Sentenced to Marriage by MadlainQ
Chapter 56

The Gift

"Oh My God!" I heard Michael exclaim behind my back, and Miranda's wicked chuckle followed

As I turned around, I saw Miranda, leaning her back against the door frame with her hands crossed over her chest, Michael stood on the threshold, his mouth open wide in shock as he looked at me "What have you done to him?" he asked, his eyes wide in terror, "Are you a witch or something Or is he on drugs? If you led him with something that makes him act like this, then girl, I want to meet your supplier!" he demanded, still looking at me as if I were an extraterrestrial species,

Miranda prodded his elbow. "I told you, she's special."

I laughed nervously, walking their way, "Truthfully, I don't know what happened just now... He... He just..." I paused, frantically searching for words to describe it, but my mind was one hot mess.

Miranda grinned and winked at me. "Let's get inside and talk. And you..." She pointed at Michael. "Get that prosecco out of the fridge and three glasses. We would need those." Michael nodded while his mouth stayed open, his mind ineptly processing the images he saw. Miranda grabbed my hand and led me to the three-piece, Louis XVI-style suite with the same style table that stood in the middle of his spacious atelier. She sat me down on the sofa before taking the chair. A minute later, Michael joined us with a bottle and glasses.

"So, mind telling me what happened to my stone-heart friend?" he asked me as he uncorked the prosecco, before pouring the sparkling liquid into the glasses. "I wish I knew..." An awkward chuckle escaped my throat. "Miranda told me before that he acted differently around me, not like he used to, but today... something changed."

Miranda took her glass from the table and leaned toward me, grinning with her eyes narrowed interrogatively at me. "So, what happened earlier today?" Michael quickly joined her, and a second later, I found their gazes locked on me, urging me to talk

"Well... I was asked to pick the color for our wedding decorations. Somehow, the wedding planner and I ended up picking an indigo blue. I didn't know that it was Aren's last name meaning though," I said and took a big gulp from my glass. Michael and Miranda blinked their eyes at me before bursting out into laughter. They laughed for a minute until any of them could choke out a word. "How did Aren react to that?" Miranda finally asked, wiping off the tears of laughter. I took another sip from the glass. "He said that we should add gold color as well... so it could represent me."

Their loud peal of laughter filled the room the second the final syllable left my throat. I sighed

14

The Gift

heavily, reluctantly becoming their main source of entertainment.

"Girl, you placed a leash on that guy! I've never seen him so close to being head over heels for anyone in my life!" Michael announced, gesturing so widely he almost spilled his wine on the floor. 1 I blushed. My lips curled into a beaming grin before I realized it. I would be a stinky liar if I said that I didn't want their words to be true, but I was still afraid to trust what I saw and heard. The memory of Aren's voice, telling me that we would never be in a real relationship, was still vivid in my mind. Did he change his mind? If not, then what did his behavior mean?

Once we had drunk the entire bottle, the subject of our conversation shifted from my relationship with Aren to my wedding dress. Michael made me try on twenty of his designed gowns, as if I were his favorite doll.

"Now, I finally know what you need," he said, grabbing a sheet of paper and starting to sketch something Miranda and I silently watched his hand draw swift lines that eventually blended into a beautiful gown design. When he finished, he proudly turned the sheet of paper our way so we could judge his creation. Once I saw the sketch, my heart began to pound. He had drawn a beautiful dress with a jewel neckline, a waistline that was delicately outlined with a band, and a mermaid skirt with a fishtail back.

"The trick that we are going to use in that dress is the fabric. Three different types of silk with different densities will do the job. We can also use some gemstones to add a pattern going from the waistline down the skirt," he explained. "I think you could add some sparkling things; the girl deserves to look like a queen," Miranda added.

My lips twitched into a wry smile as I listened to their ideas. I loved the simplicity of the design, and I didn't want to spoil it by adding diamonds or pearls. That wasn't me at all. "Um..." I hesitantly raised my hand to get their attention. "I know very little about making gowns, but is there a possibility to add ornaments painted on fabric instead of sewing gemstones?"

"Like a hand-painted silk?" Michael asked, his eyes widening in wicked agitation. "Wel.. yes," I replied. "Why not? It can look wonderful. It's just a matter of replaceing a good pattern that would do the gown justice," he said. "I will look for some and you may try looking for something you would like yourself."

I nodded, already feeling excited about it. The bright grin on my face made Miranda chuckle. "If that cold-blooded businessman you are getting married to is not in love with you right now, he will surely fall in love once he sees you in that dress."

My cheeks blazed with fiery blush. Him, falling in love with me... Was that even possible?

***

I returned to the empty penthouse and instantly felt lonely. I didn't have to go upstairs to know that Aren was gone. It was as if his scent and warmth felt weaker, and with that, something in my heart stung. Without realizing it, I went upstairs and walked straight into his bedroom, instinctively searching for a place where I could replace a mere illusion of his presence. What I felt had long since passed the physical attraction, but I was too terrified to name it.

I sat on Aren's bed. My hands brushed his sheets, letting the traces of his scent fill the air around me. I bit my lip, thinking how badly I wanted to feel his arms around me and his lips clashing with mine. As my mind started to produce tons of lewd ideas about using anything that smelled like him to satisfy myself, I was in serious need of a distraction. Luckily, the sound of the incoming message pulled me back to the land of sane, yet the indecent thoughts came back in a rush as I found the message was from Aren. "Have you found the safe?"

"Not yet..." I mumbled to myself, figuring that it would be a good idea to turn my attention to looking for it.

I went to the right corner of his room and saw a wall mirror in a golden frame. I looked around it and quickly noticed an odd button on the left side of the golden metal strip. As I pressed it, I heard a releasing switch, making the left side of the mirror bound away from the wall. Taking a deep breath, I pulled the mirror to the side, revealing the safe hidden behind it.

"Found it," I texted back, giggling like a child on a treasure hunt.

The next step was to open the safe. I remembered the date of our first meeting quite well-it was the 11th of April. Nonetheless, it still made the butterflies in my stomach flutter as I realized that he remembered it as well...

My hand trembled when I typed the last remaining digits, unlocking the door of the safe. My heart hammered wildly as I reached inside and took out a small, beautifully ornamented jewelry box. It looked like an antique, a refined and intricate work of art. It was mostly made of wood, but there were a lot of tiny little metal straps framing the overly massive lid. Each side of the box had a different relief sculpture with jade pieces embedded in wood. I swallowed hard before opening the box, only to replace it... empty.

I felt a slight sting of disappointment. Of course, the box itself was amazing and probably more valuable than me and my Grandma together. Nonetheless, I didn't expect that the treasure of my treasure hunt would be the treasure chest itself.

"The box is incredibly beautiful. I don't know what to say." I typed in my message to Aren.

His reply came a minute later. "The lid opens when you enter the right code. My mother was a brilliant mathematician. She said that my bride should be wise enough to open it." A wry smile twisted my lips. I should have known there was a catch to this great gift. I looked at the box closely-it surely felt disproportionally more massive than the rest of the box. Unfortunately, it was the only concrete thing I noticed while staring at the box for over ten minutes.

"Maybe there's something on the inner side of the lid?" I wondered aloud.

As I looked inside, I gasped. It wasn't a clue that I was looking for; it was much more than that.

The lid's inner side was filled with nacre, with a row of indigo flowers painted on it. Unknowingly, I grabbed my phone, snapped a picture, and sent it to Michael. It looked like I had found the perfect pattern for my wedding dress...