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Wed Locked

Chapter 8: No Choice

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Knock, knock.

"Marinette?"

Slowly, Sabine opened the door to her daughter's new bedroom and peeped her head over. The sight she saw broke her heart. Her sweet baby girl, her only child, curled up on the bed, sobbing into her pillow.

"Oh, honey..."

She rushed to her daughter's bedside and sat beside her shaking, sobbing form, stroking her back in soothing motions. "Aunt Jun told me what happened. I'm so sorry."

Marinette turned her head so that it lay sideways on her pillow, showing her swollen, tear-filled blue eyes. "Its not fair, Maman. I never asked for any of this. I have to leave my home, all my friends, give all my hopes and dreams...and for what? So I can be nothing but some rich snob's baby-making trophy wife?"

Sabine sighed heavily. "Believe me, Marinette. I understand. This...This the life that I was trying to protect you from. This is why I ran away. So that I could be free to live my life the way I wished. To love who I love, be who I wanted to be, not what everyone else wanted me to be...and I wanted my children to have that same freedom."

She blinked back tears. "But I guess it was all in vain."

Marinette sniffled as she sat up. "Maman, isn't there any way I can get out of this?", she asked desperately.

"I'm afraid not.", whispered Sabine.  "Rong seemed to have learning from my running away.  He's really beefed up security since I lived here.  There's little chance we can escape the castle.  And there's an even smaller chance we can change his mind about the marriage."

Marinette stared at her lap.  "Than...I guess I have no choice.", she whimpered. "I'm gonna have to marry the prince."

Sabine hugged her daughter.  "I'm sorry that this happened to you, Marinette.  But I promise, your dad and I will be here for you, every step of the way, all the way to the altar."

Marinette hugged her back, still reeling from this sharp new turn in her path. She never imagined her life would turn out this way. She had been so worried about Lila taking all her friends away from her. But she never thought that she would be taken away from them.
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Alya stared at her phone screen. After Jun's intervention, she had tried a dozen times to call Marinette back, but the connection always failed. Clearly, Jun had demolished her devices to sever their contact. Alya wanted to scream.

How could this have happened? How could Sabine's older brother be King? More importantly, how could he be forcing Marinette to get married against her will? She knew that some cultures still practiced arranged marriages, but she had never thought one of her closest friends would have to go through one.

Why did Marinette have to marry this guy anyway, whoever he was? What did her family have to gain from legally pairing her up with some random guy they chose? They were teenagers, crying out loud! They were just barely getting a grip on puberty! And now they were expecting Marinette to be ready for a lifetime commitment?! The girl couldn't even commit to getting to school on time!

"Sis?"

She looked up to see Nora—sorry, Anasi, standing in the doorway.

"You look down in the dumps. What happened? Did Marinette not accept your apology?"

Alya winced. "She did. But its not that. I just found out something really crazy."

"What's that?"

She sighed. "Marinette just told me she's getting married."

Anasi blinked twice, then burst out laughing. "Ha ha! Good one, little sis! Marinette's getting married!"

Alya scowled at her chortling big sister. "What's so funny? Its true!"

Anasi rolled her eyes. "Nice try, Alys. But last I checked, you and your little friend are way too young to get hitched." She walked away, still chuckling under her breath. "Getting married...yeah, right."

Alya sat there, deep in thought. Her sister's quick dismissal, however irritating, had put things in perspective for her. The original plan was to go to school and tell everyone straight out about what she had discovered. But it was too unbelievable. Alya never would have believed it herself had the places been switched. Chances are, they would react the same way as Nora, and assume that Alya was just pulling their leg. Not to mention, after how Lila had fooled them all, the class would be especially skeptical of claims with no evidence.

Wait a minute...evidence...

A good reporter always checks her facts.

Alya smiled as she pulled out her computer and typed in the first of many Google searches. She had always said it. Time to act on it.