The lie

"Sophia! Sophia!! Open up immediately!" Vanessa called for her daughter as she hurried up the stairs. "What is it, Mama? Why are you calling for me that way?" Sophia moaned as she opened up to allow her mother inside.

"Take a chill pill, you are almost out of breath. Are you alright?" she said as soon as her mom entered.

"Where is your phone?" Vanessa hurried to pick up the iPhone from the bed. "Ahhh Mama! Don't touch my phone. I was trying to upload something! Can't it wait!? Oof!" She sighed as she tried collecting her phone from her mother.

"No! This one can't. You can always do it later. We have something to look up on the internet immediately" Vanessa said smiling.

"If I know you so well Mama, there is a reason you are smiling this way. Tell me" Sophia winked at her.

"You ain't gonna believe it! I am still trying to recover from it. You are getting married very soon!" Vanessa chirped. She was happy that Mr. Han hadn't brought up something that wouldn't put them in a tight situation.

Marriage? Sophia would get married to his son? It had been like a golden miracle. "Yes, we accept it" Vanessa had hurriedly replied before Reginald could recover from the proposal shock.

Then she gave him a look as if to say "don't you want your daughter to get married to a rich man?" Such proposals didn't come by every day. Reginald had replied too. "We'd be delighted to accept your offer." He hadn't expected this proposal.

"What!? Marriage?! No Mama! I won't get married. Is this one of those business partnership marriages? How am I to marry someone I don't know? I won't! You can sell Arianna off though after all she isn't useful" Sophia sulked bursting into Vanessa's introspection. Marriage was the least on her mind, especially since she had a boyfriend.

However, that wasn't for her mother to know. Who was this man? Why was her mother so excited about it? She made it look like the man was a Roman god.

"Maybe you will change your mind soon. You have to. For our sake." Vanessa said gleefully as she clicked on the Google icon.

Then she googled everything she could about Mr. Han. "Look at this man, isn't he handsome? If I weren't this old, I'd have hitched up with him" Vanessa had deftly turned the screen to Sophia's view after clicking on Alistair's name.

She sat on the bed sulking. "Aren't you gonna say anything? Just take a look at your fiance" Vanessa placed the phone in her hands.

"Oh my gosh! He's a gorgeous hunk!" Sophia drooled over Alistair's pictures as she collected her phone. "Who is this? How, Mom?" Sophia adjusted on the bed to continue looking at his pictures.

"Exactly! You see what I was saying. I knew you'd change your mind! He is Alistair Han. That man's heir. You will swim in so much wealth dear Sophia" Vanessa sat by her side as they studied Alistair's handsome features.

"Imagine getting married to this hotness, you won't have to worry about it for the rest of your life. And if I googled correctly, he would soon take over from Mr. Han. So that means you are going to have access to his wealth! Isn't that great!" Vanessa was elated.

The thought of being reckoned with such a force in the business world spiked her mood. Their family was rich but with this proposal, they would gain the respect of noblemen. Who wouldn't want to associate themselves with them when they heard of the marriage? It would be a win-win situation for them.

Their company's issues would be resolved and Sophia wouldn't have to stress herself over finding a husband. It was all too good to be true.

"Now take a good look at his net worth. Imagine such money in your control, you won't have to think about schooling again" Vanessa clicked on his estimated net worth.

Sophia's eyes widened at the amount she saw. Some men owned this money put together but one man had such an amount to his name? She smacked her lips at the thought of it.

"If he's as gorgeous as that, and he owns that large amount of money together with Han's investment. Count me in Mommy" she beamed

" Exactly! His grandfather brought up the proposal just a few minutes ago and we accepted it. Who else would get married to him other than you?"

" Not that frump, she can't handle this handsome man. I knew that you were joking about it. C'mon You are more beautiful than Arianna of course. I had to excuse myself to give you the good news. I'm so happy you are going to get married. Good tidings" Vanessa hugged her daughter.

"Married? To whom? Who would marry Sophia? Why were mother and daughter giddy?" Arianna eavesdropped at the door. She had been looking for Vanessa to ask if she could serve food already but she was nowhere to be found.

So, she came upstairs and that was when she heard the noise in Sophia's room. She was drawn to find out what was happening there. The noises of excitement had to be something big.

"Was that the reason that man came? Sophia was getting married? Who would marry that nasty bitch? Anyways it wasn't any of her business At least my work would reduce a bit" she sighed unconsciously making a noise.

Arianna was always doing one house chore or the other. Since Vanessa had stopped her schooling, her chores increased. She now even washed Sophia's clothes while Sophia FaceTimed with her friends or went on dinner dates.

If Sophia got married, she'd do her clothes herself. Maybe She could even start her lessons again. Then she could meet the guy who saved her. She had found herself thinking about him frequently.

Arianna tried to take her mind off him but it was impossible. She longed to meet him again. The memories of that night were still etched in her memory.

"What the hell are you doing here!? Were you eavesdropping on us? What about the food?" Vanessa's voice jarred her out of her thoughts.

Arianna flinched as the door opened. She had been lost in her thoughts and hadn't noticed the door open behind her. "Shit!" She muttered to herself.

She had forgotten that Vanessa had a way of appearing at odd times. Just like the night, the jerk had dropped her off. How did Vanessa know these things? Did she have a spy or there was something that always alerted her?

"I ca…me to ask if I could serve them the food already. You weren't downstairs so I had to look for you" Arianna said when she found her voice. "Go serve them and get lost!" Vanessa bellowed at her as Sophia eyed her.

"What are you still waiting for?!" Mother and daughter yelled at her in unison.

"Alright," she hurried back down the stairs into the kitchen. Why were they angry? Marriage was a good thing.

"If you had to save that company without my help, what would you do? Seeing that it was almost liquidated" Mr. Han asked Reginald.

"I really don't know. To be honest, I might have sold it to a prospective company. That way, I would get some profits to keep my family afloat. We can't afford to go bankrupt" Reginald confessed.

He wasn't a good businessman which was why he had lost a lot. His brother had been better than he was at it. It was one reason their father had passed the company down to Stephen when he had his first attack. "Stephen will handle my business better than you of course" their father had said.

That had been the straw that broke the camel's back. Reginald had…

"Well Hello there Mr. Han, good afternoon sir" Arianna tried to sound more like a host as she breezed into the living room.

Mr. Han looked up to the beautiful lady who held a tray of food. The smell wafted into the air. Seeing her on the apron, he knew that she must have cooked it. However, she looked familiar.

"Hello. How are you, young lady?" He asked her. "I'm fine, thank you" she settled the tray on the stool and moved to leave when he made a comment on her meal.

"Your food smells so nice already," Mr. Han smiled at her. Vanessa came in as soon as Ariana replied him. She couldn't stay up with Sophia for too long. "Our guest is waiting" she had left Sophia to herself.

"I hope it tastes so good, you will never forget it" she winked. Arianna had taken a liking to him already. For an old man, he definitely had a warm spirit. Sophia was lucky to have someone like this as her in-law.

"Well done Mr. Han. I hope you enjoy your meal" Vanessa strolled in as Arianna left the room. "Thank you," he replied her.

"Who is that lady who served me?" Mr. Han asked. Her sense of humor had attracted him to her immediately. He had liked her immediately especially when she had reacted to what he had said. It meant that she was smart and confident.

"You me…an that gi…rl? She is actually…" Reginald, Arianna's uncle, stuttered. He wondered what made Mr. Han ask. Was the man impressed by the way Arianna had spoken? Had he liked her?

He moved to complete his reply when Vanessa beat him to it.

She knew what Reginald was about to say and it would in no way favour their daughter seeing as that Mr. Han had even complimented Arianna. Sophia would run mad if Arianna got Alistair.

Vanessa had to do something about it so she said. "She is a maid." Arianna gasped at the lie.