Arranged Marriage

I had never noticed how loud the wedding march was until that moment. That "turutuntun, turutuntun", it really makes your heart race in an impressive way once you are already there, in that altar and you are the center of attention of all eyes. Absolutely all the people sitting on the wooden benches behind you are watching you in detail, looking for the slightest sign of doubt in you to start whispering causing that uncomfortable echo in the atmosphere, it feels like thousands of mice are gnawing at the little security that was left in me. What they don't know is that I don't love the bride, Karol and I have never even shared a kiss of love. For me she is just a friend who is earning much more than me in this farce we have decided to mount, we are both the protagonists of a fictitious play in which we will give a whole show exhibiting a love that does not really exist. We were only surrendered to our interests, a small sacrifice to obtain what each one wanted. The truth is that there I was, listening to that eerie church organ being played by a horrible old lady apparently out of a horror movie, while Karol entered through the entire main entrance walking in her spectacular white dress, giving the best performance of her life. I know, you are probably wondering, how did two simple friends get to this crazy scenario, well, relax, I will tell you our story.My name is Ander Blanco, and I guess it all starts when I met Karol, which happened at school when we were just kids. At that time she was a nerd, you know, ponytails, glasses, always hugging books, that made her a perfect target for the mockery of the other classmates. I'm not proud to say it, but by that time I was in the infamous bully profession. However there was a breaking point where my school grades were going to sh*t, I was really close to repeating the school year if I didn't do something fast to bring up that low GPA. It was then that I saw an incredible opportunity presented to me in the form of the smartest girl in the whole school, Karol Thorme, who happened to be the number one victim of all my pranks and abuse. It was time to put to work all that great capacity I had always had for business, although to be honest, I think that was the first time I realized that I could arrange something if I looked at the interests and needs of others, and then compare it with mine in order to obtain some benefit in my favor. So I made her an offer she obviously couldn't refuse, I would stop bothering her if she agreed to help me pass the school year. Honestly it was not the answer I expected, since no matter how old you are, you never expect a sweet little girl to send you to eat sh*t while hitting your balls with her knee, and even less when you think you have control. After several days of insisting, she would end up accepting. It was without a doubt the best grades of my life, the bully and the nerd made a phenomenal team, fostering a very special friendship that would last throughout high school.I always looked at her with friendly eyes, even when adolescence came to her abruptly and she stopped wearing those hideous glasses, started wearing much more feminine clothes, and was no longer the nerdy know-it-all I knew. But she was always the same misfit girl, to the point that she never had a boyfriend all through school, she never had any friends, her only companion was always me. Despite coming from completely different worlds, our friendship was something very special. After finishing school, I decided that I wanted to be a psychologist, but if I wanted to continue my studies I had to get money to pay for them, so I started working with my father doing very heavy tasks in the world of construction, while Karol went with her millionaire father to another country where she would receive the nationality, a better future, a better economy, surely her life would be exceptional. So the years went by, I managed to get my degree with a lot of effort. I didn't really know much about Karol, only the things she published in her social networks, we lost communication for some years. Meanwhile the country where I lived would fall into an economic crisis never seen before, things were going from bad to worse, and without even a hope of improvement.When I came of age, my father wanted to give me a very special gift. So he took me to the bar where he always used to go to drink, for me it was a totally new and inhospitable world. The drinks, the lights, the music, the people, the women dancing with their breasts in the air for the enjoyment of the "gentlemen" who watched them putting on quite a show on that little stage. My father was very well known in that night club, I could notice that most of those ladies greeted him by name. Obviously he asked me not to say a word to mom about all that, he told me to see it as a secret between father and son while he uncorked a couple more beers. And then it happened, the presenter began to speak with his deep voice through the microphone to get everyone's attention."She's a bad girl, and you want to be punished" said the presenter very enthusiastically " she is, Perla!"A beautiful brunette with a passion red wig started to dance completely naked provoking a kind of mini heart attack in me, surely Perla didn't even see me, because of the lights and all the men shouting obscenities at her, but I knew immediately.... Perla would be the first great love of my life.

That night I had to wait a few hours outside that bar so that I could have a chance to talk to, what for me, was the most beautiful woman I had ever met in my life. In spite of her C-section scar, her extremely dilated eyes, her vulgarly short clothes and those tattoos all over her body, I couldn't help but see beauty in her. I invited her to a dinner to which she did not hesitate to say yes, accepting my proposal almost immediately without even knowing me. On that occasion I made a gigantic effort to take her to a luxurious restaurant where I even spent money I didn't have, since I overdrew my credit card, but at least, for me, it was worth it. Perla ate directly from the plate using her hands leaving food residue around her mouth, completely ignoring the silverware perfectly placed on the table. The rest of the people at the other tables looked at her and began to clearly mock her, thus earning a look of contempt coming from me. Because without realizing it I had fallen