Unwanted Wedlock

Chapter 1

     "Pardon?" Lyla asked for confirmation with her eyes wide. The lawyer stared back at her.

     "Ms. Vell," he started, "According to a contract your grandparents had signed, by the age of twenty-five you were to marry the heir of the Reeds family, Mr. Ryerson Reeds."

     "You have got to be kidding me," Lyla stated, standing up.

     "It was an agreement from over two decades ago, when you were just a toddler. I am sorry but if the contract is not fulfilled your family will have to pay a fine that will make you lose your business and even your house. The Reeds family are also more than happy with this arrangement, they find you a charming young lady and all eager to see you as their daughter-in-law." Lyla's jaw was dropped to the floor.

     "Well, what about the guy I have to marry? What does he have to say about it?" she asked furiously.

     "He does not have a choice either," the lawyer confirmed, "this is an agreement and alliance of families." Lyla turned to her family who were watching the exchange. The Vell family consisted of her parents and her brother, Silas, and his wife of two years, Sia.

     "Say something," Lyla insisted. They shook their heads.

     "This is a very good opportunity for you. You can live a life of happiness-"

     "How can you guarantee that?' Lyla asked, close to yelling. Her parents always did that, pretend they actually cared but ultimately with anything they asked her they would end up doing what they wanted. When they would act like they were doing her a lot of good but they forgot that they were getting more happiness out of it than her. It messed up with her head, it left her in a chaos, a painful one. If someone heard her say something about it, she knew what they would say. They would say she was being petty, she was being stupid, she was being ungrateful. But it wasn't only things like money problems, abuse, or partitions in the family that could cause things like her state of mind. 

     They didn't understand the pain of living in the family she was living in. The family would seem alright, and while there were no outward spoken problems, that didn't mean the problems weren't existent. This family was about judgement, and when that was mixed with expectations, the results were hard to bear. Nothing was worse than having expectations mixed with heavy judgement, and with the money and financial stability, the guilt of feeling like this was even heavier. It simply made it harder to bear. And the worst part was that, for example if someone was experiencing financial problems, they would silently be wishing for money, but for her case, she didn't know what she would silently be praying for. And it made her feel even more guilty that she was feeling so in the depressed state of mind when she had everything, she had fallen into compunction. Lyla didn't grow up like others, she knew. 

     There's a problem? Suck it up, keep your head held high, and move on. That's how she taught herself to grow up. Maybe that wasn't the expectation of the family or the family name itself, but that was how it had grown to be. That was how it was. 

     She didn't see her brother going through the same thing. Maybe it was just something embedded in her. She was too reserved, too aloof, too distant. She often blamed it on her state of mind, or maybe it was how she had become so mature at a young age to teach herself that. Suck it up, keep your head held high, and move on, she repeated.

     People would say she was lucky, with a 'good family', and money and everything, and she was grateful for that but she argued to 'good family'. Her brother hardly supported her, he was the golden one. The best boy. The best child. The best student. The best friend. The best personality in general. The one who her parents blindly loved but with her, Lyla felt it was a completely different story.

      For her, she couldn't remember getting the freedom to do something that would actually bring her a happy end. She always had that unsaid restriction on herself, maybe her brother felt the same way and he was just stronger but she had accepted far too long ago that was simply a weak, scared, confused little girl. Her parents kept telling her to be happy, talking about the freedom they had earned for her but no, she couldn't find herself to be, no matter how hard she tried. So she stopped. She just stopped even trying. That was her case, but she would be lying if she said she couldn't admit that all her emotions only made her that much stronger. Because of those problems she was now who she was, but quite frankly she didn't need a dude to be the cherry on top of her issues, "have you thought about that Ryerson Reeds guy? You could be destroying his happiness as well."

     "You are going through with this contract," her father said firmly, "have I ever asked you to do anything? Now I'm asking." Lyla wanted to snort, when had she stopped herself from following his orders? She, the one who decided when she was younger, that there would come a day where she would get away from all this, perhaps after she had finished her education and started to work, away from her parents, or maybe when she got married, she had been waiting for that day where she could say she was with that one person she trusted in the world. Ever more, she just wanted someone to express her love to. She wanted someone who she could stand by, someone who loved her, someone she loved, someone who would be happy with her just like she hoped she would be happy with him. In short, really, she wanted to be able to treat someone, her husband, maybe future kids of hers, she wanted - wants- to treat those special people how she always wanted to be treated. She wanted to treat her future family the way she should've grown up. 

     This was officially her dream crushed. 

     Straight up, it stood in front of her and crashed and burned before she could blink. 

     Before she would tell herself "when you're away and married you'll be happy." but now she was gone telling herself "there's always death to look forward to." Maybe she looked like she was overreacting but what else would one say to themselves when they suffered from lack of love and it for as long as they could remember?

     "If this is confirmed, I will be letting the Reeds family of the news," the lawyer said to break the suffocating silence. Before Lyla could protest her mother spoke up.

     "Please let the Reeds know of the good news," she saw, grabbing Lyla's wrist. The lawyer walked out of the house nodding his head, already taking out his phone. 

___________

     So? How was the first chapter? I know I said relatively light-hearted but really there are only a few chapters like this. And tell me the truth, who skipped the long paragraphs? 

Don't be shy, raise your hand.