River-rose scribbled down multiple hearts with her blue ballpoint pen as she waited for her last class of the day to come to an end. She listened and only spoke when she needed to; just as her boyfriend, Nico, instructed.

Loving Nico was something she was good at. She loved him with everything and practically did whatever he'd ask, or demanded. He had already graduated from her highschool last year and moved onto community college, leaving her to power through school on her own.

The sound of the chairs scraping backwards against the tiled floor halted River's doodling. She sighed in relief when she realized school was finally over. Suprisingly, despite the lack of attention she seemed to pay in school, she was actually excellent at it. She had to be. For her parents.

However, that didn't mean she enjoyed school. Even with the amount of people around her, she still felt completely and utterly alone.

Really, she was lonely everywhere. She was lonely at home because her parents were never there. They were workaholics as it seemed. Her father, the handsome man he was, owned his own law firm. He was always busy, always stressed. Her mother worked along side him, so the both of them hardly saw their own daughter.

Even though they worked a ton, River couldn't really bring herself to be mad at them. She was just glad their marriage was still going strong and they were still very much in love with each other. She hoped that Nico and herself would have love like her parents. It was something she wished for. Dreamed of even.

At school, River didn't make many friends, especially with boys. Not that she had much of a choice.

She was pretty with her honey-green eyes that contrasted brightly against her long, black hair. Her hair was so naturally dark that it seemed blue under certain lights. Her height of 5'3 gave her a cute aura and sometimes boys would get curious and try to flirt with her.

When Nico found out boys were flirting with his girlfriend, he got angry and eventually told her she couldn't be friends with males unless they were atleast six years younger than her. So basically, her friendship choices were pretty limited. River wanted to argue and tell him that wasn't fair but instead she held her tongue because she knew Nico only wanted what was best for her.

Unfortunetly, River didn't get along with girls to well because she felt she couldn't relate. It was the strangest thing. She couldn't even seem to hold up a simple conversation with the girls in her school.

Basically, it was just her; all alone. River was used to it though and she didn't dare complain. It wasn't like her to complain and she didn't feel the need to. Not now, atleast.

Once she was outside, her usual ride was waiting at the entrance of the gates of her highschool. She walked over to the black car and the driver got out at seeing her approach and opened the back door.

"Ms. Graham," he nodded with a small smile.

"Hi, Vince." River liked her driver. He aged well and talked wisely. She liked that he looked like he came straight out of the 1960's, though he didn't look it in age, with his slightly muscled frame and his salt and pepper hair. He just talked and sometimes dressed that way as well. He was the closest person she had to a friend.

River sat back into her seat as Vince closed the door, clutching tightly to her composition book filled with doodles and rough sketches.

"Hey, Vince?" River called out as she leaned forward in her seat.

"Yes Ms. Graham?" He replied as he looked through the rear-view mirror and clicked his seat belt in place.

Don't get your hopes up "Are my parents home this time?"

"I'm afraid not. They had an important meeting to attend."

Her face fell despite the fact that she had just told herself not to get her hopes up. "Oh okay. May you drive me to the cafè? I don't really feel like going home quite yet," she stated softly.

"Of course." She could hear the pity in his voice. "Would you like me to accompany you like last time?" He asked with a sympathetic smile.

She sighed quietly. "If you don't mind."

°•○●○•°

"How will you be able to make this up to me and my son?" Mr. Sykes asked as he sat back in his seat angrily.

"Father. It's no matter. They lost us a small case, no big deal," his son said, trying to calm his father down.

"No big deal? It cost us a crap ton of money. We also invested into a part of this business and they failed. They failed a simple task."

"Sir, if yo-" Mr. Graham started but he was quickly cut off.

"What will you do? Unless you want me to sue your law firm," Mr. Sykes growled. "I can take everything you own."

Mr. and Mrs. Graham shared worried glances and shifted nervously in their seats.

Mr. Graham sighed and took out his wallet from his pocket. The father and the son's cold gazes burned ice cold holes into his hands as they shook with anxiety.

It had to be done

He opened his wallet with a deep breath. "I have a daughter," he started as he looked up at the son. "You've asked about her once before, Hayze. I'm willing to... marry her off to you so later on you can easily make the profit back and if a law problem like this were every to arise again, things would be simpler. Less money."

He turned the wallet around and showed them the picture of his beautiful daughter who was in her school uniform, smiling brightly with her pretty smile.

"I do not know h-" Hayze's father cut him off.

"She looks too young. Why would you be marrying off such a precious thing?" Mr. Sykes asked skeptically as he glanced at the picture more carefully.

"It's an older picture. She just turned eighteen a few weeks ago, in fact. She's my sweet girl, but she's shy, doesn't have many friends." Hayze couldn't convince himself that she didn't have many friends. She was beautiful and she looked so kind. "She has a big heart but doesn't have anyone worthy of it. I want someone who won't take advantage of her."

"How do you know i won't take advantage of her?" Hayze asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Once you marry her, i know you wouldn't be able to. She wouldn't dissapoint."

"I-" Mr. Syles cut off his son again.

"He'll do it. We will come by next week Tuesday wih my wife so we can meet with her and discuss things." He stood up from the leather chair he was seated in. "Come now Hayze. We have things to put together."

Hazye quietly huffed in frustration and ran his large hand through his dark brown hair.

He stood up to his tall, intimidating height. "Good night Mr. and Mrs. Graham. I look forward to meeting your daughter face to face," Hayze said lowly. He didn't seem like he was looking forward to Tuesday.

"Yes, goodnight," Mrs. Graham replied softly as she stood up to show them out of the large woody office.

When the two men left, Mrs. Graham sat back down beside her husband with a defeated sigh. "I hope you know what you're doing Ross. I don't want us to lose anymore money and i don't want us to lose our daughter."

I don't either. "Yes, of course Lianne, darling. This needs to be done."

"I do hope things go well."

If only there were some other way.