Chapter 4 IV

The outfit Hazel helped her choose wasn't as uncomfortable as she thought it would be. It was an orange pleated dress with a delicate print and nude-coloured sandals with simple laces.

The make-up was light, just to highlight the colour of her eyes and, since her lips were well contoured, Hazel advised her to just use a lip gloss that would be easier to touch up after the meal.

Jane had never met Rowan Jansing in person, but she felt she had already known half his life.

Known for owning the most famous chocolate brand in the world, he was also famous for his looks. He took over the company at a young age after his father's death, but despite what many people thought, he proved to be an excellent negotiator, just like his father. Before long, the brand expanded into new sectors of the food industry until Rowan became one of the youngest men ever to become a millionaire.

Hazel read all that information on her iPad to refresh Jane, but little of what she said really took her concentration. The nervousness of being about to meet the man who was to marry her didn't allow her to ration any more than was extremely necessary.

A few weeks earlier, she had been prepared to live a life of chastity away from the impurities of the world outside the church, but that day she would meet her fiancé. Everything she had been taught up to that point would serve no purpose when applied to the life of a married woman.

Jane had never even touched someone of the opposite sex with romantic intentions before. She had never kissed or hugged another person in that way either. She took her vows very seriously and never broke any promises. Perhaps Rowan would see her lack of experience as a bad thing - that was one of her main fears.

Trying to push away her fruitless thoughts, Jane patted herself lightly on the cheek before leaving the room with Hazel right behind her.

She had got used to the long corridors full of paintings by well-known authors and peculiarly shaped sculptures at prominent points in the house, but somehow the path she took to the living room appeared new and longer.

Her palms were sweating as she went over what she needed to say on the way. Even though she had trained for so long, her throat was scratchy and her mind was playing tricks on her. She was afraid that her nervousness or her accent would betray her and she would say something stupid.

Jane stopped walking the moment she heard her father's laughter. She only had one turn to go before she reached the room where they were waiting for her, but her feet refused to obey her. She didn't know where the fear that made her freeze came from.

Just turning up without finding a favourable moment seemed rude, but at the same time, she felt that she had been late. Even though she had checked the time before leaving the room, she felt insecure.

She heard his name at some point in the conversation, which unlocked her movements, as if it were her cue to enter the scene.

The moment he appeared, the conversation stopped instantly. Despite her nervousness, she cracked a rehearsed smile and greeted the two pairs of eyes that stared at her in completely opposite ways.

With her head down, she sat down on the three-seater sofa where her father was, leaving one seat between them. She could feel the sharp gaze of the man in front of her, which made her even more reluctant to raise her head.

Her father went on and on about her consistently high grades, her performance in the boarding school rankings, her innocence and purity, her skills acquired through the extracurricular activities she did and a whole host of other things that made her feel embarrassed to the point of wanting to crawl into a hole.

There was no need for him to point such things out at that moment because Rowan had already accepted the marriage agreement, but Jeremiah kept talking as if he were trying to sell a product.

Rowan continued to agree and nod to what Jeremiah was saying, but his eyes analysed Jane as if they could see right through her. The feeling that ran through her body when his eyes travelled down a path until they stopped at her legs was new to her.

After a while of talking, she risked raising her eyes slightly, only to be met by two black orbs with a glow as ambiguous and mesmerising as the movement of ocean waves on a full moon night.

Her eyes returned to her own knees so quickly that she almost regretted being so indiscreet. She wondered if their eyes had met by coincidence and if it was just her impression that he hadn't stopped staring at her since she sat down on the sofa. The doubt remained all afternoon, so she didn't dare raise her head again for half the visit.

At boarding school, no pupil had the right to face an authority figure directly. They were advised to stare at their own shoes if an adult approached and this became a habit for Jane, but at some point, her curiosity overcame her.

It seemed that all the lights in the room, artificial and natural, had the sole purpose of illuminating the man in front of her to make him more attractive, but he quickly realised her gaze and she couldn't admire him any longer. The little she had the chance to observe was just enough for her to pray for a better opportunity to look at him for longer.

She wiped most of the nail polish off her fingernail because she was so restless. She wondered where that feeling she was having was coming from and tried various ways to alleviate it discreetly, but whenever she had the impression that she was being probed by such deep eyes, the air seemed to become difficult.