Runaway Destiny (Completed!)

Today’s my last day at Parson’s the New School of Design and I couldn’t be more excited to graduate. I left LA four years back to study here in order to broaden my knowledge at one of the best design schools in the world for our company. Mom and Dad created Rivers & Co. Fashion Firm, one of the most up and coming fashion companies from scratch before I was born and I just knew that fashion was also my calling.  Before coming to New York I took a gap year to intern at the company to feel the ropes and I loved every moment of it. As it was only my undergrad degree, I told mom and dad that there’s no need for them to come to watch me graduate. After all it’s hours of sitting and doing nothing just to see me for three seconds to go across the stage, not worth the flight here from LA.  I also didn’t have much to pack at my dorms because most of the items I bought I’m leaving to the underclassmen who I ended up bumping into a few days ago as I started sorting things out. “Make sure you come and visit me in Chicago Ella. I’ll miss you so much!” Rachel hugged me before I got into my taxi to JFK.  “I will Rachel, and when you come to LA you must hit me up! I have so many places to show you! And you can stay with me!” We hugged, laughed and cried for a few minutes before she ushered me into the taxi and I headed to the airport for my gruesome six lonely hour flight home.  “Ella!” I turned around and saw Susan, my childhood friend who came to pick me up from the airport. Originally mom and dad wanted to come but I told them it’s fine and I’m a big girl, I was 22 after all, and that I can get home safely.  “Thanks for coming to pick me up! This is for you.” I handed her a bag of bagels that I bought before returning back to LA.  “Yes! New York bagels! Oh I love these!”  We headed out of the airport and into the parking lot to head home.  “So you’re officially going to take over your parent’s company?”  “I’m not sure yet, mom and dad are still young so they’ll still be there for a good while, I might just start working elsewhere to gain more experience first you know?” She knew that I loved designing, especially wedding dresses, but our company is more in line with creating lingerie or swimwear and not formal gowns and wedding dresses.   “Hey, maybe you can bring wedding design into your company when you step up in the corporate ladder.” She was right, maybe I can but that’ll take a long time from now and I definitely would need someone who knows their stuff well to back me up on a new track.  “Maybe. So how are you and Tony?” I gave her a wink before she blushed “We’re doing well. We recently talked about moving in together.” Tony was Susan’s boyfriend of two years. He was older than her and a childhood friend. Since Susan just graduated last year and worked full time for a year now, it makes sense for the two of them to progress to the next level. I was happy for them, truly am, but it also makes me wonder when will I find the right one?  “What about you? Any prospects?” She quickly glanced at me before setting her eyes back on the road.  “Honestly no. I just want someone who doesn’t want s*x all the time. Like Sam was a great guy but I didn’t feel anything with him other than physical chemistry which is why we didn’t even last.” She gave me an ‘Oh’ face before we arrived at my house.  “Hey, maybe you just need to go out more. I can introduce you to some people if you want.” I know Susan means well but I didn’t want to think about dating right now. I’m more concerned about my future.  “Thanks Susan but not right now. Maybe in the future.” I grabbed my bags from the trunk and gave her a quick squeeze before heading inside.  To my surprise mom and dad were already home.  “Hey mom, dad! I’m back!” I jumped into my dad’s arms right away tackling the air out of his lungs. I missed being home so much and I missed my parents the most.  “Hey baby girl. How was the flight?”  “It was okay, watched a few movies but generally just tired and icky.”  “Go shower first and then come for dinner. Your dad and I have something to talk to you about.” I nodded in a reply to my mom and grabbed my suitcase upstairs to my room. I didn’t bother unpacking yet since I’ll have time to do that in the future. I quickly showered and put on my favorite sweatpants and a tank top with a light sweater before coming back downstairs.  “What’s for dinner?”  “Your favorite baby girl, Lasagna.”  “Yes! Praise the Lord!” I missed home cooked meals so badly while studying in New York.  “Take your time and eat Ella” my dad laughed as he watched me scoff down a second plate of lasagna.  “So Ella, we have something we want to talk to you about.” I looked up from my plate and put my fork down before taking a sip of the wine in my glass and looked at my dad who now seemed to be sweating bullets.  “What's up?”  “We have set up a marriage for you. It’s with the son of one of my most trusted senior managers.” I almost choked on my own saliva upon registering what my dad just said. “Dad you can’t be serious, we’re in the 21st century. Nobody does arrange marriages anymore.” I laughed, this has to be a joke. I’m just 22 and in no way and I am willing to marry someone I don’t know. Heck what if he’s mean? Or smelly? Or better yet, violent?  “Actually, we’re serious. He’s a good man and he just graduated from Harvard with an MBA. He’ll be very helpful to our business. He’s only a few years older than you Ella. We’ll be meeting them tomorrow for breakfast.” My mom continued as she gave me that ‘you know what I mean’ mom look. Oh s**t, they are totally serious about this arranged marriage… After dinner and our very awkward conversation I went back up to my room and devised a plan. There’s no way I’m going to marry someone I don’t know. I am not going to stick around and just have them sign me away to some random guy who I never met before.  I waited until it was 1am to call an uber a block away and grabbed my already packed suitcase and headed to the airport.