The Prince and His Involuntary Bride

14. The Treat

“Oh my God, you didn’t actually say that?” Poly asked Celeste, who sat blowing bubbles in to her drink, through her straw, wishing that the horrible say would come to an end.

They were seated in the middle of a small burger joint, where Celeste had asked everyone to show up for the dinner treat that she was giving, in order to celebrate her new job.

“You don’t have to remind me again and again!” she stated out, making Poly, Hugh and Lily laugh even louder.

“You should’ve seen Chris’s face.” Lily signed and Celeste rolled her eyes.

“It was his fault anyway, why did he talk about this damn skirt?” she asked and Poly held her laughter back.

“Well, you are still wearing it.” She pointed out, reminding Celeste that she still hadn’t changed out of her outfit.

“I didn’t have another fit.” She bickered back at Poly and Hugh and Lily snickered slightly at Celeste’s attempt at trying to make sense of her actions.

“You have to admit.” Hugh clapped his hands attaining Celeste’s attention and signing at her, “You do act like an i***t in front of Chris and this means that you like him.”

“What? That’s the stupidest logic, I have ever heard. You don’t act like an i***t, in front of those you like.”

“Well... I do.” Lily told Celeste, making her shake her head.

“You two are already idiots.” She told them bitterly.

Hugh grabbed his and Lily’s empty coke glasses and got up to refill and seeing him gone, Lily found it to be her perfect opportunity to talk to Celeste.

She looked up at the line over the soda machine, she knew that it was going to take him time and hence, she slid up on to seat next to Celeste.

“Hey! Can I ask you for a favor? And can you promise me that you won’t tell Hugh?”

Celeste found it quite weird about what the girl wanted to talk about.

“Umm... yeah sure. What is it?”

“Can you please persuade Hugh to apply to Manchester.”

“What he hasn’t applied yet?” she asked Lily who shook her head.

“But I thought the application deadline was on Friday and he had already sent in his application.”

Lily shook her head again, “He hadn’t.”

“But why? I gave him the money and even brought the application form for him... They have told Coach Chris that they will take him in because of football, what... why is he doing this?”

Celeste felt her heart sinking down, as she realized that Hugh was putting his career in jeopardy.

“I tried to reason it with and told him to apply...” Lily signed her way through her explanation but Celeste stopped her.

“But what happened? Why is he doing this?”

Lily hesitated for a moment, before telling Celeste the entire truth, “Actually, I am applying only in London, I can’t go to Manchester and leave my mother alone. She needs me and even though, I am persuading Hugh that we will make our relationship work, he is not listening to me and he might not apply to Manchester at all and miss the time period, while he have asked Coach Christian to talk to his cousin who is a member of the sponsorship board at King’s College and just because of that hopes he may not apply at Manchester. Please... I want you to talk to him and not let him waste an entire year...”

Lily’s hands and gestures faded from Celeste’s eyes as she lost her focus from what she was trying to tell her and she realized what kind of stupidity Hugh was trying to admit on his behalf.

Hugh walked back towards their table and Poly sat back in sheer horror, looking at Celeste’s lost facial expressions.

She knew how much Hugh’s future was important for Celeste and how hard she was working to make things work out for her brother.

Her entire life was centered around catering to him first, as she always put herself second to his needs and his future and seeing him throw away a high hope and his chances of getting in to University of Manchester only on the hopes of staying in London.

Hugh placed the cups of coke down on the table and Celeste stood up fuming in anger and grabbed Hugh along with her, before he could’ve taken a seat and dragged him out of the restaurant, making both Lily and Poly follow them out as well.

“Celeste!” Poly tried to call her out but Celeste didn’t bother to listen to her at all and only dragged Hugh along, even running in to Chris, who met them at the very door of the restaurant but Celeste didn’t bother to even spare a single glance at him, as she was more pissed off at Hugh at the moment, then she could have allowed Chris to meddle in to her personal matter with her brother.

She took Hugh towards the parking lot and stood in front of him, where he was rendered shocked by his sister’s behavior.

“What the hell was that?” he signed in an angry manner and Celeste only shook her head at him, as tears formed in the corner of her eyes and her entire face flushed with red.

“What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you not applying at Manchester?” she yelled back at him and Hugh sighed in aggravation, turning to look at Lily, who held a guilty expression on her face.

“I will apply when I will have to, now let’s go inside...” he tried to pull Celeste, who shrugged off his touch.

“No! what is the meaning of this celebration, when I am working for you and all you are doing is throwing your future away.” She yelled at him and Hugh, slightly pulled himself back, his hearing aid feeling irritated and squeaking in to his ear, due to Celeste’s high pitch tone.

“Celeste, I don’t want to argue about this okay? I will apply when I have to and...”

“When? When would you? The deadline is Friday and you told me that you sent your application last week, why did you lie to me?” she asked, as tears began spilling down her cheeks and Hugh looked back at Lily, shaking his head, who was in a complete condition of turmoil, regretting what she had done.

On the other hand Chris and Poly stood next to Lily, as Chris had followed them out in the parking lot to witness what was going on between the siblings, the flowers in his hand, turned upside down, as he held them, showing how demotivated and taken aback his heart was to see Celeste yelling at Hugh, for something that he might be a reason to.

“I just...” Hugh hesitated, pulling his hands back for a second, not wanting to say what he had been meaning to since a long time ago.

“You what?” Celeste urged him to speak up.

“I just didn’t have the courage to tell you this but I don’t want to go to Manchester.”

“Why? Why wouldn’t you want to go to Manchester?” she asked, “That is the perfect opportunity for you, your career, your entire life will be in safe hands if you go to Manchester and...”

“Because I want to stay here in London and study here because that’s what I want. Does it even matter to you, what I want?”

“Can I even care about what you could want? I can’t even care about what I want. I don’t have the window in my life that allows me to think about dreams and options. You should know how important it is not just for me but for you as well to get in to Manchester and study there. You have the perfect skills that will make you successful in Football and not just get you in a club or something but you can get in to even the national team and there you will be safe...”

“I want to be safe on my own and do whatever I want to do.” Hugh argued back but Celeste rose her hand at him.

“No! you need to go to Manchester.” She pressed on the matter and Hugh felt being pushed off a cliff, where he wasn’t even heard and simply told the decision of his life that was required of him to do.

“I don’t want to go and I will stay here. Why... why are you forcing me? is it because you pay for everything? Are you trying to force me because of the sacrifices that you have made all your life? I never asked for those sacrifices and I don’t want you to sacrifice anything for me. Do you even know how much you suffocate me when you don’t live a normal life? It hurts me and I feel burdened because I don’t want you to do any of that, exactly because of this very reason that I can not fall perfectly up on your expectations and I want to live my life on my own terms.”

Celeste looked at his face for a moment, forming a stern expression on her face and declaring herself in front of Hugh for once and for all.

Her heart was scathing because of what Hugh had signed at her but she pretended to be strong and unbothered by his words and cries, that spilled out, cutting deep wounds on her heart.

“I don’t care if you feel forced and I don’t care what you want, you can not risk your future by not applying to Manchester. You need to apply at Manchester and then we will see, whether you get in to King’s or not. Be it, if you think it that I am using my edge because I take care of you. Even if you feel burdened to do so, good! Then you should do it, to repay me for everything that I do for you.”

Poly felt swarmed by hurt, as she heard Celeste’s words.

She knew that it wasn’t her friend’s true heart and she was saying that only to make Hugh agree to applying to Manchester. She knew her friend way too well and hence, she could tell that everything Celeste was saying and doing was only to make Hugh succumb in to pressure and agree to go to Manchester.

Hugh rose his hands to argue but Celeste stopped him.

“You know you are going to get in to Manchester and your chances of getting in to King’s is very thin, that’s why you wanted to pretend that you didn’t get in to Manchester, by hiding the fact from me that you didn’t apply at all, so that you would not feel bad about not getting in either to King’s as well, but I don’t want any further argument from you. Either you are doing it by tomorrow or I will do it on my own by Friday. Enough said!”

He couldn’t stand Celeste’s tyranny and simply looked at her with a disappointed look covering his entire face.

“Sometimes, I really wish that I could speak but then, seeing what you do to me, I am glad I can’t speak. It is of no use with you anyways. You don’t care about me. All you care about is your f*****g selfish self. You don’t do this for me but for your own self, because it makes you feel good. Well, you know what? I hate you! You are a shitty sister and even a shittier person.”

Lily gasped, seeing that Hugh had crossed a line with Celeste and she felt remorseful of being the one tell on him to Celeste but she also knew that Hugh was being irresponsible. But if she had known that her telling on him, would lead to such a huge fight between the two siblings, she would have never done that.

He rose his hands up in the air, leaving Celeste broken in shambles on the inside but she kept her head up, pretending to be unbothered by Hugh’s gestures, holding her tears back that were on the brim of her eyes, threatening to come out any minute and luckily, Hugh turned away from her, charging towards Lily and taking her along with him, announcing to Celeste that he was done talking to her.

Poly was about to walk towards Celeste but she shrugged at her.

“Go with him, please...” she stated lowly and Poly nodded her head, following behind Hugh, knowing that he was younger and the stupider of the two siblings that needed an adult’s attention when he was in an emotional turmoil and Celeste was the one who could always control her senses, even when she was extremely disturbed.

Just as soon as Poly left to follow Hugh, Chris walked up towards Celeste.

Celeste felt like she was the most hated woman in the world at the moment, who looked like a pure sonic wench who was forcing her brother to make a decision that wasn’t his.

She felt hopeless as she bent down on her knees and tears spring out of her eyes.

The feeling of lostness had enveloped her as she had started to wonder if she was doing the right thing or not.

She knew that at some point, she was failing as a sister but at the same time, she had to be rational as a guardian and prioritize Hugh’s safety over his happiness and desires and she knew that there was a part of him that didn’t always want what she forced him to have but that was also tied with limited options, where she had to make sure that even when she wasn’t with him, she kept him safe and sending him to Manchester was the safest thing she could have done.

She knew that the only places in the world where her mother didn’t have any resources were Manchester and London but soon someone from her mother’s side would find a way in London as well and by that time, she needed to send Hugh somewhere safe and far away.

Even if he got in to King’s at London, she was going to send him to Manchester.

She looked at Chris, who was perching down right next to her.

“Why did you encourage him to get in to King’s?” she asked Chris, standing up on her feet and looking at him through a blurry vision.

“I didn’t encourage him. He lied to me as well and had told me that he had already applied to Manchester and just wanted to keep his options open for London. I was also lied to.”

She scoffed, realizing that she should have known her brother better than she thought she did.

“I am sorry, I guess, I am a shitty person and a shitty sister.”

“Don’t say that! Everyone and I mean it when I say it, everyone know that you are an incredible person, who is just looking out for Hugh but I think you should not force him...”

“Please, trust me... I had an option to let him choose whatever he wanted to do, I wouldn’t even bat a single eyelash and would have left him on his own but trust me, that it not an option on my watch.”

It was always words and excuses like these, that were incredibly puzzled, masked and ominous that made Chris feel that Celeste was an incredibly anonymous person, who was hiding more than she showed.

He kept his eyes glued to Celeste’s face, trying to read more of her expressions but Celeste looked away from Chris, not wanting to embarrass herself any furthermore.

“If you want, I can talk to him.” He walked towards her and held her hand and Celeste looked down at his grip over her hand.

It did feel great for her to have someone take responsibility for the mess that was created due to her faults but the biggest problem in her life were many factors that she could never explain anyone to, never give a reason and it would only hurt the other person.

“Please, you have already done enough for us.” She tried removing Chris’s grip off her hand but he only held her hand tighter and pulled her closer, putting a hang over her neck and leaning in, smacking both of their lips together, that made Celeste’s eyes go wide.

It felt like an electric current of thousands of volts, jolted throughout her entire body, as Chris held on to her waist and pulled her body closer to his, crashing his chest in to hers, pushing their bodies closer, as his mouth got a better grip on hers and not being in her senses as well, Celeste’s hands wrapped around his neck for support, her eyes slowly closing down, as she slowly moved her lips along with his.

Chris’s hand traveled down to Celeste’s waist, gently pressing on to her butt that was like a trigger to Celeste, knocking her out of her lostness and lustrousness.

Her eyes opened wide, and she looked down to her lips that were attached to Chris’s.

She immediately tapped on his shoulder and pushed him away, making him stumble back.

“Whoa!” he felt out of balance, as Celeste’s push on him was quite vigorous and strong.

He didn’t know that a woman could be that powerful as well.

“That was strong!” he told her, trying to balance his body and raising his hands in the air.

Celeste felt out of breath, walking away from Chris, who rushed behind her but Celeste shrugged his touch off her.

“Please... I am saying this for your own f*****g good! Stay the f**k away from me!”

“What? I don’t get this... you also do want me. or else, why would you kiss me back?” he yelled at Celeste, running to match his steps with hers and turning her towards him but Celeste was quick to take a step away from him.

Him being too close to her was a definite red flag for Celeste.

A red flag for her own self that if she had formed the courage or had the subconscious sense to kiss a guy back, that meant that her likability towards him could get her to be in a relationship with him or have some sort of attachment with him, which she couldn’t afford at that point.

“That’s why I am saying that you need to stay away from me.” she warned him, taking a step further back.

“What? I don’t get this...”

“I said, stay away from me. please... for your own sake.”

With that Celeste turned away and left Chris confused, high and dry.

What he couldn’t understand was the sudden change in Celeste’s mood.

He couldn’t comprehend the fact that if a woman were to kiss a guy, why would she hold herself back from being with him.

But one thing was sure to him.

With the way Celeste was running away from him, he could tell that going behind her in that moment, when she was determined to push him away was of no use.

He slumped his shoulders and turned to look down at the flowers that he had brought to give Celeste, earlier before the dinner could have even started and things went downhill.

He wanted to fight for her so that he could be with her, but he still didn’t know why was she so adamant at keeping him so far away.

At least the only happy memory he had in his mind was of the moment when her lips moved along with his and he was slightly hopeful that she did like him back and with that guarantee, he was assured that persuading her and chasing after her was not going to be in vain.

Picking up the flowers, he walked in to the opposite direction, to Celeste’s, going back to sit in his car.

What he was unaware of... what everyone was unaware of the looming darkness that was circling and stalking them through the shadows.

As Celeste’s stalker was standing by the edge of the parking lot and he had witnessed the whole drama unfold right in front of his eyes.

He removed his hoodie off his head and stepped in to the light, revealing his face to be no one by Dexter himself, who was following Charlie’s orders and simply trailing behind Celeste, to see what she did in her regular life.

So far, there was nothing suspicious about her.

She seemed about a regular damsel in distress who was trying to find a way to help her brother get in to a good university, have a great career and settle down, so that she could have a life of her own. She was a nice person, who helped those in need and always put others first but again Dexter wasn’t going to buy any of that.

He needed to get to know her better and for that, he knew the very sensitive and right button of Celeste’s life that she had shown him her own self, which was her brother, who was now going to be Dexter’s next target of being tailed and stalked.

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Well what do you think about Dexter?

Do you think he will create any trouble for Celeste?

Do you think Celeste is doing the right thing by forcing her brother to apply to Manchester. 

Thank you for always reading and supporting my work <3