7 – 9
ARRANGED LOVE🩸
EPISODE 7
We walked out of the plane to see a black car waiting for us. I followed Adrian down the stairs and to the car. Nice car. The driver opened the car door for me. “Thank you,” I said to him and slid inside the car. The driver closed the door and opened the other door for Adrian.
Once Adrian got in his seat, he opened his l@pt©p and started to work again. He must be a workaholic. I let him work while I looked out the car window. Soon, the driver drove us out of the airport and into the main streets of Queens, New York City.
I had never been to New York City. The city was hvge that you felt like an ant in an ant farm…from what I had heard. I really didn’t have many expectations of the city. I have seen pictures the city in magazines and books. The city looked beautiful at night.
Queens looked very nice. I saw many row houses that lined the streets of Queens. Soon, we had to go throu-gh the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. The tunnel goes un-der the East River of New York and one of the few ways to get to Manhattan
Once we were out of the tunnel, I could see the different skyscr@p£rs in the distance. Before we could get there, we had to pay the toll. The driver drove up to the terminal and paid for the toll. No words were exchanged.
As we drove down the streets, I could see the difference in architecture down the different streets. After a while, the buildings got bigger and taller in size. Soon, I knew that we were getting close to the heart of Manhattan.
Many people were outside walking in the streets minding their own business. They looked like busy people who are in a hurry and in a rush to their destination. They didn’t really remind me of the people in San Francisco. In San Francisco, you were la-id back and take time to get to your destination.
Soon, we st©pped in front of a tall and large ap@rtment building next to the Empire State Building. “We are here sir,” the driver said to him. Adrian closed his l@pt©p and packed it in his brief case. He got out of the car and offered his hand to me.
I was a bit hesitant but, I took his hand. He helped me out of the car and placed his hand on my small back to guide me up the small set of stairs. We walked inside the building to hear nothing. The place was very quiet.
We walked down different hallways until we found an elevator that didn’t seem to match the building itself. Once in the elevator, Adrian pressed the bu-tton for the t©p floor. I watched a small screen above the bu-ttons.
[Key Card plea-se] Huh?
Adrian took a card out of his pocket and inser-ted the card in the scanner. The elevator processed the data in his card.
Beep…beep…ping!
[Recognize Adrian Minetti] The elevator started to lift us to our destination that was on the t©p floor. I watched the screen that showed us how fast and the time that we would reach the t©p. I could say that the elevator was going really fast.
Throu-gh the lift, we didn’t say a word to each other. Adrian seemed preoccu-pied with something. I could tell from his eyes. His eyes were distant. I wondered what he was thinking. Always, I concluded that it had to do with work.
After three minutes, I felt the elevator slow down. The screen showed that we were at the t©p floor. Once the elevator settled down, the doors open to a large bright room. I didn’t think that my new home would be very big and spacious.
The windows were hvge that the made up a wall on one side of the room. I had to say that the ap@rtment had a good view of New York City. The big windows brou-ght much sunlight into the room. I could see roofs of different buildings in the distance.
I took a step forward to have a better look of the place. I saw a hvge swimming pool outside. The view from my new home was very beautiful. Surprisingly, the place was very quiet even though the city was noisy outside.
At least I would sleep well tonight.
I turned my head to see stairs that led to the second floor. Wonder what’s up there.
“Okay. Let me l@ydown the rules.”
I turned around to look at him. He looked very serious. “First, do not bother me when I am working. I’m a busy man. Second, do not ever come into my office. Third, do not talk unless you are spoken to or answer a question. When you are talking to me, look at my face. Lastly, leave me alone. The last thing I nee-d is someone to ruin my reputation,” he said to me.
I somewhat expected this much from him. We may be husband and wife, but we weren’t married couple emotionally and mentally. We had no feelings for each other. The last thing he said hurt me a little bit. In a way, I alre-ady messed his life up.
He walked towards the stairs. “Follow me,” he said as he walked up the stairs. I followed him up the stairs and down a hallway. We pas-sed by many different rooms. If he is not going to give me a tour, then I guess I’ll have to look around myself .
Soon, we st©pped in front of a room that was next to a bigger room. He opened the door to reveal a room that was filled with my stuff from my home in San Francisco. “This is your room. My room is next door. Remember, don’t bother me,” he said to me. I gave him a nod.
He looked at his watch to see the time. “I’m going to go in my office,” he said to me and walked away. I closed the door behind me and sat on the be-d. Here I was in New York. In a city that was very foreign to me. My new life was alre-ady a disaster.
I took a de-ep breath. You can get throu-gh this Vera. You don’t nee-d to tell you what to do . I took another de-ep breath and got to unpacking my stuff. While I unpacked my stuff, I fell upon my old ph0to albu-m.
I walked to the be-d with the albu-m in my hands and opened to the first page. Alre-ady, I could feel the tears forming in my eyes. The first page revealed my baby picture when I was at the hospital. I was wra-pped in a pink blanket and a pink hat.
In the picture, my grandmother held me with a gentle smile. My grandfather had a smile on his face and looked over my grandmother in order to see me. My parents weren’t in the picture at all. un-derneath the picture, there were words.
Valeria Laurenti
August 29
12:08 am
5 pounds and 7 ounces
I turned the page to see pictures of my grandparents caring for me. Of course, I didn’t have pictures of my parents and my brother with me. My parents never wanted to be near me. It made s-en-se for me to have pictures of my grandparents and I.
I fli-pped throu-gh the pages. Each page showed my years from youth to now. Each page, I could see the changes of myself. Each page gave me flashbacks of that moment. Each page reminded me the emotions that were felt at the time.
In my eyes and mind, I was watching my life go by like a old film. I watched myself grow up with two loving grandparents who saw a little girl with no support and love from her parent. I kept fli-pping throu-gh the pages of the ph0to albu-m.
Soon, I got to the last page. The last page had my graduation picture. I saw that there was an envelope.
Huh? What is that? I took the envelope and opened it to see a letter inside. Curiously, I opened the letter.
Dear Vera,
By the time you are re-ading this, you would have started a new life with Adrian. I know that I should have told you about the marriage when you were younger. I wanted you to have a better life than we…your grandmother and I could give you.
We took you away from your parents because we saw the things that we didn’t like about your parents. They didn’t treat you as p@rt of the family. We wanted you to grow up in a loving home so we took you and raised you as our own.
To be honest, I forgotten about the marriage plan until I saw Pietro on your graduation day. In my mind, I thought that it would be great for you to be married to Adrian because the family could provide you things that we couldn’t afford.
I hope that you can forgive me and your grandmother. You are our precious granddaughter and I would have wanted you to have a better life than your parents and brother. I hope the marriage would bring you happiness and re-move the trauma and pain from your early childhood.
We will always love you. Take good care of yourself. Stay strong.
Love Grandfather.
After re-ading the letter, I held the letter to my che-st and wept. Oh Grandfather…I miss you so much…
Now I had a better un-derstanding about his thoughts on the marriage and his motive for being me into his home.
After a few minutes, I wiped my tears. I didn’t realized that it was dark outside. I took the letter and placed it in the ph0to albu-m. I thought that it would be safe to put it in the albu-m so that it didn’t get lost.
I took the albu-m and placed it in my closet. Once I finished putting my clothes away, it was alre-ady 6:30 pm. I should get dinner re-ady. I walked out of the room to see that the lights were dim but, it was bright enough to see.
Slowly, I walked down the hallway and down the stairs to see the living room was lit bright. Outside the window, the scene was beautiful. The city was alive with lights. It was good enough for a movie sh0t or a postcard.
I continued my way to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator to see no fresh food. Everything looked sto-re bought. “I really nee-d to go shopping for better food,” I said out loud. I closed the refrigerator and looked in the cabinets.
The cabinets held plates that looked very expensive. There was nothing to eat. Maybe I should order something . I closed the last cabinet. “May I help you?” I turned around to see a man in a suit. He had brown hair that was gelled back, grey eyes, and cleaned shaved.
Who is he?
“Oh. I didn’t know that my husband had a…butler?” I didn’t know what to say. The man gave me a smile. “Oh. You must be Mr. Minetti’s new wife. I’m Lorenzo Raouli. I am his as-sistant at his business,” he introduced himself to me.
“It’s nice to meet you,” I said to him. He gave me a nod. “Your husband s£nt me to see how you were doing. I didn’t see you in your room,” he said to me. I thought he wasn’t interested in me. After all, he is a j£rk.
“I c@m£ in the kitchen to see if there is anything to eat since it’s dinner time. Does he cook for himself? I looked everywhere to see that he doesn’t have anything fresh,” I said to him. I could tell that he was trying to hold his laughter.
“He is busy for that but, he does know how to cook. It’s just that he rarely cooks at home,” he said to me. “That would explain the empty cabinets and fridge. I guess I’ll nee-d to go to the market tomorrow,” I said to him.
Lorenzo walked over to me and pres£nted me with two different cards. “Mr. Minetti wanted me to give you your credit card that is connected to his bank account and a key card for the ap@rtment,” he said to me. He reached into his pocket and gave me a smart phone.
“This phone had all the contacts that you nee-d,” he said. I took the phone in my hands. “Thank you Lorenzo,” I thanked him and gave him a smile. “You are very welcome. plea-se, if you nee-d anything, don’t hesitate to ask,” he said to me.
I gave him a nod. He gave me one last smile and walked away. I looked down at the key card, credit card, and the phone in my hands. They had my name on them….my married name. This is your start of a new life.
I took a de-ep breath and looked at the credit card. I should go to the bank tomorrow about my bank account in California. “But for now…I nee-d to find something to eat.” Does Adrian want anything ? I made my way to Adrian’s office.
On the way, I saw Lorenzo who was walking towards me with a file in his hand. He gave me a smile. “Hello Ms. Minetti. How may I help you?” he asked me. “I was wondering if Adrian wanted something specific for dinner,” I said to him.
“Oh. Mr. Minetti had alre-ady ordered food from a French Restaurant. He made sure to get you something. I’m heading to the restaurant to pick up the food right now,” he said to me. “Oh…that’s nice of him,” I said to him.
He gave me a smile and looked at his watch. “Indeed. Well…I nee-d to get going now. plea-se excuse me,” he said and walked pas-sed me. I watched him walk down the hallway.
He seems like a nice guy…much better than Adrian.
I made my way back into my room and sat at the windowsill.
My new life started here.
EPISODE 8/9
Next day……
Ring….Ring…
sma-ck!
Sleepily, I got up from be-d and walked over to the curtains. I opened the curtains to see the sunrise in the distance. That’s nice. I walked into my bathroom and washed up for the day. The bathroom was pretty amazing. Everything inside was expensive.
After dressing up in my white sweater, black leggings, and sli-ppers, I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked very plain. I didn’t know if I could adapt to a lavish life. I wore my glas-ses and walked out of my room.
Quietly, I made my way to the kitchen and started to make breakfast for Adrian. In the cabinets, I managed to find bagels, coffee, and cream cheese. I guess these will do for now . Looking inside the cabinets again, I found a kettle and a coffee filter.
To be honest, I didn’t like coffee. However, I made coffee for my grandparents every morning. They looked my pour over brew method. I filled the pot with water and set the pot on the stove to boil. While the kettle boiled the water, I got the filter and the coffee re-ady.
After putting the filter in a cu-p and the ground coffee in the filter, I prepared the bagel. I cut the bagel in half and toasted them in the toaster. Soon, I heard the water boiling. I got he kettle and started to pour the boiling water over the coffee ground.
Slowly, the finished product dr!pp£dinto the cu-p. The bagel popped up from the toaster. I took the h0t bagels and spre-ad cream cheese on them. The breakfast was simple. I really nee-d to go to the grocery sto-re today.
After of the the coffee was done, I re-moved the filter and the coffee ground. I decided to make the coffee on the strong side. I remembered Adrian drinking espresso back in San Francisco. I hope he likes the coffee.
I set everything on the tray and walked up the stairs. I remembered that his room was located right next to my room. I walked down a hallway to see Lorenzo. He turned his head to see me approach him.
“Good morning Lorenzo,” I said to him with a smile on my face. I was happy to see him. He gave me a smile in return. “Good morning Mrs. Minetti. Sleep well?” he asked me. “Yes. Thank you for asking,” I said to him.
He looked down at the tray that I was carrying. “Did you make him breakfast?” he asked me. “I did. Is he in his room?” I asked him. Lorenzo shook his head. “He is in his office,” he told me. He is in his office!
“Did he sleep last night?” I asked with concern. He gave me a nod. “He sle-pt for a couple hours before returning to work. This is a life of a CEO,” he explained to me. I gave him a nod. “I’ll esc-rt you to his office,” he said.
Closely, I followed Lorenzo to Adrian’s office. His office was located on the other side of the ap@rtment. Soon, we arrived in front of double doors. Alre-ady, I had a idea about what his office would look like.
Lorenzo knocked on the door to let Adrian know that someone was at the door. “Come in,” I heard from the other side. Lorenzo opened the door and peeked inside. “Mr. Minetti. Your wife is here with your breakfast,” I heard Lorenzo say to him.
I started to feel my hands sweat. Adrian told me yesterday that he didn’t want to be disturbe-d by me or anything. It was one of his rules. “Let her in and close the door behind you. I want to talk to her alone,” I heard Adrian’s order to Lorenz.
Lorenzo opened the door for me. Slowly, I walked inside and was amazed by the office. The office was pretty big with the company logo above the desk. The room was sp©tless. The furniture made me feel like I was in a office building and not an ap@rtment.
From the desk, Adrian looked at me dead in the eyes. I started to feel my legs shake. I didn’t move my eyes away from Adrian. Adrian got up from his chair and walked over to me. I wanted to move a step back but, my legs were paralyzed by fear.
Once he stood in front of me, I looked straight at his che-st. I was too afraid to look at him. “What did I say about bothering me?” he asked to me in a stern tone. His tone felt heavy on my shoulders and made my heart drop.
I couldn’t open my mouth. “Look up at me when I speak to you,” he said to me. He didn’t change the tone of his voice. I took a shaky breath and looked up at him. When our eyes met, I completely froze and tense.
I could see the annoyance and anger in his eyes. “Let me ask one last time. What did I say about bothering me?” he asked me. His annoyance and anger were growing by the second. I f0rç£d myself to speak without controlling my fear.
“Y-you said t-t-to not b-bother you,” I said to him. “Exactly,” he said to me. He took the cu-p of coffee and the plate bagels off the tray. “Now get out. Don’t bother me ever again got it,” he said to me. I nodded my head quic-kly and walked out of his room.
I set the tray in the kitchen and made my way back into my room. Once in my room, I sat on the be-d and felt tears fall from my eyes. I let out a de-ep breath that I had kept inside myself from my encounter with Adrian.
Why did I have to pair with him? He scares me so much.
I looked at my hands to see them shaking. I held my hands together and tried to calm my nerves down.I closed my eyes and thought about my grandparents. They wanted me to have a better life than my parents and my brother.
The question was…was this a better life.
I could see the ups and downs of this marriage. In the end, I decided that I wanted a life where I didn’t have to displea-se my husband. I shouldn’t have to fear anything as long as I followed the rules that he had set for me.
Follow the rules Vera. You can live throu-gh this.
It had been a few hours since my encounter with Adrian. As far as I knew, by the time I left the ap@rtment, Adrian was alre-ady gone to his work in the city. I had planned to go to the bank and to the grocery sto-re today.
Right now, I had just gotten out of the bank. I managed to get my bank account transferred from San Francisco and gotten a new credit and debit card un-der my maiden name. Even though I had a credit card from Adrian, I rather use my money than to use his fortune to buy things.
Walking down the street, I could see the difference between San Francisco and New York. New York was super busy with people and traffic. People were walking up and down the street while they talked on their phones, walked their dog, or listened to their music.
It felt different. I started to miss San Francisco more. I missed the slow relax feel of the neighborhood. I missed the air of the bay. I knew that I would have to get used to New York and it’s business.
I managed to find a grocery sto-re that was near the ap@rtment. It was very convenient. Inside the grocery sto-re, I took a shopping cart and walked throu-gh the aisle to find things that would last Adrian and I a few days.
I spent a good hour filling the cart with produce and other goods. Tonight, I wanted to make ravioli stuffed with ricotta, parmesan, spinach, and black pepper. For the sauce, I wanted to make home made marinara sauce cooked with home made sausage and vegetables.
I learned many recipes from my grandmother growing up. I would spend hours in the kitchen with her. It was going to be the first time that I was cooking myself without my grandmother tasting my cooking. Hopefully, Adrian would like my cooking.
Once at the cashier, I watched the screen to see the cost of the total amount go up. I should get a membersh!pcard . “Your total is $102.98. Do you have a membersh!pcard with us?” the lady asked me.
“No. May I sign up for one plea-se,” I said to her. She gave me a form and pen. quic-kly, I filled the form with my information while she got the bags. “Can I get reusable bags plea-se,” I said to her. She gave me a nod and worked on the cash register. “That will increase the total to $110.98,” she told me.
“That’s fine,” I said to her. I gave her the form and got a membersh!pcard. I managed to get the price down to $80.97. “Cash or card?” the lady asked me. “Debit,” I said to her. I looked into my wallet and got my debit card.
Once I paid everything and got my bags, I walked out of the grocery sto-re and to the ap@rtment. The walk wasn’t too bad. Once inside the ap@rtment building, I walked into the elevator that was specific to getting to my ap@rtment building.
I pressed the bu-tton for the t©p floor.
[Key Card plea-se] I took a card out of my bag and inser-ted the card in scanner.
Beep…beep…ping!
[Recognize Valeria Minetti] The elevator started to move. I set the grocery on the ground and stretched my arms. Next time…less groceries. The screen showed me that I was almost at the t©p. I gr@bb£d the groceries and waited for the elevator to reach the ap@rtment.
Soon, I arrived a the ap@rtment. I carried the groceries in the kitchen and started to put the groceries away. I made sure to throw away anything expired in the trash as I didn’t want any mold growing anywhere.
It took me a good thirty minutes to put the stuff away.
Grumble
I placed my hand on my stomach. “That’s right. I didn’t eat anything yet.” I walked over to the fridge and gr@bb£d some stuff for a grilled cheese with basil and tomatoes. I wanted something simple for now since I was going to make a big dinner.
After grilling the cheese sandwich, I started to eat my light lunch with a cu-p of water. As I ate my food, I looked around the ap@rtment. It really felt empty and lonely. If a pin dropped onto the feel, a person could hear it on the other side of the ap@rtment.
I should really think of something to do . Something cli-cked in my head. “That’s right…dinner. That should keep me busy until…dinner.” I finished the last of the grilled cheese sandwich and cleaned the dishes.
After the dishes, I made sure to clean the counter.
“Now let’s make the pasta sauce.”
I gr@bb£d the some ingredients out of the fridge and started to make the sauce.
Few hours later…….
“Tastes good.”
I managed to finish ma-king the raviolis an hour ago and kept working on the sauce. The sauce tasted better over time. Everything was made from scratch. So everything was going to taste extra good and fresh.
“Just twenty more minutes and it’s done.” I set the spoon down and looked at the time. It was almost dinner time. I had set dinner between six and seven. Wonder when Adrian is coming home. I never asked him when he was coming home.
But, I couldn’t speak to him at all unless I was spoken to. I walked over to the living room and sat down on the couch. With the remote control, I turned the television on to see what shows were on at the hour.
I had to say that he had almost every channel you can think of.
Four hours later……
Four hours had went by and I was waiting patiently for him. “Maybe he is working late.” I should have known about his work ethics from the start. He worked late on our first night together in San Francisco.
Two hours ago, I decided to make myself dinner and make a plate that Adrian could heat up in the microwave. I had to eat dinner alone. The raviolis tasted great but, it would have tasted better if I had someone to eat them with me.
I packed Adrian’s food in the fridge. I didn’t know if he was going to eat it. I hope that he would eat them.
Right now, I was on the couch doing some research on universities and colleges on my l@pt©p. I had planned to go to college before I got married. I thought maybe I could at least take some online clas-ses and slowly get a degree.
I should wait for a while before enrolling.
After a few more hours, I went to be-d without waiting for Adrian to come home.
Tbc