Forced Marriage With Adored Superstar

Pearl Lucas walked into the house smiling, she was home late but it was worth it as today had been a good day for her, she had been given a good tip today in her place of work, she works in a beauty parlor and some actress she had applied make up for. She loved her work and had been invited to the actress' show the next day to fix the actress' make up.

The actress, Yvonne, had been so pleased with her that she added some extras to her payment, Pearl was so happy, she could use the extra pay, her mother would certainly love this piece of good news, life hasn't been easy with them since their father had lost his job and was yet to secure another, her mother who was merely a cleaner in a small company had tried to make sure she always put food on the table, but her salary just wasn't enough to sustain them all. so Pearl had taken up a job at a beauty salon to assist with the house expenses.

"this should be able to feed us for at least two days" she smiled to herself, eager to announce the good news.

"Mom, Dad" she called out as soon as she entered the house but silence greeted her, she frowned, where is everyone?

"Jenny?" She called out her younger sister's name but also got no response, she entered the only room in the house and saw no one inside.

"where is everyone? Is no one at home?" She hollered as she entered back into the living room, did they all just go out and left the door unlocked? She checked her time, it was past seven, her mother should be home now and her father had nowhere to go, so where could they be?

The door suddenly opened and her sister Jenny walked in breathing like someone who ran Marathon race,

"oh thank goodness you're here Pearl, what the heck happened to your line, I've been trying to reach you".

"oh, I have a flat battery, where is mom and dad?" She eyed Jenny tempted to tell her of her day's event but restrained herself, Jenny seemed worried.

"Dad had a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital" Jenny cried and Pearl felt as if the bottom had dropped from beneath her, she felt a hollow in the pit of her stomach.

" what! heart attack? Which hospital is he?" Pearl's joy soon faded replaced by worry, her father has been battling depression because of his joblessness, what could have triggered the heart attack?

"He's at City hospital, shall we?" Pearl was numb as she nodded, she followed Jenny to the hospital and saw her mother crying in the hallway, she quickly hugged her, tears brimming in her own eyes.

********************************************

In the hospital

"how's dad, what happened?" She stared into her mother's eyes, waiting for a reply.

Her mother sniffed, " not good, some test has been carried out and I'm waiting for the results".

Pearl led her mother to a seat, "come sit, dad will be fine, I'm sure if it, you'll see, the test result will show nothing serious and in no time, he'll get better and be discharged."

she turned to Jenny, "get Mom a bottle of water."

Her mother shook her head, halting Jenny, " no please, I don't want water".

"Mrs. Lucas" the doctor called and she jumped up from her seat

"That's me, doctor, what's wrong with my husband?"

The doctor shook his head, ", your husband will need surgery as soon as possible."

"What! Surgery? Doctor what exactly is wrong with my father" Pearl cuts in.

"You see, we've observed he has a tumor in his brain that would need an immediate operation, that is why he is always complaining of headaches and dizziness and it could be what had triggered the heart attack. At this point, he needs an immediate operation or it might be too late".

Pearl felt a pang in her heart, she stared at the doctor, "what do you mean by it might be too late?"

The doctor shrugged, "I'm afraid, your father might die if he is not operated very soon".

Her mother covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes rounded fearfully as her legs gave way, Pearl and Jenny rushed and caught her, and they helped her to sit down.

"Did you hear that? The doctor said he might die, we might lose him."

Pearl quickly put her finger on her mother's lips to stop her rant, "nothing will happen, mom, we won't lose dad, okay, I promise" she turned to the doctor, "what do we have to do doctor?"

"You'll just need to pay five hundred thousand dollars to perform the operation, then have faith".

"Five hundred thousand dollars? That's huge, we don't have such amount." Pearl protested

"Well, if you can get at least, two hundred thousand dollars, we'll commence with the surgery while you look for the balance and you need to get that as soon as possible, the more it is delayed, the more danger he's in."

Pearl hopelessly watched the doctor walk away, how in earth are they going to raise the sum of five hundred thousand dollars?even if they sell all their properties, they won't even realize half of the money, no, something have to be done, her mother's soft cry pierced her heart, Pearl ran to the doctor,

"why not perform the operation while I run around to look for the money?"

The doctor shook his head, " except the initial deposit is paid, there's nothing I can do, no operation will be carried out, and the money is just for the operation to be done, you'll also have to pay for his recovery process when the operation is done".

Pearl nodded desperately,

"I understand doctor, I am not saying we won't pay, we will, just perform the operation first".

"When you're ready for the operation to be carried out, you'll pay up, that's the only way it can be done".

Pearl watched as the doctor walked away

"How are we going to get such a huge amount? "

Her mother wailed and Pearl immediately ran to her side,

"hush mom, nothing will happen to father, I'll think of a way out, we can ask for help from some of his friends, I believe their contribution will go a long way".

Pearl brought out her phone and called a lot of people, but none agreed to have such an amount, some contributed so little that it didn't cover a quarter of what was demanded,

"I'll go to my place of work and see if I can be loan money" her mother stood up, wiping her eyes with the back of her .

Her brain did overtime, "mom, I'll go to my beauty parlor to ask for help and I also have an actress, you know her right, she's very famous and generous, I believe after applying make up for her, I believe she will pay me well, it might still not go anywhere but trust me mom we'll look for a way, together, we'll overcome". She hugged her mom tight and they sat hurdled close throughout the night.

Pearl got to her beauty parlor and was immediately dragged in by her closest colleague, Tiana,

"thank God you're here Pearl, guess who's having a show today" she dragged Pearl into the parlor and turned her to face the screen.

Her childhood idol, Seth Travis was on the screen, Seth was had been her childhood hero ever since she could remember, he had entered into the industry as a child actor and Pearl had worshipped him even then, now he's a grown man who has a collection of different brands including modeling agency.

Pearl had become a makeup artist in hope that one day she would work in his agency even though deep in her heart she knew it was all just a dream, she stared at him on the screen for a while, he looked so handsome with his smile that could melt hearts.

"You don't look so excited to see him today" Tiana observed.

"It's not that T, right now I'm just worried."

Tiana touched her shoulders,

"about what?"

Tears welled in Pearl's eyes, " my dad needs urgent surgery and a million dollars was demanded from us, where are we going to get such a huge amount of money T, we were able to raise twenty thousand dollars but that is nothing compared to what was asked."

"I have some savings, I'll give it to you, though it's not much, just to add to what you've got."

Pearl was overwhelmed as she put her arms around Tiana in a tight embrace, "thank you!"

"Common Pearl, it's nothing, cheer up okay?"

Tiana smiled looking at Seth Travis on the screen, "I wish your superhero will come to your aid."

Pearl managed a smile, glancing at the screen, "I wish so too, but you know, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride so let's not go to the impossible okay."

Tiana pinched her cheeks, "never say never. Come let's get to work, you just might get a huge tip from a famous actor today"

she winked as Pearl laughed as she joined her in arranging the parlor, and shortly after, their first customer for the day walked in.

Pearl quickly attended to the customer but she was distracted because of her father's predicament, she was so lost in her thoughts that it was the screech of the customer she was attending to that brought her back to reality.

"what have you done to my hair?"

Pearl was jerked from her thoughts, she looked up to see what the customer was talking about and much to her horror, she noticed that she had messed up the woman's hair, she had chopped it off more than necessary, the side of the hair was already so low that she could see the lady's scalp.

"What are you doing Pearl? move out of the way" Tiana said, gently shoving Pearl aside to salvage the damage but the woman was having none of it.

"I'll sue you for this."

"What's going on here?" Pearl's lady boss asked, walking into the salon and Pearl almost groaned out loud, now she was done for, her boss would not spare her for sure .

"I'm sorry boss, it was my mistake" she quickly apologized, it took a while before they were able to salvage the situation and convince the lady not to press charges.

"You should go home Pearl, get another job when you are of stable mind, I can't afford my salon to incur any loss because of your mistakes."

"But ma'am, this was my first time to make such mistake..."

"And it will be your last time because you are leaving " her boss snapped.

"My unlucky day! " Pearl thought as she sadly grabbed her bag and left the salon, what a good day to get fired, her eyes fell on Seth Travis' poster on the billboard across the salon.

"you've always been my lucky charm, what happened today, everything is going so wrong with me, Will you make it better for me? Please?" She whispered to the poster of him staring at her as tears threatened to fall, she wiped it off.

She won't break down right now, she's Pearl Lucas, she can always find a way, even though right now, it seems like all ways are closed.

Seth Travis McDonald entered Delux Studio amidst cheers from fans and cameras, he was used to cameras following him and sometimes he even enjoys the publicity, he was well loved by fans and popular among the ladies, he was every lady's dream, dashing, charming, rich and famous,what more would he lack?

He was known for his brands and agency, he owned wide range of it from acting to modelling agencies and he has his own studio, but today, he has shooting outside, he had accepted to model an outside brand and he wanted it to be perfect as always, he wanted no mistake, that was why he was here at Delux himself, Delux is a very good studio, he walked in to check if the models are ready and to make sure everything was perfect, this was a multi millionaire dollars deal.

Although, he was already super rich that even if he decided not to work ever again, the money in his account is enough to last him and his generation a life time yet he never gets tired of acquiring more wealth, he was impressed when he saw that everything was set, nothing would ruin this for him, he smiled as he checked out the models, all classy and beautiful, he knew he was good to go, this show would be one of his biggest hit.

He walked outside and immediately, he was bombarded by paparazzi.

"what are your expectations for your launch that's about to take place?"

"How do you handle such a wide range of agencies?"

"Are you expecting anything negative to happen in this show? If it does, how would you handle it?" They all bombarded him with various questions,

"hold it, I will answer all of your questions" he stared right into the cameras, it was his thing, he was used to the fame.

"my expectations for my launch are pretty high, I already feel like no other industry could compare to mine, I handle my agencies with solely hard work and determination ".

"Sir, what if..." One of them was about to throw a question at him while he was still talking, but Seth hate stuff like that, he considers it not classy,

"shush! Do not forget my rule, you don't talk until I am done" there was silence everywhere at his rebuke, he stared at them before he continued.

"I'm not expecting anything negative, we're all set. That's all for today" with that he turned and walked away amidst the protests from the pressmen, they called out to him, unsatisfied by his response to them.

"wait sir",

"Sir, you haven't answered my question"

Seth didn't answer the question.

He has his rules when he is working. Nothing would disturb him.

"Everyone, get ready as the biggest show of the year is about to unveil, I promise that you won't be disappointed" Seth's director announced and everyone looked on in anticipation.

"Turn off the light.Right now." Seth asked.

Only the spotlights should be on and then he signaled for the camera to start rolling. Serene music filtered through the air as soon as the spot light turned on.

Then, it happened, this was the first time something like this had ever happened in the history of his agency, as soon as he gave the signal for the show to begin, he stood by in expectations but his expectations were cut short.

On stage, of course, all the models are ready. All of them are tall and beautiful, with hot bodies. But who is that woman in position C? !

She stood there, looking so out of place.

Her flustered expression, her height of 1.6 meters, and the worn and plain dress on her body.

The only advantage is her clean and bright eyes, which are different from the heavy makeup of the models around her.

Anger was burning inside Seth. This is his billion-dollar show. What now? Who is in charge?

What do security guards do?

Such a person would sneak into the home court and be on the stage with the lights on! ?

*

*

The sudden strong lights, the surrounding models, and the exclamation of the audience made Pearl couldn't help but cover her eyes with her hands. Her heart was beating fast.

There are also countless flashing lights pointed at her.

"Seth, who is she? What is this setting?"

"Is this specially designed for the exhibition?

"Who's the girl in the middle?"

Pearl heard their questions, and she slowly lowered her hands, as if her eyes began to adapt to everything around her and the strong light.

..........

It was him, Pearl exclaimed softly.

Her idol Seth is standing in front of her.

"who are you and what the hell are you doing here?" He bit out each word between clenched teeth and she suddenly noticed how angry he looked, she bit her lips nervously,

"uhmm, I'm sorry, I was..."

He pushed her away from him before she could finish her sentence and then looked at a particular corner, with the snap of his finger, she saw securities emerge and started coming towards her after a brief mid from him, wait, what's he doing? She looked at him,

"Keep an eye on her, and if you make a mistake, you people will get out of here." Seth ordered the security personnel. Then turned to Pearl, "And you, you will pay for what you did. I promise. Now, don't try to escape from here."

"what are you doing?" She whispered but his jaw only clenched tighter at her question, perhaps he looked so angry although, she doesn't understand the reason, she had only made a mistake of going into the wrong room,

"what are you doing? Let me go" she screamed, struggling as two securities held her on each arm, no! This cannot be happening, her father needs money to perform his surgery ASAP and she had wasted enough time as it is,

"I'm sorry, it was my mistake. But I don't have time to stay here, I have a mission and I have to go." she pleaded desperately but he wasn't paying any attention to her, he nodded at the securities,

"take her to the upper room and watch her so that she does not get away, I'll figure what to do with her when I'm through "

What? Did she just hear correctly, no, she has to see Yvonne, he can't restrict her, why won't he listen to her?

"let me go!" She screamed at the securities as they each held her arms,

"let me go, you bastards " she flare, flailing and kicking as she was dragged into a very dark room, and the door was firmly shut behind her.