My Kind of Perfect (9 page)

“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 and
easily got along with people? Do I need to remind him again? Well, I guessed he
already knew about that fact. We were kind of close back then.

“Wait. Are you really sure that you want to do this?” He
turned around to ask me.

“Yes. Do I look like I’m kidding?”

“No.” He shook his head lightly. “I know you were kind of
superstitious before. I just never thought that—“

“I’m going to do this, okay? I’m dead serious that I want to
ask your utmost forgiveness and make it up with you. Lead the way. Let’s go
meet your grandma.”

He led me to a room down the corridor. I stared in awe when
I got inside. The place was finely furnished not to mention that everything
seemed to be sparkling. This was the first time I had seen a luxury room. I
suddenly wanted to just freeze in place and not touch anything. I might not be
able to afford it if I’d break something.

“My grandma is in the other room,” said John, snapping me
off my thoughts.

“Huh?” I said, caught off guard. “Oh, right.”

Then he opened the door of one room and greeted someone.
After a while, a figure came out of the door. She was an old lady with face
drawn upon by the road map of time. Beauty was eminent in her gray eyes. Her
stance was well off compared to women of her age. She walked straight to me and
cupped my face with both of her hands.

“It’s so good to finally meet you,” she said in a warm
voice.

She was the epitome of the word ‘grandmother’—ideal, kind,
and gentle. If my grandmother was alive, I was certain that she would have had
treated me this way.

“Uhmm... hi,” I replied, feeling awkward with all the sudden
warmth of her touch.

She took off her hands off my face and started to laugh. I
was quite startled by it, especially the fact that I had no clue why she was
laughing. I turned to John for some help but I saw that he was also laughing
quietly on one side. Laughing must have had run in their family. It was like
they loved to laugh out of nowhere.

“I’m sorry, kiddo. I just wanted to try that and see how you
will respond,” John’s grandma said to me in between the laughs.

“Pardon?” I asked, clueless.

“My name is Dorothy Brooks. I’m this little punk’s
grandmother,” she said as she pointed to John.

Okay, so her warm and loving grandmother aura a little while
ago suddenly disappeared to netherworld. And here I was, standing in front of a
spunky old lady.

“I’m Kayla. Kayla Wilson. Pleasure to meet you, Madam,” I
told her.

She laughed again before she answered, “Call me Dorothy. No
need to sound all formal. We’re soon going to be family!”

I nodded and said, “Right. And it’s nice to meet you,
Dorothy.”

“So she’s the one, huh. I can say that you’ve made a good
choice. That’s why you kept your relationship a secret. I can now see why,” she
said while examining me.

“Yeah, I guess it has been that way, Grandma,” answered
John.

“So dear, you have your passport with you?” asked Dorothy.

“Passport?” I asked. Why did she suddenly ask for my passport?
Were we going to travel somewhere? And the wedding was up tomorrow.

Downstairs.

There wasn’t really any need for passports.

“And driver’s license,” she added, holding one hand in the
air asking me to give it to her right away.

“What for?” I asked, confused.

“Your marriage license, you two will be wed tomorrow. We’re
running out of time. We need that license,” she reasoned out.

Oh, wait! What marriage license? There were no papers in our
agreement earlier. I turned my gaze to John who was standing behind Dorothy. He
mouthed the words, “Don’t give it to her.”

‘Why, if that’s the case, do
something!’
I wanted to shout to him but I couldn’t since Dorothy was
standing in front of me right now.

“Well, you must surely have it knowing that you two don’t
have your marriage license yet,” she said while raising one of her eyebrows.

“I don’t...” I was about to say when her cellphone rang and
she picked it up.

“Yes, Nate. She’s here. Come up this instant,” she ordered
the guy on the other line. I put down my bag on the sofa and slipped away to
the corner, pulling John with me.

“What is this about? I thought that there are no papers,” I
hissed, demanding for an explanation.

“Once my grandma sets her mind into something, she won’t
stop until she gets it. I still haven’t figured out how to get out of this one.
But don’t give it to her. At all cost, don’t let her get your IDs. She already
has mine,” John whispered back to me.

“Oh, here it is,” said Dorothy from behind.

Startled, we both looked back quickly. I gasped when I saw
the small booklet she was holding in her hand together with my driver’s
license. My innocent passport and unused driver’s license.

“Wait, that’s my...” I protested.

“I just got it out for you. Save you all the trouble,” she
said as she zipped back my bag. For freaking out loud, who gave her the
permission to look into my bag? Dorothy turned back and answered the door which
was ringing for quite a while.

I hastily looked at John who was also shocked at what his
grandmother did. “Hey, snap out of it! Why did she do that? Doesn’t she know
the meaning of the word privacy?”

“I’m sorry, Kaye. My grandma can be horrifying at times. Can
you just let it pass? She’s really in a fragile condition right now. Her health
is unstable. But don’t worry. We’ll tear that marriage license apart once the
ceremony is over so just pretend some more. For a while,” he muttered back to
me.

“Fine. You just make sure that the freaking marriage license
won’t be taken back to the clerk’s office after the wedding,” I grumbled. And
unstable? Who was he kidding? Look how lively the old lady was.

He silently nodded.

Then after a while, I saw a man came in. After which Dorothy
motioned for us to move along. She didn’t leave our side all the way out,
holding our precious IDs in her hand. As the engine revolted, next thing that
happened was that we were already on our way to where office might be. John was
silent but you could see that he was still shocked especially with all those
unbelieving stares he gave his grandmother. And for me, I squished the handle
of my bag to contain my annoyance with what was going on. Her grandmother was
singing wedding songs all the way, and didn’t even notice what John and I were
doing at the back seat of the car.

“Aren’t you two excited for tomorrow?” she happily chirped
as we entered the clerk’s office.

No. Clearly not.

And the next thing I knew, we were down at the clerk’s
office and filling up the form. I annoyingly tapped on the paper as we filled
in the necessary details. John was quite unmoved by now. There was no more tint
of shock on his face. He was now calm and composed. Oh, I forgot that he even
did consider marrying a stranger. So maybe he didn’t mind all this.

But surely I did. If this wasn’t necessary, I wouldn’t be
doing this at all.

I took another peek at the papers we were filling and
convinced myself that this was just a license and it was not a marriage
contract yet. And John said that we would tear this one apart after the
ceremony. No harm done.

I breathed in and exhaled.

‘Relax,’
I constantly
reminded myself as the papers were being processed. After several minutes, the
marriage license came out. Of which both John and I grabbed with a shrug. I
looked at him and he smiled apologetically. I rolled my eyes but pulled it
back—reminded of my luck.

I gave him a half-smile instead.

As we were all walking out, I saw the lady sitting beside us
left her newspaper. It was opened at the horoscope section.

This is the least favorable times to make any sort of
decision. Don’t sign a contract, as your communication with other people is
likely to be filled with nothing but plain misunderstanding.

“No one who’d recognize me was invited, right?” I asked him
again for the hundredth time by now. His ears might already be burning from my
endless inquiries. But I hadn’t got a care. First thing was first. I needed to
make sure that I wouldn’t be recognized by anyone.

“Yes, all of them are my business colleagues,” he answered.

Well, I already figured that one out. I was pretty certain
that no one from our common circle would go to John “Nerd” Brooks’ wedding. It
was a huge, like all the way top of the highest mountain, favor that I was
going to attend his wedding. And not to mention a bonus that I would be playing
that bridal part. Well, he must have had gone handsome over the years. But
really, what he used to do way back then was horrifying. Sometimes, when I
looked at him, I was still seeing a bow-tie in place of the neckties he now
used.

“No media whatsoever. I can’t afford to be the cover of the newspaper
tomorrow morning,” I said to John who was on the other line, twisting the hotel
phone in my hands. If I would be the cover of the newspaper, I would like it to
be someone else—not a replacement bride. Like for example:
Kayla Wilson Saves the World
.

You know, that kind of stuff.

“Of course. It is a private wedding after all. I’ll make
sure of that,” he replied, typically irritated this time around.

“Good, as long as you do it right,” I said before hanging
up. I put down the phone on the table and lay myself down on the sofa once
more. After a while, I heard that knock on the door again.

“Miss, are you ready?” asked a courteous voice coming from
outside.

“I’ll be there in a minute,” I said as I continued sulking
on the sofa.

I was still refusing to come out for about fifteen minutes
by now and the wedding was supposed to start in about five more. The pounding
on the door became heavier as the one who was supposed to pick me up was
probably worried that he would be cut off his job if he wouldn’t bring me on
time.

I pulled my legs up and placed it on the table. I gathered
my wedding gown and pulled it above my legs. No one was around anyway and I was
starting to feel uncomfortable with this big dress that hovered around my body.
My elbow suddenly nudged something and it fell on the floor. I looked at the
opened page of the magazine. And just as if it was directly speaking to me, it
was unfolded to the horoscope section.

Try to reach out a little further than usual today. If you’re
feeling low today, all you need to do is to explore new territory and do
something unusual. Your urge to resolve things will be rewarded richly today.

I forced back a laugh as I read the last part. I realized
that I could be rich if I would go on with this wedding for real. We didn’t
sign any prenuptial agreement anyway. The offer was tempting but I had no plan
to take it. I just wanted a real wedding and a real husband for myself.

Was it that hard for my earnest wish to be granted?

The pounding on the door grew heavier again. And by now, the
crowd must be wondering where the bride was. Well, if they really wanted an
answer, here she was—eating a bar of chocolate and chilling out. I flipped the
pages of the magazine some more as I happily sipped in the orange juice that
was delivered to me a while ago.

“Miss, you should be down in a minute,” the voice said for
the third time by now.