Stolen Identity: Mute Heiress

Jax pushed the door open, and Mari stepped inside first.

The moment she entered the room, she stopped, and the smile which had curved on her lips faded.

Although she could see the others in the room, her eyes were focused on the wall in front of her. Her eyes slowly moved across it.

Then her mouth slowly fell open.

For a few seconds, she did not say anything. Instead, she took slow steps towards the huge mural which covered almost the entire wall.

The room was quiet as everyone watched and waited for her reaction while some of them took out their cameras.

As she walked, her eyes moved over the painting.

It was her. But it was not just one picture of her. It was a story.

Their story.

Her heart began to beat faster.

The first painting showed the first time she had woken up in Jax’s house lying on the bed and trying to flirt with him while he stood over her staring warily at her.

Mari lifted a hand to her mouth. "Oh my God."

She moved closer.

She could remember that day. She remembered how confused and scared she had been at first until she saw Jax.

Beside her, Jax only watched her reaction.

"Wow!" Emily whispered behind Mari and Jax.

Mari moved to the next part of the mural.

There she was sitting on Jax’s bed the day she sneaked into his bedroom at night, while he stood beside the bed looking at her like she had lost her mind.

Another picture showed them on a couch laughing on the day he pretended to be Chad.

"You even painted this?" She asked, smiling softly.

Jax smiled. "You remember what happened here?"

"Of course I remember." Her voice came out soft. "How can I forget?"

She looked at the painting for a few more seconds.

Then she moved on.

The next showed her birthday when he presented the tray of diced fruits with his confession.

Her eyes immediately softened when she saw it, remembering how excited she had been to know that he loved her.

She remembered how he had looked at her. She remembered the way he had told her he loved her.

Mari’s eyes filled with tears, and she pressed her fingers against her lips as she thought about how much work he had put into painting all of these.

She had complained so much about him spending so much time working on the mural and looking so stressed without even knowing he had been painting their story.

Her heart swelled with so much love for him that she felt like it was going to burst.

Another showed the two of them walking together on their first date.

There were so many little moments of their journey together that Jax had captured in painting.

She moved slowly along the wall.

There were little moments everywhere. Some were funny. Some were sweet. Some made her smile. Some made her eyes sting.

As she moved down the wall, she noticed that the paintings were getting newer, and the moments were becoming more recent.

Her eyes moved from one painting to another.

Then she reached the final part, and her heart staggered so hard she thought she was going to faint.

The painting at the end was different. It showed her standing in front of Jax.

And Jax was kneeling with a ring.

Mari stared at it.

Something felt strange about the picture. She stepped closer, and her eyes narrowed at first, then widened.

"No way..."

Her heart began pounding as she leaned closer to the painting.

Mari slowly looked down at her dress, then she looked back at the painting.

In the painting, she was wearing exactly the dress she was wearing right now, and Jax was dressed in the tux he was also wearing.

Now it made sense why her mother had insisted on shopping with her for the dress she was to wear to the exhibition.

Mari’s hand flew to her mouth when it suddenly occurred to her that the painting was a proposal.

She turned slowly to look at Jax.

He was no longer standing beside her now. He was on one knee like in the painting, holding a diamond engagement ring in his hand.

Only then did she also notice that the music in the background had switched to A Thousand Years by Christina Perri.

For one second, she simply stared at him. Then her eyes dropped to the ring.

The diamond ring sparkled beneath the soft light.

Mari looked at Jax again. "You..." Her voice broke.

Jax smiled up at her. "I’m shocked you didn’t figure it out sooner."

Mari shook her head, but no words came out.

Behind her, Emily covered her own mouth to stop herself from laughing.

Everyone else in the room smiled as they watched her.

Mari’s gaze shifted from Jax to Emily. "You knew!"

Emily laughed softly. "You were supposed to figure out what was going on the moment you saw your paintings all over the gallery."

Mari giggled. "I thought he was just showing me off."

Mari looked from Emily to the smiling faces of the others gathered around the room. Her parents, Callan, Jamal, Dawn, Venita, Chad, Jamal’s parents, Grandpa Aaron and Grandma Debby, Aunt Jade, Sonia, Lucy, and even Callan’s parents.

"You all knew, didn’t you?"

Everyone burst into laughter.

"Doll, you need to focus on Jax. He’s going to turn into a kneeling statue at this rate," her mother called out to her.

"Right!" Mari exclaimed, and spun around to look at Jax, who was still kneeling.

The smile on his face had softened.

"Sorry. By now, you know how easily distracted I can be around family and all. But that doesn’t mean this moment isn’t important to me. I’m so excited I can hardly stay still or even shut up," she rushed to say.

Everyone laughed.

"You’re something else," Jax said with a chuckle.

"Go on. You have my full attention now," she said, smiling at him.

Jax held out the ring. "Mari, I spent so much of my life painting what I see."

He glanced at the mural behind her.

"But you became the first person I wanted to paint what I feel."

Mari’s eyes filled with tears.

Jax smiled. "You became my favourite person from the first moment I set my eyes on you. My favourite thought. My favourite place to be. My favourite type of chaos."

Mari laughed as a tear slipped down her cheek.

Jax took a breath and he looked into her eyes. "I don’t want to just paint our memories anymore. I want to live them with you every day."

Mari smiled as she stared at him.

Jax smiled too. "So, Mari... Will you do me the honour of marrying me and disrupting my life even more than you’ve already done?"

Mari giggled again, then let out a loud screech as she held out her hand. "OF COURSE! I plan to!"

Everyone burst into laughter.

Jax grinned as he slipped the ring onto her finger.

Mari immediately turned to face everyone, "I’m engaged," she announced, raising her hand for them to see like they had not just witnessed it.

Everyone laughed, including Jax, as he stood.

He barely had time to put the ring box down before she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply.

He held her tightly.

Jax kissed her back.

When she finally pulled back and looked at him, her laugh was so wide, "So this was the reason you said I could go home with you today?"

Jax grinned. "Guilty as charged."

She laughed. "I love you so much."

"I love you so much more."

Emily wiped her eyes. "Congratulations, best girl."

Mari turned to Mari and threw her arms around her. "You planned this with him, didn’t you?"

"It was all Jax. Only with my permission, of course," Emily said with a giggle.

"This was the reason you insisted on all that makeover and rode in the car with him yesterday," Mari said with a shake of her head.

"Congratulations, doll," her mother said, and she turned.

"MOMMY!" She screamed happily and threw her arms around her mother.

Just like that, everyone came up to congratulate them.

As they celebrated the engagement, Mari’s gaze kept returning to the mural, and she smiled.

Now she was engaged to the man she loved.