62

"You...?" Kara whispered.
Without answering, he pushed open the door fully and came inside barging in. He was wearing a black suit, the first two buttons of his white shirt were open. His eyes scanned the room first, then returned to Kara.
"You going to stand there only? Are you not confident of walking out of here without falling for my charm?" James raised his eyebrows.
Kara pursed her lips but did not respond to him. She knew he was acting rashly in anger, just like he always did. It was going to be no surprise to her if he again started saying hurtful words just to calm down his own heart.
"I have to go down in five minutes. Please get out." She turned her head away, staring outside towards the open area where evreryone had already gotten seated. She saw Rita, and Neil standing up from their chairs and going towards the stairs. They were coming up to get her most probably to go down for the wedding.
She felt a hand on the back of her neck that turned her face around, making her gaze meet the pair of green, glimmering eyes, "I am here. Look at me when I am standing in front of you."
"I don't want to." She retorted almost immediately, "I am uncomfortable, and I don't want you here right now."
"Too late for that, honey. You can't push your husband out of your bedroom now, can you?"
Kara stared up at him like he had just lost his mind, "What bullshit?"
"Oh, sorry." He smiled innocently and lifted up the papers he had in his hands, "forgot to inform you about that. We are married."
Kara kept staring at him in complete bewilderment. She was trying to make sense of his words but nothing seemed to be sane anymore. In the end, she snatched the papers out of his hands and lifted them up to read.
The heading on the main page at the very top in bold black letters said 'Marriage Registration'. And at the bottom of the papers she found her own signatures placed next to of James'.
"..What the fuck?" she breathed out, unable to process what was actually happening. Her head felt dizzy.
Her eyes quickly slid down to read the whole thing, noticing each word, each note like they were glasses refecting in her eyes.
"What are you doing here, James?" Rita's voice came from behind her, but Kara barely heard any sound, "what is that in your hand, Kara?"
Neil took the document out of Kara's hand as she stood completely still in trance. Her mind was a complete mess trying to understand everything.
"Marriage?!" Rita shouted out the words in shock, her eyes flying up at James and Kara in complete disbelief, "both of you registered your marriage?"
Kara looked up at James. He stood a foot away from her with hands in his pockets without any worry in the world.
"You forged marriage documents?" she whispered.
"You signed on these, sweetheart." James smiled, "I just completed the whole process without disturbing you to worry about it. How can I let my wife get disturbed over small tasks like these?"
The sound of a slap echoed in the room the next moment. Neil had struck James on his cheek.
"YOU GOD DAMN..." Neil seethed out, the words barely making it past his lips as he tried to breathe through the anger that had engulfed him, "You have gone mad? You stooped this low to bring insult to my family?"
"YOUR FAMILY?" James snickered, a red print had appeared on his cheek but he seemed to have care less, "Am I not your son? Your family? What does it matter whom she marries? She is coming under your home's roof, after all."
"Neil!" Rita shouted as he started falling. His blood pressure had spiked up and he looked about ready to collapse.
James moved forward immediately, grabbing Neil's arm to steady him but he jerked him away angrily.
"James..." Rita's voice dripped with sadness and anger, "you have crossed all lengths of our patience this time."
James looked down at his father who now sat in a chair while holding his head. Sweat had formed on his forhead as his eyes went over and over at the words written in the document.
"I am married to her. Everything is set already downstaires. The only difference is that I am going down there for the ceremony instead of Damon." James folded his arms on his chest and leaned against the doorframe nonchalantly.
"I am not going down there." Kara whispered. She had been lost in her own mind until now because of the sudden shock he had given her. Now that had started fading a bit and the reality had started to hit hard again, she lifted up her eyes to look at him furiously,
"You really think after all you have done, after this stunt of yours I am ever, EVER going to agree to marry you? How can you do this to me? How can you have these papers signed by me without my knowledge and then come here announcing yourself as my husband like I am nothing but your fucking slave to agree to whatever you demand from me?"
"You will." James' eyes hardened in determination.
"You can not force me. Not this time." Kara gritted out.
"I will make sure you do, Kara." James stared down at her with an immobile gaze. He could see the way she stared at him with anger and hatred in that moment, but perhaps this hatred, this anger will fade away with time. But if he let her get married to Damon, he would never be able to get her back. So even if it meant fighting with everyone to get her by his side, he was ready for that.
James stepped forward, and bent his head down near her ear to whisper in a low tone so only she could hear the words, "Everyone is waiting downstairs for you. My father's honor is on the line. Do you really want him to become a laughing stock by cancelling the marriage mere ten minutes ago? Because you and I both know, with these marriage documents in hand, you can not marry Damon legally."
 
 
Kara's eyes flash at James filled with absolute fury. She could not believe the man that stood in front of her eyes. How could he do this to her? To his whole family? Disrespecting and insulting them in front of the whole world just to fulfill a damn stubborn desire.
"You have lost your damn mind." she whispered, barely able to stop herself from shouting at him and shake some sense into him.
"I lost that years ago, sweetheart. You don't have to worry about that anymore."
James was looking at her with smug expresssions. He knew he had her trapped from all directions. But then before he could do anything else, Neil grabbed James by his collar and started dragging him away.
"Uncle!" Kara cried out, worried about his health getting worse. But Neil ignored her words and pulled James out of the room, throwing him away harshly while seething, "You damn FOOL is no son of mine! Get the hell out of here! How dare you threaten a poor girl to marry you! How dare you do this to the girl that has grown up under our roof like your little sister!"
"She is not my fucking sister, dad! SHE IS THE WOMAN I HAVE LOVED MY WHOLE FUCKING LIFE!" James roared.
Neil looked at him with confusion on his face while anger still remained on his face, "What?!"
James was shaking at this point, his whole demeneur had changed as he gritted out the words, "I have loved Kara since forever! If only you could open your eyes and see the child you have aside from Damon, you would have been able to fucking see it right through me! But you never did. Why the hell is it DAMON, DAMON, DAMON all the time? Why don't I ever come to your mind? Have you ever even looked at me or have a proper conversation with me like you do with Damon?!"
"You are being unreasonable!" 
"I am being realistic, dad!" James shouted, filled with fury that he had buried inside himself for years, "you gave away everything I had to Damon! My toys, my things, my whole fucking childhood and then the teenage years! You were always there for Damon but never there for me when I looked up. Now when it came to Kara, you did it again, didn't you? I never even crossed your mind!"
Neil was staring at his son with confusion and uncertainty. He put his hand on his chest to try and take deep breaths while saying in a determined tone, "I have never thought of you as less than Damon. Kara's mom wanted her to marry Damon. You already know that! That was her wish."
"And what about Kara? You want to sacrifice her for a dying person's wish?"
"JAMES!" Rita cried out in anger at the disrespect in James voice but he continued,
"You are just ready to give her off to your goody two shoes son because you have already made up your mind that there is no one better for Kara than him. You did not even bother to ask Kara even once if that is what she wanted!" James scoffed at the irony, "you think you are the smartest one in the family, and then Damon is going to be the one who will become your pride. Why is it that for you, for everyone in this sweet little family of yours I don't exist?!"
"You do ex-" Neil started speaking but James cut him off, 
"Stop giving excuses and for ONCE in your life, accept it." he murmured and shook his head in exasperation, "the girl you are ready to just GIVE OFF like a fucking present to your dear son has been in love with me for over ten years.