The decision was final and the results quick. Unreasonably so to anyone on the outside looking in. Who gets told who they are going to spend the rest of their life with someone and gets married to them not even a week later? Well, you do.

Most people got to live their life according to their own rules. Make their mistakes, have their fun and whatnot. But you lived a strict life, your style, your makeup, your actions. None of it was ever really your own, but something that was decided for you by your parents. They had an image to keep up with after all.

So, they kept you wearing all the latest fashion and made sure anytime you spoke it was always what everyone else wanted to hear. All your life you were groomed to be the perfect, beautiful, people pleaser. And that's exactly what you were, much to your disgust.

Your parents owned a business together, a huge one in fact. It was one of the biggest economical competitors in the country, producing and selling everything from cars to clothes. And it was the reason for your arranged marriage. One of their biggest competitors, Charlotte Linlin made them an offer they couldn't refuse; you'd marry one of her sons and your parents would receive half of Linlin's assets of her own business.

Yes, you became a bargaining tool overnight. Linlin wanted the family ties allowing her access to your families' business while your parents received an even larger income than before. Not that they exactly needed it per-se but they liked the life of luxury.

Now your family had their hands in half of the Charlotte candy and pastry factories and you were married and living with Charlotte Katakuri. Good times for everyone involved. Not.

You'd been living with the man for a couple weeks now. He was odd at best and a jerk more often than not. The only good thing you got out of this was the satisfaction of knowing he wasn't happy about the arrangement either. Which meant that you didn't see much of him, let alone sleep in the same bed as him. You were basically given an allowance and told to just behave yourself to keep up the family image, left to your own devices.

You groaned as you got up from the couch in the sitting room. Binge watching Netflix shows wasn't doing it for you today but there wasn't a whole lot to do. Apparently working was out of the question, you'd tried getting a job to keep busy at the very least but were immediately shot down by your parents.

"Something wrong?" Katakuri asked gruffly.

You jumped, not expecting him to be home. "Oh, no. Everything is fine."

He grunted and looked away from you. The man leaned in the doorway, arms crossed. He was wearing a pair of light slacks with a tucked in button up shirt and a scarf that covered half his face. You'd never seen him without the accessory and doubted anyone else had either. It was one of the strange mysteries surrounding him.

"Do you, uh, need something?" You stood awkwardly against the couch you were just sitting in a moment ago. You didn't like sitting around him while he stood. He was a big guy, tall and well built and that already made you feel small. Sitting only made the feeling worse.

"We're supposed to join some of the family for dinner tonight, dress nicely and be ready in a few hours." His crimson eyes felt like they were staring right through you, it was a bit unnerving.

"Sure." You nodded as he left. This was about how all your interactions with Katakuri went. He only spoke to you when necessary and you rolled with it. You tried to get him to talk to you at one point, thought that if you were going to be stuck together might as well get along. But he seemed stuck in his ways so you gave up. Things could be worse after all.

With a sigh you made your way to your room. Saying it was lavish was an understatement. The room had a queen size bed with probably some of the finest sheets money could buy, bookshelves full to the brim with interesting reads and its own little cozy sitting space. It was all decorated to fit your style of decor, most likely in an attempt to make you feel a bit more comfortable in the new home.

Off to the side of the bed stood your dresser with a fish tank on it. It was the only thing you requested, watching the fish swim around their enclosure helped you get to sleep most nights. You watched them for a minute, a couple fish swam closer to the glass to check you out as well before continuing to explore their tank.

Enough wasting time. Gotta shower and get changed.

You grabbed a change of clothes and went into your private bathroom for a fast shower. Once done you changed into a (f/c) knee length dress. It hugged your waist and billowed out past that, the material was comfy without looking cheap. Katakuri never said how nice to dress so this seemed like your best option. You threw on some makeup and were ready to go.

Only problem was you were too fast and now had a couple hours to kill. You sat down in your mini library nook and decided to play some mindless phone games for a while. It wasn't much better than doing nothing but eventually your phone dinged as you got a text from Katakuri telling you it was time to go.

You snagged your purse from beside the fishtank and headed out. You met up with Katakuri at the front door. He was now wearing black slacks and a coat over his button up. You were glad you decided on the dress, you were most definitely going to be some upscale place. He looked you over casually before nodding slightly.

"Let's go." He placed a hand on the small of your back gingerly, leading you out to the car.

----

It was exactly what you thought it would be. Dinner turned out to be a business meeting with Linlin and some of her oldest children. They all had a part of her business' that they took care of, Katakuri apparently was in charge of a large portion of her bakeries while her oldest Perospero, was head of the candy factories. A few of the other children had rein of other things, some even worked under the two eldest men, but you stopped paying attention to the conversation among the group once you noticed you weren't supposed to be a part of it.

You were brought along simply because you were Katakuri's wife, it was strictly for appearances. At least it meant you got out of the house for a while. The food wasn't half bad either. You picked at your plate while zoning out, trying to think of things to do later and maybe adding a new fish or two to the tank at some point.

"(Y/n)?" Perospero called to you and you noticed the whole table had their eyes on you.

"Um, yes, sorry?" You blinked at him.

"I was hoping to receive some input from you since you are a part of the family now." He explained.

"I don't think I have much experience in the business of sweets." And you sure didn't feel like part of the family but you wouldn't say that.

"Sweets, no. But business in general, yes. We were thinking of adding a couple new shops in Goa, maybe more towards the northern districts. What do you think of that?" Perospero seemed sincere, he really wanted your thoughts on the topic.

You took a moment to think it over before answering. "Goa is a high dollar area and the people there like to spend, so normally I'd say it'd be a good idea but not in this case."

Katakuri crossed his arms and stared down at you from your left. "And why is that?"

He'd never asked you a question before, it was almost refreshing to hear something besides his normal commands. "Well." You started slowly. "The northern part is rather poor, in fact, it's the only 'poor part' of Goa there is. The people there don't have money to spend and the rich folks don't like setting foot in that area. The shops would only fail. But if you were to suggest putting a factory or two there, that could work. It'd supply jobs for the people and increase product output. It'd be a win-win."

You silently thanked your parents for at least providing you with a good education. This was the kind of stuff you were good at.

Peros pondered what you said. "I think you're right. Mama," he turned to Linlin at the head of the table. "what would you say to installing a couple factories in the area instead?"

"As long as it works I don't care." She munched away at her plate full of food, not really caring about what was going on around her. Everyone else considered that her sign of approval though.

Some of the siblings looked your way and muttered a few words of approval before Peros spoke up again. "Well I guess that settles everything for tonight. Thank you everyone, (Y/n)."

You'd never had someone thank you outright for anything before so you nodded at him, unsure of what to do. You always did what was expected of you growing up, nothing more, so thank you's were never given out.

Eventually the family got up to leave and go their separate ways. You and Katakuri made it to his car and began the drive home in silence.

"I didn't know you knew so much about Goa." He was actually trying to start a conversation.

"Yeah, my parents made sure I learned a lot about the geography and people of the country, along with a bunch of business practice. Never thought I'd put what I learned to use though."

"Why not?"

"They didn't want me to work for some reason, even with them."

"Do you want to work?" He glanced at you.

No one had ever asked what you wanted, with anything. "Am I allowed to?" You couldn't help but feel hopeful.

"Allowed to? You can do just about whatever the hell you want." He grumbled.

"Really?"

"Within reason. But you could work fast food for all I care." He had a look in his eyes you couldn't quite place. It was maybe a mix of annoyance and something else. "Look, I don't know what your family is like or how they run things, but you're stuck with mine now. The only definite things we have to do is accept whoever Mama chooses for us to marry and help run her shit. You can do whatever you want."

"Whatever I want." You murmured. "Never thought I'd have a chance like this."

"Well you do. So do you want to work or not?" Katakuri looked at you once more, waiting for an answer.

"Yeah, I think I do."

"I'll talk to Peros then. We'll find something for you to do."

Katakuri left it at that and the car settled back into silence once again. That was the most he'd ever talked to you about anything. And though direct, he was almost nice about it. You could get used to this, if you could get him to talk to you more at least.