Chapter 5: Care

“Ma’am Rose, the makeup artist and hairstylist, will be here in a few minutes,” the maid informed me outside of my room.

I let out a deep sigh and looked at my reflection in the mirror. Tonight, the announcement will be made that Rose is engaged to the Arrogant and Rude Heir of the Mercedes Clan, but in reality, Rose is Annalise Ysia Villareal, the Substitute Bride for her fiancé.

“Let us all welcome Zeno Myer Mercedes with his fiance, Rose Vergara!” the host announced. All the visitors rise and clap their hands, making my hands wet and trembling. Even if I’m not Rose, I can still feel the pressure with their eyes as if they are expecting something from me because I’m his fiance.

“Don’t do any stupid stunts here, woman or else. You will experience my wrath,” he whispered, which made me clench my jaw. If he doesn’t want me to be his wife, then why did he accept this arranged marriage? I can’t believe him! He can just back out if he doesn’t want to rather than get angry with me.

“Why can’t you just change your attitude this time? For Pete’s sake! Don’t ruin my mood,” I whispered back, but I slightly smiled at the camera when all of those began to flash. I need to be presentable in my pictures and remove all the unnecessary expressions because they are watching us for now.

After that scene, we didn’t talk and pretend that we were an actual couple in front of our visitors. No, his visitors. His arm was on my waist the whole time whenever we greeted them all one by one and he didn’t even dare to remove it just for a second which gives me goosebumps and weird emotions in my heart but I always remind myself that this is just an act because they will broadcast it in social media platforms or T.V. So why would I assume that this is real?

The party went well, but it was exhausting. I was wearing three-inch tall heels, but it was still hurting my feet because of non-stop walking, so I whispered in Zeno’s ear and said, “My feet hurt.”

I heard him whisper something but I couldn’t understand because the music was kinda loud. After a few seconds, he excused us and what surprised me the most is he carried me in a bridal style, so I had no choice but to wrap my arms around his neck.

Suddenly, the crowd went wild. They keep on talking and the flash of their cameras keeps on clicking as if they don’t want to miss this moment of us being sweet in public. Because of their sudden reaction, I hid my face in his chest because of embarrassment. I can’t stand this scenario and I feel like they will expect our marriage to be smooth, but behind this, we always fight.

Fighting is what I hate in a relationship even if it’s between friends, family, boyfriend, or husband because that isn’t what I’m expecting although, there are times that it will happen but of course not every time.

I understand our relationship because it’s an arranged marriage, but if it leads to hurting me, just like what happened before in the hallway, I might back out. I didn’t even know what kind of food I ate before making an impulsive decision. Imagine, offering someone to be her substitute.

“Dude! I didn’t know that you’re a sweet man, huh?” someone said, which made Zeno chuckle.

“Man, I was just concerned about her. Her feet are hurting because of the heels,” he replied. My eyebrow suddenly reacted because of what I just heard. Is he concerned? The hell! Did he forget that he pushed me in the hallway before and did not mind that I was holding a glass of strawberry shake? Liar! Zeno is a big liar!

“Since when did you care about a woman?” someone asked. I guess, it’s his friends. They will not tease him if he’s not close with them, although all of his answers are just acts.

“Right now, Man. Did you lose your eyes and you can’t witness everything right now?” he answered, causing everyone to laugh.

“Are you sure, man? As far as we remember, you hate this marriage, but we’ll never know. What if you’re just acting because there are tons of cameras watching your moves?” one of his friends said.

Zeno let out a chuckle, which I don’t know if it’s real or sarcastic. “Good thing you remember.”

Hearing it with my ears makes my heart. I already expected it, but bitterness spread to my mind as if I was expecting everything to be real. This situation is hard. If only I didn’t offer Rose to be her substitute, then I would not be going to experience this. How can I terminate our contract? I don’t want to finish this even if it costs my life, I can’t.

Is he merciless? Yes, and this is why I wanted to terminate the contract. I can’t live with a guy like him. If only I could turn back time, I would not experience this, getting hurt every day. Is there any way to disappear aside from ending my life? I still wanted to be happy, so I couldn’t just end my life because of him.

I’m confused. I wanted to terminate my contract with Rose and her family, but I can’t. They are powerful and they can bring me down easily because I’m just a lowly creature who loves to write. My status isn’t that high, so how can I fight if ever they will throw a case at me? They can manipulate everything in just a snap, so why would I dare to back out?

I’m hurting because of Zeno, but he has the right to be like that because we are the same. We don’t like this kind of setup. But that doesn’t mean that I will always understand him because I need him to understand me. We both don’t want this, so why did we continue it?

“I can’t care for a woman even if she will be my wife or mother of my kids,” he continues, which makes my heart break into pieces.