Chapter 3 Ms Scott

Athena's parents came home soon after the party was over.

They were welcomed warmly by the house helps of the Mansion, their house employees.

The butler came to greet them also. His name was Francesco, he has been their butler for Twenty seven years now. He was a good looking man In his mid forties who always dressed and address their family formally. He took good care of himself and was easy on the eyes.

"Francesco, has Athena come home?" Ms. Scott asked him.

"Yes ma'am, the lady is in her room." He answered.

"Tell her to come see us here, in the living room." Mr Scott ordered.

"Yes sir."

Francesco left their presence to go call Athena.

He went to her bedroom door and gave it few knocks.

Athena turned around abruptly eyeing the door.

"Ms. Athena, your mother and father calls for you at the living room." Francesco said from outside the room.

Athena relaxed hearing Francesco voice.

Athena was sure her mom and dad were both angry at the fact that she left the party without telling anyone. She was sorry but, she was a bit upset at both of them.

"I'll be out shortly." She simply responded after composing herself.

After that she stood up from

The heart shaped sofa she was sitting on.

She went out of her room and not surprising, she didn't see Francesco.

She knew he had left after reporting her parents' message, and hearing her response, even if she didn't hear him leave. No one ever hears his footsteps.

She went to the living room where she saw her mom and dad sitting on their enormous couch in the middle west of the living room looking towards the 32inches plasma in front of them as a news channel played on it.

Athena sat down on a couch a little bit further from the one her parents were on.

"You called." Athena said to her mother and father like an A.I robot.

Ms.scott facial expression then changed to a disappointed one as she turned towards the direction of where the voice of her robotic daughter was coming from.

"Why did you leave all of a sudden?" She asked Athena.

Athena couldn't believe her ears she was asking as if she didn't realized that Athena already knew she was marrying a gay man. Ok then she was going to play this game with her mom.

"I didn't want to be there anymore, I felt suffocated." Athena responded.

"Suffocated? What does that mean?" Mr Scott asked pretty pissed off by her response.

"You didn't think to let me know about this before you left?" Ms. Scott said increasing her voice in every word.

"I thought of that but you said we shouldn't talk there so we're here now. Let's talk." Athena spat back.

"Do you realize that you embarrassed me today? I don't know what comes to you as thinking straight." Ms.scott said with venom in her voice.

"I think the way you want me to mother, and I think you wouldn't want me hearing gossip about my fiance."

"Listen here young lady, you'll have to atone for your reckless behavior, stop giving stupid excuses." Mr Scott said.

Athena's mom couldn't quite catch up on what she was saying.

"What do you mean by gossip, Athena? You are Going to apologize to mr Hamilton for leaving like that, you'll make up for your mistake." Athena's mom said In agreement to what her husband said.

"I don't think I need an excuse mother." She told her mom.

"Then why did you leave? I was going to explain everything to you. But you had to act stupidly." Athena's mom said.

Mr Scott had now understand what she meant.

"Ok, explain to me why I'm marrying someone who is gay?"

"It's just rumours, You'll have to do it, to save our company." Ms. Scott said.

"So this is all about the company and not about me at all. I'm marrying a guy who is gay, for the company. To hell with my life and how I feel." Athena said with contempt in her voice.

"Stop acting like a child, this is for twenty years only. You just don't fall for him if he is really gay." Mr Scott said.

"Yes I'm acting like a child. Then why can't you just treat me like a child,....your child." Athena said hesitantly.

"You're not......" Athena's mom paused then continued. "You're not a little child Athena try to understand our situation here.

Athena knew what she wanted to say and she knew she didn't care.

"But, what about my studies abroad?" Athena asked them while standing up from the couch.

"That will be discontinued." Mr Scott said.

"What? I don't get it, this is what you guys wanted, for me to study that course and to study in that university." Athena asked feeling agitated.

"Athena the company is more important now, we can't let it go down after all our hard work. You'll have to stop." Ms Scott said.

"Dear I want you to get prepared the wedding is in one week." Ms. Scott said.

Athena was shocked at the date. The wedding day was nearby. She has a week to prepare to be sold. Yes, She only saw this wedding as a trade, This was a wedding of benefits only, not love, so she should had expected this.

"Alright, mom and dad. As you wish." Athena said then She left the room without saying another word.

She can't talk to her mom nor dad to see reasons with her. They all didn't care, no matter how hard she plead.

She had no idea how she was going to spend her life living with a guy like that.

She then did some more research on him, she thought that maybe they were just rumors and if she looked hard enough she might just see something that could prove that.

She went on to a publicity about him were it stated that he was caught On camera with one of his many boyfriends. She checked the picture and saw Mr Hamilton getting inappropriately close to a guy, and she recognized the guy.

This was the same man she saw him holding hands with at the engagement party.

Athena was disgusted with this discovery.

'he brought his boyfriend to his engagement party and make out with him there?' she believes he is a freak and really didn't want to marry him now.

All the good looks, she thought were all for nothing.

She waved that thought aside, she shouldn't care about his looks she wasn't going to like him. But she has to marry him.

Her parents were counting on her. Gay or not he could save her parents' company and the right thing to do was to do as they say. They had really taken care of her.

She was going to have to be her Gay-fiance's wife.

The days rolled by and before she knew it, it was her wedding day.

Her parents had hired a well-renowned make-up artist And hairstylist, Who did her bridal make-up and hair

Her wedding gown was sown specifically for her, by a well-known designer

Once her make-up and hair were made. She looked at her reflection on the mirror and saw that they did everything perfectly.

She looked Very beautiful on the outside, but was very sad on the inside.

She felt as if she was getting dolled up to be sold at a brothel.

She turned around and to see her entourage getting all excited at seeing the way she looked.

They were all probably wishing they were in her shoes, and she would had gladly switch the Situation.

Athena left the powder room and went out of the mansion along with her escorts to meet the driver holding out the back door seat of the white limousine.

She didn't feel the urge to go in.

So she stood there for a while, not until one of the bridesmaids nudged her and she went in hesitantly.

While in the car she just zoned out not caring about what the other girls were giggling excitedly about in the car. She wasn't in the mood to be in a discussion to find out right now.

Once they reached the venue which was a popular catholic church there in L.A. The driver stopped the car and came out of the driver's seat to open the door for Athena, while doing so he had to avoid the lights of the camera coming at him, as some news reporters kept on takIng pictures of him as he about to open the door for Athena

Once the door was opened more pictures were taken and some group of journalist came forward to ask Athena some questions.

"Ms. Scott, Ms.scott, how do you feel today on your wedding day?" One of them asked.

"Are you excited to be married today? Is it true Mr Hamilton is gay?" Another asked again.

The questions kept pouring as the driver and some bodyguards tried to pushed them away and make a clear path for Athena to pass through.

She soon reached the entrance of the church with the help she was given by her bodyguards and went she went in. She climbed up the stairs and followed the path that was made with rose petals to reach her soon-to-be husband who was standing near the alter with the priest on the stage above him. When the guest took notice of her presence they all stood up. Mr Hamilton looked really dashing in his white suit, but Athena didn't notice this. She wasn't aware of anything as she walked past the audience to her soon-to-be husband.

Everything just went by without a single hint of emotions on her face.

And it was the same for her soon-to-be husband. They took their vows nonchalantly and the crowd clapped their hands in support of them.

Athena couldn't hear a thing she was completely zoned out. The wedding reception was a bit sour as the bride and both the groom prepared nothing for the event to show their photos of the past or of them together. No sort of speech to express to the crowd of their love, because this was all business.

Her parents were the ones overjoyed with everything that was happening. They were more joyous than either of the two.

They couldn't see that their daughter felt miserable as a bride, it was as if no one saw this or no one cared, because they all had something to gain from this, which was definitely not her happiness.

When everything was over, the newly wedded couple entered a black limousine. They were set to go to their honeymoon destination.

The atmosphere was so tense in the back of the vehicle where the couples were.

Not one of them turned to look at the other, Mr Hamilton was busy on his phone, while Athena was busy looking out the window watching the passing sceneries, thinking of Lots of things about how will her life be now as a married woman.

Will she have to stay in the same room as her husband or will they stay in separate rooms?

Will she have to be a full time housewife? She would have preferred it if she worked and did something useful with her time.

Will she have to submit herself to her husband and have sex with him? Right now, thinking about that, she prayed he was actually gay.

Will her husband mistreat her or just ignore her existence.

What was his reason for marrying her like this if he's actually gay or if not, why marry her when there will be nothing for him to gain?

There was so many things for her to think about and her thoughts were all over the place worrying about things that might be important or not.

"Athena" it took her a while to figure out that her name was called. That brought her back to reality and stopped her train of thoughts.

She turned to look at her husband.

"Yes?" She answered like someone who hadn't been deliberating on how she would live her life. But like a submissive woman answering her husband.

It seemed Mr Hamilton was also startled at the way she responded, seeing he paused for a moment before he continued.

"We aren't going for our honeymoon in Hawaii, but we'll have to make the media believe we left to that destination." He said, his voice sounding very calm.

'If they weren't going for their honeymoon then How where they going to make the media believe they went' Athena wondered.

"How do we manage to make the media believe this?" Athena asked.

With what he was currently worried about, Athena was convinced that he was a man who only cared about what others thought of him.

"We'll be staying at my house for those three days." He replied to Athena. "Get yourself ready as we will be stopping at a hotel to change vehicles and then head over to my place." Mr Hamilton concluded.

"Ok then." She said and that ended their short conversation.

Soon, just as Mr Hamilton said, the driver stopped at a hotel. They got out of the car and two person, a man and a woman were standing in front of them, waiting patiently.

They walked closer once Athena and Mr Hamilton we're out. The man was dressed exactly like Mr Hamilton from his hair style to the expensive suit he was wearing. It was a duplicate of it and looking at both of them, one could mistake the man for Mr Hamilton if not careful or take a closer look.

It was the same for the woman. She was wearing a replica wedding gown as her's.

Seeing all this, Athena has understood what was going to go down.

Obviously there was still going to be reporters at the airport waiting for them and there will be a scandal if they did not turn up to board their flight.

The driver came out of the car then went to the back to take out all of Athena's belongings.

Mr Hamilton nodded at them and they immediately got into the limousine and drove away.

"Another car should arrive in any minute." Mr Hamilton said.

Athena nodded but after a minute passed and no car came, she had to call Mr Hamilton's attention.

"Can we go inside?"

"What for?"

"I would like to change out of this gown now, it's not like it's very comfortable." Athena explain.

Mr Hamilton seem to understand and nodded. He began walking inside and Athena followed closely behind him with a luggage.

He booked a room then left after he witnessed Athena getting the keys to the room.

Athena was given to room 309. When she got in, the first thing she did was to lie on the comfortable bed and take in a deep breath.

While in the session, she realized her heart was heavy and felt somewhat weird. She felt an emotion she never felt before hence she has no idea what to call the feeling.

After a few seconds of relaxing, she made herself get up and took out a black dress from the luggage and happily exited the wedding gown and put on the comfortable and free dress. She forced the wedding dress into the luggage then took it along with her outside of the room.

She didn't want to be taken as a slowpoke. She was definitely not it so she hurried there before he could go look for her and before the car arrived.

The car arrived shortly after she met up with Mr Hamilton again and they drove off.

After three hours they finally reached his house, which was also a mansion, but was two times bigger than the Scott's mansion.

No doubt the Hamiltons were richer than the Scotts

Athena and her husband both entered the magnificent building Of the Hamiltons and was greeted by the house helps of the mansion, in the living room.

Mr Hamilton called for his butler and a man whose jet black hair was jelled back, in a former uniform similar to the ones the other maids were wearing joined the maids in the living room.

His posture was somewhat animated, his appearance made him look like a man in his early thirties, but his face gave him away. His face could tell that he looked like a man in his mid forties.

Mr Hamilton introduced the house helps by simple stating their various duties in the mansion.

From his introduction Athena got the feeling that he didn't know his house employees very well. Because he kept correcting himself, since he couldn't quite get their roles in the house. But his flaws weren't quite obvious, since he always improvise with his words. But all of it wasn't missed by Athena.

She always got to know everyone whether their aware of it or not. She was an observant person.

But who was she kidding he was a busy person and didn't have the time to know each and every maid he employed. He must have other better things to do.

"Please, butler show Ms Scott...I mean My wife the room she'll be staying in. He asked the jolly looking man.

"Yes sir." He answered with a smile on his wrinkled face.

"Good I'll leave her to you then." Mr Hamilton said then he left their presence to a location unknown to Athena.

"My name is Leonardo and I'm the butler here at your service Ma'am." He said giving her a short introduction.

"Nice to meet you Leonardo." She simply said and followed Leonardo as he showed her to her room.

"The maids shall put your clothes in order ma'am. Please accompany me while I show you the rest part of the house." He offered with his hands out.

Athena couldn't Go on a tour right now she was emotionally and physically tired right now and what she needed was a quick bath and to just lay down on a bed.

"I'm sorry Leonardo, but I'll have to decline that offer, maybe some other time." She said In an apologetic manner

"Alright ma'am, if you need anything you could ask any maid, and they'll be ready to assist you." He said and bowed his head a little then left her at the entrance of her room.

Athena opened the bedroom door slowly and took in the sight in front of her. The place was beautifully decorated but it felt like a guest room.

Well of course it would be a guest room she will have to be staying. She definitely didn't expect to occupy the master bedroom.

She walked into the room and went straight to the bed which was gigantic and took her shoes off.

After a minute, three house helps came Into the room with her belongings. They all greeted Athena once they caught sight of her, then went to different sides of the room.

They kept her clothes in the closet and her shoes in a shoes closet then all her makeup essential on a table where there was a large mirror and chair beside the table.

A maid was about to open a particular luggage, which she brought from the car, but Athena stopped her instructing the maid to leave it unopened.

Once they were all through with everything, they left the room and one of them closed the door to the room.

Athena stood up from the bed towards the closet and she opened it and saw that the maids did a good job in folding the right clothes properly and hanging some of them.

She then saw the luggage she had asked one of the maid to leave unopened. Athena opened the luggage and brought out her wedding gown.

All the memories of what had happened today filled her thoughts, on seeing the gown.

She wasn't going to ever forget the faces of her parents on this day.

The day they sold her, the person who turned herself to a robot for them.

Athena kept the gown back in the luggage and she kept it in the innermost part of the closet, where it would be difficult for anyone to take note of it's presence in the closet.

*****

After hours of Athena just sitting on her bed doing nothing, it was time for dinner. She had refused to eat lunch and she had also not eaten anything in the morning either so she would be able fit into her wedding gown. This was the advice of her mother although Athena is already thin as a stick.

Her stomach grumbled for skipping two meal time and after a hour no food came, she had to get out of her room get something herself.

On getting to the kitchen, at the dinning room she found her husband eating happily without a care in the world.