Marriage by Law (28 page)

"Maybe he's with his secretary, probably doing 
paperwork
," said James as he reached for a glass of water, pointedly staring at me. I matched his gaze. The way he said it implied at something else and for some strange reason, I felt something stir in me. 

 "What's Le term de couleurret," I said, failing miserably at pronouncing it. 

"
Le terme de couleur
 
is the colour run. It’s a 5-kKm run or walk where we run to raise money. As Darius and I are the sponsors, we are required to be there."

"What's with the white?"

"Colour run, hence we will be pelted with colour," said Adrian, snatching the danish out of my hand. I glared at him as he smiled and popped it into his mouth. That was 
my
 
danish. 

"Alright, let's head down," said my father. Aren't we waiting for Darius?

They stood up heading out the door and I hurried after them before they left me in the long confusing corridor.

"Wh –"

"Don't worry, your 
husband
 
will join us after he's done with the secretary," whispered James as I walked by. I scooted away from him, giving him a glare as I caught up with Adrian who was already in the elevator. 

Secretary? Is Darius having an affair? Who was I kidding? Of course he was. Has anyone even seen him? The secretary would probably be younger, prettier, skinnier and sexier than me. Of course, I should be expecting this the whole time.

But what if he isn't? I mean he could have taken a business call or something, somewhere where there was no hot secretary. The elevator binged, knocking my thoughts out. Am I jealous?

I felt an arm around me and looked up to see Adrian pulling me along with him. "Don't worry. His secretary isn't as hot as you," he said, winking. I glared at him. Great. Was this meant to make me feel better?

"Come on, we have a big day. As the sponsor's wife, you have to run and keep up," said Adrian as he pushed me into the limo. I groaned. Running isn't what I do. 

The ride there was quicker than I thought and the city was blocked off with wires and security standing. 

"Holy crap," I muttered, realising how many people were lining up all dressed in white, from babies to old folks with canes.

"Yea, it's a popular event," Adrian explained from beside me. 

"Do we have one of these?" I asked, thinking that the name sounded very familiar. 

"You bet we do. Come on, there's Darius." Adrian opened the door as soon as the limo stopped. Grabbing my hand, he pulled me out and dragged me to where Darius was standing with a group of people. He was talking rapidly in, wait, French? He speaks French?

He looked over nodding at us before finishing off whatever he was saying and walked over to us.

"Ready?" he asked, smiling. Adrian nodded and pulled out something from under his shirt and squirted Darius with it. A huge splash of orange stained his shirt and I stared open-mouthed as Adrian laughed. 

"Got you, old guy." 

"Where did you get that?" snapped Darius, grabbing the bottle off his cousin. It looked like powder paint that was stuffed in sauce bottles. 

"Grabbed it off a volunteer. Come on, it's starting," said Adrian and sprinted away. I looked from the orange stripe to Darius and back.

"This is nothing compared to what we'll look like at the end," Darius explained while grabbing my hand. "Come on."

"And, um, what will we be looking like at the end?" I asked as he tucked my arm into his, pulling me behind a bunch of other people.

"A smurf or an oompa loompa, take your pick," he said, winking down at me. Before it even registered, a loud siren sounded that had many people screaming and started running. I swore under my breath as I got pushed by people in a hurry.

"What on earth is their problem?" I muttered under my breath, but apparently loud enough for Darius to hear. 

"It’s either that or look behind you."

I raised an eyebrow and looked over my shoulder at all the people running. I got a glimpse over them to see what they were running at, or 
from
 
in this case, people in coloured shirts holding more sauce bottles squirting colour at people.

"Oh lord," I muttered before turning around to stare at Darius who was watching all this. He was very amused. 

"Let's go. Don't just stand there!"

"You're not very good at this, are you?"

"Shut up," I snapped, blindly swatting his chest as he laughed at me. This was probably our fourth stop after we started and who knew how long it was. And every time we stopped, the colour squirters caught up to us. That was why I was no longer wearing a white shirt but rather a more purple shade mixed with squirts of yellow here and there.

"Come on, time for the zones," said Darius, grabbing my hand and pulling me. I tried ignoring the fact that he was holding my hand but it was hard, and maybe he was just holding it because judging by the way people were pushing past us, he didn't want to get separated. But even then it made something flutter in my stomach. 

"Zones?" I asked after I found my voice again. 

"Colour zone, that," he said, raising a hand to point at something. I looked up to see something more like a dust storm, but as we got closer, I realised it was more coloured people squirting colours. I groaned and tried slowing down but Darius pulled me harder.

"It's not that bad. It gets better," he said, laughing at what was probably my face. 

"You know if I get asthma I am going to blame you."

"More for Ma to yell at me," he said, wincing.

"Where is Ma?"

"She's on her holiday. Now come on. A piece of advice: close your mouth."

"What? Wh-" I realised why. I got a squirt of powder paint in my mouth. I gasped, tugging my hand out of his and lifting up my shirt and wiping my tongue. That was horrible. It was like the colour was flying everywhere and it didn't help that it was making it hard to see where you were going. 

I turned around, realising Darius was gone only to collide face first into a chest, sending me staggering back.

"Oh, sorry, girl. Didn't see you there," said a guy with a beard that was more red than grey. And who was he calling little girl? I opened my mouth to say something but the guy was gone and instead a woman said something in fast French to me. Judging by the look in her face and the fact that she pushed me aside, I believe she was annoyed.

"I guess people aren't friendly. Hey, keep that away from my face!" I snapped at a kid who was holding a sauce bottle. The teen broke out laughing and squirted at me, right on the nose. I shut my mouth and turned away from the spray. I held my breath and I saw an amused person on the sidelines. 

Darius.

He was trying not to laugh as I walked, head down, toward him. "Having fun?" 

"Shut up and walk," I muttered, grabbing his arm and dragging him. I had enough colour to last me a life time.

How long can five kilometres be? It seemed to be going on forever. 

"At this rate we'll never be done," I told him, realising at some point that even the squirters ran past us, giving up after spraying us. 

"That's because you keep taking a break," he replied as I sat down on the ground. I waved a hand, wiping my face which was probably coated in three layers of colour. Darius smiled with a shake of his head and sat down beside me. 

"You look like an oompa loompa," I commented, seeing all the orange on him. He laughed at that as he ran a hand through his hair, sending orange dust into the air.

"You look like a smurf," he retorted. "Actually, more like a rainbow smurf." He cracked a smile. 

"So how far away is the finish line?" I said, as even the old people walked by us. 

"Three kilometres." 

I groaned. I can't walk another three kilometres. 

"It's five kilometres." 

"Yea, but for someone who hasn't run, in over a decade, it's hard work, unlike for you. You hit the gym every day." 

"How do you know that?"

"Rose," I snapped, waving a hand as my stomach grumbled. 

"Hungry?"

"Duh. I haven't had proper food ever since you showed up," I snapped then realised what it sounded like. I lifted my gaze to his confused one.

"I, eh, mean, like, all you rich people keep eating seafood and I sort of hate seafood," I said. Damn. When I am hungry or sleepy, I usually get snappy. Realising what I had just said made me feel bad, really bad.

"Why didn't you just say something then?" He stood up. I scrambled to my feet, dusting the powder off my leggings.

"I- You- Okay, you were pretty scary when you came home," I admitted. He barely even knew my name then. I looked up, expecting to see him angry or something. But there was an amused grin on his face.

"What's so funny?"

"Come on. Let's get you some food," he said, grabbing my arm and tucking it under his.

I noticed the big blockades around. "The only way out is through the finish line."

"Or you sponsor the event. Come on." 

He tugged me behind for a few more metres before I saw the security guard he waved over. Muttering something in French, I saw the guard look over at me, cracking a grin. What was he saying? 

The guard stepped back and opened the door, ushering us through. 

"What did you say?" I asked as Darius pulled me away from the event.

"That's for me to know. Now, how about some French cuisine?"

"As long as you don't feed me snails, I don't
 
care
 
what I eat," I said, patting my stomach. A good hard meal awaits me.