Pampered Wife of Xavier

Chapter 9: Marriage Proposal

Arya could not believe they had actually uttered those words to her.

After all these years, they still thought of her as the little coward who would just obey whatever they said. As long as she was ever slightly useful, they would never let go of her!

“What do I have to do with John’s Corporation? Because of the 10% of shares, Grandfather said he’d give me back then. What else? Just what does John’s Corporation have to do with me aside from that virtual 10 % of shares I have?” Arya’s eyes were mocking them while she looked at them coldly.

“To be honest, I have no idea how both of you can still ask me of this. Aren’t you always acting all high and mighty since you guys really think you’ve given a lot for me? Why should I become the sacrificial lamb of this marriage?”

Her cold taunting made Kristina’s sharp eyes cloud over with madness!

Arya had changed so much!

She would never have said something like this before, but in just a few years, she had totally changed. Kristina looked horrified and even Layla clenched her fists while staring at Arya.

“Arya, can you agree to this for Victoria’s sake? Aiden Smith is much better than Ethan.” Layla’s tone softened and she started begging.

“Then, why don’t you let Victoria marry him? He’s that great anyway, maybe even better. Moreover, you said the master of Qi Kai Group is interested in Victoria, so why should I marry him in place of her?”

Arya found Layla ludicrous.

Kristina glared at Arya. “Arya, don’t you dare forget that Victoria saved your life in the deep alley behind our old residence! That dagger would’ve stabbed you if it weren’t for her. Since then, her body has been frail and it’s all because of you! How could you be so ungrateful?”

Victoria saved your life!

Ungrateful?

Arya’s body froze and her face went pale.

Did she forget?

How could she forget about it?

It was that night, that moment when Victoria jumped towards her that the Fates decided Arya would lose everything!

She could never forget the scene where Ethan desperately grabbed Victoria and rushed out. She could never forget that slap from Kristina which made her cheek sting. She also could never forget the cold and stern glare from her father…

What could she say? She actually did not need Xi Victoria’s help at all!

What could she say? That she could have avoided it, but Victoria freaked out and grabbed her hands, making her unable to react quickly.

Why had Ethan been there? Where did the perpetrators come from? Did they not think of these things?

Arya suddenly laughed at herself wryly. “I see… It seems that you guys resort to this same reason every time you want to force me to do something. I really had no idea that it’d be so difficult to repay someone’s debt.”

“I’m just telling the truth. It’s because of that incident that Victoria’s body is still frail now. Don’t you think that you should be responsible?”

Kristina stopped playing nice. Her tone became frigid. “Your grandfather’s birthday is coming up soon. I don’t want to argue with you right now. Just come home on that day and we’ll talk it out with everyone else.”

She almost forgot that Kristina was a headstrong person. The words from her mouth were like an order, forcing anyone to obey her.

Arya chuckled instead of getting angry. Looking at Kristina and Layla indifferently, her thin lips formed a smile.

“Of course, I’ll go back since it’s Grandfather’s birthday, but to sacrifice myself for the sake of Victoria and you guys? Dream on! Also, I suddenly think that John’s Corporation going downhill and even becoming bankrupt might be the one thing I look forward to! Oh right! Isn’t Victoria an international star? She might be able to save John’s Corporation since she’s a much bigger lifesaver than me!”

Arya took her sunglasses out and put them after her speech. She spun on her heel coolly and walked right out.

Kristina’s blood pressure nearly spiraled out of control again as she glared at Arya angrily as she left. If it were not for Layla, she would have gone berserk.

“That’s fantastic! Great! She’s all grown up now! What a nuisance!” Kristina was gasping for air as she shouted.

“Mother, what should we do now? With her being like this now, we can never convince her!” Layla frowned and was feeling desperate.

“Mother! Arya isn’t taking the Johns family seriously anymore. I heard that she’s climbing higher up the corporate ladder of Glory World Corporation, so she’s acting all high and mighty now. Unfortunately, Victoria is still worried that she’s not doing well.”

“What can she do? No matter what she becomes, she’s still the flesh and blood of the Xi family! I’ll have my ways to make her succumb to me!” Kristina was no ordinary woman; her cocky stare reassured Layla.

…

Walking past the dark corridor in the hospital, the pathway suddenly felt infinitely long. There was no end no matter how far she walked…

Arya swallowed the bitterness and just smiled at herself. She found herself a pitiful wreck. Never expecting the people closest to her to rob her of her family and the love of her life, she could not believe that not only did they want her to forgive her. They even wanted to use her as a bargaining chip.

It was not that she did not care. She just naively thought that things would still stay the same if she made some compromises, but sometimes, it would not matter how many sacrifices she made.

“Sis, are you going back? How’s Grandmother?”

Turning around the corner, she saw Victoria coming up to her as she clung to Ethan intimately.

Victoria’s frail beauty garnered people’s sympathy easily. The moment she saw Arya, she let go of Ethan and went up to her, her expression appearing apologetic and sad.

Arya did not even look at them and just walked past them. Her eyes seemed as calm as ever like she was just walking past air…

Her skinny figure soon disappeared under the dim light. Victoria started to tear up and Ethan’s heart sank slightly as well as he held Victoria in his arms.

Night soon fell and the busy city was still lively as ever.

In the chairman’s office on the 58th floor of Glory World Corporation.

Xavier stood before the window and his watchful eyes were looking at the countless lights below with a calm expression. He had two-thirds of a cigarette butt left in between his fingers and there was a faint smell of tobacco in the air.

“Master, Mayor Johns has just sent an invitation card over. It’s Elder John’s 70th birthday this weekend. Are we attending?” Assistant Rick’s voice came from behind him.

“Mayor Johns?”

Xavier frowned a little as he wondered who the sender was.

“It’s the mayor of New York City, Benjamin Johns. Elder Johns has stepped down from the government. He used to work in the same position as the one our old Master is in right now.”

Rick explained quietly, “Back then, the old chairman would usually send gifts during Elder John’s birthday, or he would attend it personally, but now Old Master has gone abroad and won’t be back anytime soon. The current Mayor Johns is someone powerful. I heard he removed a huge group of people the moment he stepped up and several big enterprises fell because of this, so…”

Xavier extinguished the cigarette as Rick finished his sentence. Turning around and taking the invitation card from Rick’s hand, he opened it and took a glance, then he swiftly returned it back to Rick.

“We’ll send a gift to him then.”

He then picked up his windbreaker and simply slung it over his shoulder, he then walked out.

“Got it, Boss! I’ll call James over to drive.”

Rick picked his briefcase up and caught up with him.

“It’s fine. Load the things into the car. I’ll drive myself tonight.”

Xavier’s skinny figure disappeared out of the door after he issued his order.

On the other hand…

Arya did not go back home after leaving Hospital T. Instead, she went back to the company, exhausted.

The weekend started the next day, but in her hurry, she had forgotten that she had left some documents in the office. Because she wanted to put in more effort since she was assigned to such a big project, she was going to use the weekend to arrange her thoughts.

No matter what, life went on. She forced herself to endure the bitterness and did not want to think about it anymore.

The office was empty when she returned. Except for the security guards and cleaners, she did not see anyone else.

She swiftly left the office after retrieving the documents.

The company was very quiet at night and she did not have to wait long for the lift as well.

She was flipping through the documents while waiting for the lift when she heard the sound of a bell and the door opening. She walked in without looking at all.

She did not notice that the closed lift door had caught the hem of her shirt. As a result, she tripped on her high heels after walking several steps inside.

She screamed and all the documents in her hands scattered around. She thought that she was about to hit the ground, but a strong hand prevented that. Falling into a warm chest instead, the fresh scent of tobacco filled her nose, then she heard a light chuckle.

“Be careful. Why are you always so clumsy?”

It was a very familiar voice!

Arya raised her head and saw Xavier’s handsome face along with his grin. His eyes looked like the stars in the skies and Arya almost got lost in them. Fortunately, her strong willpower swooped her back to reality swiftly.

“Xavier! Why… no, Chairman Knight… How come you’re leaving this late?” Arya blushed slightly as she stepped back awkwardly and asked.

“There were several urgent documents to be taken care of. If everyone in the company were as hardworking as you, I’m sure the company’s revenue would be doubled within a year.”

Xavier turned away from her beautiful face and focused on the documents she had dropped instead.

“I’m just hardworking because I’m stupid,” Arya replied embarrassedly. She squatted down and started to pick up the stuff she dropped when another voice interrupted her, “I’ll get them, Director Johns.”

A pair of huge hands started picking up the papers on the ground.

“Assistant Rick?” Arya just realized that someone else was in the lift.

“Director Johns, you really are a dedicated employee, only leaving work now.” Rick smiled as he was arranging the messy documents.

“No, I just forgot some documents and came back to take them.” Arya waved the documents in her hands. Suddenly, she saw that among the stuff she picked up, there was a red invitation card.

It was the Johns family’s invitation card!

Arya was stunned for a moment when she saw the invitation card. Her movements faltered for a second as well, but she recovered after that and returned some of the documents to Rick. Her expression went back to normal very quickly.

However, the sharp Xavier saw everything as he stood there.

“I’m sorry, and also… well, thank you!” Arya looked at Xavier and thanked him after she was done picking up all her stuff.

Xavier’s expression turned warm. “Can’t you say something else apart from these two words, Arya?”

Arya was confused. Glancing at his odd smile, she gave it some thought and then replied seriously, “Thank you very much then, Chairman Knight!”

Before Xavier could react, Rick could not hold in his laughter. He was not laughing at Arya’s “thank you very much”, but Arya’s serious expression on her blushing little face was rather funny!

Arya felt embarrassed when she heard the chuckle. She turned around without looking at Xavier’s reaction and acted as if she had not seen or heard anything…

At that moment, a voice that made her feel like sticking her head into the ground spoke up.

“Director Johns, your drawing of that pig is really good!”

Xavier’s voice floated into her ears followed by Rick’s cheerful laughter.

Arya was stunned for a moment before turning back. Rick was staring in a certain direction on the ground. Following his line of sight, her whole body trembled and her face turned red!

A drawing had fallen right beside Xavier’s feet. On the paper, there was a pig, a snake, and a woman holding throwing knives. The pig seemed pretty realistic with a knife plunged right into its heart. The name “Ethan” was written right above it while the snake was cut into half with the name “Victoria” scrawled above it. The woman who seemed like a queen was stepping on the snake and below her were the words “Queen Arya”.’

It had probably fallen out of her folder just now.

It was true that she had drawn the pig, but the snake, the woman, and the names were all added by Mia who had flipped through her drawings the day she came back. On a whim, she just added all the extra stuff.

Arya really wants to disappear at that moment. She quickly rushed over to pick up the drawing, but —

A large hand was quicker than hers and picked the drawing up first.

“Give it back!” Arya’s expression turned flustered and regretful as Xavier took the drawing. She saw him shoot her a mischievous look and she started to get angry.

“Xavier! Give it back!”

She tiptoed and tried to grab it, but he raised his hand and she could not reach it at all.

Xavier was over 180cm tall while Arya was just over 160cm. Her height barely reached his chin, so of course, she could not have reached the drawing if he raised his hand.

“I didn’t expect your drawing to be pretty good, Your Royal Highness? Arya?”

Xavier smiled and shot a glance at Arya; it was an odd and childish look.

Arya was really frustrated as she glared at him and her face became even redder. Rick’s laughter was not helping the situation. The perfect image she had been trying to hold up was going to be ruined!

A sudden call saved her from this embarrassing situation.

She took out her phone and saw the name “Mia” appear on the screen.

Arya quickly tapped the phone and answered the call. Mia’s sweet voice came through accompanied by a slight tone of anger and worry.

“Arya! It’s me!”

“What’s up?”

Arya frowned when she heard that Mia’s tone did not sound right.

“Did Benjamin look for you?”

“It’s not about him and me. Arya, didn’t you look at the messages I sent you? I’ve been calling you and you didn’t pick up. Where did you go?”

Mia started complaining and she sounded as if she had just eaten a bomb.

“What messages? I left my phone in the office. What’s the matter?”

“I made an appointment for you tomorrow. He’s pretty good overall. He’s a son of my father’s good friend who just came back from abroad and is a Master’s degree holder. I used to play with him when we were kids. He’s quite tall and good-looking… I don’t care! You have to come out and meet him tomorrow!”

Mia started to ramble on and on. Her loud voice was especially clear within the enclosed space and Arya could not help but move the phone further away from her ears.

“Are you listening to me?” Mia asked when she did not hear any response from Arya.

Arya put her palm over her forehead. Just as she was about to reply, Mia interrupted her,

“Arya, I just saw that cheating pair near Hospital. I’m really mad at their lovey-dovey acts. I overheard that they are getting engaged soon. Arya, don’t you feel like turning the tables around? Get married to an exceptional man before their marriage! Show them how good you can be and reign at the top! I’m just… so… frustrated!”

Mia could not help but berate them as she thought of their faces.

Engaged?

Arya’s chest felt weighed down and her facial expression froze as well.

“Right, Arya, are you going back for your grandfather’s birthday this weekend? I think you shouldn’t. You might get disgusted when you see their faces!” Mia huffed.

Arya took a light inhalation. As she remembered Kristina and Layla’s attitude back at the hospital, she put up a cold smile and her tone was chilly.

“Why not? It’s Grandfather’s birthday. Of course, I’ll go back! They should be the ones hiding, not me.”

“But… I’m worried about you. Who knows what that witch will do?!” Mia’s tone softened as she was genuinely worried.

Arya smiled and her voice became gentler as well. “Thank you, Mia. It’s been a long time since I’ve gone back. I should go back even if it’s just to take a look at Grandfather. I have to go back to the residence tomorrow. I’ve got something to do.”

“Got it, I’ll reschedule the appointment then. Please be careful on your own. Give me a call if there’s anything. I’m just worried that you’ll feel upset when you saw that cheating couple!”

“Mmm.”

Arya hung up and she unconsciously clenched the documents she was holding with a bitter smile on her face.