As a child, Ariel had thought about marriage. Of course, back then it had been with all of the innocence that only little children possessed. She'd thought of eating all the cake that she wanted without anybody telling her no, because it was her wedding day. She'd thought of wearing a beautiful dress with a train so long it stretched for miles behind her.
Most of all she had thought of the lovely food that she would be eating. Even back then she had been very interested in the culinary arts. But now when she thought back on that, she realized just how young she had been. Back then, Ariel had focused on anything and everything except for the key thing that made the marriage a marriage in the first place.
A partner. In order to get married there had to be somebody on the other end willing to marry you. Sure she had heard of people marrying themselves. But that was not something that was for her. Marriage was always going to include another person. But never in a million years had Ariel thought that her person would turn out to be Tristan Asher, the CEO of Asher Industries. To be fair, as she had grown older, and the shine of childhood things had worn off. Ariel had not expected to marry anyone. Not because she did not want to, but because she had realized that she would be way too busy just trying to survive to even make time to date.
Even before the whole situation with madam Mo, Ariel had been far too exhausted at the end of each day to even entertain the thought of getting into a relationship. It was kind of sad now that Ariel thought of it. But she had gotten to the point where she had resigned herself to the very real possibility that she would not only live her life single, but also die as a single woman.
There was no problem in being single. But she still would have mourned never getting the chance to spend her life with someone. But now, Ariel did not have to worry about that. She was getting married. In her case, the upcoming wedding meant that she no longer had to worry about the debt to madam Mo. Which was great news. But even if agreeing to marry Tristan Asher had solved the money problem for Ariel.
She also felt like it would be creating a multitude of other problems that she just knew would constantly plague her. Especially once the deal was completed. One of the problems caused by the sudden engagement, was currently seated on the carpet. While Ariel herself sat on the sofa, the two of them eating pizza while watching TV. Her brother happily munching away, unaware of the bomb that she was about to drop.
It was bribery what Ariel was doing. Normally she and Peter had the leftovers from the food truck. But since she had not opened up that day. She had instead walked through the door with two boxes of pizza. Now the two of them were eating silently, their eyes glued on the screen. But every few seconds, Ariel's eyes drifted over to her brother.
His face was still varying shades of blue, a clear reminder that Ariel had made the right decision in accepting Tristan's proposal. But even though Ariel had accepted the marriage deal in order to save Peter. She found herself hesitating when it came to telling him about it. Once again she glanced from the TV screen back to him. But this time instead of finding him still watching the show.
She found her brother looking up at her. "What is it? You have been staring at me ever since we sat down, not to mention You have barely said a word to me. What's going on?" Putting down her half-eaten slice of pizza, Ariel grabbed a napkin and began wiping her fingers. Her focus on the digits rather than on her brother. "While you were gone, I met someone. He is someone I care for a great deal, and he cares about me too," Ariel had no idea if she was actively lying on the last bit, or doing some wishful thinking.
There was a gasp from her brother, but Ariel did not look away from her task. Instead, she continued to clean her hands, even though they did not need it. "Not that I'm not happy for you, sis, but given the situation that we're in, is it wise to be seeing someone right now? Won't that make them a target for madam Mo as well?" Finally looking up, Ariel met her brother's gaze briefly before she looked back down at her hands, and resumed wiping them. "Actually, he already knows about the whole thing with madam Mo and he has... promised me that he will take care of it for me," "What?! Ariel, are you in with somebody dangerous? Nobody can just pull a million out of nowhere, it's not that easy. Why would a guy that you, by your own admission, have just met recently, fork out that much money? It does not make any sense,"
"He would pay that much money because he is my fiancé. We are getting married," The bomb dropped, Ariel stopped wiping her fingers again. She looked back up at her brother. His eyes were wide. His jaw slack.
"Fiancé?" He whispered, not seeming to believe the word even as it left his mouth. Ariel kept her gaze steady and did not look away. If she ignored his gaze now, he would definitely suspect that things were not above board. Everything was suspicious enough as it was. Peter did not need to be worried about her in addition to everything else. "Who is it?" Peter asked. Ariel did not beat around the bush.
"It is Tristan Asher the CEO of Asher Industries. We are getting married at the end of the month," Peter stared at her. Whether he was hoping for her to come out and say that it was a joke. Or whether he was waiting for her to take the words back. She had no idea, so she just sat there and held his gaze. When he finally did speak though, it felt like a punch to the solar plexus. "Are you selling yourself to Tristan Asher in order to pay off the debt that I got us into?" Peter's voice was a soft rasp, like even the slightest wind could knock him over. It had no power behind it, but she still found herself feeling as though she had been at the centre of a nuclear blast.