Maria:
I walked briskly towards the back doors of the hall, hoping that no one would find me. I thought I heard a sound, and I swiftly turned around only to be hit by a strong masculine shoulder.
"Are you alright, did I hurt you?" asked a man in front of me with a frown.
Who was this man? He looked familiar but yet strange.
"Are you okay?" He asked again, when I didn't reply to him at first. Snapping me out of my imagination. "Oh, oh yes, no, yes, I mean please excuse me." I stammered and quickly withdrew myself from him and continued running down the hall not wanting to take a glance back and trying not to fall again.
"I-I'm fine, I think I am fine," I stammered, my cheeks flushed red and the butterflies in my stomach were about to burst, and I hated myself for it. This wasn't part of the plan. I can not be fantasizing about this man.
Finally, I was out of sight, pacing around a garden I had found. I was thinking of my next move. I needed to find a way to leave without anyone seeing me. My eyes caught a gate in the garden. Not too tall, but for a five-foot girl like me, it was quite tall for me. "I had to jump over this gate, I thought.
I tied my gown above my knee. Ready to climb, I pulled a strand of leaves to support myself from crashing. As I was trying to climb over the gate, I heard a voice from earlier behind me.
"Umm, excuse me, if I may ask what you think you are doing?" the voice said.
Frightened thinking I had been caught by the security. Oh, darn it, I was going to be arrested on my wedding day!
"I can explain, I can explain, this is not what it seems like. I said, " Woah woah woah." Losing my balance, I fell down and hit my butt on the ground.
"Owwwww ahh" I cried.
I picked myself up and dusted my clothes. "Great! Now my dress is ruined. " What else can go wrong today," I thought. I turned to see the person who had made me make a mess of myself. And to my surprise, it was the very attractive man from earlier with the eyes I almost got lost looking at.
I noticed I was already staring at him too much. I quickly tapped myself out. He didn't even move a muscle to come help me. A lady in distress. He just stood there observing and probably waiting for an explanation. What a man!
"Can't you see I am trying to escape?" I finally spoke out, realizing what I had just said, I gasped.
"Trying to escape." he repeated.
I didn't have time for this. I needed to escape before anyone noticed I was gone. Yes, this man was very good-looking, but I could not be distracted by his beautiful body and forget my plan to abscond. I started climbing again, not caring what the man might think of me. But it was to no avail. I turned around and still found him looking at me, like he wanted to call a psychiatrist.
"Please, please, can you help me? "If you can just give me a little boost over the gate, " I owe you one," I pleaded.
I had already lost my brain and I knew it. " I have a lot of questions. " If you're so serious about escaping, why don't you use the normal route of how you came in to go out? "he asked confusedly.
"Oh my God, what part of escape do you not understand? ""I don't want anyone to see me," I replied.
"Why?" he asked again.
I became very exhausted, always explaining myself to people. " Have you ever made a decision before because of an urgent need, and then suddenly, you decided not to go along with that decision? " He nodded his head.
"Yes, that's how I am feeling right now. I do not wish to get married to this strange man whom everyone is speaking ill about. " A man I have never seen before or know anything about aside from bad things," I explained.
"Okay, so you are the bride getting married to Daniel Thompson today?" he asked, placing a hand on his head.
"For a cute guy like you, I have to say, you ask a hell of a lot of questions. Well, words fly very fast I guess. Yes, I am. I am getting married to Daniel Thompson. "Now that I have answered your questions, would you now help me climb over the gate?" I asked impatiently.
"No, can't do." He replied with a straight face.
I was so shocked after I had explained literally half of my predicament to this man, he still didn't want to help me.
My eyes widened. " So you're Tell me you won't help a woman in distress, huh?! " Is this how you were trained to help a lady? I asked, stamping my feet.
He laughed so hard, holding his chest. He looks even more handsome while he smiles. Oh gosh, where has this man been all my life? If I wasn't supposed to get married today, I would have been imagining forever with this man.
"Okay, first I was never taught how to help a woman run away from her own wedding and I would have helped if the woman in question wasn't planning on escaping because she didn't want to marry me."
I felt a big blow to my chest. I was dumbfounded. What did he just say?
Hello Maria Falcone, I am Daniel Thompson, your soon-to-be husband. "
"WHAT!" I screamed. You're Daniel Thompson!
I stood still, my eyes widened, and I was still in shock. This handsome man standing in front of me was Daniel Thompson. And he just caught me trying to run away from the wedding. What was he going to do to me?
" I… I didn't know, I mean I wasn't expecting you to be. I thought Diana said you were… " I continuously stammered, and my cheeks flushed red.
"I was what? Ugly like a fat pig, I did hear that. Not everyone knows how I look. People just assume because they expect the worst from me."
" We stood for a few minutes before he finally broke the silence. "I thought the Falcone family only had one daughter. "I never knew there were two daughters. " I was planning on marrying Diana Falcone today. How come I've never heard of you, Maria?" he curiously asked.
"Well, you see, I'm the older one. Diana is my half-sister. My mother and father got divorced when I was just five years old. Diana was born before the divorce. She's the Falcone family heiress, so you see I'm more like the black sheep in the family. " Does that make you consider still getting married to me?" I explained, surprisingly hoping that he wouldn't reject me.
"Oh come on, tell me about it. I can relate to being the black sheep in the family. You're just like me. You already know my story. The bastard son of the Thompson family. " You must have heard a lot of things about me, both the ones that are true and the ones that are not true, "he said.
"No, no don't. Don't talk down on yourself like that," I said out loud.
He looked at me curiously. "One minute ago, you wanted to jump over a gate because you didn't want to marry me, and now another minute you're telling me not to talk down on myself. You fascinate me, Maria."
"Well, I just don't judge a book by its cover," I said.
"Oh, because I look good. "Huh?" He asked with a smirk on his face.
My stomach flattered, as I found myself blushing so hard at the way he spoke highly of himself.
"No, not just that. " I just feel like you shouldn't speak down on yourself. " Not everyone is pure as snow," I explained.
He stared at me with a broad smile. It was already getting creepy. Why was he looking at me like that, I thought?
"So Maria, I know we don't know each other, but I think you know that we have our wedding to attend." He extended his hands to me.
"Oh…. oh ok, let's go." shut up, Maria. You can not marry this man, remember. You need to run away. "No, I can't marry you." My mind had millions of misinterpretations. Do I really want to marry this man or not?
This was my chance to either call off the wedding or continue, but too much is at stake already.
"What?" Daniel asked, utterly confused.
But what about Mom? How would she get her treatment? I thought to myself. I could see Daniel was already uneasy.
"No, I mean yes. " Let's get over the marriage." I finally said. The word felt difficult to say.
"Look, Maria, this doesn't have to be a big deal unless you make it to be. We both don't want this, but we have to. Immediately when the trusted funds are released, we will get a divorce and go our separate ways. " I promise this is not constant," he said, handing me a flower in the garden.
"Okay, sure." I agreed.
"So shall we get married now, Maria Falcone?"