I said yes to my enemy
1337 Words
Nothing could have prepared me for this.
Seven years after destroying my life, the man who had shattered my heart was standing in my family's living room as though he belonged there.
Seven years ago, he had stood in front of half the school and watched my humiliation unfold as though I meant nothing to him.
Yet there he was, standing beside his parents in a dark suit, calm and polished, like he had every right to walk back into my life.
"Our parents want us to get married," Shadric Vale said, without the slightest hint of emotion.
I stared at him.
"Marriage?"
"Yes."
"To me?"
His eyes remained on mine. "That is generally how marriage works."
My fingers curled against my palm beneath the folds of my dress.
Seven years, and he could still make anger arrive that quickly.
I had spent seven years making sure that soft girl no longer existed.
Yet somehow, she still found her way back to me.
"Avalan..." my mother murmured from my left. She sounded more anxious than hopeful.
No one else spoke.
My mother watched me.
My father watched Shadric.
They knew there was history between us.
But they had no idea what that history had cost me.
They hadn't seen the video.
They hadn't heard the laughter.
They hadn't watched me walk through school afterwards while people whispered behind me.
Shadric had.
Slowly, I forced my chin up to meet his gaze.
I took him in fully, refusing to look away.
Seven years had sharpened him. He looked older, more composed, and harder to read.
But his eyes were the same. Steady. Untroubled.
"You want to marry me?" I asked.
To my own surprise, the question came out steady, devoid of the tremors rocking inside me.
He gave a single, firm nod. "Yes."
"Why?"
That seemed to catch everyone else off guard.
My father shifted in his chair.
Shadric didn't.
"The arrangement benefits both families."
I almost laughed.
"The arrangement."
"Yes."
"You make marriage sound like a property acquisition."
Richard Vale finally spoke from the other side of the room.
"Avalan, no one intends to reduce this to business."
"Then perhaps someone should explain why both families are sitting in my living room discussing my marriage like a merger."
"Avalan," my father warned.
"What? It's a reasonable question."
Victoria Vale leaned forward.
"And you deserve an answer."
At least someone thought so.
"The families have worked together for years," she continued. "There are interests that would benefit from greater stability between us. But none of that happens without your agreement."
I looked at Shadric.
"And you agreed because it's good for business?"
His attention stayed on me.
"I agreed because I was willing to marry you."
I noticed.
Something inside me reacted, and I immediately refused to examine it.
My father cleared his throat, the sound slicing through the tension that had settled over the room.
He straightened in his chair.
"This is an incredible opportunity for both families. We have done business with Vales for decades."
"Father."
He stopped.
"We're discussing my marriage."
"I know."
"Then let me answer him."
My mother touched my father's arm before he could respond.
He sat back.
If my parents knew what their golden boy had done, they wouldn't be sitting here discussing our marriage like it was a blessing.
I turned back to Shadric.
"When?"
His brow lifted slightly.
"When what?"
"This marriage everyone apparently wants. When is it supposed to happen?"
"We haven't discussed a date."
"So you came here to propose a marriage without knowing when you intend to have one?"
"I came here to find out whether there would be one."
He was calm, precise, and reasonable.
As though there weren't seven years sitting between us.
"And if I say no?"
My mother drew in a breath.
Shadric answered before anyone else could.
"Then there is no marriage."
I should have been relieved.
Instead, something about the certainty of it annoyed me even more.
"You would simply walk away?"
"If that's what you wanted."
There had been a time when I had wanted him to choose me so badly that I had written it down.
A stupid, private confession from a seventeen-year-old girl who had believed the worst thing Shadric Vale could do was reject her.
I had been spectacularly wrong.
He had done much worse.
My attention moved briefly towards Richard Vale.
Then Victoria.
Then back to Shadric.
The Vale family had everything mine respected: money, influence, reputation, access.
And Shadric had just opened the door himself.
I wouldn't have to force my way into his world.
He was inviting me inside.
Something settled quietly in my mind.
An opportunity.
"Okay," I said, letting the word drop heavily into the quiet room.
The single word seemed to freeze the air, catching everyone off guard.
My father leaned forward.
My mother stared at me.
Even Richard stopped moving.
Shadric watched me.
"If a marriage is what you're looking for…" I continued, keeping my tone perfectly conversational and empty of emotion, "…then I will gladly marry you."
My mother gasped.
"Avalan?"
"Yes."
"You're sure?"
"I said yes."
My father's shoulders dropped in relief. He clearly believed everything had fallen perfectly into place.
Richard exchanged a look with Victoria.
Shadric didn't move.
"You're saying yes?"
"Isn't that what you wanted?"
"It isn't what I expected."
"Then perhaps you don't know me as well as you thought."
His attention stayed on me.
"Perhaps."
Good.
Let him wonder.
Let him drive himself mad, trying to figure me out.
For one ugly second, I was seventeen again, standing in a crowded school corridor while laughter followed me from every direction.
Someone had my letter.
Someone else had a phone.
And Shadric had been there.
I pushed the memory away.
Not here.
Not in front of him.
He would not see what remembering him could still do to me.
If he believed he could walk back into my life and leave without paying a price, he was deeply mistaken.
And he had absolutely no idea how far I was willing to go to burn his world to the ground.
Everyone began talking at once.
My mother wanted to know how quickly the families intended to proceed. My father was already discussing another meeting with Richard.
Victoria mentioned that nothing needed to be rushed.
I barely heard them.
I was watching Shadric.
He should have been pleased.
He had asked.
I had agreed.
Instead, he looked like a man who had received exactly what he wanted and immediately began questioning why it had been given to him.
I had him exactly where I wanted him.
"Avalan," my mother said, "we don't have to discuss everything today."
"Apparently we do."
Victoria gave a quiet laugh.
"Your mother is right. There will be time."
Time.
That was exactly what I needed.
Time to learn how the Vale family worked.
Time to discover what mattered to Shadric now.
Time to find the places where his perfect life wasn't quite so perfect.
And when I found them, I would know exactly where to press.
Shadric still hadn't joined the conversation.
I looked at him.
"Nothing to say?"
"Everyone else appears to have it covered."
"That never stopped you before."
Our eyes held for a moment.
For half a second, I remembered arguments that had nothing to do with humiliation or hatred.
Then, I killed the memory before it could become anything else.
The discussion continued around us.
Eventually, Shadric moved closer.
Not enough to touch me, but close enough that his next words were meant only for me.
"You don't want to marry me."
I looked up at him.
"And yet I said yes."
"Why?"
I smiled.
"You'll find out."
I walked away before he could answer.
Behind me, our families were still discussing the marriage as though something wonderful had happened.
Maybe for them, it had.
Shadric thought he had come here to arrange a marriage.
He had just handed me the perfect way to destroy him.
- Writer
