It started with arranged marriage

- Lily Jane Collin  - It was a cold Christmas holiday in Estes Park. I was packing my luggage for Christmas holidays. This year Christmas holiday was different from the past Christmas holidays. This year was a special year, aunt Julia, my mother's best family, would also spend Christmas holiday together with us.  It has been a busy week for me, I rarely had the time to catch up with my friends in the last past weeks. I decided to catch up with my girls, Nicole and Emily before I went to Christmas holidays with my family. I was so excited to hang out with them. Nicole, Emily and I have been friends since middle school. We shared a lot of memories, happy or sad, throughout our friendship.  “Lily, we are here,” I heard a faded sound coming from downstairs. I rushed to pick up my bag and ran off downstairs. I got downstairs and Nicole and Emily were chatting with my mom and grandma. Before I said goodbye to my mother and grandma, my attention was caught by Emily's expression. I smiled as I knew the reason behind Emily’s expression. Emily had been crushing on my brother, Nick since high school till now. My brother was walking in from the kitchen and said “ are you guys going out? Have fun and drive safely.” Me and Nicole were sharing the look about how Emily acted in front of my brother. “Ok, Em_____ we need to go now before you become status,” I teased her and everyone was laughing hard while looking at her. As I teased her, she was blushing and we walked out to the door. I shouted from the distance “ grandma, mom, Nick bye.”  Nicole was driving and I was in the passenger seat and Emily was sitting in the back seat. “How long have you been crushing on my brother, Em?” I asked her. “I think it’s been more than three years, technically she has totally fallen in love with your brother,” Nicole countered Emily with a joke of her sharp comment. Emily couldn’t say anything back to us and we all just laughed the way she blushed every time we brought up the topic about Nick.  In a few minutes, we arrived at the mall to shop for Christmas presents. After we finished with shopping, we went straight to the restaurant. “What do you guys want to order? I already decide what to order,” I urged them to hurry. “I decide what to order too,” said Em followed by Nicole too. The waiter came and took our order. Within a short period, the food arrived and we all started to dig into the food as we all are hungry.  “Now tell me about you guys Christmas holidays plan?” Nicole asked as me gave this unpleasant and unexcited look. “I need to spend the holiday with my friend, aunt Julia’s family. Her whole family will be there,” I groaned which made Emilyand Nicole glare at me amusingly.  “At least you will be with your family. Nicole and my family will not be here this year, that's why we decided to spend time at my dad's skiing resort,” Emily said in a little bit of a sad tone. “Hey, at least you guys will be together and have fun without me. Don’t forget to fill me up after I come back from the holiday.”  Emily put her glass down and she started complaining about how her bed and breakfast was busy and stressful since the last months as it was a holiday season. Emily was a smart enternupure, she founded her own bed and breakfast and her business went really successful and now she was planning to expand her business. “Humm___ managing my own business is not easy, sometimes I wish I’m just an employee or work under my dad,” said Emily and we all were giggling with her complaint. “Well, mine is the worst,” as Nicole also started complaining about her business. She was a fashion designer and she has her own clothing line. “Girl_____ you have no reasons to goan, you just came back from Paris fashion week a few ago and have been traveling many places,” Emliy said, looking at her as she shrugged her shoulders. While Nicole was about to counter “well, well___ I think enough with complaining about work,” I said and that made both of them glanced and groaned at me.  “All right, miss saint, I assume you are really happy working for your mother charity foundation,” Emily chuckled while Nicole followed up “don’t forget to mention about her secret volunteering work too.”  “I just finished volunteering for the homeless people last week, it was really fun and a great experience. You guys can also make donations from my mom's foundation,” I said, clearly wanting them to make a donation. I continued “I’m just happy that I’m fortunate enough to help others.”  “Wow___ Lily, now you sound like our ethics teacher from high school,” Nicole teased me, causing me and Emily to almost choke with water.  The laughing settled as the waiter approached us with the bill and we handed out cash to the waiter. “Time passed really fast, it’s almost evening,” Emily signed, looking at the outside view. I said goodbye to them “Nicole, I will just take a cab from here, see ya girls in next two weeks.” As I reached home, I re-checked my luggage in case I forgot something. The moonlight was coming as shining fadely through my room window. I was laying down on my bed checking my f*******: account newsfeed. I was excited about the Christmas holiday, even though I was excited about the holiday on the other hand I kinda felt opposite. I was wondering if Eric will be there spending Christmas holidays with us at the mansion.