Contract Marriage; Fated Love

Days rolled into weeks and weeks into months. Noah never showed up again. He disappeared, leaving Emily all alone yet bonded to him by a marriage certificate. Emily woke up with the same routine everyday. She got up, had breakfast and went to work. She was a friendly girl and soon made some good friends at work. She hung out with these few friends often after work and then she returned to the boring house. Her family members who never bothered about her didn’t call her. They had always wanted her dead and forgotten after all. After Jayden’s planned accident failed, his man was punished. Fortunately for Jayden, the man had been too scared of Jayden to give away his name as he knew the implications. Jayden never troubled her again.

The clock ticked, days rolled and soon, it was one and half years. One evening, at the close of work, Emily sat with three friends, eating chips and drinking juice.

“Emily, there is a big club that will be booming tonight. You need to come along and have some fun,” Lilian, one of her friends said.

“She will need a ticket. Let’s go and get her one,” Jane joined in.

“No need. I am not interested,” Emily said flatly.

“Common Emily. Just a bit of fun to brighten your day and the weekend. It’s weekend. You need to be happy. Not making triangular movements all the time. I want to see a pretty and carefree smile on your face,” Lilian persisted

“Here, I have an extra ticket,” Lisa spoke for the first time. She passed a ticket to Emily. “You can’t say no, Emily. You are coming right?” she asked with pleading eyes.

“It would not be a bad idea to have some fun after all,” Emily thought .

“Yes, I will come,” she said eventually.

“Yepieeeeeeeeeee!” chorused her three friends.

“Cheers!” they said clinking their glasses.

With the help of Lilian, Lisa and Jane, Emily picked a nice and attractive gown from the store. It was attractive with an open neck line. Emily felt the cloth was too revealing.

“Isn’t this too revealing?” she asked.

“Not at all. It’s perfect Emily. Make sure to put this on,” Lilian finished.

The party was lively and shouty. The DJ invited everyone to the dance floor. All manner and styles of dance were being exhibited on the dance floor. The guys rocked the ladies who danced with careless abandon. The smell of alcohol filled the air and it was surprisingly pleasant. Emily sat alone drinking wine having turned down all invitations from the guys to a dance. Her three friends urged her to come along but she declined. They went without her. Emily drank her wine with a smile on her face. It was a carefree one. She felt so good and it seemed her burdened and beclouded mind was easing off.

The next time Emily realised where she was, she was in a room with a man. She was drunk too. He was bare chested. He pulled Emily to his embrace and gave her a passionate kiss. He focused on her mouth and nibbled softly. Emily stopped breathing when his delicate fingers touched her skin. He proceeded to take off her dress. She stretched her forefinger and touched his nipple and then his hand shot up to cover hers.

“I want you,” he said.

Her eyes flickered downward and her lips curved ever so slightly, “I know.”

His free hand slid through her hair at the same moment as his lips connected fiercely with hers.

The taste of her, the smell of her, the feeling of her, so close against him, skin to skin. Time and space had no meaning anymore. There was only her.

Emily woke up and realized she was naked. A man was there too, naked as well! What had she done?? She couldn’t see his face in the darkness and she didn’t bother to find out who it was she had made out with. She only noticed a conspicuous tatoo on his back. A very beautiful design. Yet, it could only be visible if he took off his shirt. She picked her clothes, dressed up quickly and sneaked off quietly. She told no one about it. She tried not to think about it. She put the thought behind her and moved on.

Three weeks later, Emily fell sick. She felt so weak and nauseous. She took some pills but that did not help matters. She decided to go to the hospital for some tests. After work the following day, she went to the hospital. She ran some tests and waited for the result. She was sure it was going to be a minor illness. Some hours later, she was called to the tests office for the result. She took it from the nurse and opened it. She froze immediately.

“Congratulations madam, you are three weeks pregnant,” the nurse said beaming with smiles. Emily forced a smile and walked out. She opened the result and looked again. It was no joke. It was not a dream. She was indeed three weeks pregnant .