He felt her eyes on him and when their gazes locked, her soul left her body. This man was staring at her like he was a demon. He lacked emotions and intimidated her. She looked away and stared at her feet instead, as if they held so much importance.
"What do you mean send her in?" One of the men opposed. He looked way older than the other three and his hair was grey and thinning.
Roman shrugged one shoulder, his eyes on Louise. "Do exactly as I say."
Lily could not stop thinking about how she had spent the last few days on the internet, searching through this man's profile yet she had managed not to recognise him in their first encounter.
To be fair, he looked like a completely different person in that white shirt and black shorts.
Louise clearly took Roman's words, and left the room to do just as she had been told.
Lily wished she hadn't left because now her anxiety was rising above the charts. Taking the details of the office in, was the only decent distraction.
It was a rectangle shaped office. The view from the huge window was the company's parking lot.
The wooden floors appeared to have recently been polished, accented by a large vase at one end of the room and a white shelf hanging on the other end.
"Roman, why did you ask for another woman to be sent in?" The voice calmed Lily. He was seated next to Roman and had a pair of glasses sitting on his face. She recognised him as Adrian Dalmain, developer of Weber and Roman's older brother.
"I don't know what card fate is playing but interviewing two women and choosing only one seems like it might cause tension." Roman ran his fingers through his hair and smirked, boring his eyes into Lily's. "And I do love tension."
"What's there to choose?" The oldest man scoffed again, scrutinising Lily's appearance with a look of disgust.
That hurt her feelings and she could feel her legs wobble. Why were they having this discussion right in front of her?
Rich people needed rehab, she thought.
"Dad, I've listened to you this whole time and I have allowed you to force me into this, it's only fair that I choose how I want to do this." Roman stood firm on his decision.
Lily would have adored how he stood his ground if she wasn't worried that she had peed her pants. Being in her classroom would have been so much better right now.
As if things were not already bad enough, Louise walked in with this woman that caused Lily to wonder what she had been thinking.
Was she even ready for marriage? She was only here because millions of other girls would rather be in her place.
This woman was tall, not a pimple on her face nor a scar on her tanned skin.
She was an unhealthy beauty standard. Lily thought but she sighed knowing she was wrong. This woman was beautiful and she would rather look like her.
"Wow." The oldest man whom Lily now realised was Roman's father, blurted her thoughts.
"Mr. Dalmain, this is Kim, miss Kim Wilson." Louise introduced, "I will take my leave now." She said and left the office.
"Ladies, have your seats." His dad had lost his disgust and it was clear that Lily had no place here. They were obviously in love with this Kim.
"What a coincidence that you both got the email." He began to say."Uh- yeah." Lily stuttered, her eyes on the ground and a cracking bite in her tone. "I must have been chosen by glitch "
"You see, as you become part of the family, you will understand why we chose this method of matrimony. Until then, please introduce yourselves and tell us why you applied."
"F..first, I-" Lily couldn't make her words out.
"I've always adored the lifestyle if the Dalmains." Kim interrupted. "In fact, your daughter, Emily inspired me to be the model I am today. When I'm not out for shoots, I'm giving to charity and finding ways to help people around me." She paused with a proud smile, "marrying Roman would not only boost his public image, I mean, read the headlines when a woman as attractive as myself is his bride, sorry to toot my own horn."
"Impressive!" Their dad chuckled.
"So you're marrying me for my money?" Roman said with one raised eyebrow.
"What?" Kim's smile faded.
"I'm just teasing you." He laughed it off while she nodded and restored her smile.
"And you?" He looked at Lily.
"Uh- I teach maths. I'm a seventh grade maths teacher." She stopped. The look on their faces was proof that they needed more answers.
"I'm, I applied because I-"
"I think we've heard enough." Their impatient father groaned, palming his face then turning to look at Roman. "Son, the ball is in your court," he said. "Which one of these women is it?" His smile was bright as he stared at Kim.
"Lily." Roman nodded in her direction.
"What?!" Everyone at the desk blurted out.
"The wedding is this coming Sunday." Roman continued to say, "are you mentally prepared for this?"
"But that's only two days away..." Lily could barely find her voice.
"Will you marry me, or not?" Roman drummed his fingers against the desk.
"I think there's a mistake." Kim stood to her feet sharply. "I'm Kim!""Why would you choose this woman, she clearly had nothing to say, what has gotten into you?" His father banged his hand against the table aggressively."I got this email, I was supposed to get married to you! Are you just going to send me back like that?" Kim sounded like she was about to burst into tears."She's right. I don't understand how there was a mix up in the first place but sending her back is not the right option!" Their dad argued."I'll marry her then."Silence filled the air and everyone turned to look at the owner of the voice, Adrian.
"Your bedroom?" Lily looked around, wearing a look of confusion. Her face dropped in realisation, she was standing in his room."Oh my goodness, I'm not used to these halls yet so I-" she stopped, taking steps backwards after realising that he was taking steps towards her."Wh- what are you doing?" She swallowed."You didn't tell me the interview you were heading for was to be a wife." He said in a low bass voice."You didn't tell me you were the interviewer either." She tried to sound unaffected by his words but her voice was breaking her heart and deserting her.Something about him just seemed to terrify her. Was it his higher class? Or his expressionless
A knock on the door interrupted and Lily wondered what the hell had just happened.Roman pulled away slowly and cleared his throat before proceeding to speak, "come in." He called with a look of doubt on his face.It was another maid.Lily doubted she would be able to keep up with so many people."Your sister is here, sir." She announced.Roman shrugged. Emily was a celebrity. Not that the rest of them weren't famous, but she was in the entertainment industry and she was always away working."The whole family will be here for the wedding?" Lily wondered.
The security men seemed to hold him back like he had done something wrong until Fred stood from where he was seated and chose to intervene. "Hey, what's happening over there?"One of the security men came by his side and whispered a few things into his ears.After a few seconds, he pulled away to talk to Kim, "this man here claims to know you or something like that?"It was evident from his tone that he wasn't a fan of things like this happening."Yes, he's my older brother." Kim lied, glaring at James and hoping he would play along.James knew that whatever was going on, the only way he could get to talk to his girlfriend was if he played along
After the ceremony, when Adrian had gone to attend a meeting, Kim had hurried to seclude James from the rest of the party, not wanting to raise any suspicions.She knew Fred was not happy with her on this and she especially didn't want to get on his bad side. It was bad enough she had paid someone to be her father today, it would be worse if they found out she was in a relationship, or at least used to be in one."What are you doing here?" Kim whispered once they were out of hearing and sight."What am I doing here?" James had bloodshot red eyes. "Kim, you are fucking getting married while we are in a relationship, and you're asking me what I'm doing here? The fuck?""I know things look weird but I can explain." She
Warning: mature.Lily thought she would pass out from the way her heart was thudding, asking to be let out of its cage. For some reason, she couldn't look away from his dangling manhood. She had not been privileged to see one so close up before."My eyes are up here." Roman cut her thoughts short."How do you expect me to look at them when you're naked? What are you even doing here?" She managed to direct her eyes to his."Taking a shower?""Okay but I'm in here?" Lily read the lines out, he was acting so oblivious, it was starting to annoy her."And I'm not complaining?" Roman walked towards a cupboard beside the
Lily took a long bathe and when she went back to the bedroom, she was relieved to find that Roman wasn't there. She didn't think she could face him now after what had happened between them. What had she even been thinking in the first place? Fucking him?She changed into a pair of warm pyjamas and hit the bed, she would go to work as early as possible to avoid him the best she could.*Lily's dreams of going to work early were shattered when she woke up to Roman dressing up. His body was silhouetted so she knew it was still early morning hours. The lights were out except for a few night bulbs.He was doing the buttons on his shirt when she sat up with a stretch."You are going to work with me." He said, not turning around to look at her. He must have sensed her movement and figured she was awake."What?" Lily frowned, breaking her yawn off."You are going to work with me." He repeated, tucking his blue shirt into his pants and s
Roman held her so tight, she began to feel choked but that did not take half of her worries away. She kept shaking him as if her efforts would bring him to wake up but it didn't."Help!" She yelled, thinking she sounded dramatic. But then, what if he wasn't actually sleeping and was having trouble waking up because of an underlying health condition? The thought of it made her even more determined and she called in a louder voice, "help, somebody!"Suddenly, he snapped his eyes open and sprang up.He turned to look at Lily still breathing heavily."Are you okay?" She expressed her concerns. Her face was twitched into fear and her breathing pattern was odd."Should I get you some water or something to drink?" She wondered, attempting to get up and do just that but he held her hand to stop her movements and then he pulled her into a tight hug."Please, don't go." He muttered under his breath.Lily nodded again at his shoulder and p