Unwanted Wedlock

Chapter 4

You people who don't like reading detail are probably not going got like this chapter, but it's crucial. 

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      They got into the unnecessarily fancy car and everything without a word but they drove to somewhere nobody bothered to tell Lyla. After they stayed in the car for another hour, they reached a huge house. Lyla's eyes widened just trying to take in the sight of the house. Who the hell needed such a big house? They got out and just as Lyla was going to get her suitcases the driver held up his hand, stopping her.

        This felt weird.

        She followed Ryerson into the house and silently took the pair of keys he dropped in her hand. As they walked around the house Lyla's gaze fixed on something. This guy was so rich? Could he not afford two beds instead of a king-sized single bed? Reeds seemed to know what she was thinking.

        "My father picked the house and furniture, I didn't have time to see it," of course, he was a workaholic after all. 

       It also seemed that this was Ryerson's first time seeing the house given that he was surprised to find the other rooms locked, only to call his parents and find that they had locked all the rooms but one so that the newlywed couple had the chance to 'bond'. 

         "I'll take the couch," Lyla said, absolutely unwilling to sleep next to him, also knowing the feeling was mutual. His eyebrows raised.

        If there was one way to describe this house, it was quiet. And Lyla didn't mind, she enjoyed how quiet it was; away from most things. Those things unfortunately not including Ryerson Reeds. He barely even glanced at her, sometimes ignorance was worse than harsh words.

       A week and half later Ryerson studied with his now wife. She was different from how he thought she would be. He knew she didn't want this marriage but here and there she would give him small smiles. They were not pushy but just the kind that said 'I'm not going anywhere, let's at least try with this'. He appreciated this but he couldn't seem to reciprocate it for some reason.

       Though Lyla was from a relatively rich family, she was everything Ryerson didn't expect her to be. She was a minimalist without her even realizing it. She didn't complain about sleeping on the couch, though that was probably because she didn't want to be too close to him, but she didn't even look like she wanted to. She didn't eat much from what Ryerson saw, for a day he thought she was one of those diet following maniacs who basically starved themselves but from what he could tell if he observed without any background opinion -or rather, bias- that she just liked it that way.

      She wasn't needy to impress either, she roamed the house in comfortable clothes whenever he was there and never asked to be taken out. She seemed satisfied with what was there. Her simplicity made Ryerson believe she wasn't a gold digger. The fact that she also didn't seem to like the attention she got from the reports the other day backed up that conclusion. He already liked her more, not that he would admit it.

     She could stay out on the balcony for hours together. The balcony was surely her favorite place in the entire house, he knew that. He could tell from the way she sat there for countless hours, without a book or anything, she would just stare off into space, thinking. Sometimes Ryerson wondered what she was thinking about. Was it her past boyfriends? No. He had ordered a file on her (A/N: Creep), from what others observed and wrote down in that file it said that she had no past boyfriends. She had never been in a relationship, this both surprised him and satisfied him. But he didn't know why. This girl was some kind of beauty. The real kind.

      People described beautiful women as goddesses that couldn't be touched but that was what was different about Lyla. 

She was real. She looked real. 

With her hair always in a ponytail with the company of a lock falling on her face, with her obsidian eyes screaming out friendliness, with her smile always small, or sarcastic, and the little beauty moles scattered across her light olive skin, she looked so natural. So real. She was not an untouchable angel people described models as. She was a natural, real, beauty and for some reason Ryerson's mind was frozen on that. She interested him. 

     How she would take some books she was interested off his book shelf and be done with it by the day. If there was a book he bookmarked he saw how she was careful to not touch the bookmark and how she made sure to keep every book just where it was. He was happy about that, she knew he was perfectionist the moment he took the time to place all the books in alphabetical order. Ryerson didn't miss the amused grin he saw Lyla gain as she noticed the pattern in the bookshelf, she didn't seem to smile wide a lot, which was a pity, he thought she looked quite pretty when she smiled.

     The way her beautiful ebony eyes would reflect the light and sparkle, and the way her olive skin seemed to glow when she was in a good book, and most importantly, the way her naturally pink lips would stretch into a grin that showed off a half dimple next to her smile line. Ryerson didn't know how he knew all this but he hated it.

      Ryerson hated that it made him feel like he was swooning. He hated that he knew all this, he hated that he was letting a woman he barely spoke to cloud his thoughts and distract him. He hated how he felt less in control of himself and of others thinking about her. He hated how even though he barely spoke to her he could observe so many things. He hated how he let himself think of her, the hate for those facts left him with an urge to let those small, light smiles his way from Lyla drop. He hated it all so much he wanted it to stop.

      Ryerson wanted this girl to get away from his mind, away from his business, away from his life because she was just too damn distracting. He wanted the little sweet in her to stop crowding his thoughts, he wanted to bruise her pride for some sarcastic smiles his way but he also wanted to laugh at it. He wanted to make her feel insecure, make her know that he wasn't feeling anything her way but there was also a part of him that wanted to hold her hand and smile at her. 

      Ryerson was so confused, he wanted and felt like he needed to do so many things. And maybe because he was an arrogant man who was used to having everything in his control that he listened to the thoughts that wanted to stop Lyla. Maybe that's why he decided to get drunk one Saturday night trying to forget about her, and prepare himself to distance himself from contact with Lyla. 

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I'm not sorry for adding that detail on the main character. 

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