Free My Kind of Perfect by Freesia Lockheart Page B

notice.
    “I actually am. But it’s not like I’m forcing you. You don’t
have to do it if you don’t want to,” he told me. Then shaking his head with a
quiet laugh as if regaining back sanity, he ran his fingers through his hair
and added, “Oh, forget it. I’m just playing around with you. I’ll find another
bride, Kaye. In fact, I should probably get on with that. So...”
    “But...” I tried protesting some more only to realize that
it was me who offered to do anything for him in the first place.
    “Look, Kaye. I seriously need a bride. And if you don’t want
to, I’ll just have to find somebody else,” he said to me.
    And I seriously couldn’t believe that he was just picking
brides out of nowhere. What was he up to? He was like, ‘Oh!
I’m having a wedding.  Can you deliver a bride to me?’ What happened to
the over passionate Johnny I once knew? He once told me that love was a serious
matter and it shouldn’t be taken lightly like most people did all their lives.
    “Wait. Why will you even throw a wedding if you don’t have a
bride?” I incredulously asked him, exasperated. And lacking sane reasons of
what could have been really going on.
    “My bride ran off this morning,” he said, shrugging off his
shoulders.
    “Say what?” I asked, baffled.
    “Well, we actually don’t know each other. We just met once
and his father wanted me to marry her so I agreed. But she ran off this morning
saying that she couldn’t do it after all,” he explained.
    “Oh.” That was the only word that managed to come out of my
mouth. What was with this guy? What era were we in for him to be caught up in
an arranged marriage?
    “Anyway, I just need a temporary bride just to play the part
for tomorrow afternoon. No need to sign papers or anything. I just can’t let my
grandma down. If you’ll excuse me, I have some urgent things to do,” John told
me.
    ‘Like finding a bride,’ I
thought to myself. Then blinking twice, I came to realize what he said. No need
to sign papers. It was more like acting. Hey, I could do that much. If that
would do me any good, I think I could do it.
    “There’s no marriage contract or anything?” I asked him just
as he was about to say goodbye.
    “Yes, of course. There are important people who will attend
tomorrow and I just can’t simply call off the wedding. I think I can manage to
handle it after that,” he said.
    Narrowing my eyes, I thought hard about it. I had my own
dream wedding and it was nothing like this. I wanted to walk down that aisle
and be met at the altar by that one person that I loved. The whole place would
be crowded with people whom I knew, not with total strangers. But given the
situation, I guessed that was it or I’d die the minute he’d be out of sight
again.
    But even this? A wedding? Be fake or not, it was still a
wedding. But what other choice did I have? None. I knew that.
    I let out a long sigh and finally said, “Alright, I’ll play
the part. But no strings attached after the wedding, okay?”
    “You will?” John couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
    I nodded.
    “Oh, okay then. It’s a deal. You’ll be my bride and I’ll
give you that forgiveness you were talking about earlier. Though I’m not so
sure what that is… really,” he said, stalling with the words and scratching the
back of his neck.
    “It’s a deal,” I echoed back. This was just a role play.
There were no strings attached whatsoever. I would just think that I was an
actress who was shooting for a movie.
    “I’ll lead you the way then,” he said as he lifted his one
arm and pointed to the end of the hall.
    “Where to?” I asked.
    “To my grandma’s room. My grandma is waiting for you. She
doesn’t know who the bride is yet so just play the part well. Don’t give her a
hard time. Please do promise me that,” he told me earnestly.
    I gave him a nod and told him, “Sure, no problem with that.”
    Did I ever tell him that I had the perfect attitude