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Chapter Sixty-Two: Maggie

I never realized how much of the engagement's significance slipped past my mind not until the engagement party was brought up.

I had gotten so wrapped up in my relationship with Evan that I had forgotten the reason as to why we had gotten together in the first place was because of the engagement.

The engagement we tried so hard not to tell anyone back at school was finally gonna be out in the open, but the good news is that we still had five months before graduation starts.

We could probably bear to have our classmates gossip about our supposed engagement for that amount of time, they've already talked shit about us enough as it is, so what's the point of giving them something new to completely obsess over now?

Plus Levi already found out about it, and so did Beth and Emily, as well as Jasper and probably Evan's friends too. What's the harm in letting everybody else find out about it now that the only people who I actually feared knowing about it already do?

Might as well just live and let live.

That's not to say the anxiety of it all wasn't still there, heck, as everyone should know being paranoid is my specialty, but if I think really hard about it, in the end, would it matter?

None of my classmates are gonna contribute anything important to my life and I barely know the majority of them and could give less than two fucks about what they think about me and my personal life. What matters now is how Evan and I will manage to survive this.

Speaking of Evan on the other hand, he's managed to remain more self-composed about this whole ordeal between the two of us.

He's just more worried about how I'm doing and how I'm coping, which just says a lot about how Evan knows my tendency of freaking the fuck out over very abrupt news like this.

He's tried to console me and ask me how I was doing and in retrospect, I am doing quite fine. In comparison to how I tend to overreact before I'd say I've become quite tamed, but Evan still took it upon himself to ask just for good measure.

"I can ask mom to cancel the whole event if that's what you want," he suggested.

I shook my head "No, don't be silly, this is all purely for business plus my dramatics shouldn't have to deter Tiffany's plans. We can't avoid letting people know we're engaged and will get married, plus wasn't that the whole point of the proposal? For our marriage to be used as some sort of PR stunt?"

Evan huffed at that "Which makes it all the more frustrating considering I know how much you value your privacy."

"Well, this isn't about me. Whether I like it or not, our engagement will be exposed to the public soon so you'll get good press. I'll throw in a good word for you as Wayne Carter's daughter and your family will help my mother with our company." I concluded.

He still looked unsettled "I just hate how our relationship is minimized to fucking business at the end, sure we got together because of it, but I hate how technical all of this feels."

"Blame capitalism for that, baby," I remarked to lighten the mood but even so, he didn't find any sort of humor in the situation, making me frown.

I walked up to him and carefully stroked his cheek to ease him "Hey, look at me, I'm fine. At the end of the day, we can't avoid the main reason as to why we got together in the first place. Plus this is just a party, Williams. Loosen up."

He snickered at that "You're one to talk about loosening up."

"Oh, how the tables have turned." I teased, a grin lingering on my lips "It's just a party, plus it'll be happening five days from now so we can't stop it even if we both wanted to."

He shut his eyes at that, defeated "Fine, fine, you're right. I'm just worried about you, that's all."

I smiled faintly "No need to be, I'll be fine. We got this."

* * *

Three days until the party starts.

Tiffany has already informed us that the venue of the party is finished, which is just the same venue where we hosted the New Year's Eve Party, and told us to be prepared.

Evan is getting his suit tailored for the engagement party and is currently doing fittings, while Tiffany already sent me the dress she wanted me to wear which is just a simple white off-shoulder cocktail dress along with a pair of gold heels.

As the days progress, not gonna lie, I'm constantly torn between keeping my cool about the party as well as wondering if I'll be able to confront hundreds of people and tell them I'm engaged at age seventeen. Not necessarily a debut by any means.

I wanted to talk to my mother about how she's been coping, but so far I haven't seen her around the house. Which made me think she was probably at work, but even when I called her office to see if she was there, they told me she wasn't.

That just made me uneasy considering she was never absent at the office ever since she started working at Carpenters & Field, so it makes me question where her whereabouts may be.

I decided to ask Frank about it and even he was baffled, but just told me "I did see her this morning talking to someone on the phone. She seemed frantic."

Confused, I asked him further about it "Frantic? Why?"

He could only respond with a small shrug of his shoulders "I honestly have no idea, why? Haven't you tried to talk to her?"

"I tried to but she hasn't been answering."

"Huh, weird indeed."

I decided to just brush it off thinking she was just busy preparing for the engagement party, as I had also tried to contact Tiffany but the line went straight to voicemail.

Needless to say, this engagement party may be a bigger deal than I led on.

* * *

It's the day of the engagement party, and quite frankly, I've come to terms with the fact that this is happening, and there's nothing I can do about it.

I look at myself in the mirror, clad in the white cocktail dress Tiffany gave me, my hair curled, gold heels, and earrings on, as I clasped the Cartier bracelets my mother gave me on my 16th birthday around my wrists, finally finishing my attire.

Evan will be picking me up at my house like he always does, though I was planning to go to the party with my mom, however, on the exact same day of the engagement party she had sent a quick call to Frank to tell me that she'll be arriving late, and for us to go to the party without her.

I've been worried about her and usually in times like these where she avoids contact at all cost, she's typically hiding something pivotal that she doesn't want me to find out, plus the last time she went completely MIA and didn't talk to me for nearly a week, she ended up telling me how she got me into an arranged marriage.

I tried to shake the thought out of my head, thinking I was just being paranoid like I always am and she was probably just busy preparing the party with Tiffany and officializing her affiliation with the Williams, or whatever technicalities this whole engagement requires.

She knows better than to hide things from me like last time, so I tried my best not to fret over her absence way too much. I had other things to worry about, like how I'm not going to act like a complete idiot in front of hundreds of people while announcing that Evan and I are engaged.

This is fine, you're fine, and you most certainly will not want to faint right in this exact moment-

But before I could deceive myself and indeed faint right on the spot, the doorbell rang from downstairs, snapping me out of my trance as I headed out of my room to see who it was.

I peered down the stairs only to see Frank welcome Evan inside the house, and unlike the New Eve's party, Evan settled with a casual but sophisticated three-piece white suit, one that matched my cocktail dress. Overall, he looked absolutely amazing as the suit hugged him in all the right places.

I couldn't help but chuckle as I thought to myself that Tiffany clearly arranged us to be matching, and as I heard Frank tell Evan that he'll quickly go upstairs to inform me of his arrival, I cleared my throat to catch their attention.

As they looked up, I sent Evan a quick smile from where he stood on the front door, eyes locked with mine as I descended the steps, being careful not to trip on my own two feet and make my grand entrance a complete epic fail.

Once I arrived on the last step and succeeded in not tripping and stumbling as I had anticipated, I fluttered my eyes up to see Evan completely transfixed on me and me only, his gaze drinking me in like this is the first time he's seen me all dolled up. Like this is the first time he's seen me in general.

Frank smiled upon finally getting a closer look at me "My, beautiful as always."

I laughed softly at that "Thank you, Frank. A gentleman as always."

He walked up to me and gave me a quick peck on my cheek "Good luck at the party, you'll do great." he said, "I'm sure your mother is already there, so don't worry about her, okay?"

I sighed, nodding "I will. Don't worry."

With that, he finally left me and Evan in the living room "Look at my man, handsome as usual," I greeted as Evan chuckled at my compliment, all the while as I walked toward him and I smoothed my hands down on the white fabric of his suit "We're even matching, see?"

He nodded, smiling as he looped his arms around my waist "And look at you, gorgeous as always. Are you ready for the party?"

I thought about it for a moment before answering "Yeah... I guess?" not being able to suppress the underlying reluctance in my tone, I covered my face with my hands as I let out a groan "Ugh, I honestly don't know, I thought I could pull myself together on the day of the party but it's obvious I haven't."

Concerned, he pulled my body closer against his, and with a gentle voice, he reassured me softly "It's gonna be okay, I know this whole thing is nerve-wracking but it'll only last a couple of hours and after that, we'll be back home. We can even watch that new Murder Mystery documentary you've had in your To Watch List on Netflix once the event is done."

I raised an eyebrow at that "I thought you were done with me watching those documentaries? You even said and I quote 'One more documentary about serial killers and dead people I swear I'm gonna end up in one once I jump out of your window.'"

He looked at me sheepishly and said, "I'll spare you this one time as long as you promise to relax for me, okay?"

I let out a defeated sigh "Okay fine, I'll try to keep my cool."

"That's my girl," he mused as I rolled my eyes. "Trust me, it'll be over soon and we'll be back home before you know it, and we can rest for the entire day afterward. Sounds good?"

Perking up, I nodded "Yeah, sounds good."

* * *

The drive to the party made me restless, but with Evan's hand clutched around mine, I felt at ease. I laid my head on Evan's shoulder as I watched the cars pass us by from the window, feeling time move just as fast along with the speed of each vehicle while Evan held me close to his chest as I soaked up his body heat and indulged in it, tuning out the world around us.

"I can't wait to get home and be done with this event already," I muttered as I felt Evan kiss the top of my head.

"It'll be over soon, don't worry. I'll do my best to do all the talking so you won't have to answer any intrusive questions about the engagement."

"You don't have to do that," I told him, the guilt in my voice evident.

But he just shook his head "It's alright, as much as I hate being around people as well I can deal with them better. If you feel uncomfortable talking to certain guests just come to me and I'll handle them for you."

Cooing at his words, I buried my face on his shoulder and clutched his forearm as I held him in an embrace. "I can't imagine having to possibly do this with anyone else, you make it all better."

His lips twitched into a half-smile "I'm glad."

"No seriously, you have no idea." I added "I was practically on the verge of a mental breakdown worrying about the party earlier but as soon as you entered the picture I just automatically felt at ease. It's like the whole world could be roaring with chaos but as soon as you come in, it all goes away. You make a lifetime of paranoia disappear with just a moment's worth of comfort."

His half-smile immediately became wider upon hearing my words "And it's crazy if you think about how we could barely stand being around one another back then."

I chuckled "Yeah it is, I guess you just never know who you'll end up confiding to at the end."

We arrived at the party shortly after, the car stopping at a familiar entrance of the same familiar building we visited not too long as Evan stepped out of the car and held open the door for me, helping me get out as I took his hand in mine once he reached out to me.

We sauntered inside the building and much like last time, employees parted ways to make a path for us, addressing us with polite greetings and nods as some of them smiled at me.

The receptionist welcomed us as we passed by their desk "Good evening, Mr. Williams and Ms. Carter. Mrs. Williams is waiting for you at the venue on the 19th floor. Guests have arrived and the party will begin in less than 20 minutes."

We uttered a quick thank you before heading up, the gradual process of the elevator going from one floor after the other making my palms sweat.

We arrived at the venue and unlike the New Year's Eve party, the surroundings weren't bustling with loud chatter anymore but instead, each guest was engrossed in casual conversation; talking to each other in low voices as they wore formal attires akin to me and Evan.

But this was not a party, a party was what we were greeted with last time we were here, but this? This is the world Evan and I have no choice but to step into whether we like it or not.

In this world, money and business are all that matters.

We strolled inside the venue as Tiffany came into view, looking every bit of otherworldly as she was clad in a sleek black suit embroidered with Swarovski crystals while her hair was tied into a tight bun on top of her head. Back at home, she looked like a typical mom who loves cooking and gardening, but here? You can tell she runs this place by one glance at her.

"Oh, kids! You're here!" she cheered, her usual chirpy voice still present as she hugged us "The party is about to start and I'll be doing the announcement while you two will be joining me."

I gulped just thinking about it as Evan answered "Okay, anything else?"

"You'll also be giving speeches about the partnership and the wedding soon to take place, as well as your relationship status, you know, just to make it believable that it's all real."

Evan stared at his mom, stern "Because it is."

"Oh, you know how the press is, they like to believe all of this is just a PR stunt and how it's a way to exploit our children and that would make the engagement seem sketchy."

I mean, if that's what the press thinks they aren't technically wrong.

I resisted the urge to make a snide remark, not wanting to upset Tiffany as she added "So there will be certain questions from them that may seem intrusive because they will try to convince everyone that all of this is arranged, but in the end just don't answer it. No one in this room is powerful enough to prove that anyways, so you have the right to ignore them."

She then left us with the reminder that the announcement will be in less than ten minutes, and for us to get ready as she will call out to us to join her at the stage to share a few words.

I exhaled a quick breath that lunged deep in my throat "God, this is making me so nervous. What if some jackass decides to ask a question that'll catch us off guard?"

"Again, we have the right to ignore them and not answer, like my mom said everyone here is just colleagues and the press wanting to get some scoop because you are Wayne Carter's daughter. None of them are truly significant enough to throw some dirt at us."

Despite the convenience of his words, I still find myself feeling tense just thinking about standing on that stage and answering questions about my relationship with Evan.

"I'll go get some water for you if that's what you want?" I nodded immediately at his offer "Okay, just stay right here and I'll be back soon, okay? And if anyone comes up to you to ask you questions about us, just ignore them and wait for me."

He sent me one last reassuring look before backing away and heading to the bar to get me some water, as I stand here in the middle of the party, wondering where the hell my mom could be-

But like a struck of luck, I catch a glimpse of familiar wavy brown hair and wholesome doe-eyes as my mom walks into the room, dressed in an elegant red dress that reached her feet that was bounded on the waist with a gold belt, her facial expression indecipherable as I watched her from across the room.

I ran up to her as she looked around the party, her eyes darting everywhere but me "Mom!" I called out.

Startled, she locked eyes with me and I immediately took notice of her vague mannerisms because she resembles how I've been acting these past few hours, just weirdly on-edge.

"Where have you been?" I asked as soon as I was in front of her "I've been trying to get a hold of you the entire day but I couldn't reach you but thank God, you're here now."

She didn't reciprocate my enthusiasm, if anything the uneasiness in her eyes intensified as my eyebrows furrowed at the sight "Mom?" I asked, "Are you okay?"

By now, I noticed her hands were shaking "M-Maggie, I... the reason why I got here so late and wasn't present during these past few days i-is because I received some news."

Before she could explain further, however, a voice interrupted our conversation, and I turned around to see Tiffany up on stage, a huge smile on her face as she tapped the microphone in front of her to gather the attention of the guests.

"Welcome everybody, thank you so much for coming today to celebrate the engagement of my son and his wonderful fiancee, Maggie Carter-"

"Hey," Evan popped up behind me as he held onto my waist. "I got you your water but it seems as though mom will be calling us to go up the stage soon."

Sparing Evan a quick nod, I look back at my mother as she watches Tiffany with an anxious look in her eyes "Mom, can you please tell me what happened because I'll be up that stage with Tiffany soon and you're freaking me the hell out right now."

Her palms were still trembling and by this point, Evan caught on with my mother's vague behavior as he proceeded to ask her "Veronica? Are you okay?"

She looked at Evan then at me, her eyes glossy as she gripped my hands tightly in hers and jerked me forward "M-Maggie... he's here. He found out."

Perplexed, my heart started racing at her weird implication as I continued to probe her "Who is? Mom, who's here? And found out about what exactly?" I pressed on "Mom, please answer me-"

"You. He found out about you and Evan-"

But just like that, the room went silent as the clinking of a champagne glass disrupted Tiffany's speech and stopped my mother from finishing what she was about to say, making us turn around to see who caused this sudden reaction.

As soon as I did, however, I felt my heart slam against my chest like an out-of-control car swerving down the road to meet another vehicle ahead.

Met with the ear-piercing sounds of windows shattering and metal colliding with metal; that's what it felt like as the plethora of emotions burst inside of me upon seeing him.

Him. Here.

He's fucking here.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your speech, Tiffany. But I'm afraid that there's a misunderstanding."

The room was dead quiet as Tiffany remained frozen in her spot as she watched the man she's all too familiar with emerging from the crowd, his gaze narrowed and his jaw clenched as he stared back at her with a venomous look in his piercing gaze.

A look that I knew all too well, the kind that could only translate to none other than complete and utter resentment as he opened his mouth and spoke once again:

"Because no daughter of mine is engaged to anyone, much or less to your fucking son." 

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