Arora joins her father and brother for dinner, and as usual, her brother is arrogant and way too chatty. Unlike other nights, her father, however, tells him to keep quiet. Her father looks irritated, and she wonders if she should ask him about what is going on, or if she should keep quiet and just observe.
Her brother is known for boasting when he is supposed to keep things to himself, and if she’s lucky, he will say something! But after her father told him to keep quiet, her brother goes pale and stares at his plate, not saying another word.
After half an hour, she can’t take the silence any longer.
“Father! What is going on?” Her fork hits the plate with a loud clang.
“Arora, I’ve asked you to let it be.”
“NO!” She slams her fists on the table and stands up. “It’s my life that’s going to be ruined! I have a right to know!”
Her father sighs and he can’t look her in the eyes. She glares at her brother, who also seems to have swallowed his tongue!
When they don’t say anything, she shoves her chair back, grabs her plate, and storms out of the dining room. She hears her father calling after her, but she simply ignores him. If they aren’t going to tell her what’s going on, she’s not going to give them the pleasure of her company!
She slams her door so hard behind her that it shakes in the frame, and she locks it, so they can’t even think of coming in.
She will call the kitchen and ask that her meals be brought upstairs. She is not going to deal with any of these men who pretend that they love her. None of them really loved her! Now her father is selling her into a loveless marriage to a playboy without even so much as an explanation!
Surely, her father can’t hate her that much?!
Tears start to flow down her cheeks, and she falls down on her bed, stuffing her face into her pillow while she cries. She will not give them the satisfaction of hearing her cry.
***
Dremon slides in behind his desk to do some studying, but this entire situation has his mind spinning. When his parents brought up the idea of marriage, he nearly ran away from home, but when he heard who they wanted him to marry, things changed.
The mysterious necromancer girl can call the dead back to life. Okay, so she turned her mother into a zombie-type thing, but not many necromancers can do that even after completing their studies, and she did it as a little girl before even going to school.
What makes her tick? He knows that his father has some kind of business deal with her father, but none of that matters to him. Now he wants her and after she said no… He has decided to make her his. One way or another.
He catches himself paging through her social media instead of concentrating on his studies, and the coach reminded him today that if he doesn’t pass this last exam, he will be facing possibly have to redo the entire year!
That would throw a wrench in their plans and his parents would kill him!
Slamming the screen of his laptop shut, he pulls his textbook closer and taps his pencil as he tries to read through the work. If only he had listened more in class instead of trying to impress the floozies…
But then again, it was fun… So much fun. He is going to miss some of them, but with a girl like Arora by his side, he won’t need anything, or anyone else.
***
Arora stares at the moon. After the last time she ran away, her father had bars put in front of her windows so, she can’t escape through there. She doesn’t have her car, so, there is no use in trying to make a run for it through the door…
“Oh, mother moon, why? Why me? Why him of all people?” She sighs and then walks over to her bed.
Tricia had phoned her almost thirty times, but she didn’t feel like talking to anyone. Besides, Tricia is probably the one who thought she was doing a good thing by telling Dremon everything about her!
Dremon was the one boy in school every girl dreamed about dating… Everyone except for Arora.
Arora dreamed of finishing school and getting the hell out of her father’s house. She had no idea what she was going to do after that, but she knew she wanted to get out. Now her dreams are in tatters.
She starts to smile… What if she can make him break off the engagement? If she can convince him that being married to her is not what he wants. She can make his life a living hell, and it will be fun!
For the first time since this nightmare started, she feels excited. She is an expert at showing people that they don’t want to be with her!
Her first stop is her cupboard, and she starts rummaging for a specific dress. When she finds it, her heart starts to race.
“Perfect.”
Looking for her boots that go with it, next, she finds them at the bottom of her pile of shoes and decides to pull them out and polish them. She might not want to look perfect, but she sure as hell wants her boots to shine!
This is going to work. It better…
***
When the limo pulls up in front of her house, she pulls at her dress. The exams are over, and she has to attend this damn dance with Dremon. Tying her boot, she stands in front of the mirror and pulls at the sleeves of the pink dress. It clings to her body and the sequence flashes in the light.
Touching up her pink lip-gloss, she hears a knock on her door, and she just knows that it’s him.
Seeing his face at the sight of her outfit is priceless.
“What are you wearing?”
“A dress. Are we going or not?” She tries to shove past him, but he stops her.
“That’s not the dress I bought you.”
“And I told you I want to wear a pink dress. Now, I’m only going to ask you this one more time. Are we going or not?” She tilts her head waiting for an answer and is surprised when he just nods.
“Whatever you want, love.” He slides his hand behind her back and guides her down the stairs.
Her father looks absolutely horrified when he sees her, but she just ignores him and walks out the door.
***
They arrive at the school dance and as they walk in there is a photo booth. She pulls Dremon inside and promptly sits down on his lap, rubbing her hands through his hair before licking her finger and sticking it into his ear.
The flash goes off at just the right time and she grins brightly at the photographer, who looks horrified this time.
Dremon hasn’t said a single word and when she grabs his hand, dragging him into the dance hall, he simply follows her.
What else does a girl have to do to get him to dislike you?!
Tricia comes running over, screaming with excitement, and gushes over her dress, before telling Dremon that she is just going to steal her friend for a moment.
***
It took Dremon all of two seconds to realize what she’s up to when he saw her in that pink dress, but she isn’t the only one with some surprises up her sleeves. He watches her talk with the fairy and finds it satisfying that her eyes seem to keep finding their way to him every couple of minutes.
After giving them a couple of minutes, he walks over and steals her for a dance. Just as the music ends and as if on cue, his phone rings.
“Come. I have a surprise for you.” He grabs her hand and leads her out of the dance hall.
Everyone follows them out of curiosity.
***
When they walk out of the doors, a car pulls up outside. A beautiful matt black mustang with blue racing stripes… With her registration number on it! It has a huge blue bow on the roof, and she turns to look at Dremon.
“I had it fixed for you, but I thought you would prefer to have it in the colour you love.” He smiles and she doesn’t know what to say.
The driver that brought the car hands him a set of keys, and Dremon signs some paperwork before handing her the keys.
“Wanna take it for a spin?” He asks and she nods.
When she slides in behind the wheel, however, her boots are a bit of a problem and she remembers why she stopped wearing them! But shoes aren’t going to stop her from driving this beautiful car.
Before they pull out of the driveway in front of the school, she drops a kiss on his cheek and then lets the wheels rip, leaving behind a cloud of white smoke and tire tracks.
She shouts in excitement as they fly through the streets, and hears his incredible laugh for the first time. She’s heard him laugh before, but never like this. Could it be that he is enjoying himself?
However, when she takes the third turn, drifting the car right into it, he begins to sound nervous.
“Okay, that’s enough for one night. You are still recovering after your last accident. I don’t want your father blaming me for another one.”
She pulls the car into the parking lot at the school and can’t stop the enormous smile on her face. When she climbs out of the car and he comes around to stand in front of her, she swings her arms around his neck and plants a kiss on his lips.
Her body freezes for a second, and then she leans in when he pulls her closer.
***
Dremon can’t resist biting her bottom lip softly and she opens her mouth, giving him the chance to slide his tongue into her mouth. Her response shows him how innocent she really is when she hesitates for a moment before copying his movement.
He doesn’t know if it’s the adrenaline rush or excitement after the drive, but he likes this side of her! When he feels her start to pull away slightly, he doesn’t push his luck any further and lets her go.
“Wow! That was incredible! Thank you, Dremon!” Her eyes beam with so many emotions he can’t keep up with all of them.
“The drive or the kiss, because I will take both.” He grins at her.
“Don’t push your luck! I meant the car. It means a lot. Thank you.”
“I will still be picking you up for school. Come on, let’s go celebrate.” He grabs her hand and walks inside, with a crowd of people still outside cheering them on.
Their engagement is the talk of the school. Some people are really happy for them both, others surprised and as expected some girls aren’t happy at all, but tonight neither of them care about it.
She tried her best to spoil the evening and he just made it perfect. One of the best evenings of her life! To make sure she got home safely, they are driven home in the limo and his other driver takes her car home.
She is half-expecting her father to put up a huge fuss when Dremon pulls her car into the garage, but he just stands there glaring, without saying a word. Dremon hands her the keys, leaves a soft kiss on her cheek, and shakes her dad’s hand before getting back into the limo.
She watches the limo disappear and realizes that she’s still holding their picture in her hand. Ignoring her father’s bad mood, she walks into the house and opens the small black folder with the picture inside.
What she was hoping would look horrible, actually turned into a funny once-in-a-lifetime picture that she will treasure.
Tomorrow, she can go back to utterly disliking him again, but for tonight, he was prince charming through and through.