Chapter 3

"Will you marry me?"

Ryuha stiffened, her fingers curled under her skin, from pain and from shock.

"Your father told me you lost your fiance. Your family has agreed to your marriage already. I thought I would hear from you soon."

She felt a hand rise as she flinched and drew away. He paused and took it back.

"I'm Xavier Fox. You might not remember me but we used to go to the same high school.

Ryuha wanted to laugh at the irony.

He was the only one she knew.

His smile was her only salvation.

He was her first crush. Her first love. Her first 'hi' in high school.

He was her saviour.

xxxxx

Seven years before now

Ryuha peeled from the curtains watching the boy laughing. He was wearing his PE uniform because she had accidentally poured milkshake on his shirt.

He told her it was fine. He had smiled at her.

It was so long since someone had smiled at her.

It was the start of a love that could never come true.

xxxxx

How come he was still smiling?

When she was not even able to cry?

Ryuha had just started forgetting him but now he had to waltz into her life again with his picture perfect hair and picture perfect eyes. His smile and his eyes. The way they reached his eyes. How he always meant what he said.

"Do you remember me?"

She wanted to say yes. She wanted to say the truth.

That her fiance wasn't 'gone'.

It was her who was replaced.

She didn't have amnesia.

Her family were just liars.

How they weren't even family and he only reason they even cared to keep her around so that they could sell her like some pieces of cattle they owned.

But she couldn't say anything. No one would believe her anyway. So she shook her head to say no. 

"Well think on it, alright? I think we can both our companies will benefit from this."

She looked away again, of course it was for the company, what was she thinking? That he would personally ask to marry a girl who he didn't even know? Ryuha traced the sheets with her thumb as she felt herself calm down a little. 

He took out a paper from his coat pockets with a pen clipped onto it and gave it to her. "Your hands are fine right? You can talk to me through this."

He held out his hand for her to take it but she refused to budge from her spot. Ryuha didn't want to go that close to him. He kept the paper on the bed stand near her as she watched him warily from the corner of her vision. Her eyes were wide open, alert if he tried to do something. But he didn't. 

"Well, then I hope to hear from your family soon."

Ryuha felt her heart settle. Of course it was 'family'. He pretended he cared about her approval but she was sold anyway, her opinion didn't matter after all. She imagined herself to be at a crossroads. Either she could run away, like she had before and she knew she would succeed. But Ryuha had to stop pretending like she was brave. She didn't want to live where she couldn't cry, where she couldn't smile, where she couldn't breathe. She didn't want to live at all. 

But it was a one time situation.

Her family would never leave her alone now. They would always have someone following her, they would keep her locked under bars. Because they wouldn't allow her to even die. They were cruel and she couldn't escape now anyway. Once Xavier left and the door closed, she knew who would be the one to open it. It would be him and she would be punished. Ryuha couldn't stay here for one more second. They would never let her leave until after they were done with her. Ryuha couldn't do that anymore. She wasn't as strong as she was before. She couldn't kill herself but they would keep killing her, just so she hung on the edge of a cliff dying but not really. Like her head was being sawn off a guillotine slowly, vessel by vessel, nerve by nerve.

Ryuha knew she would be better off begging him to let her leave with him. If he really married her, then her family wouldn't be able to follow her anymore. She could finally die. It's not like she was that important anyway. Xavier Fox was one of the richest men in the world. He would never care for someone like her. He would probably find a replacement within a week. 

He didn't actually love her. He just wanted the someone to occupy the position of a 'wife' and her family just happened to be dangling bait in front of him. She grabbed onto his silver cufflinks and his polished cuffs. The moment her finger grazed his skin, he glared at her and she dropped her hand immediately wondering why she had to do that. 

Of course, he wouldn't want to touch something like her. 

Of course he was disgusted. 

Now he would get angry at her. She couldn't make anyone happy even for a second. Her body was tense as if she was waiting for something. Something inevitable.

He might have felt indifference towards her up till now, but he definitely hated her after she touched him.

"Yes." 

She drew back when he spoke but then froze. Why did he sound so eager?

Like he was waiting for her?

Like he was not disgusted at her touch?

Ryuha shook her head. It wasn't the time to be thinking about such things. She shakily grabbed the pen and the paper with her one good hand, fingers shaking, she was scared now but she knew it was better than living with them.

When she was struggling to open the cap, she felt him plop down on the cushion as he bent over and gently took the pen from her hand. She drew it away immediately.

He opened the cap and gave it back to her. Ryuha could feel his honey eyed gaze intensely staring at her.

What did he want?

But she was too terrified of what she was going to do that she didn't think much about anything else.

"I'll marry you"

"So take me with you"

"Please"