I’m getting married today, it still feels so unreal, it was barely a week ago my father had called me in his study, and now here I am about to walk the aisle. Ann got me Lara wang wedding dress, my shoes were custom made from Italy and my hairstylist flown in from Spain and the result is this gorgeous beautiful woman – me, I smiled “Austin would be blown away when he sees me” I said out aloud to no one but myself.

“I hope you’re ready,” I spun around to see my stepmother had come inside the dressing room with my father at her heel.

I nodded in response, “Yes, mother.”

my father looked at me as if assessing goods he’s about to pawn off, said in a low voice

“finally you’ve shown that you’re not entirely useless, marrying Austin to save your family is the least to repay our kindness to you, behave yourself and remember that you can’t get divorced no matter what happens because you have no home to return to, I’ll be waiting for you downstairs its almost time” he said unceremoniously, with that he left the room, I looked at my stepmother’s face searching for any signs of affection, today is my wedding day, won’t she at least pretend to be kind towards me?

A prolonged silence ensued between my mother and me, almost as if we were two strangers in the room

My stepmother’s phone beeped. She threw me a side glance, “It's time, your father is waiting.”

The walk down the aisle seemed like a lifelong journey, strange faces looking at me, some scrutinizing looks, some admiring looks, but I cared for neither as I held on to my father’s hands as he walked me to meet my husband-to-be. Finally, I would be free and be loved.

Austin looked so dashing in his black, crisp well tailored Tuxedo. His neatly trimmed hair, my heart hammered against my chest as I stepped beside him. My father handed me over to the priest and found his way to his seat. I began to feel hot, even with the numerous AC in the room, it feels so surreal that I am finally getting married to Austin Barnes,

“Are you ready, Lorah?” his words interrupted my thoughts as we faced the priest for our joining ceremony. “Do you, Austin Barnes, take Lorah Miller to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love and to hold, in wealth and in health, for as long as it takes?”

Austin says “I do” in his rich baritone voice. The priest had barely finished reading my vows before I jumped in with “I do.”

“You may now kiss the bride.” Austin dipped his head and kissed me abruptly. Shouts erupted from the congregations with congratulations here and there.

“Look who we have here, the trophy bride.” A cold shiver ran down my spine as I turned to face a stony-faced Ann,

“Oh hi, thanks for coming, Ann it means-”

“Oh, come off it, Lorah, don’t act like this is a love match,” she cut me off as she stormed past me. She has always been cold towards me for reasons I don’t know.

I see Austin come into the room. “Where have you been? I’ve been alone here and all these faces are strangers,” I asked softly, “it's our wedding reception.”

Austin took a seat beside me. “What gives you the right to question me?” he asked in a dangerously low tone.

“I thought we should be together since it’s still our wedding and-”

he leaned sideways, interrupting me. “Don’t tell me I married a nagging wife, because I won’t tolerate that!”

This is going south really fast, so I said the first thing that popped into my mouth

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.” he didn’t respond throughout the entire reception.

The atmosphere in the car during the ride wasn’t any easier. Austin just kept tapping away at his phone. The car stopped in front of the sprawling Barnes mansion. Austin stepped out of the car and went straight into the mansion, leaving me all alone in the car. I stepped out of the car and followed him into the house. I saw him giving orders to the maids

“Austin about earlier, I only wanted to-”

He snapped at me, “Lorah, not now, it's been a long day!” With that, he went up the stairs. I stood there stunned.

“I’ll see you to your room, ma’am,” one of the maids said to me

“My room? I thought I should be in the same room with my husband,” I asked, surprised.

she looked down at her toes, fidgeting. “Mr. Austin has ordered that you have your own separate rooms.” It felt like I had been slapped in the face. My legs felt heavy as I followed the maid to my room. “Please let me know if there’s any other thing you need,” she said as she made to leave the room

“What’s your name?” I asked the maid

“My name is Sarah, ma’am,” and with that, she left the room.

Left alone, I stripped out of my reception dress and had a warm bath, after which I pulled out the box that had been designated mainly for my honeymoon wear. I settled for a see-through, knee-length night robe, moisturized my skin, and generously sprayed my perfume and lay on the bed nervously waiting for Austin...