MARRY ME NOW

My eyes widened a bit. What was he doing here? How did he know I was here? Jesus, I wasn’t prepared. I didn’t want to see him anymore… Seeing him brought lots of unwanted memories.

The good and the bad ones. I guess Austin did tell him after all, that jerk. I looked back at the man I was talking to. “Uh, I would be going now, see you later?” I don’t know why I said that but I just felt the need to go immediately.

He nodded with a smile and I walked off, ignoring Jake. This is not just a great time to talk to him, I wasn’t ready. Heck, I’m not sure if I’m ever going to be prepared.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“Tessa.” I heard him call, and my heart race increased. I increased my pace and before I knew it, he held my arm. He sure does have long strides.

He stepped in front of me as I tried to keep a straight face. He breathed out in relief. “It’s really you…” He said.

I gave him a pointed look. What? He thought I was a ghost? “What do you want here?” I asked.

“I heard you were over here, I came as quickly as -” I cut him off. I don’t need to be nice to him… Especially what he’s done to me.

“Well, you can go back, you’re not needed here.” My tone was harsh. Very harsh. He noticed it.

“Tessa, I know what I did was uncalled for, I don’t know what made me do something like that but I’m very sorry, I regretted it all, the very minute I found out the truth. And then the proofs about you being dead, it killed me, Tessa.” He said. Anyone with eyes could tell how broken he was.

The proofs of you being dead.

Proof? They thought I was dead? I wanted to ask him what he meant, but no way in hell I was going to stand here and listen to this man. After what he did, I shouldn’t be here standing and listening to him.

He wasn’t my friend. True friends know each other. They know what each other would do and what they wouldn’t. Your friends would believe you and not what others say.

Right?

“I get it, Jake. But you don’t have to say sorry, it’s not going to change anything. Maybe, what happened was a test? Sign? But it revealed something, maybe we weren’t what we thought we were. I moved on from my past life, Jake. I’m not going back. Please, just go away. Forget we ever knew each other, please.” I pleaded. And I meant it. His coming back here was like taking a little run back to my old life.

“Tessa.”

“I mean it!” I snapped. He looked taken aback by my sudden outburst. Giving him another pointed look, I walked away.

Damn, I wasn’t even harsh to Austin as I was to him. Probably because I wasn’t expecting what I got from him. It was called for from Austin, but it was so uncalled for from Jake.

They’re both jerks. Immediately I paid off my debt, I wouldn’t let any of them near me, if they try to come near me, I’d call the cops on them and then insult them right to their faces.

I got to Anne’s room.

~

**** Third Person’s POV ****

~

“This has to work, I can’t stand the risks if this fails,” Yvonne said through the phone to Cedric.

“There isn’t any need to worry about this, okay? I’m 99% sure it’s going to work. She’s very vulnerable.” Cedric replied. He knew he could get to her after he spoke with her earlier.

It was a very easy task. He wasn’t surprised Yvonne had given such a task before he met Tessa, because he thought, as usual, it might be a difficult task which turned out to be the complete opposite.

Their target was very easy and he knew he had taken a huge step in this. Cedric has known Yvonne for 3 years now, they were really good friends.

Probably because they enjoyed doing the same thing, making people suffer… His mind went back to earlier when he had met Tessa.

She’s really beautiful, indeed. He thought.

“Oh? Why aren’t you 100% sure? I don’t want this to go wrong, we can’t take such a risk. From what I’ve seen, Austin really loves her and nothing is going to stop him from persuading her now.” Yvonne complained.

For some unknown reason, Cedric’s heart tugged at the thought of Austin coming after Tessa. Meeting Tessa earlier made a massive impact on his heart.

It was something new, or something old he never thought he was going to experience again – love.

He shook his head clearing any kind of thought in his head. His task was to bait her and make her fall in love with him, so she wouldn’t go to Austin.

He wasn’t planning on actually falling in love though that would make this task much easier he couldn’t fall in love. The thought scared him, not after what he’s been through in the past.

He clutched his heart in pain remembering his past. “Cedric?” Yvonne called to know if he was still on the call as he didn’t reply for a long time.

“Yes?” He composed himself.

“Are you okay? I must advise you, be careful with that Tessa girl. I think she’s some kind of witch, she literally makes every good-looking guy she meets fall in love with her.” Yvonne said. Her voice was so bitter. It held so much hate.

Cedric let out a laugh. “Really?” He asked. If it was true, then he must have already fallen for her ‘spell’.

“Yes, but since this is all about making her fall in love with you, you have to make her believe you’re really in love with her, it’s just for a couple of years, alright?”

It’s just for a couple of years.

Typical Yvonne, she always cared for herself way more than she would care for others, even when she’s the one always bringing up risky ideas.

“Yeah.”

“Cedric, what’s wrong with you? You sound way off,” Yvonne complained. Then she gasped. “Oh my God, don’t tell me..” She cuts herself off with a thought.

There isn’t anything actually going to go wrong with this, in fact, the plan would work 100% with this. She thought.

“Okay, I need to do something now, make sure you see her before nightfall. Bye.” She said cutting off the call.

Cedric sighed. He took the glass of wine before him and took a sip. He wasn’t sure how long he was going to go pretending disabled. He wasn’t also sure how he was going to keep up with this plan.

He walked over to his bed and lay down. With a hand over his head, memories of earlier when he had met Tessa flew through his brain. He couldn’t stop thinking of her no matter how he tried.

~

TWO DAYS LATER

**** Tessa’s POV ****

~

It was Anne’s release say and I couldn’t be happier. It was like things started working out for me suddenly, I managed to get a job also… In a restaurant, it’s really good pay. As much as I wanted to get a job in an advanced company, I couldn’t.

I lost all my credentials. I started gathering money to pay Austin back and thankfully, I haven’t heard from him or Jake.

After an hour of collecting all the necessary things and drugs from the hospital, we returned home. It was surely a great day.

My phone rang, taking it from my jeans pocket, I looked at the caller’s id. Cedric.

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…….