CHAPTER ONE
No!” Caren yelled, as she stared at the monster her father wanted her to spend the rest of her life with, she could not believe her father would bring up such a horrendous arrangement without her knowledge.
“I cannot marry this monster father, I will not marry him” Caren said ,one could notice the disgust on her face as her eyes travelled across the faces that peered at her while she howled her disgust to them , as her eyes settled on her father David Lewis .“Caren please sit down!, this is for our own good , we need this” her father blurted out,as he looked away from Caren pleading eyes.
“Dad please” Caren said with saddening eyes , she could not imagine her own father giving her away to this beast. She shifted her gaze away from her father , to her mother who had been sitting beside her from the start of this pathetic conversation she thought ; “Mom?” She called out, wanting her to comfort her and tell her she was against this arrangement, but instead she looked the other way.
Right there, Caren realised that she was all alone in this , she knew if Prissy, her younger sister, was here she would stand by her,because they loved each other so dearly and deeply. But Caren knew that was impossible because Priscy was sick and bedridden, she has cancer and has been in the hospital for months;she was really alone in this she thought.
“No I won’t do this'' she yelled at everyone in the room, while her gaze shifted from her mom ,to Mr Malcom, Marcus’s dad , then to her father who sat facing Mr Malcom , his eyes still averting hers , then she rested her gaze on Marcus who sat facing her , she could see the evil smirk on his face.
“I won’t stay here and listen to this dad,excuse me!” Caren said as she stood up and was about leaving. Then she stormed out of the room , she could still hear her father’s voice trailing her ,but Caren knew she could not take any of it, she knew that if she sat there any longer facing that r****t , she would do something that she would regret and probably find herself in prison, so she had to leave.
“Caren,come on, just listen to me for a sec”,her father replied in protest, but Caren was already out of their presence before he finished speaking.
“Uhmmmm… I think we should give her some time to think about it Mr Lewis and see if she comes around” Mr Malcom said,
“Yes I think you are right… this sudden news is quite overwhelming for her, I hope you understand” …
“Yes, I do, it’s not easy digesting all this information all at the same time”.
“Dad” Marcus stares at his dad then moves his gaze to Caren’s dad “Mr Lewis,if you’ll excuse me, I would like to have a word with Caren”
“Sure! You can” Mr Lewis replies.
Caren laid on her bed thinking of what transpired earlier, she felt trapped in a cage. She knew her family wanted to use her as a means to an end, they needed money, lots of money “Hmmmm” Caren sighed. She picks up the frame by her lamp stand, a picture of her and Prissy, from last year's summer during their visit to Paris. She remembers her dad planning the trip right after they found out Prissy had cancer, the trip was planned to cheer Prissy up. Just like Caren, Prissy loved shopping and visiting new places. Caren had hoped the trip would do Prissy a whole lot of good, it’s not like she had any idea how cancer worked, but Caren always thought that travelling to an exciting place was therapeutic, but after they got back from their 1-week vacation, prissy got worse, she even had to stop college and stay at home. Caren felt lonely, even though Prissy was a year above her, they both acted like twins, they shared different rooms but still had the same designs and same colours. Dropping the frame, her gaze falls on the empty bed facing hers, Caren could remember telling her mom to move prissy to her room right after they got back from their trip to Paris. She only agreed after Prissy fainted in her bathroom and nobody could access her room. That day was a very frightening day for everyone, Caren thought she had lost Prissy. After her dad broke down the door, Caren rushed inside to see her sister almost lifeless in a tub filled with water, the sight crushed Caren. So she didn’t wait till her mom got a handyman to move Prissy things to her room, she had it done before Prissy got discharged from the hospital.
Caren jolts up from her bed after she hears a tap on her door, “Mom!!… wait, give me a sec”. Caren opens the door to see Marcus, “what the f**k are you doing here” Caren spits out, she couldn’t understand how she felt seeing Marcus standing at her door, she was shocked at his audacity to walk up to her door to talk to her. But one thing she knew she felt for him was hate.
“Caren, you…” Marcus says,
“Don’t you dare call my name with those filthy mouth of yours” Caren interrupts him,
“you have not answered my question, I said what the hell are you doing knocking on my door, and you have some audacity coming here, to my room!!!, to speak to me and how the hell did you find my room, uh!! Or do you want to r**e me again?” She yelled.
Caren could feel the fire burning inside of her, it wasn’t a fire of pleasure, it was a fire she wanted to use to consume the man standing in front of her, she wanted the fire to consume him so bad that no one would recognize him.
“You need to calm down Caren, take a chill pill, you know you would soon be my wife” Marcus smirks as he rests his shoulder on the wall, leaning in on Caren, he could feel Caren’s breath on his face, “and I am not a r****t, Caren,” he says with a smile on his face, as he eyes Caren.
“You arrogant bastard, how dare you!” Caren muttered.
“I came here to tell you how beautiful you looked earlier. You looked ravishing and gorgeous as you screamed I must say, and by the way, I have not forgotten the way to your room, or have you forgotten how you sneaked me in severally while you were in high school?” Marcus winks.
Caren looked at Marcus straight in his eyes with so much disdain, she knew he was an arrogant, spoilt he-goat. She still hates herself forever loving him, looking at him now she feels like an i***t for ever thinking Marcus was a great guy at some point in her life. She still couldn’t understand how everybody close to her could tell that Marcus was using her but her, even prissy and her close friend yen warned her, but she thought that they were all against her happiness. Even now she was in college, thinking about what transpired between them, it was so obvious that Marcus was a second-year college student, while she was just an ordinary high school student.
She had met Marcus at Yen’s birthday party, Marcus was friends with Yen’s elder brother, which wasn’t surprising since Yen’s brother went to the same college as Marcus and they had the same lectures together. When Marcus makes advances on Caren and asks her on a date, she agrees immediately because she had a huge crush on him even before meeting him formally at the party. She had seen Marcus a few times in Yen’s house when she came visiting but she didn’t think that Marcus saw her either. When he eventually asked her out she was filled with joy. But Yen was never in support of her relationship with Marcus, although yen tried convincing Caren to see the real Marcus, Caren felt like Yen was jealous of her, to the point she stopped talking to Yen and even ignored her completely, up until Marcus forced himself on her, then she realised that Marcus wasn’t who she thought he was.
“You monster!!” Caren said, glaring at him,
Marcus brings his finger to his lips and smiles devilishly “You know I love it when you fight, when you scream, when you struggle, it brings out this thing in you, that makes you so irresistible and makes me want to subdue you”
“You crazy son of b***h!!… you think you’ve won right?… you think you can own me!!!”
“Caren, common very soon you’ll be my wife, and I’ll have access to all this you are keeping from me” he tries, placing his finger on her lips, but Caren hits him on the face.
“Don’t you ever lay your finger on me, those filthy things on me ever!!!” Caren screams at him.
