Chapter 21: Sold?

Time flew by quickly and it was already Katherine's birthday, the girls arranged a very beautiful and heart warming birthday party for Katherine, they invited Katherine's family as well as Mr Smith and others. Katherine was so happy that this year she was celebrating her birthday with the people who truly care for her.

As people were enjoying the party and mingling, Tom raised a glass and hit it slightly with a fork to have everyone's attention, and everyone turned towards him and gave him their attention.

Tom then cleared his through and started his speech "As some of you know Katherine and I have been friends for more than a year now and I can tell you that this has been the most beautiful year of my life because Katherine was in it, she is a beautiful and kind hearted woman, she's smart and talented, I literally have nothing bad to say about her. I actually fell in love with her the first time I saw her but I didn't want to scare her away so I lied about being her fan, sorry Kath." And the audience laughed.

" Because of that one lie we became friends, I wanted to get know her and trust me I was not disappointed, Katherine is the most beautiful woman I ever met and her heart and soul are just as beautiful and as pure as she is" Tom continued with his speech.

Katherine was blushing when everyone's attention was on her while Tom was praising her, she was waiting for him to propose to her but she didn't think he would do it on her birthday and in front of everyone. Her eyes went wide when Tom knelt down in front of her and took out a beautiful shiny ring, he held her hand and she heard him ask.

"Katherine Kenneth, I love you so much since from the very first time i saw you, will you do me the honor of being my wife?"

Katherine felt nervous and stressed, a man was kneeling before her telling her that he loves her and wants to marry her but that man is not the man she had been in love with for more than one year, that man is not the man that invaded her dreams every single night, that man is not the man that her heart beat and yearn for.

Katherine felt pain prick her heart, her eyes stung and she almost cried at the thought of her mysterious first love, but she composed herself and cleared her throat to say.

"Yes"

Tom quickly slipped the ring on her finger and then stood up and hugged her while her friends and her family and also the other guests cheered for the couple and congratulated them.

After the party was over and all the guests have left, Tom was holding Katherine's hand while they were both sitting comfortably across each other, he looked at her and asked "is there something you would like to tell me?"

Katherine nodded her head and started "Tom, I would like us to register our marriage first and then get to know more about each other for three months before we hold any wedding ceremony. And during these three months I don't want us to consummate our marriage, I know I sound selfish Tom but if we are getting married I want to be honest with you. I'm in love with somebody else, I accidentally met him a year ago and ever since then I haven't been able to forget him."

She looked at Tom who was intently listening to her and added "I never saw him again after that and probably I would never see him again and even if I do there's less than one percent chance that me and him would end up together so I have decided to move on and give you and me a chance, I need these three months to sort out my feelings and learn to love you Tom. But I would totally understand if you don't want to marry me now after hearing that I have feelings for some other guy, I just wanted to come clean because I don't want to hurt you in any way to Tom."

Tom was shocked to hear Katherine's confession, he was totally caught off guard. After a few minutes of silence Tom smiled at Katherine and said" thank you for being honest with me Kath, I am bit shocked I'm not going to lie but since you are willing to give us a chance then I see no reason why I should not take it, I want to spend the rest of my life with you Katherine and I would try my best to make that happen. We can register our marriage whenever you are ready. "

Katherine was grateful to have such a sweet and understanding man in her life, maybe this relationship would work, she thought.

"I want us to register our marriage tomorrow Tom, but we would keep it a secret just between us and then Hannah and Stephanie until we are ready to hold a wedding ceremony. I will inform Hannah and Stephanie after we are done with the marriage registration."

Tom was beyond happy to hear that, he instantly agreed and then dropped off Katherine at her apartment with the intention of picking her up the next day to register their marriage.

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"Congratulations, you are now legally husband and wife."

Tom and Katherine left the office with their marriage certificates in hand. They walked towards the car and Tom opened the door for her and Katherine thanked him before she entered.

"So Mrs Thomas do you want to go to a restaurant to have lunch or do you want me to cook for you?" asked Tom.

Katherine blushed and replied "I would like to go to my favorite restaurant please, you can cook for me some other time. "

"Yes ma'am. Hey are you okay? Didn't you sleep last night" Tom asked Katherine when he noticed the dark circles and eye bags under her eyes.

"Yeah... I heard it's normal to lose some sleep when one is getting married the next day" Katherine replied.

She barely had any sleep last night because she had a strange dream or nightmare, in that dream her mysterious first love held her hand and was begging her not to leave him, she was about to go and hug him when suddenly someone grabbed her other hand and threw her in a dark hole filled with snakes, she shot out of bed covered in sweat and since then she wasn't able to go back to sleep.

After having lunch at the restaurant Katherine and Tom were back in the car, "Did you inform Hannah and Stephanie that we registered our marriage?" Tom casually asked Katherine

"No, I haven't told anyone yet, I will do that tomorrow when we meet" came the honest reply of Katherine.

"Good, I want to spend a peaceful time with you today. How about we both switch off our phones so that nobody can disturb us?" Tom suggested.

Katherine agreed and then after that, Tom took her on a date, their first date as husband and wife. They went to different places and Katherine couldn't deny that she had fun, Tom was considerate of her celebrity status so he didn't take her to public or crowded places.

After their date they went to the nearest restaurant to have their dinner because they both were hungry.

When they concluded their dinner and were back in the car Tom looked at Katherine and said "Kath let's annul our marriage, after spending time together today I realized that I moved too fast and I was selfish and inconsiderate of your feelings, I realized that it's breaking your heart to be married to someone you don't love and I don't want to burden you like that. I love you and your happiness matters to me more than anything."

Katherine was beyond shocked to hear that, she asked him several times if he was seriously okay with that and when he assured her that he was fine with it they quickly drove to the office and just before the office closes they were able to successfully annul their marriage.

Tom offered to take Katherine home and she agreed, he started the car and began to drive, when Katherine noticed that they were not heading towards her apartment she asked him "where are we going?" He smiled and said, it's a surprise, you will see.

It was a long drive and Katherine's curiosity grew, when he finally stopped the car, as they got out Katherine noticed it was a very secluded place, it looked like a picnic spot for couples who wanted to get way from the public only that there was no one there.

Katherine was looking around when she noticed a black van stopped a few meters behind them and two scary looking men stepped out and walked towards their direction.

Katherine felt scared, she turned to look at Tom and said "Tom I don't think this place is safe, please let's leave."

Tom only looked at her and casually said "the people I sold you to are here to take you, quietly follow them so that they wouldn't hurt you too much."

"Hahaha, very funny. I'm really not in the mood for any pranks right now Tom so let's just call it a day, you can prank me some other time, I'm tired today" Said Katherine because she didn't believe what Tom had said to her

When the men finally reached their place, they instantly grabbed Katherine harshly and tied her hands behind her back tightly.

Katherine winced and cried out in pain but the men didn't care and neither did Tom. They nodded their heads to Tom and was about to drag Katherine away when she realized that this situation was serious.

She began to call out for Tom asking him to help her but he only evilly smiled at her and said "Be a good girl and follow them, i told you it would be less painful."

"Tom you are not serious right? This is a joke right?? Please Tom make them stop, that's enough please" Katherine begged Tom again. She couldn't believe what was suddenly happening to her, sold? Tom sold her? How? Why?

All these questions started floating in her head and before she could say anything more one of the guys hit her head and she immediately fell unconscious.