6. The Legal Papers

"Remember everything I told you. Follow my instructions. When lights go off at the Church, hide somewhere or runaway, okay?" Samara reminded me.

I nodded wordlessly. I was almost ready in her wedding dress, ready to be at her place in front of her groom.

She fixed the veil, covering my face through it, "Do not think you're trusting me because we both are trusting each other. I chose you to handle everything here so don't let this occasion get ruined. I'm trusting you Sanaya. I hope you won't get caught."

The shock, the fright took my voice away so I couldn't respond to her words. My insides were petrified and my mind was no more working at all. It was blank – completely blank. Samara was forcing me to be a part of her fraud. I was still not willing, still not sure that I would come out of this situation safe and sound.

She moved away from me, took her purse from the bed and wished me luck one last time and afterwards left the room, left me all alone. Hesitantly, I turned towards the mirror to see my reflection. The bright white wedding dress was simple, yet elegant with a sweetheart neckline and lace sleeves. It hugged my body perfectly, defining my curves before flaring out into a subtle skirt-style.

I recalled the argument of Ashar and Samara that I overheard few weeks ago. This dress was Katherine Hobsons's design. I didn't understand why Samara disliked it. It was beautiful. The thick, white, double veil she fixed on my face was long from behind and shorter from front. It was thin enough for me to see everything, but thick enough for everyone to not to notice the different face. People could only see through my skin color and obscure look of me, surely couldn't find out the deception.

This veil would work as my rescuer until Samara would be back, but I don't know what I would do if someone ask me to move up the veil. My heart ached as once again strong wave of fear hit me. Taking deep breaths, I tried to divert my mind. I put up the light fabric from my face and ambled close to the mirror. My eyes widened to its full length when I saw my reflection. I couldn't recognize the face I was looking at.

Samara's makeup and hair style techniques were near to professional. My already big eyes were looking bigger due to light smoky eye makeup. My lips were perfectly shaped and coated with bright pink coral shade. My overall face skin was radiating with a lightest pink hue as if I was blushing. I looked good. I looked beautiful. She had rolled all of my hair above my head and adjusted the long veil on them.

Someone else's wedding dress was fitting perfectly on my body as if it was made for me. The way I was looking right now, I felt like a real bride momentarily. But, the goosebumps on my arms pulled me back to reality and reminded me that this was someone else's wedding. Whatever things I was wearing were not mine.

I pulled down the veil again on my face and moved around to avoid looking at my reflection. The few soft knocks on the door startled me to the highest level possible. My face turned white, draining all of my blood from there.

My heart thumped in my chest in response to the knock. This fear in me would be the death of me. Involuntarily, I sat back on the bed, rubbing my sweaty palms together. The continuous knocking took away all of my strength.

With trembling and weak legs, I padded to the door and opened it a little, "Yes?"

"Miss Samara, sorry to disturb you, but your father has sent you some papers. You need to sign them right now." I heard the female voice from the other side of the door.

"What...papers?" I stammered.

"These are the legal documents of your marriage. Take this and sign them. I'm waiting outside for you." She extended her arm through the little space between the door and the door frame. I saw the black file folder her hand was holding.

I took it immediately and locked the door. Looking at it closely, I grumbled, "What am I supposed to do with this?"

I tossed the folder on the bed and grabbed my phone. I called Samara. She saved her number in my phone so that we could contact each other in case if something would go wrong.

"What?" She snapped after picking up my call.

"When are you coming back?"

"Did you call me to ask that? I'm driving. I told you I'll be back soon. Now, hang up." Her rude tone brought a frown on my face.

"No, wait... There's a woman outside the room, gave me some papers to sign them. It's your father who sent them." I explained.

"Oh God, what papers?"

"She said its legal papers related to your marriage."

"I'm so fucked up. Leave them there. I'm calling Dad."

She hung up on me. Frustration filled in me. I shouldn't have come here today. I shouldn't have thought to help Katherine. Who knew that I would end up becoming a bride of this house?

Few minutes later, door was knocked again. That same woman spoke, "Miss Samara, I just talked with your father on call. He said you can take your time. I'm leaving, okay?"

Thank Goodness. I heaved a sigh of relief. Samara had taken care of that problem. Now I had to only wait for her to come back and set me free from this fearful situation. I would then completely forget about this day, this dress, this wedding and pretend to be oblivious about all of this for the rest of my life.

I thought of only positive things to regain my audacity. But then, my bad luck – I heard another knock on the door. I looked myself in the mirror, fixed my veil properly and walked towards the door.

"Who?" I yelled.

"It's me. Katherine." I heard the faint voice from the other side of the door.

No way...

Fear clutched my heart. All of this dress and veil began making me feel smothered. Katherine would surely find out. She has seen me very closely.

Oh Samara, where are you?

She knocked the door once again. I opened it this time. She smiled at me and stepped inside.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you." She said, "I wanted to check if you need anything. But, you're all ready."

I gulped. Since she could not see my face, I didn't have to hide my expressions. Why, God, why? Why me?

I swear I had never been this frightened in my whole life. I felt as if I was going to pass out any minute.

"You're looking beautiful in this dress, Samara. I especially designed it for you." She commented.

I was feeling bad for the woman that she had no idea that I was not her soon-to-be daughter-in-law, but her new cook who came here to help her to lessen her work burden.

"You know that right, Ashar is my darling son. I always wanted best for him. And you are one of the best things he had." She stepped towards me. I became scared so I just turned to my side.

She held my arm, hinting me to face her. She came in front of me, "I wanted to tell you that do not think this marriage is only for the business expansion. Believe me, my son likes you a lot. I like you a lot and I hope you both will live happily and soon put Hobsons's heir on my lap."

I didn't reply to her because I had no idea what Samara would have said to her about that.

"Why aren't you removing your veil, not showing your pretty face?" She asked.

I winced. Quickly, I moved to my side, stepping back, "I've read somewhere few days ago that good fortune comes to the couple when a bride removes her veil after taking wedding vows. The groom should do that actually."

Samara suggested me to tell that reason if anyone ask about the veil. I didn't know if it was true or not, but she could only think of something like that during the little time we had. She told me while doing my makeup that she was little superstitious and believed that doing or avoiding certain things bring good luck. People would believe my reason undoubtedly as they knew Samara's nature.

Katherine's laugh relaxed me as I got to know that she didn't recognize the different voice. I was safe for now.

"You and your irrational superstitions. Ashar hates that don't you know?"

"But it's for our own good."

"Are you really not going to show your face until you both exchange rings?"

"Yes." I almost whispered.

"You didn't tell me about that before..." She trailed off.

"Anyways, it's time now. Your father is here. I'm leaving for Church. You come with him." She instructed me and then, walked out the room.

What? No. I can't go to the Church. I said in my head.

Immediately, I grabbed my phone and once again called Samara. She should be back by now. I could not take a risk of going to the Church and staying among two thousand guests.

I cut the call on the first ring when I saw an old man, standing at the door way. Wrinkled face, small grey eyes that were covered with spectacles and wavy hair. He was little chubby.

"Did you sign them?" He came forward and quizzed.

My brows knitted together in confusion. He bent down and picked up the file folder from the bed. He opened it and flipped through some pages.

Creases appeared between his brows as he looked up, "I told you, I need to submit them to the court today. It will take only few seconds of yours to sign them."

I understood who he was. He was Samara's father. I could now observe the resemblance of his features with hers. Samara inherited most of the features except the hair color from her father. His hair color was like dark chocolates.

"You told me you'll sign them once you'll be free. That's why I've sent Sarah away. But these papers are still blank."

He moved the file in front of my face and took out the pen from the front pocket of his coat, "Just do it. The lawyer is waiting outside."

I fisted my palms, clutching my dress with them. This was the end of me. Hobsons would kill me for my crime.

"I'll d-o it later." I slurred.

"Are you kidding?" His brows lifted up, "I told you the lawyer is outside. I need to hand over this to him. Come on, Samara. We're getting late."

There was no way now. I couldn't think of any solution to escape this problem. I had no idea what those papers were about. I didn't know Samara's signature and I couldn't sign them under my name because they would find out about me.

But that old man was pretty persistent. He was looking restless and impatient. The pen and the file were raised right in front of my face.

"Samara?" He contorted his face in disbelief. If I would refuse to sign he would definitely begin smelling a rat. That thought intimidated me and forced me to take the pen from his hand.

"Fine." Anger and frustration both whirling my head. I could no more fight against them so I just gave up.

Without reading or even looking at the text of the document, I scrawled my signature at the required places. Afterwards, I closed the folder quickly so that he couldn't see my signature and returned it to him.

God knows what was going to happen after the mistake I was deliberately and consciously committing. Later on, they shouldn't blame me if my signature causes some problem for them. It was Samara's father's fault. He left me with no other choice.

I was leaving one clear evidence behind that could send me to prison. That's how I was digging my own grave.

"Thanks. I'll be back." He gave me a small smile, "Then we'll leave."

He sprinted out of the room. I again took my phone and called Samara to tell her about those papers and also ask her how much more time she would take. Things were getting out of hands here. Since this day was full of misfortunes, so my attempt failed. The call went straight to voicemail.

I tried calling her again. It rang, but she didn't take my call. I wanted to strangle that woman right now. She wanted to trap me as well with herself in this muddle.

"Let's go, darling."

I looked up from my phone's screen. Her father came back without that problematic folder. I composed myself.

"It's time, Samara." He touched his spectacles, stepping towards me.

Exhaling out the aching breath, I adjusted my veil in uneasiness. My legs began shaking. I could not expose myself in front of the huge crowd when I was in a vulnerable state. There would be Samara's relatives, friends and many more people who could detect the different face, hiding behind the veil.

Samara's father offered me his arm. Reluctantly, I linked my arm with his, putting that papers' matter at the back of my mind because now I had a different and much bigger problem to deal with.

What if Samara won't be back on time? What if she won't come back at all? How in the world I would delay the wedding until her return?

Those intimidating questions scared the hell out of me. I wished this whole situation would turn out to be a nightmare and I would just wake up and found that everything was just normal.