Chapter 1. Beginning

Hot air hit my face as I left the recording studio. I quickly walked over to my car, got in and turned on the cooler. I breathed a sigh of relief as soon as the cold air started to fill the car and gave me a chill that felt like being roasted.

Today, I finished recording for my third single, after which my contract with the management ended. My cell phone rings as I start my car.

“Yes, Ariana is here.”

“WHERE ARE YOU??”

I pushed the phone away a little when I heard Caroline’s screams, my manager and cousin is very loud and chatty more than my mother.

“I’m on my way.”

“Hurry up, Ana! or you will be replaced by another model!”

“Okay, on the way.”

I stepped on the gas pedal deeper to increase the speed to get to the location where I was filming a commercial for one of the most popular coke products.

Arriving at the set, I immediately ran towards the crew who had gathered and were working on the set for the ad shoot.

“You tortoise! Come here quickly, you will take it!” nagged Caroline, I just let out my horse grin. She would look like the Goddess of Death when she was angry.

After shooting the commercial was over, it was getting late into the night. Caroline came home with her boyfriend Andrew, I had a chance to see their intimate scene near Andrew’s car before they disappeared before my eyes. Sighing heavily, I’ve never been in love and dated with any man.

Whenever a man approached me I would only consider him a friend, nothing more. About dating invitations, I often refuse for various reasons, I don’t know, I haven’t thought about having a special relationship with a man, I’m still busy thinking about my career. And again, I don’t want to fall in love yet.

Once I liked a guy, but he didn’t like me just thought of me like his little sister, my feelings were not reciprocated. I’m disappointed, of course, but what can I do??! Maybe love isn’t on my side. My phone rings again and interrupts my unimportant daydream.

“Mom??!”

“Where are you, honey? Hurry home, there’s something I want to talk to you about.”

“About what?”

“Go home first, I’ll tell you when you get home.”

I quickly got into my car and drove home. My mom seemed to want to talk seriously this time, suddenly my heart was pounding, a feeling of nervousness and curiosity came over to me.

When I got home and parked the car in the garage, I rushed downstairs. I saw a very expensive gray Mercedes Benz parked in my large yard, I just shrugged and assumed there must be guests.

“That’s Ariana, honey, come here,” Mom said which made me look at her as I was still in the doorway of the main entrance of my house. My gaze turned to my mom’s guest and those eyes seemed to hypnotize me, fading everything around me. A handsome face was looking at me who just stared at him in silence. That gaze seemed to nail my feet.

“Ariana,” my mother called, which jolted me back to reality, with a slight bow I walked over to my mother and sat beside her. There was a man, about half a century old sitting in front of him, beside him, a beautiful woman who looked graceful at her age. Both of them smiled at me, I smiled back and nodded respectfully before sitting down.

My gaze turned to the man with gold eyes sitting in front of me, the man looked at me with a sharp gaze that made my heart beat abnormally, I hastily lowered my face to hide the nervousness that seemed to squeeze all my nerves.

“Honey, this is Aunt Ramia and Uncle Abraham, they are here to propose to you.”

My mom’s words are like Thor’s thunderbolt which is very powerful in the Avenger movie, I was shocked, of course, my tongue went numb.

What? Propose Marriage of me?

My Inner Goddess was stunned on her red sofa, while my senses narrowed her eyes with her mouth open, surprised by this.

“And that’s Sean, your future husband,” said My mom again, I peeked at the man named Sean from behind my eyelashes while twisting my fingers between my thighs. I’m nervous, this handsome man is my future husband, whether this is a gift or a disaster but I can’t say anything and just choose to be silent, my mind is debating between wanting to deny and accept this fact.

“Auntie heard Ariana is a singer, is it true?” asked Aunt Ramia, I looked up at the charismatic beautiful woman who smiled shady, I smiled then nodded.

“Yes, auntie, I’m a singer,” I answered briefly with a feeling of shock that I was still trying to suppress.

“You know, Sean likes to hear your song, auntie caught him listening to it,” said Aunt Ramia with a witty glance in her eyes, instantly I turned to the handsome man in front of me and looked at him with a surprised look, the man chuckled and Aunt Ramia giggled as well as Uncle Valentino.

When Sean’s gaze met mine, I looked down again, it seemed I wouldn’t be able to stare at him for so long. Curse my blushing Inner Goddess, shit! This isn’t the time to be dazzled, well, though I admit in my head that he’s really handsome.

His gaze seemed to intimidate me, my whole body seemed to melt with his gaze, I was helpless with that gaze. Never before had I felt this way when I was stared at by a man, this man’s gaze was different and caused a spark of alien feeling within me.

“Your engagement will be held in a week, and Sean can use that time to get to know Ariana more,” said my mom while smiling happily, I swallowed my saliva with difficulty, my throat suddenly dry.

Just being in a position like this makes my heart feel like it’s about to explode, especially if I have to spend a lot of time alone with him, I could die young before getting engaged to him. When Uncle Valentino and Aunt Ramia were going home, the graceful woman gave me a warm hug, I hugged her back and gave them both a sincere smile before they left my terrace and headed for the car they were riding in.

“I’m sure Ariana will be able to make Sean the happiest man in the world,” said Aunt Ramia, I smiled awkwardly hearing her very convincing words.

“Tomorrow, Sean will pick up Ariana to come together to Rani’s birthday party,” added the elegant woman again, mom agreed and they looked happy, except for me who was busy struggling with my thoughts, which was still trying to digest this incident.

“Mom, are you serious about this?” I asked after an hour our guest left. We’re sitting on the living room couch right now, mom sipping her tea.

“Honey, Uncle Valentino’s family was your papa’s best friend when we lived in Thailand, maybe you’ve forgotten, when your father died, Uncle Valentino promised to be part of our family by being with us,” said My mom, I was stunned to hear that. Hell yeah! The arranged marriage since I wasn’t even born, isn’t fair isn’t it??!

“But, Mom, isn’t it too rushed? I just got my career.” I’m trying to negotiate here, but actually I want to refuse. In this day and age, who wants to be matched??!

“Mom is sure, this is the right time for you and Sean to get married. It would be better that way, mom will be calm if you marry Sean,” said my mom and I didn’t have the ammunition to argue with her, I lost badly.

“Where are they from, Ma?” I asked curiously.

“They’re from Dubai, honey. Uncle Valentino is the owner of one of the oil and gold mining companies, Valentino Enterprise Holding,” answered my mother, who was trying to be patient with my curiosity, and at that moment my mouth fell open.

“You mean, that was Valentino Al Abbas?” I asked again, making sure, My mom chuckled lightly, I know my current expression must be very silly, My mom nodded.

“And the man sitting across from me is Sean Valentino?!” I added, and My mom nodded once again, but I’m not familiar with the name, I try to remember, but nothing I only know them as one of the most famous businessmen with a series of successes in the business world.

“And Rani?” Still about the Valentino family, I heard that Aunt Ramia mentioned that name.

“Rani is Sean’s older sister, tomorrow is her birthday as well as celebrating her wedding anniversary.”

My mom put her empty cup on the table. I still can’t believe this, I’m getting engaged to a man who is in the top 10 most desirable single men in the world.

“You have a schedule tomorrow?”

I shook my head at my mom’s question.

“Be ready at 5 pm tomorrow, Sean will pick you up,” Mom said, I nodded weakly, then said goodbye to my room.

Again I thought about Sean’s figure, I pressed my chest which seemed to want to explode because of my beating heart.

What is wrong with me? Why is it that just remembering his gaze makes me feel like someone has a heart attack?

I exhaled regularly in an attempt to neutralize the strange feeling that came over me when I remembered Sean’s handsome face. I rolled over to change my lying position, then hugged my favorite bolster pillow, I still can’t believe what I experienced a moment ago, I haven’t even thought about marriage, it’s too soon.

As I kept thinking about what happened a few hours ago in the living room of my house, I fell asleep. And that night, my dreams were filled with Sean Valentino’s face.