Chapter Five - The Talk

It was 8 a.m. when my alarm went off and I lazily sat up on the bed. Looking around the room, I realized I wasn't at my home anymore and my college was far from here.

No wonder I was going to miss my first class today.

Walking over to the closet, I pulled out a maroon checkered body hugging long tshirt and black stockings.

Once I was done brushing my teeth, showering and dressing up, I stepped into my black boots and glanced at myself in the mirror. Putting on some mascara, I brushed my wavy locks and let them loose over my shoulders.

Smiling at my reflection, I left the room and went downstairs.

I slipped my sling bag across my shoulder and entered the kitchen area but stopped in my tracks when I saw him sitting at the dining table, sipping his coffee.

His gaze lifted up, causing a weird sensation to run down my chest when his ocean blue eyes ran over my body and finally met my gaze. I offered him a smile but he was already setting his gaze back to the newspaper infront of him.

I rolled my eyes and walked inside the kitchen, where Martha was preparing pancakes and bacon. Taking in a long breath, I inhaled the delicious smell.

"Morning Scarlet," She turned to me.

"Good morning Martha," I greeted back with a smile and rubbed my hands together.

She placed the pancake in a plate and walked to take it to the table. "There you go,"

"I got it," I said and took the plate from her hands.

"Enjoy," She murmured.

I let out a laugh. "I will," I said and carried the plate outside. He was still there, his back to me and man! He did have a well built back. This was probably the first time I was noticing his shoulders. And the clean white shirt added more to that.

Gulping down, I turned around and Martha gave me a confused look.

"Thought I should give you some company," I smiled but she glanced between me and Alec for a second and then went back to her work.

I wonder if Alec told her the truth or just simply said I was his fiancèe. If it was the latter one, she obviously did not believe him as I've never set a foot in his apartment before.

I picked up my fork and took a bite of the pancake. "Mhh," I mumbled while eating. "It's yummy,"

Martha clapped her hands and placed a strip of bacon in my plate. I ate heartily and once I was done with my breakfast, I got up to leave.

"Thank you Martha," I muttered while checking my bag for keys.

"Needless," She gave me a warm smile and I left the kitchen just in time to see Alec pulling his suit on. If I found him hot in a white shirt, I honestly had no words to describe how perfect his toned body looked in that business suit of his.

As if hearing me, he turned around and I blinked, looking away.

"Where are you going?" He asked, confused.

"College," I replied.

He crossed his arms over his chest. "College? You still go to one?"

I raised a brow at him. "Yeah?"

"How old are you? I didn't realize I was marrying a kid," He spoke nonchalantly while typing something on his iphone and looking up at me.

"Wow. For someone as old as you, you sure are smart enough to keep information about your fiancèe," I gave him a forced smile.

This caught his attention.

"As old as me? Just what do you mean by that," He shoved his phone in his pant's pocket and fastened his watch on his wrist while talking.

I shrugged, rolling my eyes. "I expect a 30 year old to be smart enough to know the person he's marrying. But maybe your aging explains the rush into marriage,"

He deadpanned. "I'm 24,"

"Really? You look 30," I spoke nonchalantly while fixing my dress and hair, pretending to not notice his glare at me.

I walked past him with a smirk and paused at his side.

"Maybe if you smile a little more and frown a little less, you might look a bit younger," I spoke innocently and as unexpected as it was, his scowl vanished.

He turned his head sideways to glance at me, a little spark from last night alive in his eyes once more and it was enough to remind me of his closeness yesterday, which caused tingles to run down my body.

"How many years younger?"

"Maybe six.......months," I shrugged and his lips lifted up into a smirk. My eyes travelled down to his lips but I immediately looked up into his eyes. The glow inside them showed that he noticed that and I blinked, taking a step away from him and looked ahead.

"I gotta go," I spoke.

He nodded and picked up his ipad from the table. Walking ahead of me, I debated if he was thinking about dropping me but I shook the idea away.

He called the elevator and waited patiently.

"I'll be texting you an address. Be there by 5 p.m."

Confused, I followed him inside the elevator and once the doors closed, I asked. "Where?"

"To try on your wedding dress,"

My jaw dropped. "Wedding dress?" I whispered and he raised a brow at me.

"Yeah. Unless you wanna get married in denims,"

I blinked at him.

"When are we getting married?"

"This weekend,"

My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets and my jaw hit the floor. "This weekend?"

"Yeah," He turned to me. "You got a problem with that?"

"Ofcourse I got a problem with that. It's too early. We have to shift it further for a few weeks,"

He thought about it. "Alright," He nodded and I sighed in relief. Atleast, he's a bit understanding.

"But can Price Industries wait that long for their big investment?" He asked.

I blinked at him. "What?"

"You didn't think I was handing the money over before marriage, did you?"

The elevators opened and he stepped outside, while I stood there watching his back in pure shock.

No! This is not how I planned it. My plan was to take the money and then probably ask for an alternative way other than marriage but this is.....just not fair.

Ofcourse! Alec Sinclair is no fool.

Well, fuck!

What am I gonna do? There's no way I'm getting married to him.

I stepped out of the elevator and followed behind him.

"Alec. Please don't do this. You know it's too early. No one's gonna believe it. My dad just found out I'm engaged a day ago and now you want me to tell him I'm getting married in 4 days? Hell, you are Alec Sinclair. The Alec Sinclair. It's gonna be all over media. The media is going to think it's a hoax or-"

He stopped walking and turned around. "I don't care what anyone thinks,"

"That's right," I rolled my eyes. "Why would you care but atleast think about it. It doesn't make any sense,"

"Everything will make sense when you are at the altar saying 'I do'. I'd rather you prepare yourself for that than think about what others will think," He snapped and got into his car.

I just stood there and watched him drive his car away from me.

Sighing, I walked over to my car and got in the driver's seat. Clutching the wheel tightly, I took in deep breaths to calm myself. This matter is getting out of my hands now.

What should I do? Should I ask Lily for help? I couldn't just marry a stranger.

Shaking my thoughts away, I started driving towards college. To keep my mind on track, I reached over and put on some music.

After driving for an hour, I parked the car in an empty lot and started walking towards the building. I texted Lily to tell her I was here and she texted back telling me she was in the class.

Taking long strides, I reached just in time before the class started and spotted Lily in the last row. She lifted up her piercing gaze and I looked at her in confusion.

"What happened?" I asked when I settled in the seat beside hers.

"I went to your home yesterday,"

I stopped breathing.

She took my left hand and her eyes grew wide. I looked down at the ring.

"Oh My God," She squealed and a few people turned around to look at us. "It's true," She shouted again and I got up from my seat, dragging her up with me and getting outside the classroom.

Before I could speak anything, she hit my shoulder. "Ow,"

"You deserve that for hiding something like that from your best friend," She snapped and looked down at my ring once more.

"Lily it's not what it looks like,"

"Shut up bitch," She snapped and looked into my eyes. "You're engaged. And you moved in with the hottest bachelor in the city. Well, not gonna be a bachelor for a long time now. But seriously Scar? Five months? Why didn't you tell me you knew him when I was drooling over his pictures in the magazine?"

I rolled my eyes. "Calm down Lily,"

"No," She screeched again. "I can't calm down. My best friend is engaged to Alec Sinclair," She shouted again and a few students walking past us stopped to hear.

"That's right," She shouted to them. "My best friend is engaged to The Alec Sinclair," Pointing a dramatic finger to her chest, she looked at the few people around us.

Dammit!

I took her arm and dragged her to the restroom. Once we were inside, I shut the door.

"What the hell Lily!"

"No. What the hell yourself Scarlet Price," She snapped. "But you know what? I don't care if you've hidden something like that from me because I love you. Oh My God. I'm so happy for you," She chirped happily and pulled me into a hug, almost choking me in the process.

I hugged her back and sighed, deciding in that very moment that I couldn't tell Lily the truth. Damn! Seeing the extremity of her emotions, I know she would show up at Alec's door before I could stop her.

"Thanks Lily. I appreciate that,"

She pulled back, her eyes narrowed. "Ofcourse you do. Now you better tell me why you kept this from me and OH! I wanna know everything. How did it all start? Where did you guys meet?"

I bit my lip. "I met him in a bar five months ago and it was nothing serious at first so I didn't bother telling anyone. But with time, we caught feelings and tada, we're here," I spoke shortly.

Her eyes were shining and I knew she wanted to hear more but I just decided to leave it to that.

"Now can we go back to class?"

She wasn't too convinced with the story but she nodded anyway.

I removed my ring from my finger and placed it in my bag.

"What are you doing?" She eyed me.

"Just don't wanna walk around engaged in college,"

"And removing that ring helps because?"

I rolled my eyes. "You know what I mean," Pushing the door open, I got out and she followed behind as we sprinted to our class, which had already started five minutes ago.

She found an empty seat in the last while I spotted one in the middle row. It wasn't until I sat down that I saw who was to my right.

Could this day get any better?

Ben Adams, the green eyed jock who was really good at soccer seemed to be sitting beside me and staring at me. Oh and did I mention that I broke up with him over text a week ago and haven't been picking up his calls ever since?

Well, better late than never.

I focused my attention on the teacher and started taking down notes.

"Scarlet?" He whispered and I pretended to not have heard him. Okay! I know that's mean and what I did was meaner, but I just couldn't help it. You just know when you have to end it and I wasn't just ready to see him after that.

Sure, that was a weird way to break up but I knew he would want to confront me after that.

"Scarlet? Are you ignoring me?"

Finally, I turned to him. "Did you say something?"

He narrowed his eyes. "So now you're pretending,"

Sighing, I leaned back in my chair. "I'm sorry,"

"Seriously? After breaking up over text?"

"What else can I be?" I rolled my eyes.

"My girlfriend maybe?"

I raised a brow at him. "We broke up last week,"

"No. You broke up. I never agreed,"

"You wouldn't be asking me to be your girlfriend if I was one already," I gave him a smile.

He let out a laugh. "True. Can I atleast know why? Is something wrong with me?"

"There's nothing wrong with you Ben. You are an amazing guy. It's just that I couldn't feel that connection anymore. You know," I shrugged.

He nodded, understanding.

Thankfully, he did not ask me anything after that and the class ended soon.

Lily walked up to me. "I just realized something,"

"What?"

"You said you are with Sinclair since the last five months. How come you broke up with Ben a week ago?"

"I told you Lily. Me and Alec weren't exactly dating. We just realized our feelings some time ago and I broke up with Ben,"

"So romantic," She sighed dreamily.

You wish!

"Right," I nodded and we parted ways for different classes. My day was going really boring and I looked at the time. 3 p.m.

There was a text from Alec, telling me the address to the boutique. My nerves wracked up once more as I thought about the wedding.

After my last class, I met Lily and we had lunch together.

I debated in my head if I should tell Lily about the marriage but decided against it. I had to do something to stop this without affecting Alec's decision of funding in dad's company.

But is that even possible?

I silently ate my lunch and Lily was busy talking over her phone to Mark. Once we were done, we left the place while she was still busy on her phone.

It was 4 p.m. now and the boutique was about an hour drive from the campus.

I waved her goodbye and went inside my car. Putting the boutique's address in the GPS, I started driving towards it but stepped on the brakes immediately when someone appeared infront of my car.

The force almost threw me forward and I was glad for buckling my seatbelt.

"Ben? What the hell are you doing?" I shouted through the window as he stood infront of my car.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to startle you,"

"Startle me?" I let out a laugh. "You could have died,"

He scratched his neck. "Sorry. Uh can I get a lift?"

I nodded. "Sure,"

He opened the passenger door and got in. "Thanks a lot Scar,"

"No problem. Where can I drop you?" I started driving again.

"Wherever you are off to,"

I cut a glance at him. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I just wanna talk to you,"

"About what?" I raised a brow.

"About us,"

I rolled my eyes as I rounded a corner. "I already told you Ben. We're over,"

"But we were so great Scarlet. I really think we should give each other another chance,"

"I know we were great but....I don't know how to put this. I just want you to understand Ben," I struggled to explain as I ran out of words.

How am I supposed to tell him that I am engaged to someone else now?

And honestly, I wouldn't be thinking about another chance with him even if I wasn't in this complicated picture of marriage.

"So should I pull over or just take a u-turn for campus?"

"That won't be necessary considering I don't have my car today. Just pull over,"

I gave an indication to stop but remembered that the address of boutique was only a few blocks away from Ben's house.

"Nevermind. I'll drop you a few blocks away from your house,"

"Oh Scar. You don't have to do that for me," He teased.

I gave him a weird look. "It's on my way Ben,"

"Really? Last I checked, your house was in the opposite direction,"

"And last I checked, I could go anywhere I wanted besides my house without concerning you,"

"And this place just happened to be near my house so you can spend maximum time with me,"

"Oh My God Ben," I spoke, surprised by his perspective. "You're delusional,"

"No Scar. I'm a hot shot piece of-"

"Shit," I completed for him and gave him a sarcastic smile. His smile dropped and he blinked at me. I looked ahead at the road.

Silence

I really should learn to control my mouth.

He didn't speak anything for the next few minutes and I was glad to drive peacefully.

"You're in denial Scarlet," He spoke again.

I rolled my eyes. Yeah, I'm the one in denial, totally.

"So you accept it?" He asked.

"For the love of God Ben. If you don't shut up, I will pull over and kick you out," I snapped.

Why did I even date him in the first place?

He seemed to take my warning seriously as he didn't speak anything further and I reached over to put some music on.

After a long drive, I finally parked up a little far away from the boutique since I did not want Ben to know where I was going.

We stepped out of the car and just when I thought he was going to leave, he walked up to me with a smile.

"Thank you for the lift," He reached forward and before I could protest, he embraced me in his arms, his chin lying above my head as he breathed in.

"You're welcome Ben," I tried to step back but he had his arms tightened around me.

When he didn't leave me for the next few seconds, I took a little step back with a lot more force but was hardly able to get out of his embrace. Instead, I had made it worse as my cheek now touched his jaw.

He finally loosened his grip on me and I sighed in relief, but being his clingy self, he let the distance between us remain intact as he placed his palm on my cheek.

No regrets about breaking up over text!

He looked down at me and I opened my mouth to speak something but was cut off by a deep, masculine voice.

"We need to talk Scarlet Price,"

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