Unrequited Love

Chapter Five

I try to open my eyes, but they refuse to budge. I try and try again and they open. I am greeted by a white bright light that forces me to close my eyes, I can hear muffled voices but I can not trace where the voices are coming from. This room does not seem like my room, I try remembering how I got here in the first place and everything comes crashing down with an intense headache as well. I try to lift my arms, they are stiff and unmoving. I search for Asher, he is nowhere to be found. A nurse comes in, carrying the usual injection. She jumps up when she sees me and rushes to call the doctor. I am still trying to study my environment when four doctors come in.

They check me, each doctor assigned to a different part of my body. They all nod at each other at separate times. It takes a while but I begin to hear clear sounds, the muffled voice now making sense. I hear one of them say that the poison has completely faded and the girl's family which is me should come get her, another doctor replies telling his colleague that I have no family but one famous Mr Asher stands in as her guardian. This means neither father nor mother came to visit. Tears roll down the side of my eyes and I blame myself for expecting more from humans. After all, I had already promised myself never to expect love.

They remove the drip and I have to wait for Asher.

The rolls Royce that drives in, is one I know very well, mother's signature car,if father ever leaves business for mother, that deal is going down. I can think of any solid reason mother has to be here and I haven't signed any deal with this particular hospital so far. Not much is left for me to ponder over when bodyguards come out from her car and gets me. The marriage. She doesn't even bother to discuss with the doctors about my health and further impediments, she just signals her body guards and they surround me. Not wanting to create a scene, I walk into the car myself. When we arrive at my parent's house, my makeup artist and a wedding gown are all in my room. The butcher and nanny that has taken care of me look at me pity and bow their heads as I pass.

I hate to admit it but whoever designs the dress is very good at their job. It fits perfectly and hugs me in the right places, my makeup artist cries and almost soils my makeup with her own tears. It's quite funny but when everyone is finally tearing up, all I can see as I look in to the mirror are empty eyes,eyes devoid of emotions. My hair is braided in to a cornrow braid and packed to the left. The tail of the hair is tucked neatly behind my earlobe. My hair is beautifully adorned with a tiara decorated with stone diamonds. I do not need to look at it twice to confirm that it is indeed a diamond tiara. My necklace is a deep shade for f blue that sparkles the same time as the the diamonds in my tiara. My wristwatch is a three piece watch, one layer is a gold bracelet, the other layer, solid leather and finally the watch that matches the necklace. My earrings are big round earrings, spotted with blue shimmers, not my usual kind, more of mom's taste to be precise.

My shoes are blue heels that are way too high, I check the length and just like I suspected, they are twelve inch high. I struggle to walk in my shoes but as I proceed downstairs, I get used to it and before we get in the car, I am now comfortable with this devilish thing called shoes. I get into one car, alone with my personal chaffeur, mother and father get into another car and my siblings gets into another car. They are six other cars trailing us, three at our front and the remaining three, behind us. We have no use for the extra luggage, but who am I to complain. First, we go to a court where to my surprise, Asher is handcuffed on one hand to his other. I can't help the smile that tug on my lips. Only God knows the amount of drama that would have transpired this morning at home. When it is time, neither Asher nor I agree to sign that ridiculous document they both drafted. Against my wishes, mother augments her signature not even bothering to check the contents of the marriage contract. As if the both mother's plan it, Asher's mother drags her son by the handcuffs on his hands and he signs the document himself.

After the court wedding, we drive off to the church. The clergy and the audience is already set and I wonder when they had time to do all these things. Asher's handcuffs have been removed and he is ushered into the church first. The moment he gets to the altar, the tune of here comes the bride starts playing out on the piano. I link my arms through father's arms as he walks me down the aisle. He hand me over to the pulpit and he starts speaking. I try as much as possible to pay attention to what the priest is saying but every word comes out blurrier than the other, I'm in no mood to gather my concentration so I let myself float away in the garden of nothingness until I hear Asher say "I do"

"Do you miss Madeline George take Asher to be your lawfully wedded husband, to love and cherish him in the darkest night, for riches, for poverty, for better, for worse?"

"I do"

The atmosphere is solemn, not like one of a wedding ceremony,, Asher's mother is sitting close to my mother and I can't help but notice how freely they rapport, my mother is never one to respect people so this in itself is a suspicious condition, they're too many things on my mind for me to figure out the reason for this particular association but now that they've finally caught my eyes, i am sure to look into it, our fathers act just the way I had expected them to react, nonchalant and rigid to each other. I slide the ring down Asher's fingers and seal our fates.