Marriage by Law (7 page)

Present Time

             Arriving here, it was definitely not what I expected. It wasn't a small cottage house by the farm. It was a double-storey house with a cozy warm ambiance.

The inside colours were soft on the eyes and there were paintings and vases and flowers everywhere. It actually looked like a house that people lived in.

I opened the back door and walked to the backyard, thrilled to see a flowerbed and a pool. This was brilliant! The kitchen was right beside the backyard and walking back in, I ended in the kitchen. It was small and like an actual kitchen rather than the ones in restaurants, a bit like the one back home, a massive kitchen for all of the cooks to prepare food.

I walked back down the corridor to the lounge room after the entrance and looked around. There was a three-seater couch and two recliners with a coffee table with flowers in the middle. The TV was on the wall on the opposite end and there were curtains.

I walked over, slightly pulling them open to let some light in. The curtains were of thin red material and I clipped them to the side. There was a thin-patched white curtain that allowed us to see the outside but not the other way around, which I found was a nice touch.

I went upstairs. There were two bedrooms. One was closed so I assumed that was Darius’s and walked into the other one with the open door.

There was a double bed in the middle with two bedside cabinets and a door leading to the veranda. I opened the curtains to let some light in and sighed, spinning around and plonking down the bed.

The blankets were warm and the mattress was soft and I closed my eyes. If only I could live in this house every day.

I walked back down in jeans and a blue thick woolen top with a leopard’s face on the front. Oh boy, it had been ages since I was able to dress like this and to be honest it was the comfiest thing I had worn in a long time.

I jumped onto the couch and switched on the television, thrilled to see my favourite cartoons were on. Don't judge. I may be nearly twenty-one but nothing beats watching cartoons on a Monday morning.

I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and switched it on. It seemed like an eternity since I used this thing. I scrolled through replying to Rose and Alicia who had messaged me ages ago, my bad, and opened the Internet to Google this suburb.

Maybe there were fun things to do. I scrolled through the page and sat up, my eyes widening. There were
tons
of things to do!

There were art galleries, theme parks and even a small carnival festival running! I looked up more information and nearly yelped when I noticed all the games and prizes to be won.

Turning the TV off, I ran upstairs to my room, wincing at the sound my pounding feet made. I grabbed my leopard carry bag. I didn't want to take a purse; it was too fancy for this event.

I shoved my wallet, phone and a water bottle in.

I opened the door, raced down and grabbed my boots sitting on the floor. I slipped them on. They were knee-high brown boots with a belt at the top of them and laces all the way down.

Just as I was tying the last foot, Darius came down wearing a questioning look on his face.

"What are you doing?" he asked. I think that was the first time he spoke to me on his free will. Either that or Margaret called him and told him to check up on me. It was probably the latter, seeing the phone in his hands.

"Going to a carnival," I replied, tying the last knot a bit too tight and fixed the belt while getting up.

"You can't go by yourself," he said, looking at the time. I rolled my eyes. It wasn't even lunch yet. Plus, if he was going to be a boring person doing work all day, I wanted to do something fun in my time. It's not like I haven't done this before.

"Eh, yes I am. Go do your business work or something. You'll barely notice I am gone and by the time you do, I'll be back," I said, fixing my shoes. I grabbed my bag off the floor and he watched me looking like he was thinking something.

"Fine, I'll come with you," he said.

I looked over my shoulder, my hand on the door.

"Like that?" I asked, stifling a grin.

"What's wrong with this?" he asked as he looked down at his suit.

"Oh nothing, nothing at all. Hurry before we miss it all," I said, opening the door. I grabbed the car keys and walked over to the parked Mercedes on the road then he caught up and grabbed the keys from my hands.

"Hey!" I yelled.

"I drive," he said. I shrugged and crossed my arms as he got in. It wasn’t fair. After all, I did get the keys first. First come first served! Finders keepers, losers weepers. Hadn’t he heard of those sayings before?

Furious, I stormed into the car, counting to ten.
Come on, Ivory, this isn't something to ruin your mood over. Think of all the candy cane and prizes you can win,
I thought, smiling instantly. Oh, this was going to be fun.

"What is this place?"

I looked at him in disbelief.  Had he never been to a carnival before? Oh right, he was probably running his businesses and was too busy for these things.

"This is called a carnival, also known as a fair or exhibition in some countries," I said. He shot me a look as I walked into the entrance.

"I know what it is," he said. Whoa, okay then, robot boy. No need to be rude.

I paid for our tickets, since robot boy was just standing there not knowing what to do and I rushed to the first game. I had planned on playing every game and winning at least one thing in every stall.

The last time I did this, I was sixteen with a bunch of my closest friends, whom I also called my fake brothers, and we had managed to win a massive softy toy from each stall.

"Round up, round up, miss. Would you like a shot?" asked an old man holding up what looked like a fishing stick but was made of magnets.

I let out a small squeal and rushed over to him, paying for a game that was three tries.

"Do you want to have a shot?" I asked politely. Even if he was a robot, I was brought up being polite. He looked confused but took the stick.

"What do I do?" he asked. The man explained the rules and Darius's eyebrows knotted like he was concentrating hard. I stifled a giggle while looking around. People were staring at him, maybe it was the lavish business suit one does not wear to a carnival or maybe the girls were checking him out.

I think it's both.

Darius had his first shot trying to pick up a duck and I let out a laugh as he kept missing. He turned and sent me an icy glare.

"Haha! Oh god, hurry up," I said, laughing. Even the old man seemed to be having a show. It had been five minutes and he still hadn't picked up a duck. There was a small crowd around us, either waiting for their turn or found this amusing as I did.

How hard could it be?

"You try it then," he grunted, handing me the stick.

"With pleasure," I said, grabbing it. I positioned myself in the middle just like I was taught to do. Closing one eye, I focused on the middle ducks; they were the hardest to get but they had the most points.

Leaning in on my tippy toes, I reached out, snagging a duck. A cheer went from the crowd and I stared at him with an "I told you so, it's easy," expression and he ignored me, blankly staring back.

I picked up my next two ducks just as easily and shrieked when I got a big penguin. The crowd clapped and let us leave, probably happy they could finally have their turn. I ran to the next stall, which was Archery.

"Here, hold it," I said, turning around and pushing the penguin into his arms. He held up the penguin cautiously and turned it around.

I sighed, shaking my head and paying for my turn. This was going to be fun.

An hour later, I was tired but there was still another half the carnival and I hadn't even started on the food or rides yet. I looked back up, shaking my head.

"Keep up!" I yelled.

Darius glared at me as he carried all my prizes and I stifled a grin. He should suck it up. I even put the smaller ones in my bag so that he only got the soft toys, which were quite a few. I grabbed my phone and took a quick picture of him. This was perfect black mail material, him holding a penguin, whale, duck, chicken, three bears, two banana shaped one and some other random stuff. He looked and I quickly put my phone away.

"What next?" he asked.

"That one!" I yelled, running to the Strong-o-metre. I had never been able to win at this game. I went up and watched the current player swing the hammer at the small button. It seemed like he hit hard but the bell didn't ring and it only went up half way.

I frowned. I'd be surprised if mine even went up.

"Who's next?"

"ME!" I yelled. Shoving my bag in his already full hands, I folded up my sleeves and walked over. Oh, this was going to be fun. There was a laugh and whistle from the crowd when I could barely lift up the thing and I turned over, glaring at whoever it was.

My first try was just as bad as my tenth; the thing barely rose.

"Come on, there are others waiting!" yelled some man from the crowd.

"Oh, shut up, toad face," I replied back, concentrating. The man who ran the stuff had no problem, partially because he was having too much fun taking my money. This damn thing was rigged, I tell you!

"Hurry up!"

"Get your girl away from that!"

I rolled my eyes at all the protests. Yeah, good luck with that. There was no way I was leaving without winning something.

I felt a shadow over me and looked up to see Darius frowning down on me.

"What?"

He took the hammer thing from me and pushed me away. What an ass. Like he would do any better than me.

I mean, please, I used all my strength and- oh...

I watched as the crowd finally clapped and I sulked. Fine, he did better than me. He at least got it to the top?

“What would you like, Sir? Perhaps a cute teddy for your girl?"

"Get the peacock," I whispered. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow and then turned to the man.

"The bag" he said.

My jaw dropped. What!?

I watched in horror as he got the horrid looking suitcase.

"Why on earth did you get a bag?!" I yelled. He opened it up and stuffed all my soft toys and winnings in it, or as many as he could and zipped it up.
 

"I wanted the peacock," I whispered. He grabbed the suitcase and shrugged and walked off and I rolled my eyes following him. And here I thought he was going to win me something. Yeah right.