Chapter 4: Parents...

"How could you do this to me?!" Arya whispered loudly at her parents as she aggressively wiped her tears with her sleeves.

"Don't be so hot-blooded, Arya." Her mother, extremely tired of her attitude, told her.

"What?... You bring me to the last place I would ever want to be and you're telling me not to be so 'hot-blooded'?" Arya scoffed and rolled her eyes. This was ridiculous.

Arya turned around and tried to leave but was dragged back gently by her father.

"Yaya, listen to us, this is an opportunity. Do you want to continue to suffer like this all your life? Think about us, your parents…" Her father pleaded with her.

"...Alright." she sighed. 

"I'll go.", Arya said after some time, bringing a smile to her parent's faces.

The three of them shared a short hug before finally entering the inside of the building.

The inside was even better than the outside. With clean and shiny marble floors, pure leather couches, a clean receptionist desk, and a wonderful chandelier hanging from the middle of the ceiling. Just the lobby alone looked like it was from another world.

They were greeted by a receptionist and guided toward an elevator that stood out from the rest.

"Just go up to the 10th floor and someone will take you to Mr.Rivera's office." The woman explained with a slight smile.

"Ok…thanks." Arya gave her a small thank you as she entered the elevator.

 The lift to the 10th Floor was very boring. Arya could tell that her parents were feeling guilty about doing this to her but she wasn't in the mood to comfort them, what they did was wrong.

They finally got off of the lift but the heavy awkward atmosphere remained as it hovered above the family of three.

"Ah, welcome." A slightly short man greeted them before they even had a chance to look around.

"My name is Rajaei Jarvis. It is a pleasure to meet all of you. I will be the one accompanying you to Mr.Rivera's office." The man explained and shook hands with everyone. He seemed nice.

The building really was spacious. They took a few twists and turns before they finally arrived in front of his door.

"This is as far as I can take you…" He chuckled awkwardly. 

Arya's mother was about to knock when Rajeai stopped her.

"The boss also said only your daughter could go in. If you want, you could follow me to the break room or you could wait for her outside the door. Though you won't hear anything because the room is soundproof." Rajaei told them, turning his wrists to check the time.

"If that's the case… Arya, you'd be fine on your own right?" Her father asked.

Arya sighed at that question. It was a bit too late to be asking her that, but she was in an enormous company, wearing her pajamas, and her hair was completely scattered, what else could happen?

"I'll be fine, you guys can go I'll meet up with you later. Get some rest, ok?" Arya smiled tiredly.

After she said that, she knocked on the door. It didn't take long before she heard a quick come-in. Arya opened the door and quickly shut it behind her.

Upon seeing the room, she was once again stunned. The life of a rich person is really too good.

The black marble floor complimented the walls of the room. In the middle of the room were two couches placed opposite each other and a glass table in between them. Opposite the door was a u-shaped office desk and a leather office chair, behind the desk was a floor-to-ceiling window that was covered by a black curtain.

The room was really dull but it was still beautiful and extremely clean.

Sitting calmly on the office chair was Ryker. He had his regular hairstyle as he seemed to be sorting through some papers. Hearing the door open, Ryker raised his head from what he was doing and stood up from his chair.

"Arya." He called her name, bringing her back to earth.

He motioned for her to sit down on the couch with him. Once both of them were seated facing each other, Ryker began to state his reason for calling her here.

"Have you finally decided?"

"..." Her silence was his only answer.

"You have to decide now, Arya." 

"Why did you pick me of all people?" She asked with her head down, making him unable to see her expression.

"You don't have a choice. It makes you easy to use." Ryker stated bluntly.

"I know that's a lie. There are many other people like that with an even greater background and I'm sure I wasn't the first option." Arya rebuked.

"You're right, you weren't the first option but you were the one that suited my taste." Ryker admitted as he stood up.

"You see, I need to get married in order to be the head of the family business, if I don't, my parents would give it to either my elder brother and I don't want that." Ryker explained.

"There are many girls you can get married to, why me? Just because I fit your 'tastes' isn't enough reason." Arya scoffed.

Ryker let out a slight frown as he sat back down. He picked up a slip of paper from the side of the table and handed it to her.

This seemed familiar.

"I was the one who found the vase at the auction and bought it since I was also the reason for you breaking it, think of this as my way of taking responsibility and the expression on my mother's face when I told her who I was marrying was satisfying," Ryker explained. 

Although his explanation didn't make sense to Arya, she simply accepted it thinking that was how weird rich people were.

"I'll accept but you know I already have a boyfriend." Arya sighed and gave in. 

There wasn't really an option.

"Don't worry, your boyfriend was sorted out." Ryker said as he handed her a signing pen.

"How?" Arya asked.

She had already signed the paper and put both the pen and paper on the table.

"He wasn't something a little money couldn't fix." Ryker, for the first time, smiled at her as he collected the paper.

Maybe he was like his mother, a sadist. 

If he was, she wouldn't be surprised that he was smiling at the odd expression she was making. Her palms were sweaty and her eyes glistened with tears that she was desperately holding back. She opened her lips to say something but no words came out.

"I'll ask my driver to send you back. Wake up early tomorrow, I'll send someone to take you shopping. After all, a soon-to-be Rivera has to dress like one." Ryker said as he escorted her out of the room.

"One more thing..." He called her back.

"What is it?" Arya paused in her steps to look at him.

"Even my mother doesn't know that what we have is fake... she believes that we've been in a relationship before all...this."

WIth that, he smiled slightly, although Arya wasn't a fool and could tell it was forced.