Davina's POV
"Hey babe, you need to come down here quickly!" Eren's voice sounded from the other end of the call— laced with urgency.
I could hear him sniffling his tears from the other end, and it made my heart sink deeply into my chest. Despite the blaring cold from the air conditioner in my office, my insides felt as if they had been set on fire.
I immediately began to fret, I tried to keep calm but the pain in Eren's voice wasn't helping.
"Wha....what's the matter?!" I stuttered as I clutched the phone with both hands.
"We need you right away babe, it's urgent, you need to come down here now!" The urgency in his voice was palpable and the intensity was aggravating in its degrees.
"Eren, Eren, I need you to tell me what's going on?!" I yelled into the phone but his line immediately went dead, which only threw me further into a whirlpool of confusion he had created with his call.
"Oh my goodness, what must have happened?!" I let out, tension dripping from the edge of my voice. I dropped my phone subconsciously on the floor and popped out of my chair to search for my car keys but it seems as if the more I searched, the more they seemed to taunt me with their inexplicable absence.
"Where are those damn keys?!" I yelled out in a state of frenzy, throwing everything I could lay my hands on out of my way.
After searching for it for what seemed like an eternity, I found it lying underneath the files that I had arranged to submit to my boss. I cursed under my breath and grabbed it hurriedly from the table, hurting myself in the process with its sharp edges. But the vibration that coursed through my veins as a result of the pain was nothing compared to the anguish that ravaged me.
I grabbed my cracked phone from the floor and my purse from the table before I stood up and made my way out of the office quickly. I got into my car and signaled frantically to the security guard to open up the gates for me.
"Open up the damn gate!" I yelled into his face. I knew he wanted to ask what the emergency was but I didn't want to waste any more time here.
The security guard did as I told him and I immediately drove out of the office. I tried to steady my breathing as I drove at maximum speed, not minding if I was going against the speed limit or not, I just wanted to get to Eren as soon as possible.
His voice—his voice had sounded like someone was dying or he was in danger, I couldn't tell which one it was but it was obvious that something dire had just happened.
I clutched my chest with both hands when I got to a stop while I waited for the traffic light to turn green. Fighting back the tears that threatened to fall from my eyes, I prayed fervently to whoever was there to listen to protect Eren until I got there, i wouldn't be able to bear the news if something bad should befall Eren, I loved him too much and there was no extent I wouldn't go to just to please Eren, including leaving the office without prior notice knowing that I could get fired for it.
I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized that I had gotten to Eren's house already. I immediately got out of my car and hurried inside the house while screaming his name like a mad woman.
"Eren, Eren, are you okay?...where are you?!" I continued to yell at the top of my voice, scanning the area for my baby.
"We're here, Davina!"
I spun around at the sound of my best friend's voice.
"Stacy?" I called out with a questioning tone, there was a look of anguish drooping down from her features While Eren was in tears.
"What's going on?" I asked dropping my things on the table.
"Today's my brother's wedding and his bride just bailed on him—she ran away." Eren spilled and wiped his face with his forearm.
"Oh my!" I clamped a hand over my mouth. "That's sad, how could she do something like that?" I let out, trying as much as I could to not let my disappointment slip out.
"I don't know what I'm going to do now, how am I supposed to fix this mess? I was the one who had arranged for the lady to get married to my brother, Lucian, and now, she has vanished." Eren clutched his head with both hands and cried out more.
"It's a taboo in our family for the bride to abandon her groom on their wedding day. This is all my fault, I'm Ill luck!"
"Shhhsh, don't say that, you're not I'll luck, okay, you did a great job in finding a wife for Lucian but it wasn't your fault that she bailed on him." I put my hand over his shoulder and said. As I tried to console Eren, I fought back the urge to ask if this was the reason he had sounded so desperate over the phone and left me at the verge of losing my sanity when he had called me while I was still at the office.
"I'm here now, so dry your tears and tell me what you plan to do next."
"I...I don't know..." Eren stuttered.
"Tell me, my love, we have to do something." I tried sounding supportive.
"Well uhm." He cleared his throat before he started. "I have to find a substitute for him as soon as possible but I don't have enough money for that. I can't ask Lucian for money because of what I've done..." His voice faltered and I was waiting for him to go on but it seemed he was waiting for my response.
"So what do you intend to do now," I asked with genuine concern etched in my voice.
"Babe, I want you to be the substitute…." Eren said without hesitation but he hadn't gotten all his words out before I jumped to my feet.
"What?!" I yelled out. "What the hell are you talking about, how could you ask me to do such a thing?!."
"I beg of you, just do this for me, please...I'm in deep shit right now, and there's nothing else I can do." Eren clasped his hand in front of me.
"Just do this for me, Davina, I would be forever indebted to you if you do!" Eren said with a pleading gaze.
"What you are asking me to do is impossible, Eren and you know it." I spat out, "What if someone at the wedding finds out that we are in a relationship?"
"No one is even going to recognize you because you'll be wearing a veil all through. My father's company has a lot of fashion companies that are ready to partner with you to change your complete outlook, you'd be unrecognizable. And besides if you do this, my brother is going to compensate us heavily."
"And...and if you do this for me...my parents will so be so relieved and they will approve of our Marriage later on," Eren added.
I felt my heart skip a beat at the mention of I and Eren getting married—this was the first time he had mentioned marriage to me since the inception of our relationship of almost five years.
"I don't know..." I tried to say but Eren hushed me by placing his index finger on my lips.
"Please babe, just do this....for me at least." Eren pleaded and there was no way I could turn down his request at this point besides Eren had been secretive about his family and this was probably the only chance I would get to know more about his family.
"Alright...I agree it." I hadn't gotten all my words before Eren wrapped his hands around me and pulled me into him in a warm embrace.
"Thank you, so much, babe, you don't know what this means to me!" He let out, releasing me hurriedly.
"I would have to go and inform my brother about the change!" He said and kissed me passionately on the lips before he rushed out of the house.
I stared until Eren had disappeared from the house. Why was I suddenly having this gut wrenching in my belly.
"I have a very bad feeling about this!" I muttered under my breath