Arranged marriage : Married to an unknown man

Ariana

“No. I c.. can’t..”

We were back to our home from Knight’s mansion. We were about to go to bed to sleep when Xavier told me something which he wanted me to do. And that’s a very big deal for me to handle.

I was pacing back and forth in the room. Xavier came up to me and stopped me by gripping my elbow. “First, stop pacing around. And second, tell me why not?”

“Xavier, the thing you’re asking me to do is not small. It’s huge.” I stretched my arms to show him how huge it was. “I’m happy with what I’m doing. I’m happy the way I am. I have always done jobs which could hide me behind before I started working for you and I’m still learning to work in that environment and instantly you want me to do that?” I said in one breath, in a panicked voice.

“Yes, you are still learning and will always learn. The thing is I don’t want you to waste your talent working in obscurity. I want you to come in front, show the world what you can do so that the world can praise you for your work.” He said in a calm voice, holding me by my shoulders.

“Why me?” I asked in a drained voice.

“Because you’re born to conquer. And this is something for which I can trust only you.” He gave me an encouraging smile.

“What if I make some unforgivable mistake? What if I won’t be able to take any decision? What if no one accepts me in that? I don’t know anything about it. What if I let you down?” I asked, turning around from him. I was feeling anxious. He sighed audibly and again came in front of me.

“You. Can. Do. Anything. You. Want.” He cupped my face. “If you can become the best P. A without having knowledge about it; if you can work in Cyber Crime Branch; if you can save the biggest company in the world from theft, then you can do anything. Just believe in yourself.”

His words gave me little strength but I was still in doubt.

“Don’t doubt your worth, Ari. And if you’re thinking about how you’ll do it then let me remind you, I will always be there for you, I have your back. I’ll teach you everything about it. And not only me, dad, Sean, and Daniel will also help you with this. We will never let you fall. We all want you to rise high.”

I was looking in eyes throughout. The confidence that he has in me was visible in his eyes and face. He believed in me when I myself didn’t. His confidence stated that he knows me more than I know myself. How can I not love this man? He’s not like men who never want women to step up and rise. He wants me to walk with him, not behind him. He has done and still doing everything he can, to bring out best in me. And I know he will always be there for me to catch me before I fall.

How can I not accept what he wants me to do? How can I say no to him when he believes in me? I don’t have guts to say no to him. His trust in me is so much that he’s giving me this huge responsibility. I can’t break his trust.

“Okay. I will do it.” I said with determination. “And I’ll try my best not to let your trust fade away on me.”

He smiled and kissed my lips lightly and then my forehead. “I know you’ll never let that happen.”

“This is the first step you took towards gaining confidence. I’m very proud of you.” I smiled at him.

“So, it’s final. I’ll proudly announce to the world that you’re my wife on the day my father passes his company to me because it will be a huge press conference. And that is the best stage to reveal the secret. And on that day only I’ll announce what I have planned for you.” He said cheerfully.

“I can’t wait to see everyone’s reaction.” He said excitedly which made me laugh.

“When is the press conference?” I asked.

“Next week.”

“That’s too close.” I gasped.

“Don’t worry. I’ll prepare you for your big day.” He winked.

“Umm… Xavier can I invite my friends.. you know Lauren, Mrs. Miller, and…” He cut me off and said.

“You can invite who so ever you want. That’s going to be your day, plan it as you want.” He assured.

“Ari..” He looked at me hesitantly.

“Yes?”

“Er.. do you.. umm…do you want to invite your mother, Scarlet, and Andrew?” He asked hesitantly.

“Will I become a bad daughter if I say that I don’t want them there?” I asked to which he shook his head.

“Then I don’t want them there. They’re the people who are a huge part of my life but…. They’re not my well-wishers, they never wanted me to earn my own name. They were never happy in any achievement. My own mother was never there for me in bad and now I don’t want her in my good.” I stated with heavy heart, tears were threatening to fall but I blinked them away.

“I’m happy that our parents will be there to support us. Sean and Daniel will be there. My friends will be there. That’s enough for me.”

Xavier hugged me and kissed my head repeatedly then looked in my eyes.

“I too don’t want them there. I don’t want them to ruin your mood.” He huffed “Forget about them. Let them know through the media. Let them experience the shock of their life.” He chuckled.

“And I love it when you call my parents, our parents.” He hugged me again.

“Because they are,” I mumbled, burying my face in his chest.

From that day on, Xavier started doing whatever he could do to boost my confidence. He did slight changes in my wardrobe. The clothes weren’t at all revealing but had a different touch like off-shoulder/one shoulder shirts, pencil skirt, dresses which reach my knees, and so on.

He even arranged many IT department meetings and most of the time it was me who he asked to give presentations. I was hesitant the first day but as the days go by it became my habit to speak in front of people without hesitation.

Xavier, Sean, and Daniel trained me on how to give orders. Including mom and dad, they all started helping me to face my insecurities.

And I was almost ready to face the world.

A week later…

The day came when my life was going to take a 180-degree turn. I would no more be Ariana I used to be. Today, the world will come to know about my existence. Today, I’ll be given the biggest responsibility that I have ever handled.

So, to welcome the change, I was standing at the backstage of the press conference hall with mom. Xavier and dad were discussing something in the front stage.

Though I have been learning to compose myself since last week. Still, right now I was getting nervous. I was showing that I was calm but only I knew what I was feeling from inside.

“Dear, your hands are sweating. You’re worrying too much. Don’t do that.” I looked at my hand which mom was holding. I immediately pulled my hand away and wiped them with my dress.

“I’m not doing it intentionally, It’s happening on its own,” I said.

“Should I call Xavi?” She asked, looking at me in worry.

“No!” I replied immediately. “If he gets to know this, he’ll not leave me for even a second.”

“I understand.” She chuckled. “But please try to calm down. Okay? Everything’s gonna be alright.” She patted my cheek.

“Hey, Princess.”

“Hello, Ariana.”

“Where were you two? I have been waiting for you for so long. Were you planning to skip the event?” I glared at Daniel and Sean.

“We wouldn’t dare. Anyway, you look gorgeous, Princess.” Daniel smiled widely and kissed my forehead.

I was wearing a white one-shoulder knee-length dress with T-strap heels in my feet. Xavier chose the outfit for me.

“Thank you.” I smiled.

“Ready for everything?” Sean asked.

“I guess?” I hugged him. He kissed my forehead.

“We’re always with you.” He whispered, patting my back.

“Mom, Sean, Daniel, I think you all should go in front. The event is about to start.” I said.

“Who will stay with you? You’ll panic if we’ll leave you alone.” Mom said.

“Mom, I’ll be fine. You can’t skip that moment, you should be there to see your son taking over the business dad build with his hard work. All of your presence is needed there.” I reasoned out.

I was about to say something more but I was dragged away from them.

“What is Kevin doing here?” Xavier who dragged me in the corner asked. He had an annoying scowl on his face.

“Err.. he’s my friend so…” I scratched the back of my ear.

When I had invited Kevin for the event, he had asked me if he could bring his girlfriend, Eva, who was a huge fan of Xavier, Sean, and Daniel. I could not have denied his request because honestly, I too wanted to meet the girl and besides, her dream of meeting the three of them was going to get fulfilled. How could I have taken away the fan-girl moment from her?

“I understand Ari, but he better stays at a notable distance from you.” He grumbled. Here he’s complaining about Kevin and there Kevin complaining about his girlfriend being interested in Xavier more than him. Men will never change.

“But I also know that no one can steal you from me. So I won’t stop you from meeting anyone but let me clarify this… If any other man ever tries to touch or come closer to you, I will kill him.” He scowled.

“You look cute when you complain.” I pinched his cheek playfully. He raised a mocking eyebrow and smirked.

“Oh? Then how do I look when I make love to you?” Blush instantly crept on my face. I hit him on his arm.

“Xavier.” I rebuked.

“Are you two planning on making me uncle?” I got startled when I heard Daniel’s voice close to me.

“You should change your habit of startling me.” I scolded him.

“I will. Hey, you haven’t answered my question. In the corner of backstage are you two doing family planning? Am I going to be an uncle soon?”

My blush deepened listening to him. I stood there dumbfounded not knowing what to say.

“Fuc…”

“Xavier.” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Sorry.” He gave me an apologetic look then looked at Daniel. “Back off Daniel. What do you think? What do you think, we’ll plan a baby in the corner of the backstage of some event?” Xavier shot back at him.

“You never know. People do weird things these days.” Daniel shrugged.

“Yeah, but not that weird. I know, Xavier and Ariana must have already done family planning.” Sean said approaching us.

Goodness, why are they talking about this? Do they want me to die in embarrassment?

“Will you two leave us alone?” Xavier glared them.

“Oh, come on boys leave those poor love birds alone.” Mom said approaching us.

“If both of you wants to play with kids then have your own. Get married already.” She pulled both of their ears.

“Oh come on Aunt Myla, I’m still young to get married,” Daniel whined like a baby.

“I too am happy being single. I’m satisfied that one out of three of us is married.” Sean raised his hands in surrender.

“Then you two should mind your own business. Don’t disturb us.” Xavier said. I mentally rolled my eyes and shook my head. These three argue like kids.

“Come on you two, come with me.” Mom dragged both of them at the front stage with her.

“Sometimes all I want is to kill them” Xavier frowned, looking at their disappearing figure.

“Hey, you’re talking about my brothers.” I narrowed my eyes at him. He just rolled his eyes in response.

“Jokes apart, are you ready?” He asked taking my hands in his.

“I am.” I smiled assuringly.

“Good. You remember what you have to do?” He asked.

“Yes. I have to wear a smile and walk like a queen.” I responded. He has been reminding this to me since last week.

“That’s like my Ari.” He kissed hands.

“I have to give you a new ring. Until now it didn’t come in my mind that the ring you’re wearing is my parent’s choice.” He mumbled rubbing the wedding ring I was wearing. He too was wearing his wedding ring.

“I’ll give you a new ring which will show our love.” He said.

“Then I too will have to give a new ring to you because it was my mother’s choice…

Not mine.” I said looking at his ring.

“We’ll talk about it later. Now I’m going there. You wait here till your name being called. Okay?”

“Okay.”

He kissed my forehead before heading out. The press conference started in a few minutes and I stood there listening to what was happening there and waited for my name being called.