Chapter 5

John’s POV

“Yana, I want you to meet my son, Christian John,” my dad introduced me while smiling at the girl. “Or just CJ, for short.” He even winked at her as if they had already talked about something else while I was not around, something only they could understand.

I pretended to meet her for the first time tonight, but my frustrated sighs could not hide the truth. “Nice meeting you, CJ,” she said in an obviously nervous tone, pretending it was her first time meeting me as well.

“Me too,” I responded shortly and reached for her hand to shake. It felt like magic when the warmth of her hand sent chills down my spine. It was really soft and felt good to hold.

Wait, what? I couldn’t hide the thoughts that were as ugly as sin inside my head, so I kept my head down. I knew I owed her a lot. That’s why I tried to be nice to her. But I couldn’t be asking for validation from myself, could I?

“You should begin to know each other. Your wedding is going to be held next week,” my dad remarked, and that made Yana turn to him with a shocked expression on her face. She clearly was not able to say anything about it, though. We both knew where this setup would lead us anyway, even without me having to tell her in detail.

“It’s not good to keep the food waiting. We should all start to eat,” my dad’s woman said and gestured for everyone to go. We all headed our way toward the dining room and began sitting on our chairs. Dad sat in the aisle chair. I sat on his left, my stepmom in front of me, Yana beside me, and her dad on the other side of her.

The food had been prepared beforehand, so after we all had settled in our seats, there was a short silence in the air. “So, Yana. Can you tell us about yourself?” Dad decided to break the ice that was already forming while everyone finally started to dig in.

“I heard that you and CJ go to the same school. May I ask what course you are taking?” my stepmom asked.

“Hospitality Management, ma’am,” Yana answered back with a smile. Her nervousness was still visible in the way that she stretched her lips to show that awkward smile and the way her voice shook a little.

It somehow amused me, but I chose to only focus on my food as they talked. It was not necessary for me to converse with them anyway.

“Oh, you both study at DU, so you must already know each other,” Mr. Gonzales commented.

“No,” both Yana and I answered at the same time. It made us look at each other for a few seconds before going back to eating.

“We met for the first time tonight, sir,” Yana tried to explain further.

“You go to the same school, and you don’t know each other?” my dad asked once again. “And what is up with that ‘sir’ again?”

What was he even talking about?

“Not really, Dad. Our college departments are actually quite far apart from each other,” I tried to clarify, which made her nod in agreement.

Dad seemed to buy the excuse and stopped asking about it. “By the way, I think I should tell you what my wedding gift for both of you will be right now.” He began to jump to another topic. “There is a house I bought a few blocks away from your school. That house is going to be yours. You two should live there on your own.”

“You mean the house in front of the convenience store?” I asked, trying to remember the place. It was located right beside the apartment where my friends lived.

“Ah, that good burger place,” Dad replied, remembering the location. “Yes, Son. Are you happy?”

“Of course,” I forced a smile. But I was definitely not happy. The house was too near to my friends’ building, and I didn’t want them to know about this. I didn’t want anyone to know anything about this ridiculous marriage thing. “Thanks, Dad,” I responded before proceeding to finish my food.

By then, they started talking about what to do with the wedding. They even got into a conversation about the babies’ names already. It was totally insane. Yana and I remained quiet, just eating. I could even notice how uncomfortable she was as these grown-ups continued talking.

“I am done eating,” I said, interrupting them. “I am sorry, but may I excuse myself for a moment?”

“Sure,” my dad answered before looking at Yana. “Do you want CJ to take you for a walk around the house? You should spend some time with each other.”

I really couldn’t go on with this. I could even sense that she did not want to go either, but she couldn’t say no.

“It is okay, Yana, don’t be shy,” her dad added. Leaving her with no choice, she let out a deep sigh and stood up. She bowed to them as a gesture of excuse before both of us proceeded to walk away from the awkwardness in the dining room.

I decided to take her to the garden instead of just walking around when I noticed that she was having a hard time with her shoes. We both sat on the swings, looking up and staring at the sky.

“Are you really going to be my husband?” She broke the silence that had been surrounding us since we left the adults.

I didn’t even fuss over thinking about how I should respond to her. “Obviously,” I answered back.

“As if we have a choice,” she replied with a sarcastic chuckle while looking away.

I didn’t bother talking again after that, so another awkward silence started to ring around us.

“The wedding is only a week away,” she said in disbelief, breaking the silence one more time.

“You are wrong because we still have a choice,” I said and turned to her.

She looked at me as if she was judging me and that I had lost my mind. “What do you mean?”

“Listen, I only have three rules for you.” I held up three fingers in front of her face.

“Rules?” she sarcastically laughed. “Why would you give me rules? Is this really just a joke to you?”

“I know that you’re not as in favor of this marriage as much as I am,” I told her.

She remained silent after that, an indication for me to proceed with what I was going to say.

“Okay, the first rule is this marriage should remain a secret. I do not want anyone else to know about this except for our families and my friends, do you understand?” I definitely should count my friends in since it is impossible to keep this from them anyway because I am going to live with this girl right beside the apartment where they live.

“Second, pretend that we don’t know each other at school. Just act normal. Do not come anywhere near me nor talk to me in front of other people, especially at school,” I kept on explaining while Yana continued to stare at me. “Last rule.” I clicked my fingers in front of her eyes to get her attention. “Do not ever, ever dare to fall in love with me.”

She immediately scoffed. “As if I will! In your wildest dreams.”

“Look, I have a plan,” I said, and she turned to pay attention to me again. “We are going to file divorce papers after I get what my dad has promised me.”

“What promise?” she asked.

“My inheritance.”

She looked at me as if I had said something wrong. “But I also made a promise to my dad.”

“Then you go follow him! Make your own way. I don’t even care,” I said and sighed deeply.

“It’s pretty amusing how we may be complete strangers right now, John,” she suddenly said while staring blankly at me. “It’s even more amusing to think that we are not going to be strangers anymore.”

I gave her the rules, but what if I’m the one who is going to break them?