CHAPTER NINE - ARIELLE
645 Words
“So what are you gonna do?” Kelly asked with a slight grin as we set the bar in order.
It was one in the afternoon when she invited me over—apparently to “talk sense into me,” as she put it. We were seated at her dining table, sunlight spilling through the windows like everything in my life wasn’t currently upside down.
We were both at her dining table. Kelly came out of the kitchen with two cups of coffee, placing them on the table.
Kelly’s apartment was warm and cozy in a way that made me feel safe, unlike the bar or the apartment I shared with Mom. The dining area was small but lived-in, with a round wooden table squeezed between the kitchen and the living room. A vase of slightly crooked artificial flowers sat at the center, and sunlight streamed through the half-open curtains, catching the dust floating lazily in the air.
“This is a big—really big—decision,” I said, taking a sip of my coffee. “I’m not sure I’m ready.”
“Why not go for it?”
I almost choked on my coffee.
“WHAT?”
“I mean… I invited you over to give my opinion,” Kelly said, raising her hands, “and here it is. Get married to him.”
“Kelly!!!” I retorted, eyes wide. “I can’t believe you’d tell me to marry a man I barely know.”
“No, no, no. You’re getting me wrong,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I didn’t say marry a stranger. I said marry Adrian Blackwood… THE Adrian Blackwood. I can’t believe you stayed this long just thinking about it. I would have said yes on the spot.”
“Then why don’t you marry him?” I asked, half-joking.
Kelly shook her head. “I can’t. Different situation… and it’s complicated.”
She sighed dramatically. “First of all, I’m not his type.”
“Oh? And what’s his type?” I asked dryly.
She glanced at me. “You.”
I frowned.
“Second,” she went on, “I didn’t sleep with him.”
I nearly choked. “KELLY!”
“And third,” she added, lifting a finger, “I don’t have a sick mother, crushing medical bills, or a billionaire offering me a contract marriage with benefits.”
The room fell quiet.
That was the problem.
She wasn’t wrong.
I looked down at my cup, the steam blurring my vision. “You make it sound so… easy.”
“It’s not easy,” she said softly. “But sometimes life doesn’t give us perfect choices—just necessary ones.”
I leaned back in my chair, staring at the warm sunlight on the table.
Marriage. The word made my chest tighten. I couldn’t help thinking about what it would mean—what it could cost me, and what it might give me.
A secure future for my mother.
Financial stability.
A man I barely knew… yet had seen me in a way no one else had.
And in return?
My freedom.
My choices.
Possibly… my heart.
The room felt smaller suddenly, as if the walls themselves were waiting for my answer. I shook my head and exhaled.
“I still don’t know,” I whispered. “It’s just… so much.”
Kelly reached across the table, resting her hand over mine. “Whatever you decide, Arielle… just don’t let fear rule you. Think about what you really want. And remember, sometimes you don’t get to choose what life throws at you—but you do get to choose how you handle it.”
I nodded slowly, the weight of the decision settling over me. I still wasn’t ready to say yes.
But I was no longer certain I’d say no.
- Writer
