It started with arranged marriage

Chapter 6

- Lily Jane Collin  -

After I was ready, I checked the time from my phone. I was shocked by the time and I realized that I took a lot to get ready. I quickly grabbed my coat and moved fast to the downstairs. I mumbled myself how stupid I was and I felt so guilty about everyone would be waiting for me. When I reached the staircase, I saw Eric was standing at the corner of the staircase. 

“Where’s everyone?” I asked. He didn’t say anything and he was just staring at me for a while and I felt so uncomfortable about that. I thought something was wrong with my dress. 

“Is something wrong? Do I look weird?” I asked. “You look weird not because of the dress but because of the look,” he snapped me unexpectedly. I don’t know why but I felt l got stabbed from my back. I was shocked by his words. I never expected he would be rude like that. I knew, I didn’t know him but for the last four days he wasn’t like that. 

“Thanks for the feedback but I’m not  concerned about what you think. I know how I look. I just ask you out of politeness,” I snapped him back. I just lied, honestly when he said I was weird with the dress it made me feel down and not confident. But I don’t want to show it in front of him so I pretended I didn’t care. “Where is everyone though?” I  asked again. 

“Already went to the party, mom instructed me to wait for you and take you to the party,” he said. As soon as I heard I was really uncomfortable and didn’t know how to deal with it. I decided not to say anything and just hopped into the car back seat. Suddenly, he made a really unpleasant face while opening the car door. “I’m not your driver, sit at the front,” he said in an annoying tone. 

The car ride was really silent. I couldn’t handle the silence anymore and I also wanted to know why he became so rude and changed within these past few days. I asked him “why are you so rude?” “It’s none of your business. By the way I need to ask you something,” he spoke rudely again. 

I groaned and glanced at him with an unpleasant smirk. He just ignored me and continued questioning me. He asked me that “did I hear something unexpected or shocking news from mom”. “No, nothing at all,” I told him. I could guess something happened to him from the look of his face. I was about to ask why he asked me that kind of question, the car stopped in front of the party venue. Because of that I couldn’t ask him. 

I didn’t wait for him and I rushed into the venue. Before I could reach the entrance, a strong hand grabbed my arm. “Wait for me. My mother asked me to escort you inside the venue.” I  waited for him. I didn't say anything back to him, I knew if I did we’ll end up arguing. I just do as he said and we walked in together to the party. 

When we reached inside the venue, the female staff greeted us and took our coats. I saw my family and walked straight to them without waiting for Eric this time. All the party decorations were really simple yet elegant. The town chief came and greeted us and mom introduced him to the Miller family. 

While they were talking, I dragged Steve with me to the food table. I was starving and I couldn’t wait anymore. I asked Steve to accompany me and started digging the foods. My brother was just laughing at me while I was eating. “Hey sis, eat slowly. Noone will steal your food,” he said. “I know. I'm just too hungry that’s why.” 

“Hey if you don’t mind can I ask you something?” Steve asked. I could tell from his face, he seemed like he was hiding something from me. He was cautious about my reaction when he asked the question. 

“Why do you look so alert with your own questions?” I said to him teasingly. He was chuckled with my teasing. “Do I look that way?” he said. “Surely, brahh. I’m kidding,” I said. “What was your question again?” I said, laughing at his reaction. I could tell he was frustrated with my fatuous response. 

I was happy to tease him since I was young. Unlike me and Nick, Steve has a serious personality. He took everything seriously and never let anything go out of plan. Because of that he got pranked by me and Nick many times since we were a kid. 

“I asked you_____” I stopped him before he finished. “I’m joking,Steve relax. For your question, yeah you can ask any questions” I replied.

“Are you seeing anyone right now?” He asked. “Nooo, you know I’ve never dated anyone. Why?” I said, shaking my head. My brother was just shaking his head and sighed at me. 

He knew why I said that. I was too scared to take a risk in a relationship. I was just scared of the fact that they might leave me one day And I’ll be left alone with a broken heart. I saw many couples break up at the end even though they were so much in love at the beginning. For me I just needed love from my family and friends. 

“You know, you are not young anymore, you should experience love,” he said and he continued “mom and grandma were worried about you.” 

“I’ve you guys. I don’t need any other people. Let’s forget about that tonight is Christmas Eve, let’s just enjoy the night,” I stated that I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “Cool! I just worry about ya that’s why” he said, passing me a cheese cake.

“I shouldn’t move back to my mom's house,” I mumbled to myself. I was living alone and enjoying my life till my grandma got sick. Last three months ago, my grandma got diagnosed with blood cancer,leukemia, the last stage. She didn’t have much time to live that’s why my mom demanded me and Nick to move back to the house. 

It was almost at the end of the party and we all decided to go back. Nick and Eric were walking towards the table where Steve and I were eating. “Are you a pig, sis? You’ve been eating since you got here,” he said, smirking at me. 

Ahhhh Nick not again. The last thing I didn’t want was looked funny or stupid in front of Eric. He already made me embarrassed enough with my looks.

“If I’m a pig then you are a pig’s brother!” I said sarcastically. Everyone was laughing except Nick. Me and Nick were in the middle of a staring war. We stared at each other with deadly stares. Eric and Steve were looking at us with unbelievable glances. 

“Okay, enough staring at each other,” Steve said and that broke our little staring war. Shortly, four of us headed to where mom and others were. Eric and Nick were at the front and me and Steve were at the back, heading to others. 

Suddenly, Steve asked me “what do you think of Eric? He seems gentleman and nice.” I almost tripped on the floor because of the question. “Nice? Gentleman? Not even close” I firmly replied to him. He looked astonished when he heard my response. After that we had no further talk about Eric and just went straight to mom. 

We made some donations and we came back home. It was snowing on the way back home. The whole roadside was covered in snow and it looked so magical and beautiful. 

After we got home, we all went to our room separately. As soon as I reached my room, I called Emily and Nicole right away. I was so eager to talk about Eric and how rude he was. I called them through a group chat and within the second they picked up the call. 

We were busy talking about how our holidays were and what we did for the day. Plus I was complaining about how Eric was rude to me. 

“Lily, does Nick ask about me?” Emily asked. “Do you think that Nick will think about you? Dream of girl!” we were just laughing because of Nicole. 

I was busy talking with my girls and didn’t realize both of my brothers were at my back. I felt someone was behind me and when I looked back I saw both of them were staring at me with displeased looks, “Jesusss___ you almost give me a heart attack” I said.  I hung up the call and told them “Please, care to knock next time.”

“You also should answer when someone knock your door, pleasesss” Nick said in really annoying and unpleasant tone. I knew right away it was me who didn’t hear the knocking. But I didn’t want to lose easily to Nick and “you also should knock louder too,” I said. Everyone in the room could tell I was being sarcastic. 

“Okay enough both of you, Why can't you two pass on anything without arguing,” Steve said. That was true, since we were young we were like Tom and Jerry. Compared to Steve, Nick was really good at hiding his feelings. 

I was just giving a sour face to Nick and asked Steve “by the way, why you guys come to my room?” “We ordered pizza and we are going to watch a movie. We came to ask you wanna join,” Steve asked. “Nahh, thanks but I’ll pass this time. Kidda tired and wanna sleep early,” I said. 

Actually I lied, I went to spend time with my brothers but I was not sure Eric would be there too. “Common___ don’t wanna be different. We all spend Christmas Eve till past midnight every year,” Nick said and he continued “it’s too early to go to bed too.”

I asked “Just three of us right?” Nick suddenly looked at me like he caught a thief and he asked “why? Shouldn’t someone join too.” He knew why I asked that but they weren't aware of the reason behind. 

“Maybe, Eric might join,” Steve replied. “Do you like Eric?” Nick suddenly asked, making me choke on my own. “Like my ass, don’t even care. I’ll join and will be downstairs in 5,” I said and quickly moved toward the closet and picked my pj. 

I saw Eric was there also, I pretended not to see him and went straight to sit next to Steve. That seat was the furthest seat from Eric. I didn’t make any conversation to Eric and only talked to my brothers. 

“You remember how naughty you are Nick? You always pick it up one me and make me cry countless times,” I said to him while talking about childhood memories. We were laughing at how naughty we were when we were kid. 

“You guys had lots of fun,” Eric said to my brothers. He seemed like he was sad. Yeah it was understandable because he was an only child. He was just listening to us and didn’t share any of his childhood memories. 

He looked like he was lonely and sad. Somehow I wanted to comfort him and create happy memories for him. But I just pretended that I didn’t care.