Contract Marriage: Love and Strife

Chapter 2: Louis and Amaya

Louis's finger hoovered on Amaya's contact while holding his phone. He geared himself for the discussion that was about to ensue; he took a deep breath, pressed the call button to dial the number on the phone, and took it close to his ears.

It rang once, twice, three times. Louis’s concern rose higher; on the fourth ring, just when he was about to hang up, Amaya’s cheery, bright voice filled the line.

“Hello darling, do you miss me already?”

The gentleness of her voice hurt Louis’s heart to the core. Considering what he was going to tell her. He looked up and gulped hard, feeling an odd dryness in his throat. "Amaya, we need to talk. Can you meet me at our spot?", "It's urgent," Louis said.

Silence was the reply, except for the sound of breathing over the phone line. “Louis? Are you alright, this does not sound like the happy and cheerful Louis”. Amaya said those words but with worry in her voice.

A few hours later, Louis was waiting patiently at his usual spot; he heard the jingle of the bell at the door, and he turned around and looked at the door; it was Amaya. Her hair cascaded down her shoulders; instead of the usual pretty look, she worried her face.

”Hey, what’s happening?” She said, moving closer to Louis. "You're scaring me. "

Louis tapped his head, ruffling his hair in a familiar gesture. He could not say the words that he wanted to say to her; the words could not come out of his mouth. “Amaya, my father, he. . . ”

Amaya reached with her left hand to take his and her palms were warm embraces to his sensitive fingertips, "Louis, just spit it out."

Knowing what he was going to say and was overwhelmed by her gentle touch, he quickly removed himself from her clutches. He took a deep breath all the same and said the words.

"I'm going to get married. To someone else, not to you. Victoria Watson".

Silently and without anger, the words settled in the air, dense and lifeless. Amaya’s eyes opened wide, and her lips gaped open as if she were going to say something, yet no word was formed in her mouth.

“What?” she only asked at last, with her voice barely audible. "But we never... I thought eventually, but-"

As she tried to reply, Louis interrupted, his voice hollow. "It's not my choice. It's... complicated."

Silence hung heavily between the two of them and an uncomfortable tension began to grow. The dull roar of life in the distance began to faintly sound louder and louder to replace the silence between them.

"I don't understand," Amaya said with a shaky voice. "Is this a joke?"

Louis blinked and lowered his gaze, unable to look at her in the eyes. “I wish it was, but it is an arranged marriage, and if I don’t go through with it, my father will disown me. ”

All of a sudden, the whole meaning of what he said was lost on Amaya, and her entire body language changed. A stronger emotion, a blend of rage and resolve, replaced surprise and confusion.

She yelled, “Are you just going to accept it?", “Louis, what about us?”

“I don’t have a choice!” Louis yelled, his anger apparent now. He regretted his tone, but the situation was beyond him to deal with. ”You don’t know what is at stake here. ”

Amaya's eyes darted aggressively. Looking at him with tears in her eyes, she demanded, ‘‘Tell me!’’ ‘‘Tell me why are you giving up our relationship and the woman you love for business?’’

This caused a lot of pain for her, and this he saw when he looked at her, and his heart was really in pain.

"Please, Amaya. If there was another way—"

‘Oh there is always another way,’ she argued, cutting him short in a blunt but very resolute manner. ‘You are afraid and do not want to look hard enough to find it.’

Those words struck deep into the mind and soul of Louis, hitting too close to the doubts he had been battling. ‘That’s not fair,’ you don’t know what my father is capable of doing to any of us.

Amaya shifted forward a little and stared at him with hatred in her eyes. "And Louis, you have no idea what I'm capable of. I won't let you go without a fight."

What she said made Louis feel a chill down his spine. He was not used to seeing the fire in the eyes of Amaya, at the same time, it scared him. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that your father has another thing coming if he thinks he can just marry you off to some stranger," Amaya said in a deep, low voice. "Louis, I'll figure out how to stop this, with or without your help."

Before Louis could come up with an answer, Amaya turned on her heel and headed for the door. As she got to the door, with her hand on the handle, she paused and gave him one more look.

She said. "You have a choice to make, Louis; you can either be your father's puppet or the man I fell in love with. Choose wisely."

Amaya slammed the door behind her as she left. He continued to stand motionless, gazing intently at the place where she was before she left. The fairy lights now appeared to torment him, recalling happier yet distant memories that could only remind him of the pain he felt now.

He pulled out his phone and looked at the screen, his hands shaking uncontrollably. The available choices that were before him seemed quite unreal. Does he have to explain to his father what Amaya’s apparent threats are? There was no possible explanation he could give Amaya. Or was there some exit strategy that was still hidden from him and that would allow him out of this predicament?