Arranged Marriage With The Billionaire

Chapter 4: The Visit

The loud blare of the alarm on her phone woke Annie with a start. She jumped out of bed at first, wondering what startled her until she saw the phone vibrating on her bedside drawer.

With a sigh, Annie grabbed the phone and dismissed the Alarm. Just as she was about to put it down, she remembered that she had planned to go see Frederick in the evening.

A gasp pushed past her lips and Annie lifted her phone to her face to check the time.

"Oh my God! Oh no… what do I do now?" Annie cried. It was already past nine.

Annie threw off the duvet covering her legs and stumbled to her closet. She flung open the door to her closet, searching for something reasonable to wear.

The red dress seemed too serious. She threw it aside.

Leather jacket and mom Jeans? Nope. Not a good idea.

After rummaging through her closet for forever, she chose a simple T-shirt and skinny jeans.

It took Annie quite a while to shower and get dressed. By the time she was done, the time was far spent; five minutes to ten in the night.

It was too late for a visit but Annie did not have a choice. To weigh the consequences; going meant that she would be able to resolve it all if she went at that time.

Postponing the visit?

Frederick would come to look for her the next day at school again, then her friends would become suspicious and bombard her with questions. In the process, they might manage to take words out of Annie's mouth and the real issue would start.

They would definitely go hysterical on her being betrothed to a man who was a decade older than her and more. They would oppose totally. Not like she liked the idea too, she just had to make the sacrifice.

There was no postponing; it would bring about a ripple effect.

With that thought, she slipped into her sneakers, threw her phone, wallet and envelope into her handbag and ran out of her room. On getting to the living room after going down the stairs, Annie was met with the questioning gape of her both parents.

Just as she was about to whip around, their voices reached her ears.

"Where are you going all dressed up by this time?" They spoke at the same time to make matters worse.

"Damn!" She whispered under her breath. Was it weird to say that she'd totally forgotten about the fact that she was spending the weekend with her parents? She had forgotten about that and so she didn't cook up any story to tell them. There was only one option—to lie on the spot. Annie cleaned her sweaty palms on her trousers and turned around slowly.

Feigning a smile, she lifted her head to face both of them. "Uh… hi mom! Hi Dad. I… didn't know you'd be awake by this time. Wha-what are you d-doing here?"

"We should be asking you that," her mother said folding her arms across her chest.

Annie bit her lips. What would she say? If they refused her going there the consequences would be disastrous. That was not even an option.

She cracked her brain for a lie, a story to come up with while still maintaining her feigned smile. If she didn't answer fast they would suspect that she was lying.

At that point she decided to say whatever left her lips. "I-It's nothing, you know, I… just wanted to dress up-"

"Just wanted to dress up by past ten in the night? I hope you're not planning to sneak out to a club." Her father spoke this time, regarding her with one of his brows raised.

"No! I don't. There's just an… an emergency yes! I need to be at the hospital. Bye!"

She rushed past them.

"Not so fast young lady," her father said, gripping her arm.

Annie almost let out a scream. "What is it, Dad?" She asked, turning to smile at him again.

"You should take a jacket, the night is really cold. Here-" he took off his winter jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. "Your shirt is too thin for the weather. Stay safe, and don't forget to put on your gloves. We can't have you falling sick to save lives, right? Now run along."

He winked at her.

Annie had expected him to counter her statement because she wasn't even a registered nurse yet. Why would she be on call by this time? That was what she was expecting him to point out. Annie stared at her father's face to see if he was being sarcastic, then at her mother's. They both had smiles on their faces.

She hadn't expected it to be so easy.

"What are you doing? It's an emergency, go quickly. That's true, take my car. Here are the keys." Her mother shoved it at her.

"Thanks mom," Annie said with a genuine smile this time.

Annie hopped into the car, swerving out of the compound in a haste. She so hoped that she and the car would come back in one piece. She turned on the GPS and typed in his address.

While she drove, she revised all the rules in her head and how she was going to speak with him without getting timid. No matter what happened, she had to tell him. Hopefully, he would still be awake by the time she got to his house. If not, she was still going to wake him up.