Chapter One

Lyra's POV

Spoilers ahead...

I sat on my desk quietly and lonely as always, drawing a flower I saw on my way to school. I had been praying for Miss Ambrose's history class to end so that I could leave this miserable school and go home. These days have been hell for me. Most of my friends had left me because of the news about my father's company being on its last legs. But truly speaking I'd rather be alone than to be with fake friends, who only care about your status and nothing else.

Gosh, I was so blinded by their fake smiles not to see this coming. But I am glad I still had Sarah and Liah to cheer me up through those hard times.

" May I have your attention class?" Mr Leo, our vice principal's voice, sounded throughout the classroom.

I woke my head up and saw him standing there with a guy I had never seen before.

" This is Adam Cole, he is a new transfer student and will be joining you guys. Make sure you treat him well. Now give him a sit." He said and left, leaving Adam in front of the class.

" Hey guys, again I am Adam, nice to meet you all." He introduced himself with a calm smile and for some reason, he looked at me for quite an abnormal long time. This made my heart skip a little. I couldn't maintain eye contact with him for some reason, so I looked down. At this point my heart was racing, was I falling for this guy?

Adam was quite very handsome and I could see the jealousy in the eyes of other guys when Harriette, the most pretty girl in class, offered him a seat next to hers.

He sat down, but not before taking one quick glance at me. What is happening?

Miss Ambrose continued with her boring history class, repeating one thing over and over. I bent my head down and continued with my drawing.

" Lyra what are you doing, are you with us?" Miss Ambrose asked.

" Yes I am." I replied putting my pencil down.

" But you are using your pencil in a history class, I bet you were drawing again." She said, crossing her arms.

" Yes I was drawing and I'm sorry." She knew me too well, so I gave up.

The look on her face changed, but it was not that of anger, but that of concern.

"Lyra I know you are going through tough times now, but you need to stay strong and focused. If you keep up like this, your grades could drop, not only in my subject, but other subjects as well," she said.

" She is mourning the fall of her father's company." Sam, one of Norman's goonies blurted out. This made the whole class burst into laughter. How I hate that group.

"If you utter another word in my class, you will be answering for it." Miss Ambrose warned. She hated trash talking, a lot.

The bell finally rang, ending a hell of a school day for me. I picked up my bag and rushed out of class to head home. I never wanted to waste another minute in that school. As I passed through the hallway, I could feel the eyes on me and all the whispers weren't saying something good. So much for being a fallen rich man's daughter.

" Hey everyone, you need to get to the basketball court now and see this." Jane, the chatterbox in our class shouted.

I was about to leave the gate but curiosity got the better of me, so I joined the others and headed to the basketball court. When I arrived there, I wasn't surprised to see Norman and his two followers, fighting another group of three from another class.

Though Norman was arrogant, he had the strength to back it up. It was almost as if he was superhuman. Norman punched one of the opposition gang members and he went flying to the other side of the court. Norman walked over to him, then he turned and looked at the crowd as if he was searching for someone. For some reason his eyes stopped on me, then he smiled and continued with his senseless fight.

Well, at least I got rid of my curiosity, so I headed to the school's parking lot, hopped into my car and drove home.

I arrived home and noticed that my father's car was in the garage, meaning he was home. This was unusual as he mostly came back late from work. As I approached the door, I could hear Lola already barking from the other side. When I finally opened the door, she stood there wagging her tail with excitement.

" Hey there, how have you been, girl, did you miss me?"

Lola closed her eyes as she enjoyed me touching her head.

" Hey Lyra, how was school today?" My father's voice sounded from the other side of the living room.

" It was okay, I guess," I replied, trying to smile.

My father looked at me for a while and said, " you don't look happy, what's wrong?"

I explained to him what happened to me in school and I could see sadness in his eyes as I said every word. He pointed to the dining table, " I prepared dinner for you," he said.

Since I was famished, I quickly threw my bag on the couch and went straight to the dining table.

As I was eating away my dinner, I noticed my father wasn't eating and he kept fidgeting. It was unlike him to fidget, he had always been a composed man.

" Hey dad, what is wrong, won't you have some?" I asked.

" No, don't worry about me, just enjoy your food, I'm fine." He said, giving out a rictus smile.

I knew my father well. Most of the time, when he said he was fine, he wasn't. The dark eyes and the expression on his face proved that something was bothering him.

" Dad please be honest, what is really bothering you, is it your company?"

I asked.

He took a big sigh and said, " Lyra, you know I love you right, and I want just what is best for you." Most sentences that begin like that means that someone is about to request something uncomfortable from you.

" Ever since your mother died it has been just you and I. I know I haven't been there for you all this while, but it hasn't been easy at the company.

Since the tragic event occurred, the company had been on the verge of going bankrupt, but luckily, a solution came up to stop it, and I will be needing your help in that." He said.

At this point I was really confused because I couldn't understand how I could be of help. The look on my father's face showed that he was finding it difficult to say the next words.

" I met with a business colleague and his son was interested in marrying you," he said.

" I don't understand dad. How will marrying the son of your business colleague help the company?" I asked.

" He promised that if you accept this marriage, he will fund the reinstatement of the company." He stated.

"But dad, this means you would be selling me off to him," I replied.

" No this is different, it was a promise he made. If we become a family, he would be helping me as a brother. Think about this, did you enjoy it when your friends insulted you the way they did?" He asked.

" Dad, I don't think I am ready for marriage now, I am still in school." I protested.

" You don't need to marry now, I can make arrangements that you marry after you graduate this year, but I will need you to agree to the marriage proposal first," he explained.

It was really frustrating that he kept insisting.

" But I barely know the son of this business colleague of yours," I said. My dad looked at me, then he smiled and said.

" About that, we had planned to meet up tonight."

I couldn't believe my ears. Had they planned all of these without my consent? Unbelievable!

—-

I had freshened up and worn a red dress my father had bought for me beforehand, for the occasion. My father was already waiting for me in the car when I hopped in.

" You look beautiful," he said to me.

" Thank you," I replied, even though I really wasn't enjoying the whole marriage thing.

My heart kept racing as I tried to anticipate how my first and maybe only suitor would look like. Would he be handsome? Would he be kind? My curiosity was getting the best of me.

Before I knew it, we had arrived at the meeting point. It was a very classy restaurant. I stepped out of the vehicle and followed behind my father, who was almost like he was in a hurry.

We entered the restaurant and instead of seeing a crowd as I expected, I saw two men sitting on a table at the center, with the waiters standing around the room.

As we approached the table, my eyes were focused on the youngest man among the two. His face grew clearer as we got closer and when we were close enough, I couldn't believe my eyes.

" Norman?"