Fifteen
1918 Words
The stench of alcohol from my clothes made me scrunch my nose. I kind of had a lot to drink last night, even much more than I had expected. Well, getting drunk brushed off the killing emotions in my head. Partially.
Opening the door of my room, I stepped in. I glanced at my bed, and for some reason, I shook my head. She was still here. I knew she was going to be here forever, but I just wanted her to leave already. There was nothing good that could come out of this marriage. She was just here for the sake of nothing.
She yawned out loud, rolling on the bed like a ball on a field. Swiftly, like a maniac, she gasped, and sat straight. Again, I shook my head, and just walked toward the wardrobe. I grabbed a few shirts, searching for a good cloth to wear for the day.
"Hey, good morning." She broke the silence around us. She greeted me? Surprising.
I grabbed a dark blue shirt from the wardrobe, together with a black chino pants, and dropped them on the bed. "The greetings aren't important," I said. I caught her sulking at herself, but I ignored that. "Stand up and get ready. We'll be going out for a meeting. Since I'm married, a couple of my clients want to see my new wife. It's my pleasure to take you with me."
"What?" She scorned.
I turned to her, letting out a hard sigh. I wasn't interested in explaining these things. "For now, my dear, you've got nothing to do with yourself. All you can do for me is to obey what I say. This meeting is an important one. Respecting my client is important. They asked if my wife could join me at the meeting. With due respect, I agreed with that. What's the big deal?"
She chuckled. "Hey, mister. What I want should be decided by me. Not you. Keep your shitty threats to yourself. You aren't gonna intimidate me. Swears."
"Do you have something good to wear?" I asked her.
She narrowed her eyes at me, tugging the big duvet to her waist. "Have I said I'm coming with you? I'm not going anywhere, sir. I also have things to do."
I frowned a little. "Don't know why you have to waste your time on this. Anyway, when you're done, I want you to wear something nice, and join me in the living room."
"You're gross. You aren't even paying attention to my refusal!" She snarled, glaring like an angry toddler.
"My maid can prepare your bath. I'll send them in. I'll call a makeup artist, and a fashion designer. They need to get you ready in less than an hour," I continued to speak.
She snorted. "How mean of you." Like a frustrated horse, she hopped from the bed, storming toward me. With folded arms, she stood beside me. "Hey! Listen to me. I said I'm not going there with you. After all that happened at our wedding, I'm really not ready to leave this mansion for a while."
"My security is tight," I informed her.
I didn't think that was funny, but she chuckled. "Really? Tight? Oh, I see. So, that's the reason those guys were able to come into your office to attack you?"
I sighed. "Since I was planning to get married to you, I decided to hire some new men that'd always stay by your side. There's no need for you to worry about your security."
"This is annoying. I mean, we just got married. We ought to be having fun. We ought to—" Suddenly, she stopped speaking. She shut her mouth as if she was embarrassed, looking away like a nervous cat.
I wore a stern look. "Why did you keep shut? You don't want the fun, so the next thing we can do is to move on. We have to pretend to the world like we're a normal couple. Because of this matrimony, I'd have no choice but to stay off the media for a long time. So, for your own sanity, come with me. Pretend like we're a happy couple."
"This is lame." She squeezed her mouth like a child.
I walked back to the wardrobe. Digging my head into it, searching for the perfect tie to wear, I announced, "By the way, get ready to stay off my bed tonight. I won't leave here for you tonight." I pulled a black tie, held it up in the air, and scrutinized it. "We shouldn't even be sharing a room. I can ask my maid to—"
She giggled. Dropping her hands on her waist, she stood in front of me. "That's lame too. I like it here, and sorry, I'm not gonna leave the place for you."
"Pardon?" My eyebrow twitched at her.
She shrugged. "You leave for me. Final."
For a while, I stared at her. Apathetic to start this mini-argument with her, I walked past her, heading to the bathroom. It was time to get ready for work, not the time to deal with her craziness.
Judging from my short conversation with her this morning, it didn't seem like this marriage would be so easy, after all.
***
After three hours of discussing investments, sharing of capitals, and how to create more enticing advertisements in my new mall that'd be opening soon, we were finally done. I hadn't ever been this stressed out at a meeting. I was totally indifferent to all the discussions. Being honest, I zoned off at some point.
Standing up, feigning a smile, I walked over to Rae. I didn't know how, but she was such a great actor. She was definitely putting on her best behavior, and I was surely going to award her for it. Judging from her acting, one would think that we weren't strangers to each other. She was good at this.
"Honey, I had a good time." She grinned, her eyes beaming greatly. I would admit, my maids had done a great job on her. She looked so good in that black pencil gown, her hair styled in wavy curls. Her makeup wasn't so heavy, and I liked it that way. The diamond earrings and necklace made her look even more expensive. She reminded me of Tanya, to be honest. She kind of looked more beautiful than Tanya though, in a way. She intertwined her arm in mine. "Coming here was such a nice idea. You were being so considerate when asking me to come here. I don't regret your efforts, at all."
I almost scoffed. Well, I just smiled wider. "Yeah. I couldn't get my eyes off you."
Mrs. Patrick, my client's middle-aged wife, hurried over to us. Her wrinkled face squeezed even more as she smiled from ear to ear. Standing in front of us, she sighed out slowly. "Aren't you both adorable? You make me remember those days." She tweaked Rae's cheek. It was weird, but seriously, they seemed to like Rae really quickly. How had she done that? "My goodness, I can promise you that I haven't seen anyone as beautiful as your wife. Ivan, where did you keep her all along? I mean, Tanya was—"
I swallowed. I had known she would say something about that.
"Oh, sorry." She grinned, obviously trying to cover up for her weirdness. "Anyway, you both are so good together." She winked at me. "Pretty sure little Ivan will be a cute little boy."
"Thanks, ma'am," Rae appreciated.
"Oh, dear. You can call me Trisha." She pulled a small card from her purse, handling it over to Rae. "I'd surely like to speak to you some other time. If time permits me, I'd like to visit you both someday."
"Not a problem," I affirmed.
Rae leaned closer to me, and unexpectedly, she dropped a kiss on my cheek. "I'm sure my boo-boo-baby will prepare to have you around. I'll also anticipate."
"Honey, what's up?" Mr. Patrick, her husband, also walked over to us. Of course, he was smiling. They seemed to smile a lot in their family. He turned to Rae. "Oh, hi, dear. Nice meeting you. Goodness, you're so much more beautiful than the person I saw in those wedding photo shoots. Ivan's got good eyes for ladies."
I smiled. "Yeah, sure." To be honest, I wasn't comfortable with this pretence. I just wanted to leave already.
"Alright." Mr. Patrick sighed, and winked at me for some reason. "Seems like the young man's in a hurry. Guess we should let you get going. And yes, I'd admit that I enjoyed today's meeting. See you some other time, man."
I nodded. "Glad to hear that. Goodbye."
"Bye," Rae said.
"Bye." And Trisha responded with a smile.
Immediately, we made our way out of the room. Walking in the hallway, heading to the elevator, Rae and I kept holding each other. My men walked behind us, about fifteen of them. I caught a couple of dudes winking at Rae, and I got irritated when she giggled. I had brought her here to act like a genuine wife, not to flush because she was being flirted with.
I pulled her close, and whispered. "Stop that now. You're my wife."
Snapping her neck toward me, she tittered, the corner of her lips curling in a smirk. "What? You're jealous of me? Or, you're jealous that they're flirting with me?"
I scoffed. Involuntarily, the smirk crawled to my lips. "My dear, if three Raes are being sold for fifty cents, I'd rather jump into a pot of boiling soup than purchase you."
She dropped her jaw. And yes, I just looked away. That was what she needed to do. Stay quiet. Next time, she wouldn't blush when a man flirted with her. After all, she was my wife. So, of course, she had to learn to stick with me only, for a while.
***
Done wearing my sleep clothes, I made my way out of my closet. I shut the door behind me, walking toward the bed. I was about to hop on it, but I halted in my tracks when I heard Rae yelp out loud.
I turned to her, observed her a bit, and felt comfortable to know that she was wearing pyjamas, and not a night dress. She rushed toward the bed, her eyes widely open. "Hey, what do you wanna do?" She narrowed her eyes at me.
I c****d my eyebrows. "Um, what?"
"Wait, don't tell me you're actually gonna stay on that bed?"
I huffed. "Yeah, I am. So, what? I told you to change your room."
"Whoever stays on the bed first…" She narrowed her eyes even more. "...owns It."
I glanced at the bed, glanced at her, glanced at the bed again, and finally set my gaze at her.
"Is this a joke?"
"One, two…"
I didn't know what got into me, but I found myself rushing to hop on the bed first. This was insane and childish, but seriously, I could and would do anything to get rid of this woman.
As soon as my butt landed on the bed, she jumped and stayed on the bed as well, glaring at me.
I glared too. "Get. Out."
She smirked. As usual. "Let me see you make that happen. Rae owns this bed tonight," she declared.
Okay, how could one kill a person without being queried for it? Who was this woman?
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- Writer
