest of the ride.

The Quier mansion was brightly lit for the occasion, the second I walked into the hall right next to their house-made especially for events I noticed the crowd of people dressed for the occasion. Only family and close associates. It was a private affair for now.

I looked around, hoping to find Ethan in the midst of the crowd. I found him almost immediately in the small crowd. My anxious heart stilled a bit as I moved towards him.

"Hey, Mal." He called out to me as I approached him.

He was wearing a dark blue jacket that suited him perfectly and, his green eyes lit up as he spoke.

He gave me a warm hug once I was by his side. For a slight second, I could forget all my previous worries. Only for a second because he let me go and took a step back.

"You look beautiful." He said, taking a sip of the champagne in the glass he held in his hands.

"You don't look so bad yourself," I said, admiring his looks despite my casual statement. Ethan ran his hands through his blond hair which shown brightly in the evening's light and his beautiful green eyes squinted as he smiled.

Pride washed over me as I gawked at Ethan.

This beautiful person was mine, I thought. Even if not many people knew it. I could find solace in that.

"Have any ideas?" I asked finally getting to the point.

He shook his head in reply and I sighed heavily.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I'll think of something." He said assuring me slightly. The lingering feeling of my destruction haunted me.

"Would you like a glass? " He asked after emptying the contents of his glass. I nodded yes. I wasn't exactly allowed to have alcohol for a few months, but alcohol would be the only thing that would keep me from losing my shit at this thing called my engagement party.

Yes! A party

Quite the ironic word for the event

The thought of me wearing such a pretty, expensive dress and uncomfortable golden high heels ticked me the wrong way. This wasn't an event to celebrate.

Also, I had bad blood with high heels. Why would anyone invent them?

Ethan left to get us a drink, leaving me alone in the small yet unsettling crowd. I nodded my head to the music the band played. Maybe the melody captured my mind and that was why I didn’t notice someone creep up to me.

"Well if it isn't her majesty herself."

He whispered from behind.