The Perfect Arrangement

Chapter 5- It's MY-RA

It had been one month since I’d been told I was being forced into an arranged marriage with Theodore Campbell. It had been a slow month, the hours of every day clicked by painfully slow. Every evening, Theodore’s mother, my future Mother-in-Law would come by and have dinner with me while we poured over catalogues and wedding magazines. She had me pick out linen colours, flowers I liked, venue possibilities; basically, anything and everything wedding related, she wanted to discuss. One evening the thought of writing my own vows had me physically running to the bathroom to throw up, I told myself it was because of the sickening idea of writing vows for a person I did not know nor care about, but, it was more than likely just some bad food.

I had only seen her son a handful of times, when she’d insisted on him accompanying her to one of our dinners. My Dad had also joined us on those days, and there was always talk of living situations and how close to work I needed to be. Theodore never said much, and neither did I. I could tell by the way he grunted every now and again, or scoffed at an idea his mother had, that he was, like me, less than pleased about the marriage.

It was one thing I felt we had in common, for our whole lives were being planned out in front of us, our voices went unheard, our choices stripped from us and decided for us on the basis of a partnership between families. I felt my future crumbling away, any hopes and dreams I had for myself were being suffocated. And I had no choice but to smile and go along with it. I often found myself staring at Theodore, knowing that behind his anger, smart ass comments and lack of respect for both his and my parents, he was sharing the exact feelings as me. The only difference between us is that I wasn’t disgusted by him when I looked at him. If I was being honest with myself, had the situation been different, I probably would have fallen for him; drawn in by those stormy eyes, wishing his strong arms could be wrapped around me like he himself would wrap himself around my thoughts. Luckily for me, this was not that kind of situation and I’d never been to have my heart broken by this man.

I’d settled into my role as assistant manager at Dad’s real estate business nicely and was carrying out some admin work when someone strolled into the office. I let out a sigh when I saw him and watched carefully as he spoke to the receptionist by the door then followed where she was pointing to until he saw me, ducking behind my computer screen at my desk hoping he wouldn’t see me. He moved towards me with that same cocky smirk he had given me the morning I had woken up beside him, causing my stomach to twist.

“Hey, Mia” he said, dragging a chair from the empty desk beside me and placing it next to me, before throwing himself into it and leaning back.

I ignored him, and turned back to my computer, pretending to work although I knew I wouldn’t be able to concentrate with this cocky asshole sitting there watching me.

Theodore clicked his tongue impatiently; “not even gonna say hi? That’s pretty rude you know, mia” he said.

“When you call me by the correct name, I’ll respond” I snapped, typing aggressively on my keyboard.

“Hmm, your name isn’t Mia?”

“It’s Myra.” I said shortly. I could feel my aggravation building. I wanted nothing more than for him to just leave. I was already facing a life sentence with him; I didn’t need him showing up when I was trying to work too. Minutes passed by silently. I typed away on my computer, making every effort to make it look as if I was concentrating much harder than I actually was, in hopes Theodore would get bored and leave. He didn’t.

“My Dad told me to stop by and see you.” He said quietly. I stopped what I was doing and turned to look at him.

“What do you need to see me for?” I asked impatiently; “you’ve already ruined my life with this f*****g marriage s**t, so what are you here for? To make even being at work, which by the way is my one escape from your batty mother, miserable?”

He held his hands up in the air defensively; ‘’hey, don’t take this out on me. Not like it was my idea.’’ He spat the last few words out.

“No.” I said quietly; “Probably your crazy mothers’ idea.”

“My future wife is funny” he said, chuckling. It seemed that something I said had rubbed him up some kind of way, because he spent a few minutes chuckling and trying to compose himself. I simply watched him and waited for him to finish. I had no patience for him, or anything connected to him.

“Sorry” he said, straightening up in his chair; “your comment about my Mum was funny, and so damn true.”

I raised an eyebrow at him, drumming my nails on my desk. Ignoring me, he looked towards the front of the office, to the receptionist whom he’d spoken to on his way in, and clicked his fingers in the air as if she were a waitress. Very quickly, the receptionist was ushering everyone out the door, leaving just me and Theodore sitting there, in a silent, empty room. I swallowed the lump in my throat; for I’d heard the stories, I knew all about his short temper and violent nature. I almost feared for my own safety, but my hatred towards him and the situation we were in overpowered any fear I may have had for him.

“My Dad wants us to spend more time together” he said, not fully meeting my eyes. “Wedding is in six months, and we’ve never been seen together, never attended any events together, he thinks it will be strange to suddenly announce we’re getting married out of the blue.”

“We are getting married out of the blue” I said shortly.

Theodore suddenly leant forward and banged his fist down onto my desk. His face was just a few inches from mine, his storm grey eyes were even darker than usual.

“Don’t you think I know that?” He growled. I felt my eyes widening in shock, for this was the most emotion I’d ever seen come from him. “You think I’m enjoying this? Why would I ever go near someone like you?” He spat, his eyes looked me up and down. “Who would want you for a wife?”

“Me?” I shrieked, my anger rising; “What about you?”

My mind was running circles. ‘why would I ever go near someone like you’ ha! So he really didn’t have any idea who I was. He couldn’t remember our night together.

We were both on our feet now, Theodore towered over me, and yet his eyes blazed into mine as if there were no distance in height between us at all.

“What the f**k do you mean, what about me?”

“Oh, you want a f*****g list?” I shouted. “Okay well, you’re a spoilt little brat with no respect for women. You’re nothing but a little f*****g man-w***e with a different woman in your bed every night!” I froze at my own words, I’d forgotten for a split second that not too long ago, I had been one of those women. But it was becoming increasingly clear that he didn’t remember me and had no clue that we’d once slept together. I ignored the nauseating feeling in my stomach and continued “Imagine having you for a husband, you’d be giving out weekly s****l diseases like a damn pick and mix!”

Without warning, I felt my body being slammed into a hard surface. Theodore had wrapped a hand around my throat and the other rested at the bottom of my belly, pushing my back flat against the wall behind me. I felt his breath of my face as he spoke.

“Understand this, Myla,” he growled. “I’m going to take over from my father when he retires, I will be CEO and I will run everything better than even he can imagine. To do that, I will go along with his wishes and marry you. But I will not fall in love with you, that I can f*****g promise.” His eyes rolled up and down my body, his lip curled in disgust. “And I don’t plan on changing my lifestyle for a stumpy ugly little girl. As soon as I take over from my Dad, make no mistake, you and I will be done.

I could feel his disgust and anger radiating off him, and I knew I should be scared of him, seeing his temper rising, but my own temper burned out all rationality.

“First of all, my name is Myra. MY-RA. Better get it right if we’re gonna convince anyone this marriage bullshit is real, Theodore. And second of all, why would I want you to fall in love with me?” I asked , as blankly as I could; “ I don’t want this any more than you do”

As if a switch had gone off, Theodore’s anger melted away, his grip on me loosened, but he did not let go. He leaned into my ear, and I felt him take a deep breath.

“Okay, Myra.” I said calmly. “As much as I love how cute you look when you’re mad, and the way it sounds when you say my name, It’s Theo. I go by Theo. Only my shithead Father calls me Theodore.”

I nodded, not trusting my voice. Having him so close to me sent my mind into a frenzy of memories, the way his hands and mouth felt on me that night, the way he looked at me. I closed my eyes in an attempt to stop the memories.

“Oh, you can’t stand the sight of me now?” He said and my eyes snapped immediately open, I thought I caught a glimpse of pain in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a blank expression. He moved away from me and turned to leave.

“Be ready by seven tonight, I’ll send a car.” Theo called over his shoulder.

“Wait!” I called, and he quickly turned to look at me. “Where are we going?”

“To dinner with my friends, so dress nice.” His eyes roamed up and down my body, then he looked away blankly and turned to leave again.

“Hopefully she can make herself look at least half decent.” I heard him mumble as he left.