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February 2010
Going to work was not what Alin wanted to do, however leaving Ryan on his own was unfair if not a little unprofessional, even though their relationship was more than boss and employee. There was a knock on her door, which reminded her she needed to be more composed.
"Come in."
"Morning A. You alright?" Ryan placed a cup of coffee on her desk noting her distress.
"Yeah I'm good, thought I'll come into the office early. I've just been designing what the client wants, but I'm not sure if it's viable. He wants the building to be iconic, so I've been thinking over the weekend and came up with-"
A woman who had just received a proposal should not be talking about anything but marriage let alone work, "Alin you sure you wanna talk about work? Shouldn't you be telling me how happy you are? You are going to get married soon right?"
Alin dropped the pencil she was holding and sighed, "Ryan I am happy. I'm just not sure if marriage is my thing. I'm afraid. I just- I'm starting to feel like John's not the one. I mean I ask myself why I feel like that. He's perfect for me. ...but I don't want to make any more mistakes."
Ryan was bias. "Look Alin you can't say he's perfect if you have doubts. If you're not happy then don't marry him. Simple. He might seem perfect, but I don't like him." Ryan stated.
Alin was about to ask him to continue, when Hallie burst into the door.
"Hey, Hallie nice to see you" Ryan smiled when he saw Hallie. He cared about both of them, Alin in a sister-brother way and Hallie...well he cared about her but he reminded himself there was nothing more to it.
"Hey! It's really nice to see you too! The kids asked me when they get to see their cool friend Ryan." She laughed and Ryan's heart melted inside. If only she wasn't happily married, he thought and instantly regretted it. He cared about her too much to hurt or ruin her happiness.
A lot had been troubling Ryan lately. He was worried both Alin and Hallie would never talk to him again if they find out the one thing he failed to mention to both of them...well I'll think about that when it comes, he thought.
"Oh Ryan I know you guys are busy and I won't be long, but mind if I talk to Alin for a bit?"
"No problem."
As Ryan left the room, Hallie turned her attention back to Alin. "Okay so tell me, what you gonna do?"
Silence.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of avoiding eye contact, Alin finally looked at Hallie and murmured softly, "I don't know."
Hallie sighed. "Alin I know you. 'I don't know means' NO. Don't make this hard for yourself. Just say no to his immature proposal and move on." She hesitated before continuing, "I know you still have feelings for Jared."
"Please don't. Hallie please don't mention him. Jared slept with other women behind my back. Do you really think I can forgive him? My mom did that and I refuse to lead a miserable life like her. You know I think I'm just nervous. I can learn to love John and-"
"Bullshit! Alin, why are you so keen on marrying John? I really don't understand you! You never even let Jared explain his side of the story! Besides, John is just as bad! Why are you forgiving him then? You always say you will marry until you find someone you love and trust, why have you changed? The Alin I knew five years ago was strong and determined. Why are you being like this A? It just seems you're a string puppet being pulled however John wants. I don't want to see you like this."
Alin knew Hallie was right. Her morals, principles and determination should have avoided her going down this path, but there was no option for her. Sometimes reality made you turn your back on what you believe in. She was going to break it up with John a while back had her life not been turned upside down by her so-called father. Speaking of which, the men hadn't come threatening her for repayment. What was going on? Never-the-less she couldn't tell anyone about the situation she was in. Not even Hallie.
"Hallie please. Just forget it. You know he treats me like I'm his world. Be happy for me?"
It was funny how five years ago Alin asked if she was sure about marrying Jack and now Hallie is asking her the same thing. She didn't want Alin to regret her decisions like her. However she knew how stubborn Alin can be and that would just put a strain on their friendship. Sighing, Hallie smiled, "I'll try."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"John?! What are you doing here?" Alin exclaimed as she opened her front door.
He followed her in and then suddenly pulled her and hugged her tightly. "I wanted to surprise you. I know I told you I won't make it back for the charity auction ball tomorrow but I really missed you so I just cut the meeting short." He tilted his head and whispered in her ear, "and I've got something for you"
Alin looked puzzled as he searched in his pocket and pulled out a little box. Her lips formed an O shape. He went down on one knee, opened the box, and said softly, "Alin you know I've wanted you since the first day I saw you. I love you. I know you liked the proposal on the front page. I am serious and I know asking you in person will show how much I love you. Alin marry me and make me the happiest man alive!"
First of all, she hated his proposal on the front page of the newspaper and second she couldn't say no now, "Yes, of course I'll marry you."
John was too happy to notice the lack of enthusiasm in her tone, he was so overjoyed he picked her up and kissed her hard. He started to unbutton her blouse. He had to have her now. She can't say no to him since they were going to marry soon anyway.
"John! No please don't!" She heard him groan in frustration.
"Alin, we are getting married anyway."
"John, I want our wedding night to be special. Please just- just not now."
He looked at her in both anger and desire, before he finally composed himself and told himself that all he had to wait was three more weeks before he can finally fuck her senseless. "Alin I'm sorry. I just got carried away. I love you and I just wanted to show you how much I want you. I've already set a date which is the 24th of this month and I will -"
"John but that's in three weeks time! We can't get married so soon... I mean how can we plan a wedding in three weeks?!"
John was starting to get impatient. He wanted to fuck her, but she wanted to wait till their wedding, so the only answer is to marry as soon
as possible. "Baby don't worry with the planning I've got a whole team of people who can sort that out for us. You know mom, dad and grandpa are eager for us to get married too. You don't want to disappoint them do you?" She couldn't protest the inevitable. The only option was to marry John if not she will probably be ruined by her father's mistakes.
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Timothy Fanning knew he ran into trouble 5 years ago. He had just lost out a major contract for one of his firms, however he had heard that the health supplements were big business and health trends were going to be the next big thing. The decision to dabble in a new venture was never an easy thing, so he decided to add his daughter into the equation.
He knew her mother had left her a healthy amount of inheritance, so if the business were to fail she would pay the price and if the business was successful, well he'll give her as little as possible. The plan was to make sure that should the business get into any debt Alin will be liable to pay for the debt, but if the health store proves to be a success she would get a small cut from it.
The 40% was just a sweet deal that he had made up, he never intended to give her that much. Alin was merely a fall back plan and a so-called owner of Acai. It was great that she was stupid enough to trust her own father, he laughed at the thought, ignoring the irony of it.
He had made sure she signed every contract that could potentially fuck her up- no lawyer on her part was hired. He hated the smug look she had when he came to beg her to take her 'present.' How stupid was she to think he would ever care about her?
Well he wasn't that heartless, of course he didn't want to fuck up his daughter's life, but the reality was it's better for her to take the blame than him.
Call it luck or a good judgement, but the business was a success, penetrating a niche market where customers pay a premium price for such low cost crap. Business was good. Timothy was annoyed that he had to give some profit to his brainless daughter who donated all the money to charity. Stupid like her mother he thought.
Acai was so successful since it opened that Timothy was able to cover his debts with the profit generated. He started to expand Acai and had borrowed $5million dollars from an underground company who charges high interest for the investment.
Timothy always had a good relationship with the company, although interests were high, the repayment term were a little lenient. The good thing about borrowing from illegitimate debt companies is they are willing to give you money with little questions and they give it to you without the wait. He had put his daughter as the liable person should any there be any outstanding debt. Timothy was surprised when the company had never asked further questions as to how she could pay; still the most important thing was the
responsibility was hers should disaster strike.
Unfortunately, all his companies were badly hit in the financial crisis in 2008. He had tried to cover debt with debt, but interests were high and he was starting to fall behind on his payment and debt collectors were coming to his house every other day. He just couldn't take it anymore.
Alin would now pay the price. She had wanted to split up with John when she found out that he had cheated, but he told her not to. When she had questioned him further on, Timothy told her where she stood. He had shown his true colors and told her about all the contracts she signed. She had screamed how much she hated him but he didn't care.
In the end someone had to pay the price and he would rather burn in hell than pay shit.
She couldn't inherit the full amount of her mother's money until she turns 25 next year, so in the meantime he had managed to persuade her to marry John, so that he could settle the debt. He was still in deep shit with his failing businesses but at least the $5million dollars wouldn't be his problem.
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NYC Daily Post: 'Let the gossips begin tonight... the prestigious charity auction ball. Are you on the guest list?'
