Red Hot Short Stories

"That's why I didn't want to go to the mall with you," he said as they entered the car.

"So you don't want to see my dress?" Frida asked

"No, that's not what I'm saying. Just look at those fans, they messed up my dress."

"That's what it's like to be a celebrity, I can't wait to experience life as a celebrity." She said.

"Very soon, everyone will know that you're my wife and your face will be revealed."

"I don't want that Leonardo, I want to work for my own fame that's why...," she said.

"You asked me not to post your picture on my page Frida just..."

"Not again, I'm not in the mood for that, I'm in a very good mood today don't ruin it," she said and Leonardo sighed.

*********

Isadora's room was adorned with Leonardo's pictures on the walls. She woke up and looked at the morning sun, smiling. She got up from the bed and looked at Leonardo's pictures kissing them "Good morning my love," she said smiling.

Isadora Rowling was a songwriter. She sat at her laptop and played Leonardo's song "Made for You"

Jane burst into her room

"What's going on?"

"Bestie, guess what?" Jane said

"You saw Leonardo?"

"Idiot, Leonardo is getting married to his ghost wife"

"That's impossible," she said as she checked her phone and started crying "So I won't get to kiss him before he marries Ms. Ghost?" She said her mouth agape.

"Gosh! Isadora your mouth smells, go and brush your teeth. " Jane teased.

"No," she said getting up and walking over to his picture. She started kissing it, Jane shook her head.

********

Frida looked at her wedding dress as she hung it up very carefully "I'll be wearing you tomorrow, and I'll be called Mrs. Frida Da Vinci," she said smiling then a message popped up on her phone

"Arghhh!" She screamed and her sister entered

"What is it?" Amy asked

"Amy guess what? The model agency I applied to finally chose me. The audition is tomorrow, I'm so happy." She started packing her bags.

"Wow congratulations, but why are you packing?" Amy asked

"I'm going to the UK tomorrow for the audition"

"But Frida, your wedding is tomorrow!"

"That's true but this is my opportunity to become popular, I'm giving up the wedding," Frida said still packing

"What? So you're going to stand him up at the altar tomorrow? His fans, his..." Amy started.

"Hey, calm down. No one knows I'm his fiancée. All you'll do is find a new bride for him as my replacement because I'm leaving this country at 6 AM tomorrow morning." She tossed her wedding dress to Amy "That dress will fit the new replacement."

"Fridaaa!! Are you serious right now?"

"Yes baby sister."

**********

"We need to go right now. The hall is filled with guests already waiting for the bride," Maya said.

Amy sighed as she looked out the window and saw Isadora "Wow she's beautiful, perfect idea." She smiled

She walked up to Isadora "Hey Are you here for the wedding?" She asked

"What wedding???"

"Oh nevermind I need your help"

"What?" She asked

*******

Isadora was dressed in a beautiful wedding dress, and her makeup was flawless. She entered the hall feeling nervous and scared

Leonardo turned to look at his bride but he was shocked to see someone else, Isadora looked straight ahead and stopped in her tracks "I'm getting married to Leo,oh my Leo, I will finally get to kiss his cute lip for real now." Isadora muttered.

"Who the hell is she?" Leonardo muttered looking at her.

"What's going on? Who is she?" Leonardo asked

"You need to calm down and go back to the hall to continue the wedding," Amy said

"Continue what wedding? We don't even know who that lady in the wedding dress is. How can he just marry anyone?" Coco, Leonardo's sister said.

"Where is Frida? I've been calling her phone for ages but it's not going through," he asked.

"She left already," Amy said

"What? Where? Why would she do that on her wedding day? Why didn't you stop her?" Coco asked

"I tried but she didn't listen to me."

"This isn't the time for questions and answers. You can't keep everyone waiting. The lady is looking like a fool there. Just get married to her, " George said

"I'm not interested in this wedding anymore," Leonardo said.

"Brother, what about your followers, your fans, the money, the invitation? You can't just do that for her," Coco said

"I'm sorry but I don't have any other options I don't want to disgrace you waiting at the altar for Frida that's why I chose her since people don't even know Frida as your girlfriend because you never posted her. They won't suspect anything, just go for her." Amy said

"Fine, what is her name?" Leonardo asked

"Isadora"

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Leonardo forced a smile and went back to the altar to complete the wedding. He looked at Isadora who swallowed hard and looked away.

"You may now kiss your bride," the priest said

Isadora bit her lips as Leonardo drew her close to him, their faces inches apart. She swallowed hard and Leonardo whispered to her "Expect a kiss from me? Hell no I don't kiss strangers. Just play along and let's get this done also brush your teeth next time, " he released her with a smile.

"I now pronounce them as husband and wife," the priest said and the crowd clapped their hands smiling and taking pictures. Leonardo and Isadora were smiling as well Leonardo turned to Isadora and frowned. She hiccuped and stopped smiling

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Jane was scrolling through her phone when she came across a video of Leonardo's wedding.She zoomed in on the bride and the chocolate she was holding

"Isadora his wife? What the heck?" She said trying to call her number but it went straight to voicemail

"So Isadora is the ghost? This is funny. Very funny," she said

.

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.

"I can't do this, I can't go home with him," Isadora said.

"You have to do it. Your face and pictures are everywhere. They now know you as his bride," Amy said.

"So you mean you're going to run away? Why my dear? You've just met my brother, and you're scared. You haven't even met our supernatural, almighty mother I bet if you meet her, you're going to pee in your pants and you want to run away? My dear don't try it. Do you think Leonardo Da Vinci is just a big name for nothing? Even if you run into a hole he will fish you out, " Coco said chewing her gum

.

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"What is this that I'm seeing?" Helen yelled dropping her phone "Why is he not getting married to Frida?"

"Ma'am, Frida left him standing at the altar," Lucy said

"And he chose this nameless bitch as his wife? My next plane to Mexico is right now," Helen said.

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The car parked at the front of a very big mansion, Leonardo stepped out not waiting for Isadora. He walked in, Isadora entered and he flung his tie on the couch

"Now tell me who you are!" Leonardo yelled

Isadora was already shaking and sweating "My...na...me...is...Isadora Rowling. I am...your...fan...a very...big...," she stammered

"So that's the reason you chose to marry me? Why didn't you decline it?"

"I didn't know that it was you,"

"I have laws in this house. We are not on contact. We can't just go our separate ways like this because of my fan one, you don't dare go around telling people that you are my wife. You are not up to the standard of being the great Leonardo's wife. You are nothing to me too, no posting on any social media as my wife. You are just a stand-in when the real wife comes you will be out.Three, don't you dare come near me I may seem nice to people but my dear I am a devil. Four, don't talk to me. Don't even call my name, stay in your lane and maintain a clear distance. Five, if we are outside pretend that we are okay Inside we are not. Six, when Frida comes back then you are out. We will tell the whole world that you cheated on me and we will divorce each other. Six, you are not allowed to leave this house or to go home, no visitors, am I clear, " he asked coldly.

.

"And you expect me to follow all these rules? I mean the last one is re..." Isadora started but Leonardo walked past her. He stopped and faced her

"One more thing , don't touch my belongings. Don't come into my room I hit women," Leonardo said, Isadora swallowed hard wiping her sweat.

"I love people following my law and my rules," he said and walked into his room.

Isadora wanted to sit down on the couch but she remembered Leonardo saying "Don't touch my belongings." She sat on the floor instead "His law and his rules Isadora, you're dead," she muttered to herself.

"Frida, why did you do that?" Leonardo asked over the phone.

"I'm sorry babe, I wasn't expecting that message I should have told you before going but at least everything is okay now."

Leonardo shook his head "Everything is not fine, I'm fucking married to that nameless girl. Have you seen the way she looks? I can't even take her out as my wife, she disgusts me." Leonardo said ruffling his head.

"I know, I saw the video. You two don't look like a good match at all but just bear with her for a while. We'll figure something out."

"When will you be coming back?"

"In the next five years."

"What Frida!!?"

"Will you wait for me? "

"I can't answer that"

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Coco and Amy stepped out of their cars, they attend the same school. The students began to admire them shouting their names in excitement

"𝑺𝒐 𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒆" 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒈𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅

"𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒄𝒐," 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒅

"𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑰'𝒎 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕 𝑳𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒐'𝒔 𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒘. 𝑺𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒔𝒐 𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒆" 𝒂 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅

Smiling at the students, Coco and Amy made their way to class.

"Ouch my mouth is paining me," Coco said sitting down in her chair once they arrived.

Amy rolled her eyes "You smile too much that's why. "

"I'm telling you I'm not even the celebrity here, It's just my brother."

"Remember you're also popular on Tiktok."

"Oh, that's true," Coco replied taking out her phone at that moment. Emily rushed over to them the school queen Emily was known for her popular internet blog parrot talk.

"I heard your brother got married? " Emily asked

"Of course," Coco said engrossed in her phone

"So all these years that Leonardo was hiding his wife's face on the internet it was because she's nameless?"

"What did you just say?" Coco asked dropping her phone

"I said your brother's wife is nameless. She's not even on the internet. There's nothing about her at all I guess, she must be from a dirty family"

"Shut your mouth, you catty little trap," Amy screamed her anger flaring

"You can't just come here and talk about my brother's wife like that If you have a problem with her, feel free to hug a live wire or jump in a river," Coco said

"What did I do wrong? I was just expressing my opinion on his wife"

"We don't want your useless opinion," Amy retorted

"Alright, what can I do to get information about that girl?"

"Will you do anything I say?" Coco asked

"Yes, anything"

"Just jump in the river and drown, you idiot," Coco spat out "Leave my sight." Emily hissed and stomped off

"I thought you didn't like Isadora"

"I don't but I won't let just anyone talk trash about her," Coco replied.

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Isadora sneaking out to see her mother and friend

"Why didn't you tell me you were his girlfriend all this time? I can't believe you kept it a secret from me, your best friend." Jane asked

"What girlfriend? I hadn't even met him before that day"

"Then how did you end up as his wife?"

"I was there to deliver something, I didn't even know it was the venue for his wedding when a woman approached me for help without even telling me what kind of help she needed before I knew it I was being married off to him"

"I bet you're really happy I'm sure he's treating you well. And you'll soon be famous too as his wife, I'm so happy for you, Isadora"

Isadora sipped her water a small smile playing on her lips.

"Are you okay? It seems like there's something you're not telling me"

"Nothing" Isadora insisted a hiccup betraying her nerves

"Isadora you're lying, tell me now, what's going on?"

"I need to start going" Isadora said standing

"What about your mom? Won't you wait for her?" Jane asked

"I'll call her" Isadora said rushing out she put on a mask and glasses "Gosh I'm late I hope he's not back yet"

Isadora hailed a taxi and gave the driver her address. The taxi stopped at the bus station, and she sprinted home, her breath coming in rapid gasps. The house was dark when she entered

As Isadora turned to enter her room the lights suddenly switched on plunging her into a state of panic. She froze her bag slipping from her grasp as she turned to see who was there. Her body trembled, beads of sweat forming on her forehead as she fought to suppress the hiccups that threatened to betray her fear

"Leonardo" she whispered her voice barely a murmur as she trembled in fear

"What were my rules again remind me?" He demanded standing up to face her

"I...must...not...leave...the house," she stuttered

He advanced towards her loosening his belt as he went " Let me remind you again, I hit women."

Isadora's heart thumped frantically in her chest as he came closer and she began to hiccup and sweat profusely.