Snare of Love

"Lola, marriage could not be taken lightly. Mom forbids you to do that." Jessica more or less knew the reason Dolores did that. Dolores placed the lunchbox on the cabinet beside the bed. She carried the food to her while saying, "At least I didn't marry any stranger. It's your friend's son."

"She's passed away a long time ago, and I know nothing about her son. Even if it means breaking my promise, I'll rather you marry someone you take fancy to, instead of using the marriage as a bargaining chip. I'll rather stay here for the rest of my life."

Someone she took fancy to? Even if she did meet the one in the future, she no longer had the right to do so. She lowered her head. It did not matter who she would marry, what was important was to take back everything that had been seized away.

Jessica did not manage to convince Dolores to change her mind and both of them returned to their home country the next day. Randolph disgusted both of them and refused to let them step into the Flores house. Instead, he let them rented a house outside and Dolores needed only return during the wedding day. Dolores did not want to return home too as her mother would need to face the home-wrecker who ruined her marriage. It was better to stay away from the house for the sake of tranquility.

Jessica was still worried. "Lola, if it's a good marriage, they wouldn't have given this chance to you, even if Mrs. Nelson and I were friends..." Dolores did not want to talk about that with her mother anymore and she digressed, "Mom, come have something to eat." Jessica sighed. It was obvious Dolores refused to talk about that. She had lived a hard life with her and now she even had to sacrifice her marriage. Dolores held the chopsticks in her hand yet she did not have a single appetite and there was a continual rush of disgust. "Are you okay?" Jessica asked out of care. Dolores did not want to let her worry about her and she lied that she lost appetite from long hours of flight. She then put down the chopsticks and entered her room.

After closing the door, she leaned against it. Although she had not gotten pregnant before, she had seen how Jessica looked like when she was pregnant - she had always felt disgusted and had no appetite to eat. It was exactly how she looked like at the moment.

It had been a month since that night and her period had not come for more than ten days. She did not dare to think of it further. That night was already humiliating enough. If it was not for her mother and her brother, she would not betray herself. She shivered all over...

"You're pregnant. It's six weeks old." After getting out of the hospital, the doctor's words kept on lingering on in her mind. It was the result when she went for a checkup at the hospital without informing Jessica. She had a mixed feeling and was frustrated. She did not know what to do. Should she give birth to the child or abort it? Her hand inevitably covered her lower abdomen. Although she felt surprised and even humiliated, she was actually unwilling to give it away. There was the joy of first becoming a mother, and hope. She was in a daze.

After getting back to her residence, Dolores only opened the door after hiding the ultrasound scanning picture of the baby. However, upon noticing Randolph was there too, she pulled a long face at once. What was he doing here? Randolph did not look good too and it seemed to be because she had made him wait for a long time. He spoke coldly. "Go change your clothes."

Dolores frowned. "Why?"

"Since you're going to marry the eldest son of the Nelson family, you're gonna have to meet him sooner or later." He looked at her from head to toes and continued. "Are you gonna wear this thing to meet him? Are you trying to embarrass me?"

What does pain feel like? She wondered. She thought betraying herself and her brother's death had hurt her so much until she felt nothing. Yet upon hearing Randolph's cruel words, she realized her heart still hurt, and she did feel it. He had sent her and her mother to a poorer Western country and did not care for her ever since. Where could she get the money? If she had the money, how would her brother die due to delayed treatment? Her hands which were placed at her sides were clenched into fists. As if having thought of that, Randolph's expression became slightly embarrassed and he said, "Let's go. The Nelson family should have arrived now, we can't let them wait."

"Lola..." Jessica was worried and she still wanted to persuade Dolores. She had lost her son and she wanted to take good care of her daughter now. Money did not matter anymore. She did not want her daughter to be with the Flores family anymore, nor the Nelson family. The world of the rich was complicated and she still did not know what kind of man the eldest son of the Nelson family was. She was truly worried.

"Mom." Dolores gave her a consoling look to appease her. "Move now." Randolph urged her impatiently. Feeling afraid she would change her mind, he even gave her a push. He could not grow fond of her and Dolores did not have any feeling towards him too. The kinship between them had vanished in the eight-year time.

Dolores's clothes were shabby and since it was the Nelson family she was going to meet, Randolph brought her to a high class boutique that sold women clothes to buy her a decent dress. Upon entering the boutique, they were greeted by a salesperson. Randolph pushed Dolores forward and said, "Find her anything she can wear." The salesperson looked at her from head to toes to gauge her size and said, "Follow me." She then took a long, light blue dress and handed it to her. "Try this in the changing room." Dolores took it over and headed towards the changing room.

"Matthew, must you marry the woman from the Flores family?" A woman spoke with an aggrieved voice. Having heard the voice out of the blue, Dolores looked towards the room beside her. From the gap, she could see a woman putting her arms around a man's neck and was talking with a cute voice. "Can you not marry other woman?" Matthew Nelson stared at the woman with a helpless look. It was a marriage arranged by his mother and he could not decline it. Yet having remembered what happened that night, he could not bear to disappoint her. "Did it really hurt that night?"

One month ago, he had travel abroad to a backward country to investigate a case, and was then bitten by a snake that stirred one's lust. The snake venom was very strong and if he did not vent his libido to a woman, he would die of intense heat. It was Helen White who became his antidote.

He knew how hard it was to control himself during that time. Everyone said that it hurt when women first having sex, and he had never cherish their first intercourse, therefore it was conceivable how painful she would feel back then. Yet she had endured it well and had never let out a single voice. She only trembled in his arms.

Helen had always liked him, and he knew that. Yet he had never given her a chance. Firstly, it was because he did not love her. Secondly, his mother had decided a marriage for him. Yet Helen had always kept him company quietly at his side, and since that night, he felt that he should give this woman some recognition. He could still remember how dazzling the blood puddle was after the sex.

Helen leaned against his chest. She slightly lowered her eyes and let out a shy mourn. She liked Matthew and had always stayed by his side as his secretary all these years, yet she was already not a virgin a long time ago. She could not let him know about that as she understood too well how much a man cared about a woman's virginity. Therefore, she had spent large amount of money that night to find and send a girl who was still a virgin to the room through a local of the town. After the girl left, she then entered the room to pretend it was her that night. "If you like the clothes here, you can buy more of them," Matthew rubbed her hair and said lovingly.

"That's for VIP, you can't go in. Please go to the one at the right." The salesperson reminded Dolores. For a high class boutique like that, every changing room was isolated from each other and the changing room was even of higher class for the VIPs. Besides the inner space for clothes changing in the changing room, there was an outer space for friends to wait or rest. Dolores grunted as an answer and headed to the room at the right while holding her dress. As she was changing, she still thought of the man and woman just now. They seemed to have mentioned the Flores family. Could it be that the man was...00000000