1 CHAPTER:1
"Welcome to Lavender Delights! How are we doing today? Here's some soda and breadsticks, to begin with. And, here are the menus, press the bell when you're ready to order, thank you!" -Elara chimes gleefully, putting on her best customer-service smile and retreats.
The bell chimes as the door is pulled open. She turns to face the door, only to be greeted by her cousin Naia.
She makes her way through the horde of people passing them, striding her heels and her alluring confidence. Naia beams radiantly, her smile, as courteous as her.
"Ah, my dearest Elara, it's been so long since you last came to visit! You have clearly forgotten us after starting this.. whatever this is." -She gestures with her hand, motioning the café she is in.
"Just standing here makes me feel so.. low?"
Ignoring her comments, Elara replies; "I haven't forgotten you, Naia, I've just been busy! And hey, nothing like starting from the bottom, is it? How's uncle and aunt?"
"Ugh, forget about them, they're always doing well, you know it too. But that's not what I am here though."
"Beats me, what brings you here? I heard you've been busy with the company, I'm surprised to see you here, truthfully." -Elara expresses.
"Let's sit, this is important." -Naia's voice turns solemn, her face serious.
Elara hands over the tray in her hand to Tim, one of the new part-time worker, and makes a beeline towards where Naia took seat.
"Do I get you anything to eat or drink? You seem pretty tense?"
"The situation IS tense, I don't think I can stomach anything right now. This is pretty serious, and I need your help."
Elara looks at her, concern filled in her eyes, her mind thinking of the worse there is. "What is going on?" -Elara finally asks.
Naia's voice turns into a series of hushed whispers, looking around to make sure nobody is listening.
"Mum and dad are setting me up on this stupid date, and they're so adamant on this particular guy, ugh. I cannot even say no, Dad keeps threatening to block my credit cards, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!" -Naia huffs, her face clearly showing her frustration. She leans even closer to Elara and continues;
"You remember the time, I had you pretend to be me to go on a date with that musician snob, because I was miles away with Matteo? Remember how he never wanted to go for the second date our parents tried to set us up in?"
"Why are you bringing it up now?" -Elara eyes suspiciously.
Naia coyly leans back, and brings out her puppy-eyes; "Could you do me a favor and go on this date, so that they don't ask for another? Please?"
"Woah woah, no no no. I am not doing THAT! You have no idea how much I loathed having to sit around that guy and listen to him make my ears bleed, with all his yapping. What if this guy is even worse than last time?!" Elara voices her concern.
"Please! I don't trust anyone else to pull it off as perfectly as you! They look at you, they see a beautiful, courteous young lady, BUT soon they'd realize the foul mouth you've got to drive them away! Now, THAT! That my friend, is a talent. Not everyone gives up easily, ugh men.. But the way you carry yourself around them, your confidence, making them go weak in their knees. And let me tell you, no man likes a woman who can command the room, so they try to get away. And you know I do not have your talent! Please, help your sister out, I'm in dire need this time! Matteo will breakup with me if I even agree to this stupid date!"
"Naia please, I love you, but there's no way I'm doing this. It is risky this time, a lot of people know what you look like nowadays, I could not pull this off. And I've got this café to look after, this is all I've got!"
"If it is about the café, then I can have someone look after it for the day. And don't worry about him knowing what I look like, I'm gonna bet on all of my Chanel bags he doesn't. Please! And if it concerns money, then I can wire you 20 thousand, the day after the date!"
"You cannot bring money into this Naia!"
"But I know you aren't doing well! You've gone literally broke after buying this place, was it worth it though? I'm trying to help you here, and in return do me this favor, please? I promise this will be the last time I ask for anything like this. Matteo promised me he's going to come up soon to meet with dad, I just need a little more time for him."
"I'll think about it, and let you know. I can't jump into the water if I can't swim. I'll need to know more about this guy they set you up with this time. And then, I'll decide on it."
Naia shrieks in delight; "Thank you, thank you! I promise you won't regret it! And don't worry I'll email you all his details and whatnot you need to know about him. And uh, the date.."
"What about it?"
"It's actually tomorrow." Naia replies sheepishly, avoiding eyes with Elara.
"WHAT?!" Elara's voice coming out stronger than she expected herself. She clears her throat as she looks around to find all the customers looking at her with concern, annoyance? She leans back on her chair, and takes a few quick deep breaths.
"I told you, I'd think about it. Not blatantly just do it? What the hell Naia?"
Elara vocalizes.
"I'm sorry. I originally planned on going on the date, and telling him no and everything else. But when I brought it up to Matteo, he got upset and told me to figure out something else cuz he doesn't want me to advance on that date!"
Elara huffs in frustration, taking it all in.
"Fine, I'll do it. Let's just get it over with."
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As Elara gets out of the shower and makes her way to the living room, she hears a *ding* on her laptop, and proceeds to check it out.
A mail from Naia, titled 'All you need to know about your date.'
As she opens the message, it looks like a clear-cut CV form, or something more like a tinder profile, but for marriage.
Elara chuckles to herself as she thinks; His mum definitely wrote this 'CV'. She laughs as she continues to think that the guy definitely has no clue that this thing even exists. She clicks on it to read it.
"Hmm, no picture though." She mumbles to herself as her eyes starts to read.
Name: Marshall Alexander Wyatts.
Age: 35
"Woah, He's older than I thought. Ugh, creepy middle aged dude? Lord, have mercy!"
>CEO of Wyatts corp, software and industries. Inherited at age 25.
>Nobel blood.
>Fencer, professional horse-rider.
>Is an excellent potter.
"Ugh, this is boring." -Elara remarks, and does a quick scan through the mail. As soon as a yawn passes through her, she puts her laptop aside and goes to bed.
"Let's hope it all works out tomorrow, I could use the cash." Elara mumbles into the pillow, slowly drifting to sleep.
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*BEEP BEEP* *BEEP BEEP*
The alarm clock beeping at sharp 8, making Elara agitated, yet a little grateful for waking her up from the same nightmare she suffers from, every night.
Turning to her side to turn the alarm off, that was still blaring, she slowly picks herself up and moves on to freshen up.
Today's D-DAY.
A quick shower later, she searches him up on google.
Marshall Alexander Wyatts.
Everything she reads, she already knows. There's nothing else. But a particular article catches her attention, curious, she clicks open to read.
The title reading;
'Is it true? Marshall Wyatts hates having his ears touched?'
"What an odd topic to write about. Whatever pays this journalists' bills, I suppose."
Elara huffs, as she continues reading the article.
'Is it true the hotshot billion dollar empire's owner, Mr. Marshall Alexander Wyatts, hates having his ears touched? We believe 'hate' isn't even closest to the right word. According to our inside sources, Mr. Marshall had one of his subordinates fired ON-SPOT, for touching his ear. Even if it was a mistake! As the anonymous ex-employee claims. The ruthlessness of Mr. Marshall knows no boundaries? Or why does he dislike his ears being touched?'
"Blah blah blah. God, this guy sounds like a real nightmare. I'm just grateful Naia still has no pictures up, when I search her on google. That would've been a disaster."
Time to put on a show, darlings!
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Elara chooses a bright red satin glam, a knee-length sheath. Her dress hugging her body and complimenting her figure. The dress, revealing her body, bringing out a feminine and gorgeous look.
She knows she's going to turn a lot of heads around today. She smiles to herself, checking her makeup out one last time. 'Let's get this over with.'
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"May I have your name please, mademoiselle?" the host inquires.
"Naia. Naia Valdivia." -Elara begins with the first lie.
The host, eyes the tab in his hand, and looks back to Elara; "Right, this way Madame."
As he guides her to the reserved table, Elara takes in her surroundings quickly, incase she has to plant an emergency leave, anytime. As the host gestures her to the seat, he pulls it out for her. She smiles and takes a seat, thanking him and letting him go.
She turns to face
Marshall Alexander Wyatts.
She studies his face, he looks way better in person, than he did on those photos. Elara is clearly stunned and awed by his beauty. Her eyes travelling over his muscular body, clearly showing off his biceps and deltoids muscles, as he flexes to move his hand forward to her.
His gaze, burning onto her, his hazel brown eyes, studying her as well.
Elara feels her heart race as she shakes his hands, a ting of electricity jolts through her entire body, she firmly grasps his hand and he pulls her hand to his lips, placing a warm kiss on her knuckles.
'That's fancy, but who does it nowadays?' -Elara thinks to herself.
She lets out a shy smile.
"Marshall."
"Naia. Naia Valdivia." -Elara says, trying to get used to her name.
As Marshall continues staring at her, she starts to feel naked under his gaze. Feeling shy, she tries to avoid meeting his eyes. But once she remembers why she's here, she shakes off her thoughts and turns to look at him as well, back to being her confident self.
She thinks for a few seconds before opening her mouth to speak; "Why do you not have any girlfriend? You could easily have any women you want, why settle for arranged marriage?"
"My father is old-fashioned, if that's what you'd like to call it. He values traditions and that's how he keeps himself and our family afloat. I'm only allowed my company back if I get married." Marshall sighs and continues;
"Otherwise, he'll turn it over to my nonsensical sorry excuse of a brother. I've been so occupied on keeping our firms thriving and growing, the thought of having to settle down, was never something I'd want voluntarily."
"Good luck on finding the right one, Mr. Marshall!" -Elara cheers.
Marshall raises his eyebrow and stares at her, clearly amused. "You don't think you're the right one for me?"
"Oh no, not that. I know I am the right one for you, but you're not the right one for me." Elara shrugs, nonchalantly.
Marshall lets out a scoff, trying his best not to roll his eyes.
'GOT YOU! Men don't like women who have an ego of some sort.' Elara smiles to herself, she knows she's going to win.
"And why is that? Care to enlighten me?"
"To put it in simple words, I'd say, you're clearly not my type. I don't like how gruff you look. You've got some real potential Mr. Marshall. You should work on them. And makes me wonder, why do you not have any women around you? Not even for fun? Clearly shows that the ladies are probably unsatisfied with whatever you have to offer. Would I want something no one else wants? Clearly not."
Elara comments, trying to sound obnoxious, and looking at him, up and down.
She can clearly feel Marshall's eyes turning red, did she say a bit too much? Even if it did hurt him, she's trying to do him a favor.
"Who do you think you are? Speaking to me, in this manner? You look like a freaking child put in an adult's dress. Did you escape daycare to come here or something? Where's your mother, huh?!"
Elara scoffs back this time, she hates being called a child, and everyone around her knows it, not Marshall though. So, he's in trouble right now.
"The police might as well as arrest you for talking to me then. You pedo!" -She blurts.
The few people around their tables turn their heads round, as the duo continue to bicker. "Like, who agrees to go on a date with someone who's thirteen years younger than them. You're clearly the one who wanted a child here?!"
"THIRTEEN?! THIRTEEN? I THOUGHT YOU'RE SEVEN YEARS YOUNGER THAN ME?" Marshall yells, immediately standing up.
Elara clears her throat, she evidently made a mistake. Elara accidently revealed her age, when in fact she should've said seven. Naia's age.
"I AM BAD AT MATHS, YOU CANNOT BLAME ME FOR THAT!"
Marshall let's out a shaky breath, and proceeds to sit back down.
Elara can feel her palms sweating, she rubs her hands with the napkin she had.
"Look, my bad. I shouldn't have started a feud. Truth to be told I'm not interested in this marriage agreement. My only motive while coming here today was to reject you. I'd really appreciate if you'd understand."
Marshall leans back on his chair, letting out a smirk. His head in some other game he's playing with Elara.
"Oh I completely understand. I'll let you go if you tell me who you are, truthfully, Cuz you've cleared my doubts and I know when I speak with certainty, you're not Naia. So who are you then? And what are you doing here instead of Naia?"
