WITH YOU- I Never Had A Choice ✔️

CHAPTER FIVE

"WHAT THE FUCK!" I shout and turn around holding the clothes near my chest. Although my bareback is now visible to him, I am glad that I covered my front.

"I am so sorry, Olivia! I-"

"Don't you know you have to wait for permission to enter someone's room after knocking?!" I cut him off, raising my voice than normal. My head is turned sideways so I can see him from the corner of my eyes. I know that he is not looking at me. At least he is embarrassed. I wouldn't be surprised if he wouldn't have been.

"I am so sorry. I just needed to take the keys from you." His voice comes out in a hurried way but that does nothing but instigate my anger some more. This was a very shitty excuse for being mannerless.

"So you'll barge into my room when I am changing," I grit through my teeth. Moreover, he is still standing here. Shameless creature.

"Damnit, I didn't know you were changing, " he defends himself.

"But now you do then why the hell are you still standing here?!" Of all the things he could do to prove that he is really sorry the best he could have done was to leave the goddamn room without trying to pick up a fight with me. But no, he has to stand there and fight with me- on the first day of our marriage, may I add.

"Yeah sorry, " The door closes and I loosen the grip on the clothes in my hand. Finally, leaving a sign, I turn around.

"MORON!" Groaning, I stomp towards the bathroom for a shower.

********
The whole time under the shower consists of silent thoughts, replaying of the past few hours and a few tears which flow away along with the warm water from the shower. Luckily, shampoo, body wash, towel, everything was already arranged.

After dressing in the baggy red shirt and grey sweats, I leave the bathroom and head for Dylan's room with the keys of my house.

I knew his room was the one across the hall, so I knock and wait. Especially because I needed to prove that I am not as mannerless as him. "Come in, " his voice comes through the wood. Slowly turning the knob, I step into the room, clutching my keys in my hand.

Dylan is standing near a corner table, turning pages of some blue coloured file. He is wearing a pair of cotton sweats similar to mine and a greyish blue top. As I step in, he raises his head from the file. "Avery?"

"Here are the keys." I take a few steps and hold up the keys for him. He closes the file, puts it on the table and reaches for the keys.

"Oh, thanks. And I am sorry for...what happened," he says, fighting with my keys which are now in his hand. He genuinely looks sorry and holding onto something is not my thing.

"It's okay." I turn around to leave.

"And-" I stop and turn around to look at him. He looks a bit...nervous. " can I talk to you at the dinner table?" Instinctively so, my eyebrow raises.

"About what?" what can it be that he has to me? We dont even know each other. Actually, because we are practically strangers, we have to talk. This shit is more messed up than anyone can imagine. Moreover, this isn't a marriage, it is a deal.

"Uh...I'll tell you then." Why is he behaving in this way, I wouldn't imagine Dylan as someone nervous and stammering.

"Is it- okay fine." Deciding to leave it as it is, I leave the room and head for mine. I would be lying if this wouldn't make me want to know more about whatever he has to say but I am matured enough to be keeping my interest contained for a while.

I remember when every time Marc tried to keep any secrets from me, I would blackmail him. I have always been irritated with these secrets. Once when my friends planned a surprise for my eighteenth birthday, I already knew about it before my birthday. Obviously by blackmailing Marc. Though everyone was pissed at him, I enjoyed it. As I go back to that day in my thoughts, a smile stretches across my lips. Which soon gets vanished when Marc's absence becomes more vivid. No more do I have him beside me and as painful as it is, that is the truth.

My phone going off on the side table distracts me. I pick it up immediately as I see Melissa's name on the screen. "Hello?" I answer and hop on the bed.

"Tell me" as expected. Melissa is my friend from college. Among the few, I am in touch with. Another so close to me is Brad. He works with me while Melissa has a security company of her own.

"Tell you what?" I choose to play dumb although I know very well that this is not going to help. Obviously, she knows about my wedding and I can guess what her reaction is going to be.

"What did the bitch of your sister do this time?" Melissa hates Julie with every fibre of her body and provided that this directly or indirectly is related to what she had done, I know Meli's hatred for Julie will only increase and that I have nothing to do in that.

"Meli..."

"No. I know whatever happened is because of her now you better explain or I'll track your cousin down and sue her." It sounds pretty over the top but as much as I know Meli, she means every single word of the threat.

"That you can do. But actually, I can't blame her totally. I am not saying that it was right that she put them down in this way but she didn't want this wedding." I know I don't believe what I just said but I am not in the mood to blame someone else.

"Neither did you! And don't tell me she didn't have a choice. Her parents hardly have a say in her life."

"Can't argue on that." Her parents really just follow her instructions. Since the day she started handling her father's business, it has really flourished. But even before that, when she was in school, she tended to keep her decisions to herself and did what she wanted.

"How are you?" Melissa asks after a long pause.

"Can't say fine." There is no way in pretending to be fine when we both know that's not true.

"Yeah, I didn't mean that. I meant..." No, not now. I've cried enough for today.

"What?" I ask.

"You didn't even date anyone after that...day, " she says, now in a very soft tone. She means the graduation day- or rather, the day Marcus left me.

"Yeah. I know." I don't want to continue this conversation.

"And now you are married." Something, that I am still trying to digest. I bring my left hand in front of my face and look at the shiny ring that my ring finger now holds.

"Doesn't mean my heart belongs to someone else. It will always belong to Marc as it did."

"Hmm." The best thing about Melissa is that she won't push when she understands that I will only open up that much.

"Does Brad know about this?" He has been there beside me all through these years, whenever I needed. He even knew how much I loved Marc.

"He doesn't need to." However, Meli hates him.

"Meli."

"I don't want to repeat myself for the hundredth time, okay?" This girl is crazy. She never really told me why she hates Brad so much. But there was a time when it wasn't the case.

"Fine." I make a mental note of planning the whole thing before I tell Brad, provided that I have to break the news to him.