Intrepidity

11 |Finalized|

"In your dreams." I rejected.

"Nope." He popped the 'P' and shook his head. "In reality."

"You must be delusional. I will never agree to get married to you. It would be over my dead body." I yelled.

"Then so be it." He replied, his voice dropping with nonchalance. "Initially, I wanted to talk my parents out of this, but due to how conceited you are, I have decided to teach you a lesson."

"This. Wasn't. What. We. Agreed. Upon." I enunciated, infuriated.

"I know, but this is what is going to happen." He responded. "It is not like I can change dad's mind. Once he makes up his mind, he never goes back on his words."

"I don't freaking care about what your dad wants or not! I am not getting married to someone like you. I rather die."

"You have no choice, Andrea. We can have another deal if you want."

My brows furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"We will get married—"

"What?" I cut him off.

"Gosh! Let me finish, will you?" He massaged his forehead.

"Just get straight to the point, please." I rolled my eyes.

"After we are married, we will leave the country and get a divorce right away. You will be free to go wherever you want and I would also be free to do whatever I want afterwards. What do you think?" He smirked.

"No!" I adamantly refused. I could not even imagine myself being married to him.

"Alright then." He replied. "Let's see how you're going to get away with this one."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I can leave."

"Let's stop playing dumb with each other." He heaved a sigh. "We both know your visa is with me and you know absolutely nowhere and no one here in Singapore. You are at my mercy. You either take the easy route or the hard one. The choice is yours to make."

"Why are you doing this to me?" I crouched down against the bed, at the verge of tears. "What have I ever done to you?"

He also crouched down to my level. "Believe me, I had no intentions of taking it this far, but you leave me no choice. You are always going against me, defying me at every given opportunity. This would be easier for the both of us if you give me your full cooperation. I promise to give you back your freedom."

"I can't do this." I allowed the tears fall. I really did not sign up for this when I agree to be his fake fiancée.

"Yes, you can." He placed a hand under my chin, lifting my head and making our gazes meet. "You can." He repeated. "This will all be over before you know it. Why don't you get yourself busy with other stuff while you wait for time to elapse?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, pushing his hand away from my chin.

"You want to make your family regret their decision of betraying you, yes?"

I nodded. Only God knew how much.

"Then you can make use of the time here. Start something up for yourself. You can work in dad's company if you want. I'm pretty sure he is going to hire you." He remarked.

In as much as I wanted to disregard his words into the trashcan, I knew he had a point. While I was there unwillingly, I should make good use of my time there and start pursuing success. I would not feel too burdened by my predicament either. It would be like killing two birds with one stone.

"Promise me you are going to divorce me when the time comes. Please." I beseeched. The last thing I wanted was for him to vitiate our agreement, no matter what happened.

He hesitated, before replying. "I won't vitiate our agreement. You have my words."

"Promise never to come close to me. We will keep our distances. Nothing. Is. Ever. Going. To. Happen. Between. Us." I enunciated. It was not a real marriage anyways — it was a marriage of convenience.

"Agreed." He replied. "It's not like you are attractive anyway. I can get whoever I want, anytime I want it."

"Cool." I smiled. "I'm glad we are on the same page. Never forget what we just discussed." I stood up and sauntered to the bathroom. I locked the door from the inside and slide down against the door. My life was taking a drastic change right in front of my eyes and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. The least I could do is protect myself from Antonio after we are married. I promised myself to be strong. Not for anyone else, but for myself. "I can do this!" I muttered and puffed out air from my mouth.

Standing up, I ambled towards the mirror. All I could see was a strong girl with dried tears on her cheeks, who was hellbent on overcoming obstacles and trials. She was staring right back at me. "It's just a matter of time, Andrea. Your life will be on track soon." I assured her.

•

"What did dad say to you?" Fin asked, taking a seat beside me on Antonio's bed. She looked really concerned for me and I appreciated that.

"He wants Antonio and I to get married next month." I responded.

"Wow! That's —" she abruptly cut herself off and gazed at me. "I hope you are okay with it?"

"Of course." I replied with a falsified smile. "I thought about what you said earlier and realised you were right; Antonio is a good man and I would be lucky to have him." I mentally cringed at my own words. Good man indeed!

"OMG! Andy! I'm so happy for the both of you." She engulfed me in a hug and when she pulled back, she repeated the same action again.

I hummed and gently pulled away. "Thanks?" I didn't mean for it to come out as a question, but since it did, there was nothing I could do to rectify it.

"If the wedding is in a month's time, I need to start getting my dress ready! Are your parents gonna come over?" Fin asked.

"No." I replied. "They won't be able to."

"Why? Are they too busy? But no parents should —"

"They aren't here anymore." I replied, feigning sadness.

Realisation seemed to have hit Fin. Her mouth formed into an O shape. "I'm really sorry."

"It's fine, Fin."

"I should not have—"

"Josephine." I called her full name for the first time ever. "It really is fine. You had no idea."

"Okay..." She trailed off. "You wanna accompany me to the mall? I can take you a tour around the city if you want." She offered.

"Cool." I replied. It was actually a good idea. I would get to take my mind off my problems even if it would only be for a while. "I will just go get ready."

"And I will be waiting." She smiled.

•

I had just finished changing into a simple dress when Antonio walked into the room. His gaze trailed down to my purse, before moving to my face. "Where are you going to?" He asked in his usual authoritative voice.

"Out." I replied, curtly.

"It's pretty obvious. Where exactly are you going to." He asked again.

"I don't know." I shrugged. "Maybe you should ask Fin." I flipped my hair to the other shoulder and ambled out of the room.

I felt his gaze at my back, but I totally ignored him.

•

"Shall we go?" Fin asked immediately I walked into her room.

"Yeah." I replied. "I'm all set."

"Don't you think we should invite Antonio? It's gonna be fun having him around. His sense of humor can be entertaining, you know?"

Sense of humor? I didn't think he had any. I didn't want him to go with us either. I wanted to be away from him for a while and having him tag along, would only make the outing futile. "No." I voiced.

"You don't want him to come along?" Fin asked, confusion marring her demeanor. "Why?"

"Because..." I trailed off, thinking of an excuse to give. Yes! "I want this to be a bonding time for the both of us. I already know Antonio, but I still barely know much about you. If Antonio comes along, you will be like the third wheel. I kinda don't want that." I lied.

"Awww! That's so sweet of you, Andy!" She squealed. "Antonio couldn't have found someone better than you — this is a honest remark."

"Thank you." I gave a closed lip smile. "Let's go?"

"Yeah." She picked up her bag from the night stand and we sauntered out of the room together.