Chapter 2- Marriage proposal

Flashback...

A few months ago…

A beautiful girl in her early twenties, was busy drawing. Her bewitching deep blue eyes were fixed on the drawing board, expression pensive. Very soon, she finished her drawing and turned around to face the students, only to say, "Today's class is all about pencil drawing. It is monochromatic which means there is only one color. We will not use any color. So...."

Tringggg.......

"Ok children, times up. We will continue this tomorrow" after saying that the girl left the class. 

As soon as she came out, her phone rang. Seeing the familiar number on the screen, a wide smile appeared on her face, and she answered the call immediately, "Hello." 

She heard a deep male voice from the other side of the phone, "I am outside." 

"Coming." 

After hanging up the phone, she rushed to the gate and saw an elegant 6 feet tall, handsome young man, leaning on his sports car in front of the school gate. He was wearing a royal blue shirt and a pair of gray pants. His facial structure is stoic with a sharp nose. He was running his hands through his silky black hairs. 

He was grinning widely showing two rows of white teeth when he saw the girl coming out of the school gate. 

He ran towards her, hugged her tightly, and whispered, "Lisa."

"How long have you been here, Daniel Brooke?"

Daniel Brooke chuckled and replied, "For a while."

He lowered his head and kissed Lisa softly and longingly. 

After pulling back, she asked him, "How is your work going on?"

Daniel Brooke was a struggling lawyer. His father Thomas Brooke was a famous Lawyer in the 'X' city. But he didn't want to join his father's law firm. He wanted to build his career on his own. 

"Ah.... right now I don't want to talk about the work.” He grimaced and waved his hand. “I am here to spend a good time with you and don't worry, one day I will be famous like my Dad."

"Best of luck." 

Daniel caressed her pink cheek and muttered, "Let's have coffee together." 

Within half an hour, they were sitting face to face in a café near her school where they used to visit regularly. 

"Daniel, on a serious note, my parents are continuously pressuring me for marriage. I am starting to freak out. Let's get married before it’s too late."

"Baby, you know very well. Right now I can't think about marriage. I want to concentrate on my career first. What is the point of this discussion?" He wrinkled his nose in annoyance.

Lisa felt bad hearing this. She felt something was broken inside her. She was hoping Daniel Brooke would agree with her, but his response was enough to shatter her dreams. She was depressed by the continuous pressure of her parents for the marriage, so she wanted to discuss this matter with him. But.....

"What if I marry another man?"

Daniel glared deadly at her and warned her, "Dare to do it."

Lisa was too lazy to continue this discussion further, so she changed the topic. After chatting for a while, Daniel dropped Lisa at her apartment.

After waving at him, she walked towards her house and pressed the doorbell. The door was opened by her mother Linda Holmes who was smiling from ear to ear, "Honey, you are back. Look who has come to see you." 

Lisa's gaze shifted towards the living room, only to see a young man and a middle-aged woman. The man was very handsome and looked like the Greek God, wearing a gray suit that was complimenting his honey-toned skin. His black eyes under the gold-rimmed glasses were as deep as an ocean filled with stars. He was staring at Lisa with a faint smile. 

Lisa was dumbfounded and for a long time, she was not able to react. 

The cold icy voice of her father snatched her back to reality "Meet Mr. Carl Black and his mother Mrs. Helen Black. Mr. Carl Black is a professor of Physics at our college."

Lisa's father, Marke Holmes was a librarian of a renowned college in their city. So there was no doubt that he was familiar with a professor. She thought they might have come here to meet her father. 

Lisa greeted them politely with a smile on her face, "Hello Mr. Black, hello Mrs. Black."

Carl Black also responded politely with his cold deep sexy voice, "Hello Miss Holmes" and Helen Black only nodded with a grin in response.

"We have fixed your marriage next month with Mr. Black."

Mark Holmes said with a beaming smile. 

Lisa's jaw dropped in shock and stood still on the spot as if she was rooted there, speechless. Her eyes were wide open. Her mind was buzzing. She was unable to hear anything. She only saw the people around her were moving their lips and smiling. She didn't know when and how she came back to her room. 

"Honey, I am so delighted that you are getting married. Mr. Carl Black is such a gentleman. You are pretty lucky, dear." 

Linda Holmes's voice snatched her back to reality. 

She was startled and stared at her mother, completely shocked. 

While peeling an apple, Linda continued speaking, "You know what, he came himself to your father and gave the marriage proposal. It's very rare to get such a good person nowadays. Your father is...."

Before Linda Holmes could complete her sentence, Lisa interrupted her, “And you people don’t think to ask me once before you promise him. How could you do that?"

"Huh?" 

"You know I love Daniel. How can you fix marriage without even asking me?" 

Linda Holmes was speechless. For a few moments, there was pin-drop silence in the room. 

Then Linda started saying slowly, "You are still dating Daniel Brooke, despite my warning, aren't you? Honey, listen carefully, he is not serious with you. People like Daniel only keep playing around. One day he will hurt you. Try to understand before it’s too late." 

"It's not like that mom, I know Daniel better than you. He will never hurt me."

"Oh really?... Then why is he not ready to marry you yet?"  

"There is no rush. When the time comes, we will get married."

Lisa sighed deeply and pleaded, holding her mother's hands, "Mom, tell daddy to cancel this marriage. I really can't marry anyone whom I don't even know. Please, Mom."

Linda Holmes brushed off her hands and blurted out angrily, "Lisa, are you dreaming? Do you think Mr. Thomas Brooke will accept you as a daughter-in-law? Don’t forget that they belong to a higher society. Their social circle, lifestyle everything is very different from us. Lisa, come out from your dreamland and face the reality. We are ordinary people, and we can't mess around with them. We can't afford the consequences. Mr. Carl Black is far more suitable for you. He is a good person, and you will not regret marrying him."

"But....."

Lisa tried to say something but before she could say anything, Linda Holmes interrupted, "End of discussions. Go, rest early."

Lisa was so furious that she couldn't help but started crying uncontrollably. She quivered and said, "I refuse to marry Mr. Black, and if you force me to do so, I'll take my life away." 

After saying that, she grabbed the fruit knife and was about to cut her wrist, but Linda holmes slapped tightly on her delicate cheeks. Within a blink, she snatched the knife from her hand and asked fiercely, " Are you out of mind? How dare you? Ok, fine. If you want to suicide, then be it. But neither I can see you die in front of my eyes nor I can see the humiliated face of my husband. So I will finish my life first."

She cut her wrist ruthlessly immediately after saying that. Blood was dripping down from the wound. 

Lisa was so scared that she started shouting, "Mom, what have you done?" She grabbed her mother's wounded wrist tightly to stop the flow of blood and called her father, "Dad, hurry up, come here." 

Hearing the commotion, Mark Holmes rushed to Lisa's room, only to see the pitiful condition of mother and daughter, and asked, "What just happened here?"

"Dad, hurry up, take Mom to the hospital."

They rushed to the nearest hospital as soon as possible. Lisa was pacing back and forth outside the emergency room, continuously rubbing her palms. Mark Holmes glared at her and asked coldly, "Now care to explain what was going on?" 

Lisa was startled and stopped on the spot. She glanced at her father and muttered, "I am sorry, Dad. It was all my fault. I won't do it again." 

Mark Holmes shrugged helplessly and said, "I just don't...." 

Before he could finish speaking, the doctor came out of the emergency room, "Mr. Holmes, you can see the patient now. There is nothing to worry about. The cut was not deep. It is just a superficial wound."

Lisa and Mark Holmes both entered the room. She couldn't control her tears from falling after seeing her mother’s wrist wrapped in gauge. She whispered "sorry, sorry, sorry....." hugging her tightly. 

"I need to talk to my daughter alone."

Mark Holmes sighed and left shaking his head. 

Lisa sobbed and stammered, "I..I.. am r..ready to marry Mr. Black." 

Tears rolled down from Linda Holmes's eyes as well and said in a gentle tone, "You will be happy with Mr. Carl Black." 

She patted her daughter's head gently.

In Black villa...

Carl Black was lying on his bed. His eyes were fixed on the white ceiling. A faint smile was never leaving his face. The memory of when he saw Lisa first time in the library came alive in his mind. 

That day she was wearing a yellow sleeveless knee-length dress which was complimenting her slightly pink fair complexion. Her blonde hair was cascading to her shoulder. In his eyes, she was like a fairy. She was talking something to the librarian. He couldn't control his feet to move towards her, and he heard her sweet mesmerizing voice, "Ok Dad, then I am leaving first."

For a few seconds, their eyes locked with each other when she turned around to leave. Carl Black skipped a bit when he saw her deep blue eyes so closely. But before could know anything, she pulled back her eyes and walked out, without glancing at him. He turned around to see her leaving figure. He couldn’t avert his gaze until she disappeared from his line of sight. 

Recalling this, a wave of happiness hit his heart. His heart was drumming inside his chest, and his face lit up with a bright smile. He murmured her name, "Lisa..."