Griffin’s POV

She sauntered into the room and her eyes found mine. I watched her swallow, then take the only empty seat next to me, intentionally made so.

Every single person in this room was trying so hard to ensure this night ended just the way they wanted it to. This wasn’t the first time they would try, and it wouldn’t be the last either.

“You finally decided to grace us with your presence,” her mother said. They were so different in looks yet alike in a way I couldn’t decipher. It was somewhere, lingering in my brain, but I couldn’t place it just yet.

Lina was quiet as she retrieved her cutlery and delved into her meal.

“For someone who is going to get married to me, you sure are oddly quiet,” I murmured, eyeing her. She had great brown hair that fell in waves down her shoulders, going past her waist.

“I have no plans of doing that,” she shot back.

“It didn’t seem that way a few minutes back when you were staring at me.”

Her head jerked in my direction. “I wasn’t staring at you,” she whispered harshly. “You were in my line of vision. Where else would I have looked?”

“Maybe around the room?” I shrugged, enjoying this little banter way too much. Her brown eyes got bigger when she was pissed and for some reason….

"There were other strangers in the living room," I continued, allowing my past thoughts to die. "You could have tried to know who they were."

She turned back to her plate. “There wouldn’t have been any need for that, since today is the last day I would be meeting you all.”

“Oh!” I raise my eyes in mild surprise. That was something. “Why? Don’t you want to see me again?”

“I believe it is not one-sided. You hate this arrangement as much as I do, so we can quit pretending. Once dinner is over, we unanimously tell our parents that we are not interested in getting married to each other. That always works.”

“Not your first rodeo?”

“And not the last either,” she whispered in response. “We can come up with a perfect explanation. Tell them I am not tall enough or something, and I will say I don’t like your hair.”

I laughed, a choked-out odd sound that even got my parents arching their brows at me. I could see the satisfaction in their eyes, and it was easy to tell the thought that had settled in their minds.

‘The last time we heard Griffin laugh out loud was ages ago, so maybe we have a marriage on our hands.’

The idea was humorous.

“You’re not tall enough,” I said casually, reaching for my glass of wine, I brought the rim to my lips just as Lina snapped.

“You think this is funny? My future is about getting eroded by some flimsy marriage to some cocky man and you dare make jokes about it.”

I shrugged. “It wasn’t a joke, Lina. You are not tall enough.”

It was strange. This was strange.

I didn't know what it felt like to be rejected, because no one was bold enough to do that. Girls literally themselves at me. Everywhere I stepped, they followed like flies chasing after a carcass.

But Lina…she was doing the exact opposite.

"We might as well break the news to them now." She dropped her cutlery and looked straight into my eyes. "I don't think I can bear to sit beside you for a minute more."

“Am I getting under your skin?” I angled my head and watched her fume. “Girls would say that is a good thing where I’m concerned.”

“They are all a bunch of dumb asses,” she retorted then cleared her throat noisily. The small chatter on the dinner table died immediately, and the faces of our parents all bore a small expectant smile.

“We have….”

“Before you go on, please allow me to do the formal introductions,” her father interrupted. I could see the anger in Lina’s eyes, and half of me expected her to speak up about how it felt being interrupted mid-speech.

But she leaned back instead, letting her anger dissipate.

It made me wonder how long she’d been letting that happen.

"I am very happy that you all honoured our invitation at such short notice," he continued, oblivious to his daughter's feelings. "Although, I was hoping to see your younger son as well."

“He would have loved to come too,” my mother said sweetly. “But he had something to do at the company.”

That was a lie. My brother and I might not get along that often, but I knew how he thought. He hated arranged marriages, and because he was a goody-two-shoes who would rather chew ice than say a word against our parents, he decided to cook up an excuse not to be here.

Coward.

“We would see him at the wedding then,” Mrs. Hart nodded enthusiastically, already concluding that there would be one. “We are so delighted for our daughter to be a part of your family, and it is our greatest honour, knowing how well-mannered you all are.”

I resisted the urge to scoff. We all knew this wasn’t about manners.

“About the marriage,” Lina started, scooting to the edge of her seat. “This…man here and I have decided that we would…”

“…go ahead with the wedding.”

Lina looked at me with surprise in her features. That wasn’t the agreement, and if I was being honest with myself, I didn’t know why I was doing this either. But it was necessary.

I was tired of being pulled to dinners like this repeatedly. I would just give my parents what they want so they could get off my back.

“I am sure that wasn’t what … what he meant,” Lina said at once, shaking her head.

“My name is Griffin,” I said, putting her out of her confusion on what to call me. “And I meant every word. We are going ahead with the wedding.”

“We are not!”

“Can you all please give us a moment?”

Without waiting for a response, I grabbed her wrist and pulled her with me out of the room.”