Against Her Will

Episode 4

At this time in a wedding the groom was to dance with the bride's mother but it was clear she wasn't here, which confused him. Ricardo shoved that confusion aside as he then talked and mingled with the people who had asked about why she had walked away from him after their first dance, and he informed them that it was the father daughter dance and she didn't have a father so she had been a bit upset and thankfully they understood. He then went and danced with his mother who was beyond happy, she was literally glowing which he couldn't help but smile at, if there was anyone in the world he loved more than his kid, it would be her, she may have been his stepmother but she was more like his mother than his real one ever had been. His father couldn't make it however, his blood pressure had gone high and the last thing he needed was it getting worse, he's already had a heart attack before and the doctors had said he wouldn't be able to handle another one so both he and his mother had forced him to sit this one out as he was so weak it was hard for him to walk. This was another reason he had agreed to this marriage, his father had said that with his health already on the down low, anything could happen at any time and before he died, he wanted to see his son happy with someone. He then agreed to this marriage for his son and for his parents, he would show to the world that they were happy with each other even though he knew their marriage life would be the total opposite.

As Leilani walked away from him trying to control her tears at the memories came to the forefront of her mind, she took a few breaths and put a fake smile on her face for the public, she knew that walking away from him after their first dance was not a great thing to do considering the eyes of the media and the people were on them but she couldn't help it. She did feel a tingling of regret about snapping at the guy like that, he had been beyond rude to her, yes, but that didn't mean she should have snapped at him and called him a tactless fool when he clearly had no idea that her father was dead, he hadn't brought it up on purpose to hurt her, he genuinely hadn't known though she didn't feel that guilty considering he had just threatened her that she'd never seen him again. If he were alive that would be cruel so immediately all her guilt went down the drain. She'd always been the person to insult people for the right reasons when someone truly deserved it not for things they didn't do.

When she had been younger in school, she had had a best friend besides Isabella and Lucas and they all used to be bullied by another boy, all of her friends used to insult him whenever they wanted to even if he didn't do anything but she couldn't do it unless he had given her a reason to, mainly if he'd pick on her friends.

She had been really close to her until that day she had caught her and her at the time boyfriend making out in the bathroom, that had tore her heart to pieces, she had loved him, she had thought he changed from his playboy ways, she had thought that she was enough but she had been wrong, he had been playing her like he did all those other girls, she had thought she was different but in the end she had been exactly the same as the other girls, falling for his charms only to be slapped in the face by reality. Her trust had been completely broken and she never tried making friends again, she never loved anyone again, she kept her heart to herself vowing that she would never put herself in the position to be hurt again and yet she had stupidly opened her heart for someone else, someone who became the reason she had been living in hell for the past 3 years of her life.

Lost in her thoughts she hadn't realised who had been walking towards her until her entire body froze as her arm was grabbed and pulled into someone's embrace. She stiffened as she looked up into her uncle's eyes clearly warning her not to make a scene. She felt tears prick her eyes as she reluctantly danced with him, she shouldn't be here with him, she should be here with her father, not with the monster who had made her life a living hell all these years.

"Do not even think of ruining this for me girl, you will act the proper wife, you will not disobey him, you will do whatever he says because if he kicks you out, I'll show you exactly what happens to little girls who don't listen, do you understand? You already know the consequences." Her uncle hissed at her threateningly as he tightened his arms around her already slightly bruised arms from her husband's oh so gentle handling of her. She was too frightened of him to even think about doing back to what she had done to him, she'd rather call him that in her head than her husband, it made her feel less nauseous.

"Whatever you say uncle." Leilani said rolling her eyes before she tried to hide the wince as his arms tightened around her in warning.

"Cut the attitude girl." He said angrily and Leilaini stayed silent after that keeping her head down and thankfully not too long after, the dance was over and she sighed in relief as she escaped his arms.

She hadn't noticed the concerned eyes of her best friends on her frame during her dance with her uncle, they knew her better than anyone else, and the subtle tightening of her frame and the slightest hint of a wince on her face told them that he had been hurting her and they clenched their hands into fists as they glared daggers at her sorry excuse of an uncle, it took all they had not to go and rip his filthy hands off her but they knew the repercussions of that would be for her to bare alone since she would be going home with that husband of hers and they didn't want the next home she would be living in for possibly the rest of her life to be like the one she was currently living in because they both knew that they'd do whatever it takes to get her out of there no matter the harm that would come to them even if they had to drug her and take her away from here. However Isabella's murderous thoughts were cut short when she was asked to dance by none other than her best friend's husband's best man as other couples began dancing once the father daughter dance was nearly over.

She had blushed a pretty shade of rose as he held a hand out to her with his alluring eyes gazing at her expectantly, and out of the corner of her eye, she could see her brother glaring at the guy in protectiveness and she laid a hand on his arm to calm him down, not seeing the tightening of Leonard's impression as he looked at her hand on the other guy's arm. Who was he to her? When she accepted his hand though, he smiled happily, his dimples on full display causing her blush to deepen and to him, she looked even more cuter now.

"Who was that boy by the way?" Leonard couldn't help but ask after a moment of dancing, he had never felt so comfortable with another girl, this was the first time he had willingly went and asked someone for a dance but he was just too curious and interested not to.

"My brother, Lucas, I'm Isabella, which you already know from the speech." She said the last part to herself a little embarrassed.

"And I am Leonard, as you already know, but you can call me Leo." He said smiling flirtatiously at her now that he knew the other guy wasn't a romantic interest, and he knew he couldn't deny the relief he felt at that.

"Leo, well then you can call me Bella or Belle." Isabella offered with a smile on her face.

"Belle it is, it suits you, you are the most beautiful girl I've ever met." Leo complimented her causing her to roll her eyes, she's heard that before.

"I'm sure you say that to a lot of girls, tell me does that line work every time?" Isabella asked with a raised eyebrow.

"More or less, either I walk away with the girl or with a bright red handprint on my cheek." He joked, but it was true.

"Yeah I think if we were to meet under any other circumstance and you had said that to me I would have probably done the latter as I have done many times before." Isabella said truthfully and he chuckled at that.

"Good to know, so just warn me if I'm making you uncomfortable, I'd rather not have another handprint to go with my vast collection. Now, tell me, what were you glaring so hatefully at before I asked you to dance because let me tell you, you looked beyond hot." He flirted smoothly only because she hadn't really looked uncomfortable when he had done it before, only a little shy so he was expecting her to blush even more now but she just rolled her eyes.

"Believe me you don't want to know." Isabella said with anger on her face and he immediately changed the subject, he'd rather her smile, she looked beautiful when she did.

She danced with him for a while and for the first time in ages she actually enjoyed talking to another boy since any boy that came up to her were only after one thing and it was clear from their eyes what they wanted. However with him, despite his self-proclaimed playboy status, he was still respectful, they talked about everything and nothing, her interests and his and she was smiling more than she had in a while, there was just something different about him that interested her. Her smile dropped though when she went past her friend dancing and heard Lani's uncle's voice.

"Cut the attitude girl." He said angrily before Isabella was led away helplessly, how could he do this to someone like Lani, it wasn't fair. She hadn't realised how long she had stayed silent until she felt her hand being let go as her chin was lifted up gently. She didn't know what to do with her free hand so she just wrapped both her arms around his neck as he asked, "What's wrong darling?"

"Nothing." She immediately said as she looked up into his beautiful grey eyes, they reminded her of a storm and it had a certain beauty to it that had her entranced, not knowing that he was feeling exactly the same as he looked into her beautiful blue eyes.

"You sure sweetheart?" He asked with a concerned look on his face as his thumb began stroking her chin and jawline. She blushed at that and the pet names he was giving her.

"Y-yeah I'm sure." She stuttered a little as she answered and her face reddened even more at that, what was wrong with her? She's never stuttered in the presence of a boy before and yet here she was, a complete mess, yes, he was absolutely gorgeous, kind, respectful, a little arrogant but it only added to his charming nature but that didn't mean she should lose her cool in front of him like so many other girls had probably done, she didn't want to be like them, she wasn't like those snobby arrogant woman whose life revolved around money nor did she love having one night stands and adding one more contest to the list, it wasn't a game for her, she wanted to have a serious relationship. Ok, she was getting way ahead of herself, they had only just met, a relationship might not even be in the question, hell, he might not even like her at all but for some reason she was interested in him. When he had asked her to dance, since her dress was backless, he had been such a gentleman that he had asked if it was ok to lay a hand on her bare back before dancing with her, the tingles that spread through her body at his touch ignited a fire in her that she'd never felt before.

"Alright then, have I told you that you're looking beyond ravishing right now?" He leaned closer and whispered in her ear as he let go of her chin and wrapped both his arms around her waist. She coughed slightly and blushed a deep red at how close he was and he chuckled at that before saying, "Sorry, couldn't help it. I promised not to make you feel uncomfortable though so it won't happen again. You look cute when you're blushing though." She turned away slightly biting her lip as she tried to control her blush and she heard him groan at the back of his throat. "Don't bite your lip sweetheart."

"Hmm? Oh, uh, sorry?" She phrased it more like a question than anything as she let go of her lip.

"That's better, you have no idea what you are doing to me, do you?" He asked as he stared at her beautiful face.

"Sorry, what?" She was completely confused and she could still feel her brothers glare on them both as he was dancing with Lani.

"Nothing darling, absolutely nothing." He said smiling as he shook his head before she swapped partners with Lani and she danced with her brother as Lani danced with Leonard.

"You like her don't you? I can see it in your eyes, in the way you look at her and I know this is probably very blunt but I have only one request from you, don't hurt her, if you can't be a one woman man than I suggest you leave her be. She is not a one-night stand girl, she wants the full package and if you can't give her your all than l would rather you stop whatever this is between you right now. I know it's not my place to say, it's your life and hers but she and her brother are the only people I care about and the last thing I want is for her to be hurt in any way because she's my best friend. I promise you now that one tear from her eye because of you I will personally make sure that you will never have children, are we clear?" She threatened seriously and he looked at her for a moment before he smiled.

"Crystal." He said seriously, hurting her was the last thing he wanted to do alongside leaving her be, he was too intrigued right now to just let her go. He looked at the girl before him in slight admiration, she was feisty, she would be good for Ric, it wasn't just her feisty nature that he thought would help mellow out his friend a bit, it was the obvious loyalty she showed regarding her friend. Ric was big on loyalty, most likely because of her, she was a taboo topic for them, so much so that he never even mentioned her name in his head for fear of accidentally saying it to him when they talked.

He looked at her for a second as he thought about her and his best friend, for him the way you treat your friends shows what kind of person you are so he said, "You'll be good for Ric, I thought you would have been like the last one but you're different."

"The last one?" Leilaini asked curiously before shaking her head, "Actually no don't tell me, it's none of my business, it's his. Unless he's comfortable with me knowing, I'd rather not know."

"You're a good person you know, which is why I'm going to warn you beforehand, I've known Ric for most of my life and believe me he wasn't always like this, there's a reason that he is, a reason I can't tell you. He's...he's a tough shell to c***k but he's not totally hopeless, give him a chance at least before you give up on him." Leonard advised, he knew how cold his friend comes off as but he didn't want his last chance of being happy with someone to fly out the window because of that.

"I'll try." Leilani said, if he could agree to what she had asked of him, then she could at least agree to that, yes, her husband had been horrible to her but maybe if he actually got to know her, it would be different. She could see that he didn't want this marriage, was he forced into it, like she was? Is that why he was lashing out at her? But, when she had met his parents, they had been so kind, they didn't look like people who would force their son into a loveless marriage so that had her confused but she would give him a chance at least, it was only fair.