Chapter 1
“Are you ready to order?” Maria looked at the waiter before looking at Mr. Giovanni. He smiled looking at her before he told the waiter. “We will tell you when we are.”
Maria tried her best to smile back but got extremely confused when his eyes briefly lingered on her chest. It wasn’t a normal date. She was being arranged into a marriage to secure her father a hefty investment for his business. She couldn’t afford a mistake.
Don’t you dare start any conversation? Real men don’t want wives with tongues. Her father’s voice rang in her head. She looked at the fifty-two-year-old man across the table and gulped when he asked. “You liked the place.”
She nodded, “Yeah,”
She was indeed asked by her father to keep her silence but a man with quite a predatory gaze was helping to stick to her father’s advice. Her voice was barely audible. The weight of not making a mistake was weighing her down.
She had taken her car to the restaurant and was shocked after seeing a man who looked quite different from his pictures.
“I can marry you...” Mr. Giovanni started. “...your father has priced you a little bit high given you can shed some pounds. But I don’t see it as much of a problem if you do it for me. But that has to happen before our wedding. I can’t afford you to look like this before my family.”
Maria was doomed now if she had been nervous before. She didn't know why he had to comment on this.
“Maria?” Giovanni seemed annoyed at the absence of a reaction.
“I can try.” Maria managed and he raised his brows a little.
“Do you always have this little of the sound or it’s just today?” He asked another question all the while gesturing to the waiter. Maria clasped her hands under the table. Telling herself that she is doing it to help her father’s business.
“I would like a steak and steamed duck. Their steam duck is perfect...” Giovanni stopped to tell Maria in between before ordering for her. “...and, a calorie deficit salad for the lady. You can see she should have one.” Maria looked at the waiter who too couldn’t smile for a moment before he responded.
“Of course,”
“So, you are in college?” He asked,
“I completed my high school last month.” Mr. Giovanni narrowed his eyes. Of course, she was quite late for a 21-year-old to be in high school.
“It’s because of a gap,” Maria added,
The man extended his hand on the table and gestured for her to take his hand. Maria offered him her hand and he smiled rubbing the back of it with his thumb. “Your father said that you are a virgin and never had any boyfriend. Is it true?”
Maria nodded a little but he chuckled lowly. “Come on, you can tell me the truth. I promise it is not to bargain your price. Investing in your father’s business isn’t bad for an arranged wife.”
“No, I never had any boyfriend...”
“So, you are a virgin?” He stressed and Maria could only nod a little.
“Why? You are delicious. If I was in your class there was no way I was going to pass on scoring you.” Maria tried to get her hand back but he pressed it lightly and didn’t let go.
“I had to spend a few years in a hospital.” Maria had to say it. And, it worked. The man loosened his grip on her hand and asked. “For what?”
“I was in a car wreck when I was thirteen. I lost my mom in that accident. I had seventeen broken bones. I am fine now but can’t do much running." She let it all out. For the first time showing him how she normally talks. Or what kind of life she had lived. It must have answered him why she wasn’t with any boyfriend. By the time Maria went back to school, she wasn’t surrounded by boys her age. And, even if someone was interested everyone passed on her after learning about her accident and medicines.
“Your father didn’t tell me about it.”
“It was an accident, not a disease. I have been fine for the last two years. There is no pain and inflammation except for the migraine...”
“You said you can’t do much of exercise. Do you have some metals in your bones?...”
“Yeah, I have a few plates but those won’t interfere. I sometimes run and can increase my stamina. It is all about practice.”
“Can you give birth?” Giovanni was very open in questioning and though Maria felt like a commodity she knew this is what she was going to feel like. She was selling herself on the pretext of a company investment.
“I can have kids but natural birth won’t be an option. It will have to be caesarian given my hip has a broken...” He let go of her hand completely and Maria too took her arm off the table slowly. He leaned into his chair and said. “I am sorry. You are too much of a problem. For millions of dollars, I want a wife I can bend.” Maria’s cheeks were heated at this point.
“It was nice seeing you,” Maria said pointing to the end of the dinner and was about to get up when he offered. “Your dinner,”
“I am not hungry.” Maria excused herself and walked out gracefully. Fully aware there was nothing graceful about her life anymore. She has always been a problem for her father. Her father was doing great previously. He had his own little business of a small shipping company that was now drowned in loans. Lost in her healthcare Maria’s father was destroyed financially. And, he had never forgotten to remind her of this.
It was last year when a prospective investor showed his interest in her and not in her father’s business. The marriage couldn’t be fixed when he learned about her once-broken bones but her father was convinced that they could find someone else. Since then, started the matchmaking saga. Mr. Giovanni was the eighth one since then. It wasn’t every day that her father could find some rich man wanting a wife. Most rich men don’t find it hard to find a wife or don’t want a wife at all.
Maria knew her father was waiting for some good news and she didn’t have any. A fifty-year-old man had rejected her who himself was twice her weight. She always believed it was better to tell the date about her past in the first meeting so both parties don’t waste time. But Maria knew her father would explode learning she had told her date about her medical history on the first date. She didn’t want to enter a marriage hiding anything about her medical history or limitations.
Maria had lost all of her self-confidence. It was hard to have any when one was trying to sell themselves and people weren’t buying her offer. After her fourth failed date she believed she would never find a sincere man even if she tried normal dating. They might use her for some time but won’t see her as a wife. So, marrying someone for the benefit of her father didn’t seem like much of a problem. But lying to get her way in was something she was having a difficult time with.
Not that her father wasn’t looking for investors anymore. But now he wanted someone he could trap with the family bonds so it could benefit him for longer terms. Two years back her father’s girlfriend Daphne came into their life. She wanted to get married to her father and they wanted a stable business before they made it official. Daphne had two sons aged thirteen and ten and they hated Maria for how much of a burden she was still on her father.
Maria could recall seeing her father worried about her health in the past. He wasn’t always like this. But that father of hers was long lost. Now she sees a man who was desperate to bid her high. Telling her it is an arranged marriage that will benefit her for the long term but in the meantime forgetting that her daughter was a living human who wanted to be respected and cherished as much as any other person.
Maria had lost the hope for her father to ever understand her. If anything now she wanted to escape her home. Even if it meant finding someone who could accept her with her crooked bones. At least, it will benefit her father. She was still that thirteen-year-old girl who wanted nothing but her mom to be around. But now she didn’t want to hurt her father anymore. It hurts her when he mentions how he had lost his whole life because of her. And, it was after she told him that she was the one who asked Mom to get the car around for some shoes she liked. Somewhere Maria too believed that she was responsible for her father’s situation and wanted to make him proud by helping him.
Maria wanted to try her hand at the odd jobs but it could bring shame to her father’s name. Their house and other assets were on the brink of auction. And, she didn’t want this for her family. No matter how twisted it sounds she wanted to help her father. She had disappointed him for a long time with her medical bills and care expenses and now it was her turn to do something nice. But in this pursuit, she had lost something. She could only see her worth through the eyes of her father. And, she was something he was trying to get rid of.
Maria knew her father wouldn’t call her for another hour. So, getting out of the restaurant, she decided to walk into a park. She had a coat over her beautiful low-neck green dress now. The park was lighted well and a few people could be spotted for a walk.
Maria had taken new ghosts along with her from this brief meeting. And, now she was someone who couldn’t be bent. Or this is how any guy will think about her. The words from other meetings started playing in her mind too. And, no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t turn it off.
“I can offer you ten grand for a test driving.”
“Can you gain a few more pounds? I want women with heavy folds.”
“How will you rate yourself when it comes to sucking?”
“You are fine with a father like this? Will you help me with my future deals too?”
She stopped walking and stared at her car across the street. It was indeed time to get home and disappoint her father. She was about to cross the street when she noticed a cyclist hitting someone. “Hey!” Maria called for him but he ran away.
She kneeled to have a look at the man. He was a very old man and seemed to be having a heart attack with all the sweat on his face. “Try to breathe and relax, ok?” Maria told him all the while trying for an ambulance. But it seems he was dying for how he was losing consciousness.
Don’t forget to follow my Inkitt profile if you like my story. Thank you!
