In advance, thank you for spending your time reading the story of Katelyn and Jared. I hope that you will be with me until the end of their journey. Please apologize for any grammatical errors you will read between the lines as my mother language is not English, nor am I a grammarian. So feel free to help me with those mistakes, but be gentle in pointing it out.

First Published: Nov. 08, 2018-----Edited: Sept. 30, 2020

Katelyn Victoria Darcy, Kate to her friends, looked at her dress, a knee-length white bridal gown with A-line tulle skirt, and an off-the-shoulder sleeve which emphasized her pale arms.

She knew if any of her few friends looked at her, they would see her energetic blue eyes were full of sadness and apprehension, a reflection of an unhappy bride.

The reality of her life, not a nightmare that once awakens, will just disappear. She must set her mind to be cheerful, even if this is not the kind of marriage she wanted.

She walked back to where her shoes are beside the bed. After making sure that everything is okay with her appearance, she went to the door. Pressed the button as told and then went out of the room.

A maid came and assisted her in the direction of her grandmother's best friend, Amanda, who is waiting for her to eat breakfast.

She was brought to the patio paved with marble stones and saw the smiling face of her Grandmother Amanda or Meme, sitting on a table.

Katelyn immediately runs to her when she saw that the former is preparing to get up. When she is already in front of the older woman, the latter reached out and hugged her tightly.

"Oh! My dear little Tori, I am so happy to see you again," she heard Meme whispered.

After a light pat on her back, the older woman releases her, and then they looked in each other face.

"Steps back a little so I can see you more clearly,"

Katelyn made two steps backward, stared at the older woman again, and then saw the latter's eyes become watery, "I wanted to see you wearing that dress..." She sniffed as if trying to control herself from crying. "It fits you perfectly...I am sure that if your grandmother can see you now, she will say, "You are a beautiful bride." I am glad of this occasion that I will be able to welcome you to my family."

She saw a tear run down Meme's cheek, which made her walk and hugged the older woman to comfort her.

They were in a close embrace for a minute or so. The pat on her back made her released her hold on Meme.

"Sit down now, dear."

Katelyn grabbed the nearest chair on the left side of Grandmother Amanda, who now returned to her chair. Once she is seated, a hand reached out to hold hers. "I am sorry that I was not able to get you to the airport last night."

"I understand Meme," Katelyn interrupted, "I know that you were not feeling well last night, besides you had waited for me. I was just late because of the delay in the flight."

"Thank you, my dear, for understanding this old woman," she patted Katelyn's hands.

"Don't say that you are old, Meme. Your face doesn't show it."

"Oh! Dear, what a sweet mouth you have," laughter came out from her. "Better, we start our breakfast before you make me in my thirties." She added while putting the napkin on her lap.

Once done, she inquires, "I heard from the maid that Jared wanted to talk to you in his study."

"Yes, they informed me earlier." She answered while arranging the table napkin on her lap too.

'Hmm...We better eat now as he will be here, after an hour."

Katelyn put bacon on her plate and started to eat. After eating their breakfast, her grandmother asked the maid to direct her to Jared's office to wait.

"Jared can be domineering dear... just have patience, but don't let him bully you," Meme reminded her before going inside the house.

Inside Jared's study room, she sat down on a couch to await him comfortably. After a few minutes of sitting down, she looked around the room and noticed that it exudes its owner's maleness. It's simple but elegant, with only a few decorations and leathers.

She searched for any picture, but the only one hanging is an abstract painting. Then something had caught her eyes, a picture frame at the table. Curious of who was in it, she stood up and walked towards the table. Once there, she took the structure and looked at it.

In the picture, she saw a young child around five to six years sitting on a woman's lap, laughing while being kissed on his left cheek.

"Probably it is his mother...so that grumpy guy was also a carefree child," she thought aloud.

His mother's hair is the same color as her son, a light brown covering her face. Nevertheless, Katelyn is sure that she was a beautiful woman judging from her young son's looks.

"Well...your son grows up to be a handsome and successful man, but..."

"So, little Tori want to telltale on my mother." She was surprised by Jared's voice whispering on her right ear. So, she could not finish what she is going to say, so engrossed with the picture that she did not hear the door open.

Katelyn took a step sideways as she felt her face became hot with the realization, he had heard whatever she had said, "How she wished to become small enough to crawl and hide under the table."

"Hello! Jared, how long have you been here in the room?" Feeling agitated and embarrassed, she asked him.

"Long enough for me to hear everything," he told her. A hint of amusement was on his voice.

It surprised Katelyn as she is expecting him to be indifferent to human emotions.

She then turned around and walked forward to return to the couch, but Jared stopped her.

He blocked her progress, and all she can do is to step back. Each move she made, he also followed until she felt something hard behind her. She stopped while he put both of his hands on the table, trapping her.

"Yes, I heard little Tori said I am a handsome man," he whispered in her ear. Their proximity enables her to smell the lingering element of his aftershaves, a combination of fruit and spices, and a musk touch that creates a luxurious scent and seduces her senses.

He lifted her chin and then looked at her eyes. It made her realized who the man in front of her.

"What are you doing?" She tried to remove his hand.

"Don't be scared, I will not do anything that you will not like," he tightens his holds and looks at her lips.

"What had happened to this guy? The first time that they had met, he had a look at her as if she had horns on her head. Now, he seems to be flirting, or was she just assuming? She can handle him hating her, but this flurry of excitement with his nearness is so new. It is unlike what she had felt when being attracted to a handsome guy."

It is true; this guy in front of her is different from those she usually met. Not because he is more attractive but because he is oozing with confidence and power.

At the age of twenty-eight, he already manages a multi-billion dollar conglomerate and the way he carries himself transmit a message that "in front of you is a man larger than life itself." Hence anyone, men or women, who met him, will be bowled over by his presence.

She gasped when she felt his lips touched hers in a brief moment, and her reaction made him smile that added to his cuteness. "What is happening to her, where is her dignity, it seems like it went down in the drain and left her to become a giddy teen on her first kiss." She mentally accused herself.

Though it is true, it was her first kiss, but she is not on her teens anymore. She is a twenty-one year old newly graduate and soon to be married to this so gorgeous guy.

She should not think of him in that way but instead must slap him like what she saw on television when the leading man stole the woman's first kiss, but then she cannot mar that face.

He removed his hands on her chin and straightened himself, towering her on his height of six feet and three inches compared to her five feet and five inches height.

A smirked came out of his mouth when he saw her reaction and made her realized that her lips are still slightly opened, "Why did you kiss me? It is not in our deal."

"Don't worry. I know what is in our deal as I'm the author of it. It was only a peek, a kind of greeting, and does not mean anything." Jared told her. He left his position in front of her to walk to his chair as if nothing had happened.

His dismissing attitude made her a bit disappointed. "It was her first kiss for crying out loud," but of course, she did not let him noticed it. She can act like her mother, a graceful lady that sometimes can be haughty.

"I want you to read something before we signed the marriage contract," she heard him said, and Katelyn turned around to face him. Their eyes meet. Gone was the flirty Jared. The one left is the businessman who can seal a deal in a snap of his hand.

"Sit down, Katelyn," still in a daze after the kiss. She immediately sits down on the chair right beside her. It is when she noticed that the picture frame is still in her hand.

She returned it to the table and arranged it to what it was before. Unknown to her, Jared, observes and waits for her as he sat on his chair.

"Hmm... she heard a sound from him that made her looked on his direction.

"I'm sorry," she apologized and straightened her back while trying to suppress from blurting out, "I was just distracted by your kiss and outer personality." Instead, she continues in a tone full of seriousness, "Please give me the papers you want me to read."

He looks at her again before opening the drawer, took out some paper, and then handed it to her, "check it first, and then tell me your opinion once you finished it."

She took the papers and then scanned it. It was the agreement that they had signed before, the contract which is just between the two of them. Jared wanted to happen in the two years that they are together, so their personal spaces will not be affected. At the same time, it will give Meme the illusion that they are trying their best to work on this coming marriage. Hence, his grandmother granted his condition that their marriage would remain in secret for two years.

Katelyn look at him and say, "It is the same contract that I had signed, why do I need to reread it when I have a copy of it?" She put the paper on the top of the table.

"I said read it. You will see there are changes from the first one." If it is another time, the demanding tone will make Katelyn snatch the paper and read it immediately, but her stubbornness prevails.

He just looked at her and waited, which made her also ashamed of her behavior, so she took the paper and read it.

"What?... You said the agreement that we had was what you wanted, and it was reasonable as far as I am concern," she crossed her arms on her chest and frowned.

"Well...I want some changes on it," and when he saw her still being defensive reminded her, "Who needs this marriage more?"

Scowling, she looked at him and, with a sigh, took the papers to read it, " well, Katelyn knows that she is the one that needed this marriage more than him, so what else can she do but read it," she thought.

Her eyes bulge when she read what the changes that he had made are. She looked at him and then back to the paper again. What happened to him that he wrote this? The one before was all in favor of both of them? This one has a lot of revisions.

Like this one, "the no intrusions on each other private life except in front of his grandmother become different." "He wrote in details on how he means it, that they would be sharing a bedroom like roommates," Though this one is okay with her as she is used to having a roommate back when she was in boarding school, and they have their separate single beds, but the problem is that he is a guy.

Dating with other men aside from the husband is not allowed, "Before the one written was she can date anyone as long as she will not sleep with them," and then she read the other one.

Each week there must be a "couple's day," preferably on weekends. "What does he mean by his so-called couple's day?"

She turned to another page and saw mostly are new terms. "It looks like he added numerous conditions."

She looked at him after reading it, "you made a lot of changes here, and I cannot even date any guy?" She complained in which he just smiled.

"That is what you should do, even if our marriage is in secrecy but my grandmother and my best friends knew. I don't want to be a laughing stock when you start dating someone else. Besides, you have to remember what my grandmother wanted us to do in these two years."

"Yes, she knew it. If only her family does not need financial support, she will not encounter this situation," she thought, but she has to face the truth that her life for two years will depend on the whim of this contract and the guy who made it.

"What about the one that we will share a bedroom?"

"Well...only both of us know that our marriage is in name only, Meme doesn't."

Well, he is right. What Meme knew, they would marry in secrecy for two years. If in case they will not fall in love, then they can decide for a divorce. She has no idea they will not live as a real couple.

If she tells her friends back in boarding school, they will be surprised at what had happened to her life in just three years since they had made their separate ways. A daughter of a Viscount reduced to being like this. "Well, that's what bankruptcy can do."

"So, do you agree to everything written in there?"

"Do I still have a choice?"

"You will always have a choice, Tori, that is if you do not require financial help.

"Yes, what a choice, as if she can just disown her family and acquire another one," she mused.

"Okay, give me the pen, and I will sign these papers." she should only think that she will be living with a handsome brother for two years and must not let down her guard and consider him a desirable man.

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