Chapter 7

The dreaded day eventually came. The sun rose, its rays hitting through Althea's window, and shining on her face, causing her to wake up. She opened her eyes and shut them back, wishing the hands of time would go back and she would sleep, wake up, and this would all just be a dream.

Just as she was thinking to herself, there was a knock on the door. She ignored it at first, but then she reluctantly went and opened the door, letting her maid in. While she was preparing for her bath, she let her mind dare to wander. She wondered if just maybe, he was a different man this morning. What if all he did was just an act. She scoffed to herself, who was she kidding? That would never happen.

The cook brought her breakfast to her room, since she wasn't going to have the time to come down for breakfast. Her bridal team was going to be arriving soon. She looked at her meal of toast, baked beans, and eggs with a cup of coffee. Her stomach churned with anxiety.

She couldn't eat the food. She felt like if she did, she would throw up, and that was the last thing she wanted. She tried to eat the toast a little, but swallowing anything was hard, so she pushed it aside.

There was a knock on the door again. As the maid checked and opened, a sea flooded in. Her whole bridal team consisted of her makeup artist, hair stylist, groomer, dresser, and photographers taking behind the scene pictures.

It was so overwhelming for her. If this had been a regular, normal wedding, she would have been happy. She would have been excited. But this wasn't a normal wedding. This was a glamorous prison execution. She knew she was going to be miserable after this wedding.

What would become of her? Married to a man who doesn't like her one bit. She didn't even go to college, she can't get a reasonable job. That is if they would even let her get a job. It was like she moved from her aunt's prison to a bigger, scarier one.

Everyone just went about, doing their jobs, no one noticed how sad she was, she just sat there like a doll. She wished she could ask everyone to leave so she could have a little time to herself.

Moments later, the event planner came in to see how far they've gone. She was already in her gown, and the hairstylist was working on her hair. Her makeup had been done. "You look so lovely Althea, like a princess. You are so lucky." She said, softly.

Athea wanted to slap those words from her mouth. She wasn't lucky. She was far from lucky, but she couldn't say those words. If she said anything that would jeopardize the wedding, she knew her dad would be the one to pay for it. So she just smiled and said thank you.

Xavier on the other hand was not bothered. He took his time dressing up. He was calm, indifferent. He just wanted the wedding to be done and over with, as soon as possible. As far as he was concerned, a wedding wasn't really something to stress over. Left for him, all these formalities and occasions weren't necessary..

If he were to decide, he would have just called a priest to join them in the privacy of their home, or just gone to the court and gotten married. But his father said there must be a proper wedding, so he accepted.

As Athea had no one to comfort her, her mind kept swirling with thoughts. She thought about how her life was just brought to an abrupt halt at such a young age. At the thought of that, she wanted to run away, to escape. Only if she really could.

She knew Costello would go after her father, and her aunt wouldn't be safe either. Tears welled up in her eyes. One of the glam team person's saw that she was at the brink of tears, and assumed they were tears of joy.

"Awwwwwn, don't cry honey, I know it's so overwhelming. You are so lucky." He said while getting a tissue to dry her tears.

It's funny the way all the people here think of her as so lucky. Can't they see how young she is? Who gets married at this age? Anyway, she couldn't blame them. It's not like they knew the circumstances surrounding her marriage. For all they knew, it was a fully consented marriage. She smiled at him and said thank you.

As they were rounding up with her hair and makeup, her aunt walked in, and when Athea saw her, she couldn't contain her joy. "Aunt Tina!" She yelled as she jumped into her aunt's arms.

All the tears she had been trying to hold back came streaming down her face. Her aunt just held her for a moment while she cried. She didn't even think of if her makeup would be ruined. "Shh, it's okay Athea, I'm here now, stop crying" Her aunt cooed sweetly. She sniffled and stopped crying. Surprisingly, her makeup wasn't smeared. It was waterproof. "You look so beautiful my sweetheart. Everybody's gonna be wowed by your looks. Xavier is lucky to be ending up with someone as beautiful as you." Her aunt told her.

"I wish. He wouldn't even look at me, talk more or speak to me." Her aunt felt sorry for her, but there was nothing she could do to remedy the situation. The hairstylist asked Athea to sit back down in the vanity chair, so she did.

"Have you had anything to eat?"

"I tried to eat breakfast, but I couldn't."

"No, no, you have to eat something. We don't want you feeling faint before the day even begins. How do we get you something to eat?" Athea signaled at her maid who was sitting on the bed, watching evening. She came over, then her aunt asked her to get Athea something to eat. "Make sure it's nothing really heavy, okay?"

"Yes ma'am." She curtsied and left.

"I wish your mum was here to see how beautiful you've grown up to be. She wanted so much for you Athea."

"I know. I wish she was here too."

"Is my father coming?"

"Honestly Althea, I don't know. I haven't spoken to him lately, I've been so angry with him."

Even though Althea was angry with her father, she couldn't deny that deep down in her heart, she still loved him. She was just angry with him, and that anger won't be sedated any time soon. What he did to her was horrible, unthinkable. He could have found other ways to sort out his debt, but he chose to use her, his only child. And then didn't even make any attempt to be a father to her, not even once. She wasn't sure if she could ever forgive him. Her anger surpassed whatever love it was that she was supposed to feel.

Her aunt tried to distract her by engaging her in other conversations, then the maid returned with the food. She brought a sandwich, and a glass of juice. Althea, feeling a lot more relieved than before, was able to eat comfortably. She finished the sandwich and the juice.

Her makeup was done, her hair was done, it was styled in thick waves that they clipped with fancy pins behind her head, letting two tendrils down at the side. Her dress was a form fitting beaded dress that flowed down, then the train was attached to the waist of the dress. The sleeves were a floral while net that reached her wrists. She wore the crown over the veil. It was used to hold her veil in place, with a couple of pins. Her bouquet was a combination of different flowers, but the colour scheme was pink and red.

For one who really didn't want to be married, she looked so beautiful. Althea's aunt was wondering in her head how Xavier was able to ignore her beautiful niece. He must be blind not to acknowledge this bundle of beauty.

She was sure that even though he had been ignoring her all the while, today was going to be different. Nobody would be able to take their eyes off her. She looked like a damsel, and even though her smile didn't fully reach her eyes, she was a beauty to behold.

The photographers took some pictures of her. They had been taking different pictures since she was dressing. Her makeup stage, her hair, they took pictures of her accessories before she wore them. They were going to compile it with the pictures they will take at the wedding, and make it into a photo book.

It was just funny because Xavier rejected a behind the scenes photography, so the photo book was going to be filled with mostly pictures of Athea, making it look like she really enjoyed the wedding.