Chapter 4

"No, father!" Nancy screamed as her father pulled her room door open and finally exited her bedroom.

She turned to face her mother and begged, "Please, Mom, talk to Dad. I cannot marry that man, I cannot marry Charles." Nancy cried.

Mrs. Olivia Marlon sighed and finally walked up to the bed to meet her daughter. She was still holding the bouquet of rose flowers in her hands that Charles had earlier given to her.

She said, "I'm sorry, Nancy. I wish that I could speak to your father about this. But you know that your father is working under the AJ Political party group, and even though your father didn't like Charles nor approve of him to become your husband, he cannot say no. We were only hoping for your father's rank to be promoted, which is why he sent your photos to them..."

"Mom..." Nancy stared at her mother's face in shock, with tears filling her eyes. She clearly remembered the day her mother had called her on the phone when she was at her home in City X, trying to cook that day.

Her mother had asked her to send her photos, and that she wanted to use them. Since she hardly snapped any photos or posted online.

She didn't know that her mother's true intention was to send her photo to the Alejandro family. If she had known, she couldn't have snapped beautiful photos but an ugly one and sent it to her mother.

Nancy finally asked her mother, "Why, Mom? Why did you hide it from me? Why didn't you tell me then that you wanted to send my photo to the Alejandro family's son to check me out? I could have snapped an ugly photo and sent it to you then. That way, Charles wouldn't have chosen me."

Nancy cried harder as she stood beside her room window, hurt to think that her parents wanted her to be with Charles.

She thought of how she would escape from Charles now, as she didn't want to marry him, and his family ruled over their city, which made the country be named after the city too.

Mrs. Olivia Marlon apologized, "I'm sorry, Nancy, I didn't mean to make you sad."

Nancy walked away from the window to her bed to sit down and cry, and her mother also approached her on the bed and sat down beside her.

Nancy begged, "Please, Mom, I have to escape from this marriage. Dad cannot call it off, and I don't want to marry Charles. Please, Mom, didn't you see the way he was staring at me? With lust clearly written in his eyes, and I couldn't even meet his gaze, as he looks like a pervert, Mom. I cannot marry that kind of man who lusts after everything under skirts to be my husband, no."

Mrs. Olivia Marlon laughed, "Hahaha, No, Nancy, don't say that. I believe Charles chose you because he truly loves you and wants to marry you."

"No, Mom," Nancy disagreed, but her mother picked up the bouquet of rose flowers that she had dropped on the bed, hugged Nancy closely, and said, "It's okay, my angel. Stop crying, okay? It's because you're beautiful that Charles was staring at you like that. I think he chose to marry you because he likes you, and your father actually wanted his rank to be promoted, which is why he submitted your photo to them. Among all the rejected photos, Charles still chose yours."

"No, Mom, I don't want him. I don't want Charles. I want to marry a simple man who will love only me, not a powerful man like Charles," Nancy cried harder, and her mother petted her.

"See, Charles even brought you these beautiful flowers to show you how much he truly loves you and wants to marry you. Please stop crying, my angel. I really wish I could help you talk to your father about it. But even after you left us downstairs and ran back here to your room, Charles didn't get angry with us or reject marrying you, showing that he truly loves you and wants you as his wife. That's why he chose you, as we hadn't seen him here before until after your return from City X."

"No, Mom! I don't want Charles! And who told him that I'm already back home in the country? Did you and Father rush to call him and tell him that I'm finally home?" Nancy asked her mother, moving away from her mother's embrace to see her face and know if her mother was lying to her or not.

Mrs. Olivia Marlon frowned and replied, "No, Nancy. We haven't seen Charles here before since the previous month when he chose your photo. I'm still shocked to see him here today, as I didn't know who informed him of your return to the city. Maybe he was also eager to see you and meet you, seeing your pretty face."

"No, Mom..." Nancy said, and her mother stood up from the bed and walked up to meet her.

"It's okay, my beautiful angel. Stop crying, okay? Your father is right about love growing with time. You should give Charles a chance to get to know him first. Being the President's son isn't easy and is enough to ruin his reputation and make people judge him wrongly. He might be a nice man now, and you wouldn't know just because he's the president's son. Stop listening to any online gossip about him and get to know him first before you conclude on him. Come, let us go downstairs and have our dinner as it's already getting late."

Mrs. Olivia gently pulled Nancy to follow her downstairs to the dining room, while Nancy sighed, knowing she couldn't protest at that point, and she silently followed her mother downstairs.

Nancy was nervous as she knew most of the young maids had seen her reaction towards Charles earlier. She sat down nervously on her usual dinner chair, shifted her seat closer to the dining table, and began to eat as she was famished.

Her father stepped out of his private office downstairs and walked up to the dining table to join her mother and her for dinner, his face still looking strict as he wasn't ready to beg Nancy yet.

Nancy sighed and resumed eating her dinner with her parents, very hungry, thinking of how she would escape from Charles's clutches.

After dinner with her parents ended, Nancy stood up, thanked her parents, and retired upstairs to her bedroom.

She paced about in her bedroom after shutting the door, knowing the wedding was in two days.

"Two days. How do I escape from this marriage? How do I escape from Charles?" Nancy asked herself, stopping pacing about in her room. She said, "I really cannot marry that man. Mom and Dad cannot do this to me. I need to escape from Charles, but how?"

Nancy walked to her bed, sat on it, picked up her mobile phone, and checked for the next available flight back to City X.

She said, "The next flight is tomorrow morning at 10 am. I need to be ready for this and take an excuse to get there in time before I miss the flight."

Nancy smiled, immediately purchased her return flight ticket back to City X, thinking of how she would escape from her family.

"No. I really cannot marry that man, so I must leave." Nancy stood up from her bed, went to ease herself in her washroom, then returned to her bed to sleep.

****

Charles Alejandro arrived home late at night as his car had a few hold-ups on the city's major roads. He still lived in the heart of the city with his parents, inside the presidential white villa.

He stepped out of his car, walked towards their mansion's frontage, a powerful two-story building with plenty of bodyguards standing around and guarding the premises.

The mansion was dead silent, neat, and exuded excellence.

Charles walked into the living room, made his way towards the staircase to retire upstairs to his bedroom on the top floor. Just then, his mother stepped out of the kitchen door, smiled at him, and asked if he had met his chosen bride that day.

"Mom," Charles turned back to face his mother, smiled, wondering who had told his mother that he went to see his chosen bride. He knew his parents had their eyes on him and were monitoring his activities, even without his knowledge.

He smiled and walked back to meet his mother, who asked, "Charles, isn't she the one? I can see that you're smiling, my son. Isn't she the one in the photo again?"