Chapter Ten
I have a date on Saturday, with Nathan Graham. Was my first thought when I woke up the next morning. Oh, God, what am I going to wear?
I hurriedly picked up my phone only to remember that I had no one I could call to help me. Well that's sad. I really have to go get something because all the clothes I have here won't fit Nathan's standards.
I should have enough money saved up for a nice dress. What color should it be?
My thoughts were yet again interrupted by a knock on the door. I go to open the door, expecting to see Nathan but instead I had to look down to see the person. My lips instantly curled into a smile, upon seeing the four year old still wearing Scooby Doo pajamas.
“Good morning, Ally.” The boy said, grinning brightly.
“Morning, Olly.” I replied.
His cheeks flushed adorably. “Dont call me 'Olly'.”
“Why not?”
“It's embarrassing.”
“No, it's not. The name is cute. A cute name for a cute boy.” His cheeks got impossibly redder. Aww!
“Well, you're pretty cute too.” He had a tiny smile that was just so cute, I was about to faint from the cuteness. “Um, my dad said I should tell you that breakfast is ready.”
“Okay. Thanks for telling me. Lemme just change then I'll be right down.”
“Actually, there's no need to change. Any day Dad stays home, we have breakfast in our pyjamas.” He explained. “Follow me, I'll take you to the kitchen.”
“Alright. Lead the way, kind sir.” I said with a fake British accent.
Oliver let out a loud laugh, barely able to catch his breath. He nearly fell over if not because I held him up.
“It couldn't have been that funny.”
“You sounded like if the Queen was drunk.” He said between giggles.
Ouch. I would be offended if his laugh wasn't so infectious. He had stopped laughing by the time we got to the kitchen. Nathan was sitting at the kitchen island just like yesterday with Mrs Peters at the stove. I greeted them as I entered and took a seat with Oliver right next to me.
Oliver was talking non-stop as we ate, telling me about his favorite cartoon, which was Supa Strikas by the way, his favorite color, red, and everything he liked. It was safe to say with his current interests, he would be one of the popular kids when he goes to high school.
Here I am thinking of him going to high school when he hasn't even started kindergarten yet.
I was in the middle of laughing at his El Matador impression when Nathan excused himself to answer his phone with a deep frown on his face. When I looked back to Oliver after his father left the room, I noticed he wasn't the same as he was five seconds ago. In fact, his expression could only be described as a cross between anger and sadness.
“What's the matter, Oliver?” I enquired.
“Whenever Dad gets a call and answers it with that face, it only means one thing.” He answered.
Before I could ask what, Nathan came back and announced. “My father has invited us to dinner.”
Oliver let out a very dramatic groan while I didn't understand what the big deal was. It's just dinner with his father, what's the worst that could happen.
I just had to ask. “So why the long faces?”
“Alyssa, you haven't met my father. Having a meeting with him is different from meeting him.” Nathan replied to my question.
“How so?”
“He puts up an act in front of others but really he's a greedy scumbag.”
Oh, wow.
“I just hope the evil witch isn't eating with us. She'll poison me.”
“Oliver, that's not a nice thing to say about people.” I reprimanded him.
“Well, he's not wrong.” Nathan supported him.
“Stop encouraging him. I'm sure your father and whoever 'the evil witch' is, are nice.”
They will be, right?
Wrong!
I had barely stepped into the mansion before the first comment was made.
“Can someone please tell this beggar to get out of my house.” Was what Maria Graham, Nathan's father's wife, had said when I introduced myself.
“Maria, Alyssa is not a beggar and I would prefer if you didn't refer to her as such.” Nathan defended me through clenched teeth.
“Really?” She asked dryly, eyeing me up and down. “Then who is she then?”
“I'm going to marry her.” Was his answer.
The blonde-haired woman just burst into laughter as if they was the funniest thing ever. “Nathan, I know you like joking around but be serious.”
“I am serious.”
Her face morphed quite quickly. From laughing her heart out to glaring at me with her dark brown eyes, practically killing me with her eyes. “You seriously want to marry this... this thing?” The disgust in her voice was easy to hear. “What about the girl your father choose for you, hm? Not this piece of trash. Honestly Nathan, if she can't manage her own body size then how can she manage a family, a child, Oliver.”
“If you have to know, father choose Christopher Jordan's daughter and legally she is his daughter and my future wife. I don't want you saying anything wrong about her.” Nathan warned harshly.
“Whatever you say Nathan. But pretty soon you're going to regret marrying this fat, ugly, horribly sorry excuse of a woman.” Then her beady little eyes were pointed at me again. “I suggest you try not to wear clothes that make you look like a pauper and wear more make up, a factory if you can.”
Then she innocently sauntered away. During that entire conversation, I was just standing there, listening to all the horrible things she said about me, how she insulted me, made my insecurities that I only managed to keep at bay for only a few hours resurface.
And what did I do? Absolutely nothing. Like a statue, unable to say anything because I knew she was right. No matter how little I eat, I've always had the extra skin on me. It was frustrating.
I had an ugly body. The bruises and scars littered my skin which was why I wore a modest dress to cover them up. Make-up. I needed more to cover up my ugly face. She's right, Nathan shouldn't be marrying me. Hailey was the right woman for him, not me. It was true, not matter how much it hurt to admit.
I can't marry Nathan.
I could barely register the feeling of warm arms circling my waist until I smelt something familiar.
“Come on, Love. I'll take you somewhere you can relax.” Then I started walking in any direction I was led to.
I was placed on something soft, a bed, but I didn't bother to look around. I was just staring at me shoes. I don't even know what possessed me to wear these. Stupid heels.
“God, Alyssa, don't cry.” That was when the first teardrop fell. Then another and another before finally, I was silently crying. No sobbing or wailing, tears just fell down my face.
Those warm arms wrapped around me again and pulled me into a hard chest and I welcomed the comfort.
“I'm so sorry, Alyssa. I should have just rejected the invitation. I'm so sorry.”
It just continued like that. He just kept saying how sorry he was and pleading for me to stop crying until I did. He still held me then. Even after I stopped crying, he held me, stroking my hair and whispering reassuring things to me.
When I reluctantly pulled away, I realized that I had ruined his shirt with my tears and mascara. Great job, Alyssa. I started to apologize but he assured me that it was okay, standing up to get a shirt from where could only be the closet.
I was able to get a good look at the room. It looked like a typical guest room but his clothes were in the closet, so I guessed he didn't stay here often.
I wouldn't either.
“Are you alright?” Nathan asked, sitting down next to me after he had put on the shirt.
“No.” I stated flatly.
“Of course, you aren't. That was a stupid question. I'm really sorry about Maria. I didn't know she was going to act like that.”
I shook my head, quietly telling him that his apology wasn't needed. “Nathan,” I started. “I can't marry you.”
There I said it.
The surprise on his face quickly faded and left room for disappointment and sadness. “Because of tonight?” He asked gruffly.
“N-no. That's not why.”
“Then why?”
“You don't need someone like me, Nathan, I don't deserve you.” I looked right in his eyes as I spoke, watching them turn dark, like the clouds during a rain storm.
“What do you mean by that?!” He demanded.
“Be honest, Nathan, do you really want to marry me? Do you want a woman like me in your life? Do you want a shapeless ugly cow in your home, going out to places with you? No, you don't. You need someone who isn't a walking embarrassment, someone who knows how to dress and act in front of people. Not me.”
He stood up sharply and rose his voice. “And who would that woman be? Hailey? Or some other whore from the streets!”
I followed his actions. “I don't know but anyone but me!”
“And what makes you so bad?” I didn't answer, I've explained it already. “What makes you worse than everyone else? I want to know. Is it because of Maria or is there something else you're not telling me?”
There's a lot I'm not telling you, Nathan.
He took a step closer to me and held my hands. There was that feeling again. The one that gave me goosebumps and made my heart flutter. “Alyssa, I want you to know that I don't care what anyone says. I know I made the right choice when I chose you instead of Hailey. If it makes you feel any better, I think you are a smart, beautiful woman with a heart of gold. If you really don't want to get married, I'll tell my father and we'll see what happens. I doubt if Hailey would be half the woman you are.”
I was speechless. Was that really what Nathan thought about me?
Smart.
Beautiful.
Heart of gold.
No one has said that kind of stuff to me in a long time.
“Take your time, think about it. I'll be waiting for your answer.” Nathan told me and placed a light kiss on my cheek, like the one at the hospital. “Let's leave right now. I don't want Maria saying anything else to you.”
“No, let's stay. I'll tell you if I want to leave.” I said.
He nodded, pointing the way to the bathroom when I asked so I could fix my make up.
We proceeded to the dinning room. Nathan's father, Steven, his wife and two other people were seated already. The two other people stared at me curiously while Maria glared at me like my presence was an insult to her. I tried my best to avoid her gaze but that was hard because Nathan sat directly opposite her and I was next to him
The two other people were a man and a woman, obviously not in a relationship by the way they glared at each other time to time. Dinner was awkward to say the least. It was quiet, filled with anger and tension from every angle. It makes me happy we decided to leave Oliver with Jacob, Nathan's friend that came to visit me at the hospital.
At the end of dinner, Nathan was called by his father to his office to discuss something and Maria had gone to her room, not wanting to be in my presence. I was left with the other two people that joined us for dinner.
I was sitting on my own before I felt the space beside me dip. Thinking it was Nathan, I turned to him slightly smiling only to see that it was not him. Instead, it was a man with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. He had a cocky grin on his face and there was something about him I didn't like.
“Hello, beautiful, my name's Mason.” He introduced.
“Um... okay.” I replied awkwardly.
He let out an airy chuckle, glancing at my breasts before he met my eyes. “I think this is when you tell me your name.”
“Alyssa.” I stated.
“Alyssa, that's a pretty name. Tell me Alyssa, how do you know my dear stepbrother?”
My eyebrows shot up at the new information. “Stepbrother?”
“Yeah, Nathan's my stepbrother. Has he not mentioned me before?” I shook my head. “Of course he hasn't, Nathan has always had this thought that I'd steal everything he has from him even his women.”
Then he moved closer to me and I moved away but he didn't get the hint. His arm came around my shoulders and I tried to pull away but he held me in place.
As if noticing my discomfort, the woman spoke with a British accent. “Leave her alone, Mason.”
“I don't think she wants me to.” Mason countered.
“Stop being desperate and let her be she clearly isn't into you.”
“You are no fun, Julia. Tell Dad I say bye.” Then he left.
I couldn't have been more relieved that he did. He gave me the creeps. I opened my mouth to thank her but she interrupted me.
“Alyssa, right?”
“Yeah, and you're Julia?”
“Yes, I'm Nathan's sister.” With her brown hair and grey eyes I would've guessed as much.
“Thanks for helping me with Mason, he was creeping me out.” She laughed.
“It was no problem, Mason can be quite creepy.” It was my turn to laugh. “So when's the wedding?”
I was taken aback by her sudden question, my eyes darting everywhere except to her until I had an answer. “Nathan and I haven't spoken about that yet.”
“Oh, alright. Have you met Oliver?”
I smiled at the thought of the boy who rejoiced when we told him he wasn't coming with us. “Yes, h...”
I was interrupted by Nathan. “Let's go, Alyssa.”
I nodded, seeing his angry expression and said a swift goodbye to Julia. He didn't say anything as we entered the car and I couldn't help but wonder.
What's gotten him so upset and how can I help?