Chapter 10

I was trying to make myself late on purpose. I was currently standing in the middle of my closet trying to decide what to wear or rather I was trying to make Josephine who was supposed to help me get ready think I was trying to figure out what I wanted to put on which was a lie.

I was not thinking about what I was going to wear because at the end I was just going to grab the first outfit I could find. I was just trying to get myself to believe that I was really getting married.

My wedding was nothing like I would have imagined it if I ever had to think about what my dream wedding would be because there was none. It felt useless to get angry over the logical reason why there was no wedding but it still irritated me and made my annoyance for Atticus grow.

He didn’t want to have any wedding so we were just going to be signing the papers and the lawyers were going to take care of the rest. Dad told me that he insisted on no wedding because doing one with dad’s condition wasn’t the right decision but I called bluff on his concern.

I am very much aware that the only or the main reason he did not want to have a marriage was because there was no need to conduct one for something that was seen as pure business. Weddings are supposed to be a special moment for the bride and the groom but we had no special relationship to celebrate, hence no wedding was needed

“Did you find something to wear yet? We really need you to be at your dad’s room. You are already late Miss Hazel” Josepheine spoke behind me and I turned to give her a hard glare that made her whimper and shut her mouth.

She had been acting like an alarm clock for the past minute, and adding to my already sour mood, she was at the receiving end of my backlash. I know it wasn’t her fault and she was just doing what Duke had ordered her to do but she didn’t have to open her mouth to remind me that I was late every ten minutes.

“Could you please shut your mouth, i am not in the mood to be nice at all” I snapped and she flinched at how mean my words were but I wasn’t in the state of mind to care at all

“Sorry Miss Hazel. I’ll wait for you in the bedroom” she hurried out of the bedroom and I breathed in relief at finally being left alone. I knew Duke would come barging in any moment from now. I was supposed to be at dad’s bedroom forty minutes ago and yet I was still undressed and I didn’t care

Deciding I had kept them waiting for long enough, I snatched the white gown on the hanger beside me. It was a simple plain gown and it was perfect. I was about to pull the gown over my head when my petty mind began to discourage me

Won’t he think you’re wearing white because of the wedding? It would seem as though you are putting on a white gown because you couldn’t wear a wedding gown. Put it down HAzel, wear another dress and make sure it isn’t white

It felt as though I had been burned with the way I tossed the dress to the gown as the petty thoughts crossed my mind. I pulled out the blue gown next to it and pulled it over my head.

I let my curly hair down as I couldn’t bother to do anything to it. The wavy blonde hair was almost at my waist and it made my blue eyes stand out more.

I put on lip gloss and blush to give my cheeks a little colour before stepping out of the closet. Josephine’s shoulders sagged in relief at seeing me finally exit the closet and I just rolled my eyes at her stupidity. I was being harsh on default today.

I walked out the door leaving her behind and I heard her scramble to follow me but I did not slow down for her. I considered taking my time and walking as slow as I could but I just had to accept that no matter what I did, I was signing those papers today so there was no need to delay it any further. I should just get it over with as soon as I can

I pushed the door open and walked into the room with my head held high. Everyone’s head snapped towards me as soon as I walked in the room and I made sure not to let the discomfort I was feeling due to their stares be present on my face.

There were a total of five people when I walked into dad’s bedroom. Three of these faces were familiar and it helped ease my nerves even though the lawyer, Jeremy Austin was not familiar with a personal Lawyer.

I dared myself to look at Atticus and I could see he had a pinched expression and he looked irritated as he watched me with little disdain. This caused my steps to falter but hopefully not too noticeably.

I tried to figure out why he would look at me like that when we had barely had any conversation with each other. Maybe he was a bit angry that I was wasting his time for the second time. Men like him often hate to be kept waiting so maybe that was the reason.

It was a relief to see dad awake today. For the past two to three days, he had been barely conscious and that had terrified me a great deal because I was well aware that he was on borrowed time.

I walked around the bed to place a kiss on his forehead and another on his cheeks. He gave me what he thought was a smile but his lips hardly formed into one.

“Hey princess” He managed to croak out. His voice was just an octave higher than a whisper and if the room had not been dead silent, i would not have been able to hear him

“Hey dad, it’s good to see you awake. How are you feeling?” I felt stupid and terrible for asking him a question with an obvious answer

‘“Terrible but being able to be here for this makes me better”It was so painful to watch him struggle to get a few words out. To make sure I don’t tear up in front of these strangers, I turned to them so I could greet him. It would be foolish to ignore the man forever, not that it was possible

“Hello Mr Atticus, It’s good to see you once again” I addressed him and his brows crept up but his face betrayed no emotion. He reached forward to shake the hand that I had brought forward in a firm grip but not hard enough to hurt me

“Hello Miss Reyes, It’s a pleasure to see you again. You look lovely by the way” I don’t know what he meant by that when it was so obvious i didn’t put in any effort to get ready. Was he teasing me?

He didn’t linger but looked at my father who was weakly looking at us interact.

“Shall we begin?” He asked the lawyers who nodded and everyone took their seat.

The lawyers had some documents with them and I watched them both converse quietly between themselves before Atticus lawyer spoke

“We are present today to legally bind Mr Atticus Hayland and Miss Hazel Reyes in a legal marriage. We have prepared the terms and conditions and I will read it out to you. If any of the parties have any objections to the terms, please indicate and we would try our best to see how it can be adjusted to ensure both parties are comfortable”

Wow, it really felt like a business transaction and not a marriage.

“The terms are pretty short and simple and are also easy to comprehend but ensure that if there is anything that you don’t understand, you have to point it out so we can explain everything clearly to avoid misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the documents.” Jeremy explained looking at me straight in the eyes as if he was trying to tell me a hidden message

“Party A will be Miss Reyes and Party B will be Mr Hayland.” His lawyer explained. He gave Jeremy a curt nod and Jeremy fished out another file from the bag that had been sitting by his foot on the floor

To be honest, the moment Jeremy began to read out the terms, I tuned them both out because I didn’t care for anything that had to do with the law. My eyes were on my dad who was barely awake and was trying to stay awake

“Miss Hazel….Miss Hazel…Miss Reyes”

I snapped out of my thoughts at the mention of my name. I turned to see three pairs of eyes on me and blushed in embarrassment.

“I’m sorry, I got lost in my thoughts. What were you saying Mr…?”

“Anthony..i was just asking if you had any questions concerning what we just read out” oops.

“To be honest, I wasn't paying any attention, I'm sorry.” I said sheepishly and I watch both of them eyes widen in shock

“Do we read the whole thing again for you?” Anthony asked and I shook me head

“Duke what do you think?” If there was anyone’s judgement i trusted other than myself or dad’s, it would be Duke

“I think it is well drafted” That was all I needed. Duke would never lead me astray or make a decision that would harm me in the future, I trusted him with my life

“Well then, I guess I don’t have any objections” I said while looking at Atticus

“Okay since that’s settled, you both can sign the documents now” Jeremy said. He gave Atticus about four documents and he signed them first before Jeremy handed the documents to me

The documents consisted of marriage certificate, transfer of shares to Atticus, transfer of management to Atticus and the last one which was signed by only me was me claiming all dad’s property as mine. He wanted to hand them all down before he passed.

“All documents have been duly signed and would be taken in for processing. Congratulations Mr and Mrs Hayland”