Just as I wrapped up a top-secret project, my mother called. She told me she'd found a promising match for me.
“He’s good-looking,” she said. “Comes from an excellent family. And the best part? He’s never been in a relationship before so he is completely clean emotionally.”
I couldn’t talk her out of it, so I agreed to meet him just once.
When my superior heard the news, they immediately approved a few days off and encouraged me to focus on this blind date.
I arrived at the hall of a luxury hotel as planned, only to find the place packed with 99 women dressed in couture gowns.
For a moment, I thought I’d come to the wrong venue and turned to leave.
A woman at the front stopped me. She gave me a once-over and sneered.
“How many times did you have to sell yourself to get this opportunity? You think this is enough to marry Evander?”
The other women quickly joined in, venting their frustrations.
“Why does she get to draw the blind box first when we’ve all been waiting forever?”
“If she gets picked, what’s left for the rest of us?”
I finally pieced it together and called Evander.
“I heard there’s a blind box today and if I draw the right one, I get a chance to date you?”
——
“Odette Winters, is it?”
His voice came through, cold and condescending.
“Let me make this clear. I don’t care what tricks you used to get Grandpa to force me into marrying you. If you want to be with me, you’ll have to play by my rules.”
“If you draw the right box, you can stay. If not, get lost.”
Then he hung up on me.
I was speechless. This was the ‘great guy’ my mom was so proud of?
Just as I turned to leave, a girl who called herself Bianca blocked my way.
“Evander is already giving you face by letting you draw. What still not enough for you? You planning to run crying to Henry so he forces the marriage?”
I looked at her flatly. “Where did you get the idea that I care about any of this? I have zero interest in a self-important man who thinks he's God's gift to women.”
I didn’t expect her to slap me across the face.
“You bumpkin,” she snapped. “How dare you insult Evander!”
“Don’t think that just because Henry’s backing you, you can walk all over him!”
My patience snapped.
Do they not understand human speech?
Maybe Evander is a rare gem to them, but to me? He’s nothing.
She raised her hand to strike me again.
I caught her wrist coldly and shoved her back with force. My voice sharpened.
“To me, Evander is a complete stranger. I want nothing to do with him. Move aside now or don’t blame me for being impolite!”
Before I left the office, my supervisor had repeatedly warned me not to get into conflicts with civilians. I truly didn’t want to make a scene.
If she backed off, I was willing to let it go.
But to my surprise, she screamed.
“She’s going to tattle to Henry! If she ruins our blind box chances, we can’t let her leave!”
That one shout stirred the hornet’s nest. A few hot-tempered girls charged at me and yanked my hair.
“You bitch! We’ve waited so long just for the chance to become Evander’s wife and now you want to ruin it for all of us?”
They held me down with brute force, slapping me across the face, one hit after another. Someone dumped red wine and juice all over me.
Bianca, thrilled with herself, barked out orders: “Tie her up. Since she wants to play dirty, don’t blame us for playing rough.”
