Chapter 6: Miller Lugard's photo."
1318 Words
Lisa's room was dimly lit, the only sound was her muffled sobs. Her eyes, red and puffy, pleaded with her dad as she asked, "Dad, what if I say I don't want to marry Miller's son? Will you cancel the marriage?" Her voice trembled, and her small frame shook.
Mr. Davis's face turned serious, his jaw clenched in a mix of frustration and heartbreak. "No, Lisa. This is for your own good." His deep voice was firm, but his eyes betrayed a hint of sadness.
Lisa's gaze dropped, her tears falling onto the soft, white carpet. "Dad, is it worth sacrificing your daughter's future and happiness because of power and friendship?" Her voice cracked, and her body shook with each sob.
Mr. Davis's expression faltered, his eyes welling up with pain as he saw her daughter crying. He took a deep breath, maintaining his composure. "I am doing this for your own good, Lisa. I want you to be happy in the future." His voice was laced with a mix of conviction and doubt.
Lisa looked up, her eyes searching for any glimmer of hope. "Dad, I thought you loved and cared about me and wanted me to be happy in the future, but I was wrong," she whispered, her voice barely audible.
Mr. Davis turned around, his footsteps echoing in the silent room as he walked away.
Lisa slipped down from her bed, her body wracked with sobs. "Mom, why did you leave me alone in this wicked world? Why didn't you take me with you?" she cried out, her voice echoing off the walls.
Mera, sitting on the sofa downstairs, quickly saw her dad coming down from upstairs hide her snack, and pretended to cry as she saw her dad approaching. "Dad," she called out, her voice trembling.
Mr. Davis looked at his second daughter, annoyance etched on his face. "Why are you crying?" he asked gruffly.
Mera's fake tears spilled down her cheeks. "Dad, I don't want to marry Miller's son," she pleaded, her voice laced with desperation.
Mr. Davis's expression turned angry. "If you don't want to marry Miller Lugard's son, then forget it. But don't come crying to me after," he said, his voice firm and commanding.
Mera's face lit up with joy as soon as her dad left. She quickly wiped away her fake tears and returned to her snack, savoring the sweet taste of freedom. she remembered her father's advice to forget about marrying Miller, the son of a useless gasbag. This realization filled her with joy, prompting her to rush upstairs to share the good news with her mother.
The servants, witnessing Mera dancing and running upstairs, they were puzzled. They wondered about the cause of her sudden happiness, as she had not made any phone calls or gone out. One of them asked, but the others simply shrugged, indicating their lack of knowledge.
Meanwhile, Lisa cried and eventually fell asleep, her head resting on her bed. After some hours, she awoke from a dream, rubbing her swollen eyes. She sat on the ground, gazing up at the ceiling, lost in thought.
As she rose to unlock her phone, the screen displayed numerous missed calls from Deva.
Despite the repeated calls, she had not answered. She also saw a message from WeChat, but it was still from Deva.
"Lili, what's up? What's going on? I have been calling, but you're not picking up. Lili, please call me back soon so I can feel at ease and know what to do next."
Lisa replied to the message, her fingers moving slowly on the keyboard.
"Hey, I'm okay. I just slept and didn't see your calls. What's up?" Lisa typed, her heart heavy with the weight of her impending marriage.
Lisa searched for the picture of Miller Lugard's ugly face on her phone, her heart racing with anxiety. After finding it, she gazed at the photo for a while, her expression twisted in distaste. "Hmm, Mother, his is too ugly and scary to look at," she whispered, shaking her head.
She continued, her voice barely above a whisper, "But since it's my fate to marry Lugard and there's no one to speak up for me, I will marry him." Her eyes dropped as if the weight of her words was crushing her.
Lisa's thoughts drifted to her dream, where Lugard's menacing voice echoed in her mind. "You're mine, mum, I'm scared." She shuddered, despite herself.
Even the thought of escaping, of traveling to a new place, seemed futile. "He may still find me," she whispered, her eyes welling up with tears.
But then, a glimmer of hope flickered to life. "Besides, I won't be scared of him coming to me or touching me, because the accident damaged his lower body and made him impotent; he can't touch a woman or feel the desire to touch a woman."
Lisa's gaze rose, her eyes locking onto her mother's photo on the table. She stood up, walked toward it, and picked it up, her fingers tracing the familiar contours of her mother's face.
"Mum, there is no big deal in being Lugard's wife, it's just answering his name and being his wife, so I have nothing to worry about," she said, trying to convince herself.
But the words rang hollow, and fear crept in, its icy fingers wrapping around her heart. "Even though Thor is a ruthless beast, he can't kill me, his wife, or the world will deal with them."
Lisa's heart raced as she sent the photo to Deva. She waited anxiously for her friend's response, her mind racing with worst-case scenarios.
Deva had just come out of the bathroom, quickly drying her hair to get dressed, and rushed to Lisa's house because Lisa was not picking up her calls.
As she was about to get dressed, the sound of a message interrupted her. She put down the hair dryer and picked up her phone from the bed.
It was a message from Lisa. After reading the message, she was about to breathe a sigh of relief when another message interrupted her.
She opened the message, and it was a photo. She shouted and closed her eyes before opening them again. After looking at the photo,
she typed back to Lisa, "Who is this ugly beast you sent to me just now? He is so terrifying. Looking at that photo feels as if he is watching me from behind," Deva said, looking around her room.
Lisa looked at Deva's response and typed "Oh."
Deva twitched her eyebrow looking at the "oh" Lisa sent to her.
She typed back, "Lisa, what is the meaning of 'oh'? Can you explain to me who is in that photo and what is going on over there?" and sent it.
Shortly another chat came in, beep, beep. Deva frowned when she saw what the message said. It said, "Guess."
She typed back, "How should I guess? Have I ever met this kind of terrifying person before? I never thought that this kind of ugly person existed in this world," and sent it.
Lisa saw her friend's sharp tongue, talking without thinking. She typed back.
When Deva saw the chat, her mouth was wide in shock looking at the message that said, "This is Miller Lugard's photo."
"Oh my God, he's too ugly and terrifying," she said, closing her mouth with her two hands. She typed, "Lisa, what about your stepsister's marriage with him?" Deva asked.
"She's no longer getting married to him," Lisa replied.
"Why? Has your dad come back to his senses and canceled the marriage?" Deva inquired.
"No," Lisa replied.
Deva became confused. "Then what was going on? Why was she not getting married to him?"
"I told you before that my stepmother will never agree to the marriage, even though the family is worth a fortune," Lisa explained.
"Yes, you said it before," Deva replied.
- Writer
