The first day I saw him was the day I knew it was him. He was mine, and no one else's. The only thing was that he didn't know it, or even me. I saw him walking in our gardens next to someone who looked exactly liked him but with white hair. Then I saw Charlotte and mom walk toward them. They seemed to be chatting. I was watching from my room and all of a sudden my mom was pointing towards me and the four of them were watching me. Embarrassed, I retreated and closed the blinds. I was ashamed to have been caught. I knew mom would call me down to meet the guests so before they could come inside I ran out the front door toward the neighborhood park. After half an hour Charlotte texted me.
Hey sis, we just figured out you left. It's too bad you're not here to meet our guests *smirk*Oh, well you can always meet them tomorrow, after all they just moved next door.
I was on the swing the rest of the afternoon. I was finally driven home by hunger by six thirty. I climbed into the garden and entered the house through the back door. I went upstairs to change into something that wasn't dirty and I went downstairs to dinner. I entered the dinning room with a face that claimed I had been there all day until I noticed the guests were dining with us and I felt my face turn red. I looked down and quickly took the only empty seat. It was in between Charlotte and the the boy. My boy. We were at one end of the table while mom and dad were at another end talking with two other couples whom I could only assume were their parents.
"Lolita, this is Alexander Sterling and his cousin Claude Sterling." Charlotte said politely pointing to the black haired boy and then to the white haired one. "We would have introduced you to them sooner but we couldn't find you." She said with a smirk.
"Oh. I must have been reading in the library." I said casually.
"Of course."
Dinner was an awkward event for me since the adults had moved to the tea room and the only one who didn't seem to be talking was me.
"So you like to read, Lolita? What where you reading today?" Alexander asked while Charlotte and Claude seemed to be discussing battle strategies. Don't ask.
"Pride and Prejudice." I said picking the first thing I could think of.
he noticed my nervousness and laughed. "If you're worried about earlier, don't be. I thought it was cute how you were staring at me with hearts in your eyes." He said smiling.
"I was not!" I replied embarrassed. Remember that thing I said about him being mine earlier? Yeah, lets forget I mentioned it.
Before he could respond our parents called us into the tea room. Within moments we were all sitting around a fireplace with a cup of tea.
"How are you four getting along?" Mother asked.
"Well Mother." Charlotte answered for us.
"That's good. We have agreed on an arranged marriage for you." She said nonchalantly.
Arranged marriage? I looked at Charlotte and even she looked surprised at this. It only took my sister a second before she accepted that and asked. "with whom?"
Claude and Alexander looked at each other and for a moment the room was quiet.
"We decided to let you choose." Alexander's mom responded. "Of course you don't have to pick now. You have time to get to know each other."
"There's another option."Mother added suspiciously. "Now that the youngest has become 16," she said looking at me." Marriage is a must for these families. We have given you the best choices family wise. This arrangement could bring the best future for you in regards of status. If you don't care about this then we will allow you to choose someone else."
"What's the catch?" I asked. There was always a catch with mother.
She smiled at my question. "You will be hosting a party. We will invite a variety of people from all over the world. You can choose anyone in the party to marry. If you fail to choose a spouse by the end of the night you will have to pick someone in your current party." She finished.