Victoria's first disappearance
It only felt like minutes later that Carol heard an insistent knock at her door that permeated her sleep. Groaning, she turned, stretched while still lying in her queen-sized bed, and then sat up and looked around in a disoriented manner. It was dark outside from what she could see, so that meant that she had slept for hours. The knock at the door became more insistent as the seconds rolled by and then she heard her mother yell out her name before rapping out a series of further knocks.
“I’m coming,” Carol yelled out in reply, hurrying to get off the bed and open the door before her mother broke it down with her insistent knocking and the way she was banging on it.
“What is it, mum?” Carol asked, rubbing at her eyes as she stood there in her pink shorts and white singlet.
Her mother gaped at her for a few seconds and then screeched, causing Carol to wince. “Why are you dressed like that?”
“Dressed like what?”
“The way you’re dressed! The guests are already here and you’re sleeping? Are you not going to be a part of the dinner? I hope Victoria has already dressed up. Damn! All this is my fault. I should have come up earlier to make sure that you guys were getting ready, but I was so preoccupied with making preparations for dinner.” Belinda said and pushed into the room, turning on the light as she went.
“Oh, right. I totally forgot and overslept. The dinner at seven. I’ll just wash up quickly and be right down, bu…” Carol was saying and then paused when she saw her mother looking around the room in shock, her face ashen.
“What is it, mum? Are you alright?”
“Whe…where is your sister?”
“Victoria? How on earth should I know? She is probably in her room or something.”
“No. No, she’s not anywhere in this house. I’ve checked literally everywhere, but did not bother to check your room because your light was off. If she’s not here, then that means she’s nowhere in this house.” Belinda wailed, checking behind the curtains in Carol’s room as though her missing daughter would magically appear out of there.
“Well, maybe she’s downstairs,” Carol told her mother, not getting what the fuss was all about.
“Oh, my God! I can’t believe this is happening to me. I can’t believe Victoria would do this to me.” Belinda said, looking like she was about to cry. She also looked scared, but that was ridiculous. Carol had never seen her mother scared of anyone or anything ever since she could remember. Nonetheless, Carol tried to reassure her.
“She’ll be here. I don’t see what you’re worrying so much about. Maybe she just went out to get something. Meanwhile, I’ll go take a shower and dress up, and then go look for her.”
“What do you know about anything?” Her mother hissed at her and stormed out the door, no doubt to continue her search for her missing daughter.
Carol shrugged and went to take a shower, taking her sweet time as she did so. She was not particularly interested in meeting anybody, especially not her sister’s unknown groom and his uncle and whoever else was at the dinner table, but it would not speak well of her if she refused to go. After wasting as much time as she dared to in the bathroom, she came out to meet her mother sitting on her bed and bouncing her foot in agitation.
“She’s still not back yet?” Carol asked, wondering if there was more to this than met the eye. With the way her sister was self-centered and did not care about hurting anyone’s feelings, she would not be surprised if she had run away or something like that.
“No, she’s not,” Belinda said sounding so small and afraid that Carol felt a little sorry for her even though this whole mess was her fault, although she did not get why she should be afraid.
“Well, I don’t see what the big deal is. She obviously doesn’t want to get married to this guy, whoever he is. I don’t get why you are making such a big deal out of it. Just tell the guy the wedding has been called off because Victoria doesn’t want to get married to him. It’ll hurt, that is if he is in love with her, which I highly doubt, but at least they will not make the mistake of getting married to each other without love.” Carol said, applying some lotion to her body and putting on one of her old dresses which was in her wardrobe.
“Just listen to yourself. You expect me to go and tell someone that his bride to be is no longer interested in marrying him. Do you know the sort of shame this will bring to both families? I have invited almost all my friends and even some of my enemies, mind you. After all, my daughter is supposed to be getting married to a billionaire, but what does the ungrateful twit do? Runs off, that’s what. Who doesn’t want to get married to a billionaire for chrissakes?”
“Sensible people who know that marriage is not just about money.”
“That’s bullshit. I married your father for his money, and he was not even worth up to ten million at the time. Love came later and now, we’ve been together for over twenty-seven years, still going strong.” Belinda said without a single shame.
“That it worked for you doesn’t mean that it would work for her.”
“Oh, please. Just say the word and I’ll look for a billionaire for you too. You sound so jealous.”
“Have you tried calling her?” Carol asked, changing the topic.
“Of course, I have. What do you take me for? I’m not a moron. I’ve called her several times, but she’s not picking up her calls.” Belinda scoffed and checked the wristwatch on her hand. “Oh, dear. I’ve kept them waiting for over thirty minutes and that is so rude. I’ll just go and make excuses then. Come, let’s go.”
Carol followed her mother downstairs to the dining room where the guests were seated patiently and waiting for them. She averted her gaze as she walked stiffly to an empty chair, where she sat awkwardly and mumbled greetings to the table at large. It was only when she was alone with her immediate family that her mouth ran like a tap. With other people whom she did not know, she was as shy as a clam. She heard her mother and father whispering inaudibly and risked raising her gaze to quickly peek around the table. There were about ten people or less present and they were all looking at her parents who were arguing fiercely under their voices.
She spotted the groom immediately and had to stifle a gasp of surprise. The man was looking straight at her in an appraising manner that Carol found somewhat unnerving, but not exactly unpleasant. From what Carol could see of him, she could tell that Victoria was right about him. He was very good-looking in a brooding kind of way, and he also looked well-built. He was sitting in a relaxed manner in a chair whose back was smaller than his wide shoulders and was surveying her with cool, lazy interest.
Carol, who hated being stared at with a passion, felt the blush come straight from inside her and stain her cheeks before spreading to most of her face, causing her to hate herself with a passion. Why she always had to blush like a fool was beyond her. She did not know of any other twenty-eight-year-old who blushed as fiercely as she did and for silly reasons too. To worsen matters, she could see what could only be amusement in the man’s eyes, and she quickly averted her gaze. So he was amused by her? To hell with him. He was the one who was getting married to a stranger whom he had not met before all because his uncle wanted him to do so, so he was the real clown here. She heard her mother clear her throat after some more seconds of arguing with her father and she gratefully looked toward her, ignoring her sister’s fiancée.