Elena Caldwell sat on the sofa in the study of the suddenly suffocating house she had grown up in for 28 years, her feet curled with a book to distract her from her thoughts. The weight of the conversation she was supposed to have with her family tightened her throat, but she knew it was going to happen. The cold tiles beneath her feel cooled her feet, and the bulb shone on her skin. She was about to tell her family about her marriage to Adrian Sinclair of all people. The thought churned her stomach, and it wasn't the thought of marriage that scared her.
It was her parents. Or their reaction.
She stood up and dropped the book back to the shelf. She didn't want to read after all. It was merely a distraction. The walls of the house held more than just timeless paintings and vintage chandeliers; her unspoken resentments lied there. Her disappointment and obligations mandated upon her, too.
She found Ethan in the living room, resting on the couch, flipping through Agatha Christie's. His favourite author. He looked up the minute she walked in, and his eyes were carefully scanning her face.
"Sis, you look like you've committed a crime," he mentioned casually, rising from the couch.
She took a sharp breath, trying to calm her tensed nerves. "You could be right."
Ethan arched a brow. "I'll take a guess. You put salt in Mom's tea in place of sugar?"
She wished. A dry chuckle escaped her lips. "Ethan, I'm getting married."
Ethan's reaction began to change gradually, and she couldn't figure it out. His face is usually flickered with something unreadable, and now it's still so. He neither looked concerned nor amused. She just couldn't deduce his reaction.
"Elena, you joke a lot, but this one is the most ridiculous you've ever told."
She sat on the couch now, moving closer to him. "I kid you not."
His jaw dropped, and he studied her intensely. "Do I know him?"
She didn't hesitate. "Adrian Sinclair."
The room suffocated Ethan, and it fell into silence for a while. The silence stretched longer than usual, making all other things fade into irrelevance.
Ethan blinked multiple times as if brought back from a deep thought. He stood abruptly. "Wait! Wait!! Wait!!!"
She saw this coming. "Ethan, listen to..."
"You're not serious, are you, Elena? He rudely interrupted. "Your boss? Same insufferable man you talk about?"
"Yes." She said calmly, trying to make him calm down.
He ran his long fingers through his hair, pacing around the living room. " For God's sake, you complain way too much about to suddenly be his wife. Do you want him to excert all his professional ruthlessness on you?"
She gasped for air. He was right. But he didn't understand. He could never.
He knows way too much about her, and he's been there to comfort her when it gets tensed in the house. He was his all-time favourite person. How could she tell him she was escaping this life in their own home now? How is he going to take it?
"I have my reasons," she said in a steady voice.
Before Ethan could respond, a voice from the hallway interrupted the tension.
"Is it true, Elena?"
Their father
Martin Caldwell walked in through the hallway. His expression was unreadable, but Elena knew not to mistake his silence for indifference. His gaze flicked simultaneously between his children and finally settled on her.
"What did you just say?"
There was no point lying or hiding now. "I... I'm getting married."
Martin's lips parted like he was going to say something, but he wasn't sure. He heard everything, and all he wanted was to affirm it again from the source, Elena.
"Elena," he said, gradually moving closer to her. "Are you insinuating that Adrian Sinclair is going to be your husband?"
She simply nodded.
For a second, he just moved around the living room, right underneath the chandelier. And then he laughed.
Ethan's existence seemed to have been forgotten in the space. But he recoiled. "Dad?"
Martin ignored him again, and this time, he was visibly excited.
Unbelievable!
Elena had never been at the receiving end of his good mood. "My darling, who would've thought you'd excel so fast like this?"
Confusion sets on Ethan and Elena's faces.
"Excel?"
Then the unbelievable happened.
Patricia Caldwell must have heard, too. Her silk robe swept behind her as she walked elegantly to the room.
"What did I miss, honey?" She asked her husband.
"Elena here is getting married to Adrian Sinclair." He said with utmost excitement.
While Elena got more confused with the way her dad is taking everything, Patricia froze.
She ran her red polished nails through Elena's face.
"My goodness!" She covered her trembling mouth. "I sure raised you well, baby. You're so clever!"
First, it was "Excel" and now "Clever."
What was she missing?
"You know we'll always support you, right?" Patricia gripped Elena's hand and gushed. "You're finally making something for yourself."
When did they suddenly support her? This took her mind back to when she just got the job and her mother said only women who have eyes for their boss and are slutty go for a secretary. And now she supports her?
Ethan couldn't grasp what was going on. He was the most confused person there.
"So you approve of...this?
"Sinclair is a global name, son" She sounded proud. "Do you have an idea where that status places us in society? In-laws of The Sinclair. We're not commoners anymore!"
Okay! Elena's confusion is clear now! It's about Adrian's status. This whole fuss and excitement is not for her. She inwardly wished she was getting this approval. It would've meant something to her knowing that she finally did something to please them.