“I don’t want to be married to someone I don’t know, Mom!” I exclaimed as I stood up from sitting. “And I am still not finished in college. Do you expect me to marry the man I never met?”
“Luciana! Sit down!” Dad thundered, so I looked at him with glaring eyes. “Where are your manners? We are having dinner and you are being a brat!”
And just like what I am supposed to be doing, I slowly sat down if Dad is the one who spoke. I don’t have a choice since I am just her daughter. He commands; we follow.
“You will eventually like Roy Cervantes,” Dad said with authority. “You will have no choice but to marry him. It’s for the better.”
Where is that better in the aspects? In his business and riches? What about me?
I glanced at Mom who is elegantly eating her food. She just gazed at me with guilt and refusal for me to talk back. My eyes are lowered to my lap and my fists are tightened. I stopped the urge to push the plates in front of me and get wild.
The next morning, I was early getting up for school because I have a staggering set of exams to take. Though I want to be gullible and boastful because I studied all night, I did not have the appetite to tell my friends and merely rant about the conversation I had with my parents yesterday dinner.
“What? You’re marrying already?!” my friends exclaimed dramatically.
I sighed and placed my palm on my chin. “Yes,” I said. “I would like to think that this is to save a business or something. It’s typical when you are a daughter of business people – you have no freedom at all things.”
“That is so unfortunate,” Thea said and held my hand on the table. “But whatever your decision is, we will support you, Luciana.”
“But I don’t want to marry a man I don’t know, Thea,” I said and shook my head.
“Then there is only one way to escape that situation, Luciana,” Vivian suggested and smirked. “You have to not make him in love with you. Turn him off!”
Thea made a disgusted face. “Why do I have a bad feeling about this?”
But Vivian did not regard Thea and just enthusiastically made her head forward to me in order to tell her obvious mischievous plan.
“If you happen to meet this man, you will do things that most men will not like to a woman,” she said and my mind was already awoken to listen to her. “First, show too much of your skin during your date. It will make him more embarrassed and will think of you as a prostitute. Second, be informal and liberated. It will make him realize that you are impossible. Third, tell him that you can’t be pregnant.”
My mouth slowly hung in amazement at beautiful and seemingly effective plans of Vivian. I could see from my peripheral vision that Thea was shaking her head with her hand on her forehead, bestowing her disappointment and hopelessness on her friends.
But that is the point! I just have to make that man hopeless!
In the middle of my thoughts, the bell rang and the three of us stood up from our chairs in the cafeteria. Our schoolmates glanced at us, but we did not mind them. We’ve been used to the attention they always give to us because of the popularity we have and our remarkable family background in business and politics.
“Ouch! Watch where you’re going!” I said and pushed the guy who just bumped me.
“O-Oh, sorry, Luciana,” Marky said and lowered his head, his face now getting sweaty.
I smirked devilishly and glared at him. The students around us were now watching me stepping forward to the infamous nerd on our campus. Marky refused to meet my eyes and blinked while looking at the ground.
“Sorry? Don’t you know me, boy, huh? I am the Sarmiento heiress and you have the guts to bump me?!”
“I did not see you-“
“You have these stupid eyeglasses and you can’t see? What an idiot!”
Due to my irritation, I pulled his eyeglasses out from his face and threw them to the ground. Everyone gasped at what I did, but my friends let me and did not dare to intervene. I pushed Marky on his shoulder but he still stayed lowering his head.
“Remind yourself, nerd, that you are a low, stupid person on this campus. Can’t see, my ass! Then you should look in the mirror and check the ugliness in your reflection,” I insulted him and started walking away.
Everyone was silent in the cafeteria as my friends went through the hallways to walk toward our classroom. Thea then matched my steps to talk.
“You should have not embarrassed Marky like that. There were many people, Luciana,” she reprimanded me.
I shot my eyebrow and turned to her. “What’s with you? He bumped me first, so I just gave him a lecture. That’s all,” I justified.
“He did not mean it.”
“Then be with him. I’m not stopping you from defending him,” I said and preceded them from walking.
“Why would you talk to her like that?” I heard Vivian say.
“It was wrong,” Thea said.
“It’s not like it is the first time,” Vivian said and sighed. “Apologize to her later. You know she easily gets sensitive.”
I could not listen to their conversation to them anymore because I turned to the other side of the hallway to get to my room. I really just hate being reprimanded and telling me what to do. It’s like I am a kid or something when clearly, I am not.
I went inside the room where my class is happening. When I got to sit down, I received a text from my Mom.
From: Mom
Hey, darling. You are going to meet your fiancé at our restaurant. Your driver will pick you up at six pm sharp and get you home. Please wear something nice and formal when you get here, alright?
I smirked and implemented the plans Vivian suggested in my mind a while ago to execute later.