Chapter 5.

"Mom..." Charles approached his mother and hugged her. She smiled at him and said, "Charles... You haven't answered my question yet? I was waiting for you to return home so we could have dinner together as a family."

"Good evening, Mom," Charles greeted his mother, hugging her shoulder as he walked with her towards the dining room.

He replied, "She's the one, Mom, and she's very pretty too."

"Hmm," First Lady Kira smiled, remaining silent as she watched Charles pull out a chair for her to sit down first. She sat down elegantly, continuing to observe her handsome son as he sat down next to her at the dining table.

Charles replied, his voice gentle, "Mom, she's the one, and she's very cute. Where did you see her photo from? I really do like her."

"Mm," First Lady Kira smiled as the maids stepped out of the kitchen and walked up to the dining table to serve her and Charles' dinner. President Nolan Alejandro was not around, attending a presidential meeting.

First Lady Kira smiled once more and replied to Charles, her voice sweet, "Your father already made it known to some of his cabinet members that he was looking for a bride for you, and to know which of them had any pretty daughters you might like and choose from."

"Hmm, thanks, Mom. I really do like Nancy, but..." Charles' words trailed off as he remembered how Nancy had run away from him.

His mother asked, "But what, Charles?"

First Lady Kira frowned as she watched her only son acting nervously. She waited for the maids to finish serving the meals before asking again, "Charles.. Do you want us to cancel the wedding? It's in two days, and you cannot embarrass your father and me in public, in front of all our prominent guests."

"I know, Mother, but the truth is that Nancy ran away from me when I went to welcome her home on her return to the city and in her family's house," Charles shook his head in embarrassment, covering his face with his palms at the memory of Nancy fleeing from him. But he smiled remembering how her hips had swayed at his face, unaware that his mother was still staring at him angrily, not finding his revelation funny at all.

She snapped, "What? Charles, how dare she run away from you? We need to cancel the wedding right now. Didn't her parents inform her she was going to marry you, and the wedding is the day after tomorrow?"

"No, Mother. You cannot call off the wedding," Charles refuted, and his mother's jaw dropped as she stared at her only son sadly, realizing he had fallen for this silly girl.

"Don't tell me you still want to go ahead and marry that lady who doesn't love you, Charles. I cannot allow that to happen," First Lady Kira added.

"I know, Mother, but you and Father have always wanted me to marry, and now I cannot change my choice again. I can understand Nancy's fears... She's getting married to the president's son, so she has to be scared," Charles said, smiling sadly, but his mother shook her head and replied, "No, Charles... She's supposed to be happy with you and glad you've chosen her. Any other lady would've been excited you chose her as your wife, showering you with love and warmth. How dare Nancy run away from you, and you took it lightly with her family? Where's my phone? I need to get her arrested and deal with her this minute before throwing her behind bars."

"No, Mother!" Charles exclaimed, startling his mother, and he said, "You cannot do that. If I don't marry Nancy, then know I won't marry any other lady either."

"What?" First Lady Kira's jaw dropped again as she turned speechless, staring at her only son in shock.

She shook her head and said, "No, Charles. This is not happening... I will find another bride for you to marry, okay? There are many other pretty women out there, and some even more fair-skinned than Nancy."

"No, Mother. I want Nancy Marlon, I really do want Nancy. I want to feel her love, her warmth, and I believe that with time, she will love me too. Let's just give her some time, Mom," Charles smiled, surprising his mother further, whose jaw was left hanging open. She gulped as Charles said, "Let's have our dinner, Mom, before it gets cold."

"Okay, son," First Lady Kira subtly blamed herself in her heart for choosing Nancy's photo first. She had seen many pretty young women's photos, as every family wanted their daughter to marry her only son, even though they ridiculed and wrote nonsense about her family online. She had personally selected Nancy's photo the moment her eyes fell on it, knowing Charles wouldn't have time to go through them all. Now she was wishing she had never picked Nancy, as the silly young lady dared to reject her son, the most handsome and well-to-do young man in their city.

"If it wasn't that Charles loves women and is rumored to be a male prostitute, then what would have given the young lady the right to reject my only son and even run away from him? Hmm," First Lady Kira sighed heavily, thinking to herself. Charles asked with a gentle voice, "Mom, is everything alright?"

"Yes, Charles," First Lady Kira replied, forcing a tight smile and deciding to have her personal assistant place a monitoring team on Nancy. Nancy wouldn't just run away from Charles like that, not under her watch.

'I really need to do a personal background check on Nancy, to know if she already has a secret lover somewhere, as the reason she rejected Charles,' First Lady Kira thought, sighing again, but Charles didn't ask what was wrong as they continued eating their dinner in silence.

After the dinner session ended, Charles stood up first from his chair and headed upstairs to his bedroom. He said to his mother, "Good night, Mom."

"Yeah, good night, Charles," First Lady Kira Alejandro replied with a smile as Charles leaned closer and pecked her cheek. Then he walked away towards the living room stairs, climbing them to go back to his bedroom.

Charles decided to use the stairs to exercise his mind, continuing to think about why Nancy had run away from him.

Charles entered his sitting room first before walking into his bedroom. He picked up Nancy's photo that he had kept on the headboard and stared at it. 

He kissed her photo on her pink lips, saying, "So pink and lovely. I cannot wait to have you as my wife, and to be kissing you every day on these beautiful pink lips of yours."

Charles smiled and kissed Nancy's photo again, feeling his entire body desiring her. He asked himself, "But why did she run away from me? Am I ugly now?"

Charles frowned and walked up to his bedroom mirror to examine his face. He had short black hair and neatly shaped short beard, as he was a tall, handsome Black man.

Charles murmured with a cold voice, "Maybe she doesn't like guys with beards. Hmm... But she's so beautiful, and I cannot reject her now. Maybe she has a boyfriend? I'm sure she must have one."

Charles frowned, thinking about Nancy having a boyfriend and it being the reason she had run away from him. He cursed, "Nonsense! Is her boyfriend finer than me? I cannot reject her now, and my Mother shouldn't dare to hurt her either. What am I even ranting about?"

Charles walked back to his bed, picking up his telephone and placing a call to Stevo Brights, his head of security and most trusted in managing his affairs.

Charles needed Stevo to monitor Nancy's activities - her phone calls, text messages, and find out if she had a boyfriend.

Charles said coldly, "Hello, Stevo."

Stevo, in the security house inside the villa, replied, "Hello, boss. Good evening."

Charles said, "I want you to hire a hacker to monitor, then give me a 24-hour report of my chosen bride. I will forward her details to you shortly. Find out what she does, who she calls, and speaks with daily. Is that understood?"

"Yes, boss."

"Anything else you need me to do for you, boss?" Stevo asked.

"No, that's all," Charles replied, ending the call.

Charles sighed, staring back at Nancy's photo he was still holding. "I cannot wait to have you as my bride, and in just two days, you will be on my bed, moaning sweetly to my deep thrusts. Damn it! I just hope she doesn't run away before our wedding."