It started with arranged marriage

Chapter 23

- Eric William Miller  -

As soon as we got out of the car the reporters were trying to get pictures and throwing with lots of questions. For me, I was used to dealing with this kind of situation but Lily seems startled with all the attention. I offered her my arm and she was holding my arm tightly. She seemed a little bit relaxed once we reached inside the room. She un-held my arm as soon as we got into the room. 

“There’s still many eyes,” I said as I linked her arm with mine. She was really pretty with her rose pink dress. 

“You two really look great together,” mom said. “Hey! Mom, Dad” I greeted them. 

“Oh! Here they are,” mom said and then walked toward Lily's mom, grandma and her brother Steve with dad. 

I saw Nick with some of our friends chatting so I took Lily to introduce them. When I was greeting them, she was just silently standing beside me and Nick. “So guys, this is Lily, my fianceé, Nick’s brother,” I introduced her.

“Finally! I get to meet you. You look amazing, I’m Drew by the way, ” Drew said.

“Thanks, nice to meet you too,” Lily said. 

“No wonder, Nick never shows her sister. You look stunning with the dress,” my friend, Albert said. She just smiled at their compliments. 

“Excuse me for a minute, I need to go and check some work,” Lily said and the others were looking at her with questioning eyes. 

“Lily organizes this event that’s why,” Nick added and the rest except me, they were said “aww___aww___” at the same time.  After Lily left, me, Nick and Drew also excused us from the rest. We went to one table that was not crowded and we were just catching up with each other. I saw Lily was busy with giving instruction to her assistant, she looked so professional. If someone saw her now, no one would think that she was one of the heiresses of Collin Hotels and Resorts group. There were many powerful people attending the event, most of them are wealthy business owners and politicians. Within the crowd, a familiar face caught our attention, it was none other than Sophia. 

“How come she is here?” Drew said while looking at me. 

“Lily never mentioned inviting her, I’ve no idea,” Nick said. I knew Collin foundation had no reason to invite her to the fundraising event. 

“Why do we need to care about someone who is not important,” I said, sipping wine from the glass. “Let’s just focus on ourselves,” I said as we were drinking wine and chatting. 

“Hey guys,” a familiar voice called us from behind. When three of us looked back, it was Sophia, she was with Joel, chief editor of the Daily News newspaper. 

“Oh hey! Sophia, I didn’t know you were invited too,” Drew intentionally asked her. Her face was lost of smile when Drew asked her. As usual Drew, he knew how to trigle Sophia. Even though when we were dating, Drew never liked Sophia, same as Sophia too. 

“Oh! I wasn’t. Joel invited me as his date,” she said. “Oh! Really!” Drew said. All of us can tell he was being sarcastic.

“Excuse us, we need to be with our family now. It’s about time to start the event,” I said and then three of us walked away from her. Then me and Nick were headed to our family table. Drew also came along with us to say hello to Nick and my family.  When we reached there Lily was also there with her friends. Lily introduced her friends Emily and Nicole to Drew. After introducing them Lily showed them their seat and three of them, Drew, Emily and Nicole were headed to their seat.

The fundraising started soon after Drew and Lily’s friends left. I was sitting next to mom and dad. Then the MC called dad to come up to the stage as the biggest donor of tonight's fundraiser to give a short speech. Mom and dad went up to the stage together. Dad was giving a speech, he was so charismatic on the stage. At the end of his speech he called me to join up on the stage. I knew what would be going on next and I was standing next to dad. Then dad said “here tonight, I would like to share good news with everyone. My son, Eric will tie a knot with a lovely lady, Lily Jane Collin. We hope to celebrate with all of you on this amazing evening night”. Then he raised his wine glass and gave a toast to me and Lily. 

At the end of the event everyone came to congratulate us about the wedding. Sophia also came to congratulate us. “I’m not giving up on you yet babe,” she whispered to my ear while she was giving me a hug. She also introduced herself as my old friend and then she faced Lily and said congratulations.

The night was long, I was super tired and threw my body to my bed. I was thinking about the fundraising event while lying on my bed. When I saw Sophia I felt like my old flames were waking up again. All the memories about Sophia were coming back, especially how we used to have a rough passionate s*x, how hot her body was. Even with only the thoughts Sophia could make me hard. “Gosh I missed s*x with Sophia” I groaned, mumbling quiently. Then suddenly, Lily popped up inside my mind. Tonight she was really pretty and stunning. I knew she was a wildcat but she was different tonight. She followed what I said without arguing or resisting me back. I was smiling without realizing it. I noticed that since after I met her, I became more bright and laugh more than before.