Prologue

Her Mom's alarming voice is what she heard that awaken her from her sleep so she immediately stand up and went outside her room. The moment she went outside, she immediately notice the open door of her twin sister's room and found her Mom inside crying. She was sitting on her sister's bed holding a piece of paper. Seeing her mom's condition, she immediately attended to her to find out what's wrong. She just arrived last night from Paris to attend her sister's wedding and she don't have a slight idea what's going on.

"What happened Mom?" She worriedly asked.

"Your sister left." She stated in an alarming voice.

Not too long ago, she saw her Dad panting from running immediately enter the room to check on her Mom as well. The moment her Mom saw her father, she started to wail and cry harder.

"What's wrong Jemilia?" Her father's upset voice confronted.

"Gerardo! Maria Alexandra left! She ran away!"

"What do you mean she left? It's her Wedding day today, Jemilia!"  Her father's thunderous voice filled the room.

"Your daughter runs away with Kyle! I checked here in her room and I found this letter. I can't believe your daughter will do this to us, Gerardo!"

She gasped when she heard that revelation as she felt her knees weaken. Something bitter feeling crept inside her chest as she felt her eyes went teary. When did they get back together? Funny because all along, she thought Kyle will finally notice her since her sister is about to get married. It turn out she was completely wrong.

"That bastard! She might kidnap our daughter, Jimena! We should call cops!" She can't believe how preposterous her father is. Her sister left a letter so it's obvious she run away with her ex-boyfriend.

"Kyle will never do that, Dad! I've known him for years." 

"Maria Alexandra will not do that to us. She was a good daughter.  Unlike you, she will not turn her back to us!" That hurt her. All along her Dad's favorite is her twin sister Alexa because she was a good kid. Even after this trouble, her sister is caused their parents, he was still refusing to admit that Alexa fail her this time.

"You really think she can't fail you? She left a letter, Dad!" She addresses the obvious just in case her father doesn't realize that yet.

Her father drastically took the letter from her Mom and read it.  She saw how her father's hand shivered in anger while reading the letter. Not long enough he furiously ripped the paper off into pieces.

"Oh God, this can't be happening! What are we gonna do now, Gerard? Should we call the Saldivar's? Shall we call the Wedding off? Oh my god, this is a disgrace to our family!"

"No! You will not do that Jimena. We can't call off the wedding."

"But your daughter is nowhere to be found! We're lacking time! What are we gonna do now?" Her Mom said in a scandalous voice. That's when she saw her father slowly turn to her as if he had an idea came into mind.

"You have to replace your sister's place, Maria Alejandra. You will be the one to marry Zeke"  Shock and fear immediately enveloped her after hearing her Dad's sentence. She even blinked twice trying to figure out if he mean his words but his father's face was drop-dead serious and knowing her Dad, he doesn't know the word joke. 

"D-Dad?"

"What! You want Alexa to take Andra's place and marry Zeke Saldivar? Are you out of your mind Gerardo!" Fright and different emotions radiated her face after hearing her Mom's elaboration of her father's idea.

"Do we have a choice Jimena? Tell me what's best option you have in mind?" Her father angrily replied back that made her Mom went silent and think deep.

"What? No Dad!" She immediately stated out of disgust and resentment.

She can't believe how can her Dad make decisions easily like this as if he doesn't care about her future. As if he don't care what would might be the impact of this craziness on her life?  To her surprise, her mom suddenly come near her and held her hand as if trying to beg her.

"Listen, Andra, I was against of your father's decision alright.  But we don't have any other choice if your sister did not come back. We need your help, child. Your sister's marriage is a promise marriage that we made to the Saldivar's. We will be compromised if the wedding doesn't happen? The wedding is a merge of both companies." Her mom explained.

"No! You can't do that! You know I can't pretend to be Alexa and marry her fiance. We can't just fool him and his family!"

Are they expecting they won't be caught? Her disgust and hatred suddenly arose to her sister knowing how cunning and selfish she is. She doesn't wanna assume but why does she have a feeling she trapped her into this mess?  That she intentionally invite her and made her come home to take her place. It was obvious on how she acted strange last night.

"Maria Alexandra only met Zeke twice. First on the formal dinner of both families and the last was the Engagement party. He won't suspect you that you were not his original fiancee. Then your father can deal with the legal papers and pull some strings to change your sister's name into your name on the marriage certificate after the wedding." Her mom explained.

"Are you insane? You can't expect me to marry a complete stranger? We're talking about marriage here, Mom, Dad!" She opposed.

"You have to do this Andra. Our company is down and the Saldivars promised help on your Dad's company after the marriage. If this marriage will not happen then I'm afraid we will lose everything. Your Dad can go to jail if he can't pay the Company's debts too." Her mother sadly added.

"This will be the last time I will ask you a favor, Maria Alejandra. You need to replace your sister and marry the Saldivar's heir for our Company's sake."

"How can you just marry me off to someone I barely met like I'm some kind of a property you want to get rid of?" She accused full of resentment.

"Marry Zeke Saldivar or I will completely disown you as my child!" Her father said in a solemn voice full of restraint and seriousness.

Tears started to stream down her face knowing she can't say no this time. This is what makes her different from her sister Maria Alexandra. She may be a prodigal and hard-headed daughter but she can never turn her back on her family. She knew she will eventually agree with this agreement because she have no choice because if not, her Dad might be going to jail if he fail to pay the debts of the company.

*   *   *

Her heart is thumping very fast as she felt her knees trembling in nervousness. This is the moment she feared to happen, the start of her misery- her wedding day. She just foolishly wished that the ground will open and swallow her to death. She would rather choose that than marry a stranger and doesn't know what might the future will bring them.

Wearing a white strapless ball gown with exquisite floral lace that fantastically hugged her body, she maybe looked like a princess with her wedding gown in a white veil tht cover her face. She remembered the superstitious belief that if the bride is wearing a white veil covering her face at her wedding, that simply means she was a virgin bride. Somehow, she was proud to face the altar still having the purity of a virgin and unscathed decent bride. If only she loved the man she will about to marry, she will be more than happy to give her purity to her husband. Funny because she doesn't have any slight idea how her groom looks like.

Deep inside, her heart and mind were wallowing in pain and strong defiance. She knew she has the capability to escape or stop this wedding but if she did, her parents mostly her Dad will suffer the consequences and she cannot allow that to happen. She may be a hard-headed and rebellious daughter, the fact remains that she can never turn her back to her parents especially when they needed her. She pulled out a deep breath before she decided to step out her foot on the bridal car. When she came out of the car, feels like she was a completely different person and suddenly wish this will finish soon.

It was a Church wedding, her kind of dream wedding. The place looks grand and she was sure this wedding was worth a fortune. A bitter sad smile painted her lips with that thought. The motif, the flowers, the curtains, and linens used, they were all according to her taste and whoever chose every detail and preparation, it's like he or she knows what she likes. In different instances maybe, she would definitely like it but this wasn't a dream at all, it was a nightmare for her.

When the ceremony began, guests are all waiting to witness the rituals of their upcoming nuptials. Her father take her hand and motion her that it was their turn so she started to walk down the aisle together with him.  For every step she make, she could feel her heart beating faster and getting louder.  A sad and despairing tear automatically fell down on her cheek as her eyes started to blurry with tears. From afar, she could see her groom standing at the altar near the priest wearing a white tuxedo. Just like what she thought, the strange mad looked so regal in expensive clothes. As she comes closer to his place, her view of him is getting clearer under her white veil. She could see his deep set of eyes intently looking at her as she walk towards him and that added heaviness to the loud thumping on her chest.

When she finally reached his place, he took her hand from her father so her eyes automatically jerked to his face. His face wore a blank expression as he guided her to the altar. The man is very tall and masculine and for a moment, she never helps herself from admiring him. When she met his gaze, she got stunned because he stare at her with that striking and intimidating look. She could have thought of him as an handsome and attractive prince but she couldn't be mistakenly wrong because she saw a feeling of disgust or hate in his eyes. With the way he look at her, she suddenly felt the urge to step backward out of hesitations. He could have been a very attractive man but on the way, he look at her as if she was some kind of a predator and she was his prey suddenly brought fears and worries inside her.

As the solemn ceremony smoothly flows, her mind and heart are raging in anger and strong defiance. She don't know where did she get the courage to keep on standing but when the ceremony finally ended and the priest announced the groom shall kiss the bride, she got stunned when he gently lifted her chin up and intensely look at her in the eyes. His eyes slowly scanned her face and then stopped on her lips. She saw his brows furrow before he finally crosses the small space between them and kissed her lips.

The moment he kissed her and felt his tongue enter her mouth, she felt that electrifying sensation enough to sense her tingling inside. Her body suddenly turned hot as if he awaken a strange and weird feeling in her system that she never felt before. She felt him halt for a moment but immediately keep up with his pace and deepen the kiss even more. Then her eyes started to turn heavy until she felt them slowly shutting as a soft moan of pleasure came out in her lips. Moments later she found herself responding to his kisses and keeping up with his pace. She just got awakened with that silly dream when she heard the applause of the audience together with flashes of camera that started to dazzle her sight. Not long enough. She felt him kiss her earlobe then whispers something in her ear that completely left her shock.

"Cut the theatrics, wife. You're playing your role very exaggeratedly." To her surprise, his tone was full of disgust and sarcasm making her question his sudden cold treatments on her.

 

How did she ever caught up in this situation? What kind of life she must lead from now on after marrying a total stranger who seemed disgusted and hated her for unknown reasons? Can she ever run away with this bitter fate? Will she ever find the happiness she has been searching for?