The Prince and His Involuntary Bride

7. Supporting Dreams, Suffocating Pasts

Celeste immediately pulled herself back and away from the door as she felt bile rising up in her guts and in to her throat, threatening to make her puke at any given moments.

Within seconds the disturbing moaning and groaning sounds of her brother and whoever he had over, got louder with every passing second and Celeste decided to leave the s*x nest, before they were to realize that she was inside the house and may have heard the two getting in to the action.

She immediately picked up her phone and rushed out of her apartment, skipping steps across the hall and ending up in front of Poly’s apartment and texting her to get outside.

“What happened?” Poly asked, opening the door to her apartment.

“Can we go out? Please away from this building... please... please... please...” she asked Poly, who felt afraid that her poor friend may have seen something something paranormal, because of which she was shaking in sheer fright.

“Of course... of course, let’s go out.”

Poly grabbed her coat and dragged Celeste along with her, taking her out of the building and down the street, where a small pizza bar was present.

The workers around the pizza bar were well aware of Poly and Celeste, both of whom worked their previously and usually hung around the place, in their afterhours.

“What happened to you?” Poly inquired Celeste, who was sitting next to her on the bar stools, right in front of the glass walls of the pizza place.

“Did you see our land lady in her underwear?” she asked, referring to the old woman, who roamed around the place usually wearing nothing but her worn out over sized knickers, knocking down door to door and collecting money for rent.

Celeste shook her head, “It is Hugh!”

“What? What happened to your brother?” she asked, feeling afraid that something awry and eerie might have occurred between the two siblings.

“Did you see him masturbate again?” she asked and Celeste once again shook her head.

Poly was shaken and obviously blown away, wondering what it could be that scared the living life out of her friend.

The last time Celeste was that scared of her brother was when she had caught him pleasuring his own self when he was thirteen years old and the poor girl couldn’t even sleep with her brother in the same apartment for an entire month and slept over at Poly.

“Then what is it that you saw and now you’re scared?” Poly inquired from Celeste, who gulped down he water, trying to stimulate the power within her veins to admit what she had heard in Hugh’s room.

“Well... technically, I didn’t see it!” Celeste admitted, “It just kind of imagined and obviously heard...”

“What did you hear?” Poly tried to emphasize her point, feeling anxious of the suspense that Celeste had created for her. “Would you just get to the point?”

“Hugh had a girl over and I heard them... heard them... do it!”

Celeste finally admitted, drinking down through her glass of coke and trying her best to not to throw up on an empty stomach but listening to Celeste’s words, Poly erupted in to a loud laughter.

“Oh my God!” she laughed out loud, grabbing her stomach as her laughter boomed loud inside the entire pizza parlor and everyone stopped in their tracks inside the shop, which we mostly the workers, who knew both of the two girls.

“You are seriously upset over this?” she asked Celeste in between her laughter, who felt offended by Poly’s snub regarding to her condition.

“I am not upset, I am traumatized okay?” Celeste admitted and Poly laughed even louder at her words.

“Oh come on! I know it must be hard for you to admit that your brother is finally growing up. I mean, he is in his last year of high school and soon he will be going to an university, all these things are just a part of growing up.”

“Ugh!” Celeste felt a wave of disgust and cringe crawling up her body, that made her shudder in her place, “This is just disgusting.”

“This is normal. Don’t shame your brother just because you are a prude.”

“I am not a prude! I am the coolest person when it comes to let people do whatever they want. I told him that he could be anything that he wanted to and...”

“... and he became whipped with p***y!” Poly added making Celeste smack her best friend’s shoulder.

“Shut up!”

“Oh! Is Miss Celeste having a hard time admitting that her baby brother is finally a man?”

Celeste held a begrudging expression towards her friend, who had the time of her life, pulling on to Celeste’s leg.

“Did you see who the girl was? Is she pretty?”

“I told you I didn’t see her or anything. If I had, I would’ve been at the hospital by now.”

“What? You didn’t see her? what if you miss her? we have to go and see... now come on... let’s go.”

She grabbed Celeste’s arm and pulled her up, forcing her to run along with her and the two sprinted out of the pizza shop.

“Add this on our tab!” she shouted at the young girl over the counter and ran inside the building, pulling Celeste along with her on to the fourth floor.

They never used the elevator inside the building. Because;

A.    It was broken since nineteen eight two

B.     Celeste was claustrophobic and avoided getting inside tiny and confined spaces.

Reaching up towards the fourth floor, Poly gently opened up Celeste’s apartment and held her head slightly in through the door, hearing subtle rumblings coming in from of the apartment. She stayed back for a second and heard multiple footsteps getting closer to the door.

“They are coming.” She closed the door very carefully, making sure to not to create any noise and immediately pulled Celeste towards her door, putting her key inside to open it up but before she could have opened up her door, the door to Celeste’s apartment flew open and knowing that it was too late for the two to try and disappear and peep at the young people through their peephole, Poly and Celeste towards her apartment, where her young brother was standing next to a skinny blond girl.

“Hey!” Poly chimed in excitement and looked towards Hugh and the young girl.

Celeste only waved at her brother and then immediately turned her gaze away, looking down at old tarnish wooden floor.

Celeste didn’t have the courage to look up to Hugh due to what she had just witnessed but soon she heard Hugh clapping his hands out and Celeste lowly grumbled at the back of her throat, knowing that there was no way that she would be getting out of this situation without interacting with her brother.

Poly nudged her elbow in to Celeste’s ribs, making her look at Poly, who bobbed her head in to Hugh’s direction and Celeste rolled her eyes, looking up at her brother and the first thing she did was look over his ear, where she saw his ear aid piece missing and knew that he wasn’t wearing his hearing aid, because of which he also had not been able to listen to her get inside the house before as well.

She spared a single glance towards his girl’s ear and saw that even she was wearing a hearing air and it was obvious to Celeste; why both of them were not able to listen to her enter inside the house previously.

“Oh hello!” Celeste chimed at the two waving her hands at them.

And the blond petite girl only waved back at Celeste.

“I will take a leave now!”

She signed at Celeste and Poly found the entire situation to be ironic.

As soon as the girl made her way down the stairs, Poly looked at Celeste.

“Is she also...?” she asked Celeste and she nodded her head at Poly, who shook her head and turned towards Hugh.

He was a young tall man, who had his brunette hair slicked back on his head, his blue eyes paired perfectly with his contoured face and sharp jawline, giving him an astoundingly handsome look for his age. Even though, his face had sharp features, his eyes and rosy cheeks coupled together, giving him a soft and mellifluous look. Despite of the fact that he never faced any complications in his life because of his looks and confidence, Celeste still always held his hand and helped him in every possible way because of the fact that he was impaired and was unable to speak and hear.

“Wow! I don’t think opposites really attract; similar ones do.”

Celeste smacked Poly’s arm and Hugh once again clapped his hands together, attaining Celeste’s attention.

He opened up the door wide and gestured at Celeste to walk inside their apartment.

She knew that it was about time for him to try and lecture her, so she simply slumped her shoulders down and walked inside the apartment, leaving Poly behind.

Hugh closed the door behind him and picked up his hearing aid, placed at the corner of the counter of their kitchen.

Placing the aid over his ear, he turned towards Celeste, signaling her to sit down over the couch and she complied, sitting over the couch.

“You came inside the house!” he signed at her and she shook her head in a negative manner.

“It wasn’t a question.” He pointed out making Celeste’s eyes go wide.

“What? How would you know?” Celeste signed back at him.

“The jacket!” he pointed out at his suede jacket that was placed on the couch by Celeste who picked it up from the balcony.

She closed her eyes in agony and regretted her decision of picking up those stupid clothes from the balcony and placing them over the coach.

“I left it in the balcony.” He signed at her and Celeste bit her tongue, with a sly smile.

“I don’t know anything about it!” she stated, speaking as well as signing at him.

“I can hear you! You don’t need to sign.” He told her in annoyance, pointing towards the hearing aid and signing back at her.

He moved towards the kitchen and poured himself and Celeste a glass of water, bringing one to her and sitting down on the coffee table in front of her.

“How much do you know?” he asked and Celeste hesitated before signing back to him.

“I just heard some things and made my way outside the house.” She told him and Hugh nodded back.

“Good for you!” he smirked back at her, shameless of what he had just done in the apartment and Celeste smacked his head.

“Focus on your studies!” she told him and he almost remembered.

“Oh! I forgot to tell you, I got selected in the football team at a university in Manchester.”

“Manchester?” Celeste yelled out loud in excitement, confirming if what she had just been able to read through Hugh’s sign was correct or not.

“Yes!” he nodded his head at her and she jumped up in excitement, screaming in joy.

“Oh My God! Why didn’t you tell me this before?” she asked, jumping up and down in pure thrill.

“This is amazing.”

Hugh smiled back at Celeste, who noticed that he wasn’t as thrilled as she was.

“What is it? Aren’t you happy?” she asked him and he shook his head at her.

“I am happy but they are asking me to submit my application for the university before Summer and the application fee...”

“Don’t even think about it.” Celeste shook her head at him.

“Why should I not? It is f*****g two hundred pounds.” He shrugged back at her and she clicked her tongue, shaking her head at him.

“Shut up! It is not for you to care about. I will give you the money, first thin tomorrow, you will go and submit your application to the university, okay?”

Hugh held himself back for a moment, contemplating that his sister worked hard, day and night in a private club to make their ends meet. He couldn’t just waste her money right away.

“What if the university rejects me? it will waste your money and...”

“Then don’t get rejected. Work hard on your application and get everything you want for the university approval process.”

“But you work so hard for money...”

Celeste grabbed Hugh’s free ear and twisted it hard, making him squeak out in agony.

He began thrashing his hands in the air, wanting to get free of Celeste’s punitive touch.

“I am sorry!” he waved his hands in an apologetic sign and Celeste finally let go off him and he stood back, holding his reddened ear.

“You are never to think about any such thing again!” she told him, “Got it?” she grumbled at him and he stepped back, holding his hands to his ear.

“Good! Now get ready for Manchester and go ahead and achieve your dreams.”

“You are the best sister in the world.” He signed back at her and she opened up her arms, hugging him endearingly.

“So, that chick? Is she serious?” she c****d at him and Hugh looked down, shying away from Celeste’s words.

“Well... it is complicated.” He told her and Celeste stayed back, listening to her brother’s love story.

Soon Hugh left for him room and Celeste stood in her balcony, holding her coffee mug in her hand and looking down at the smokey and polluted area of the south Hackney, where she had been living for the past five years.

Her life had seemingly been stuck in the same place ever since she had came to London.

It wasn’t a much of a choice for her to come to London. She was happy with the way things were, when she was in America and everything was running smooth but she had to take a stand for herself and her brother.

If she hadn’t ray away from her life five years ago, she might have lost either her life or Hugh’s.

It was a tough choice that she had to make but she was glad that she did.

Even though, she was struggling day in and night out to make ends meet, she was still satisfied and happy with her life.

She was happy to struggle then to stay back and let her mother ruin her life.

Thinking about Hugh, she knew that she had to work hard in order to make sure that Hugh’s university life would go on to be undaunted and impervious and therefore, she needed to find a job for herself as soon as possible.

She couldn’t survive with just thirteen hundred pounds in her name; thus, it was going to be a struggle for her life but she was determined to do it and win against all odds to make sure that her brother had a comfortable and safe life ahead of him.

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Well, with Celeste being introduced in to this book, there is definitely something up about her past. Hope you guys would enjoy her story as much as you enjoyed Isabella's story and gave love to it.

Thank you for reading and supporting my work <3