Chapter 1

South Africa

Malalane

I stood in front of the gates of my school, well former school because I was saying goodbye to it forever, not by choice but because my parents made me do it, I  had no idea why they made me quit school. I looked at my watch and realised that I had been standing here for almost an hour it was now 2:45pm. I watched as some of the students walked out and some ran out of the school gates to catch their 3pm buses. I looked at the school hall inside the school, which had a board on the top that was written suikerland secondary school. The hall where I was supposed to start writing final exams in tomorrow, but I guess my parents couldn't let me even finish my grade 11. I couldn't help but let a few tears come out of my dark brown eyes. I quickly wiped my tears away because I didn't want anyone to see me crying. I looked at my friends walking around, they were laughing, and some of them were stressed because of the exams coming up tomorrow. I didn't tell them that today was my last day here because I didn't want them to ask me questions, I would tell them later when the time is right. I looked at the road that was in front of me and I saw a blue jeep and it stopped right in front of me. I didn't know whose car it was because my parents had sold all their cars, and they refused to tell me why they just told me that they would tell me when the time is right. After a few seconds I saw a man who had gray hair a mustache, blue eyes and a serious face and he looked at me. "Are you miss Xavier?" The man asked me.

"Uhm... Yes." I responded looking at him, his facial expression didn't change at all.

"Please get in the car I was sent by your parents to pick you up." He said gesturing for her to get inside the car.

My parents, where on earth did they get this man from. I knew all my relatives even distant ones so this guy was not one of my relatives, or maybe he was one of my father's loyal friends. Without hesitation I got inside the car and the man closed the door for me, what a gentleman. He started driving, I looked out of the window, I looked at the sugar cane farm for the last time that was opposite to our school, I always thought of stealing a sugar cane here but I never got the chance to do so. The car passed by the juice factory Onderberg. This place was my favorite because I loved their orange juice, it just tasted different. I made sure to buy it every week but not anymore. I knew that I was no longer coming back to this place, this town. The sound of the train nearby almost made me jump out of my seat, it was just so loud. I noticed that the man was looking at me every minute. It made me curious, maybe the silence was making him uncomfortable and he wanted me to say something.

"Uhm... May I know who you are, I mean how you are related to my family?" I asked

. "I was only asked to pick you up, your parents will answer, I am not supposed to tell you anything." He said. What on earth did this man mean by that, was my family hiding something from me, was it some big secret?I asked myself, I decided not to ask him questions instead I just kept quiet and waited to get home.

After an hour I finally arrived home. My home was located at a safari park called marloth Park. What I love about this place is it is surrounded by trees and animals, everywhere you go you just find animals, I got out of the car. My parents' house was quite big. There was  green and beautiful grass outside, I saw some warthogs behind the trees eating who knows what, this place was quiet the only sounds that you could were of the crocodile river flowing that was only five minutes from where I stayed, the sound of the swaying trees and singing birds made me feel relaxed. I walked towards the house I opened the door and I found my parents sitting in the living room with some people there, maybe they were some of their friends.

"Emma dear, get changed and come here I want to introduce you." My mother Eloise said with her sweet and soft voice that could make one's heart melt in a mere seconds, maybe she was the only one feeling like that

. "Okay mom." I said and I climbed the wooden stairs and I went up to my room. My room was decorated in yellow and white, yellow was my favorite colour. There was a small chandelier on the white ceiling and a white ceiling fan. My bed was a queen sised bed that was covered in yellow blankets. My walk in closet was on the south side of the room, the white bathroom door was next to the walk in closet. The  floor tile was yellow with a bit of white. The walls were painted in yellow. There was a yellow couch on the right side of the room and a small glass table. There was also a yellow cushion that had a big yellow Teddy bear on it. There was a white and yellow carpet on the floor, I always lie down on it when I am bored. Then there is a small study table on the left side that was a mess, I didn't tidy it up last night, but I guess I won't be needing it and those books since my parents made me drop out of school. I threw my pink fluffy school bag on the bed and I took off my blue school uniform, that I knew I would never put on ever again in my life. I went inside my walk in closet and I picked out a blue long-sleeved tight dress that had a v-neck. And I put on some slippers. And then I got out of my room and I went downstairs to my  parents and the people that were seating on the couch.

I got downstairs and I went straight to the living room and I sat on the couch next to my parents, I looked at the people that were sitting in front of us, they looked like a couple, the one sitting on the right side was a woman who was wearing a long red sequin dress with thin straps, she had some makeup on her face, she applied an eye liner to make her green eyes stand out, her cherry  lips were dark red, her long black hair was tied into a ponytail and she had a pointy nose, she had a beautiful caramel skin and a good figure. She had a sweet and warm smile on her face. The man sitting next to her had some few grey hair, his hair was pushed back, his eyes were icy blue, he had thin lips and a medium sized nose, he was a white person. "Sweety this is Mr and Mrs Courtney from Cape Town, they are your future in laws." My mother said. Wait what my in laws, is this some kind of dream, no actually this is a nightmare.