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1231 Words
“How beautiful.” The man said, and Laura knees went weak.
Did they send a criminal to ruin the wedding? Why were there tears in his eyes? Was he crazy? Did he escape from a psychiatric ward? Why was he…?
“You're here.” Ethan suddenly said, and Laura's brows were forced to furrow as she turned to Ethan sharply.
He knew this man??
However, what she wasn't expecting was the beautiful smile that shone on his face, as bright as the morning sun.
If she wanted to exaggerate, she'd have said his smile was so bright that her eyes were affected to the point of seeing his smile all alone.
“Sorry? And who might you be?” She heard Delphi's strict voice ring out, and Ethan jerked away from his position, heading to the man.
His smile was gone, and Laura desperately wanted to see it again. He had perfectly arranged teeth, white and spotless. He would kill it if he were to be a model or an actor.
However, she was brought back to her senses when she was faced once more with the man with the scar, whom Ethan had gone to meet.
“My personal assistant, Laura. I hired him last night.” He said, his voice dry.
“You must be crazy! How could you hire…?” Delphi went off like a bullet,
“I'll handle it!” Laura immediately spiralled to Delphi, holding the multiple folds of her dress, “Trust me, I will.” She said, before going over to Ethan.
“I need to see you. Now.”
She dragged him off to stand beneath a hedge, and he willingly followed.
“What do you think you’re doing? You hired such a man overnight. You didn't put some considerations into mind.”
“What's wrong with him?” Ethan asked, leaning against the hedge casually.
“Well for one, doesn't his looks bother you? He looks like the freaking terminator, yeah? What's with that scar? When hiring a person assistant, you go for brains, not brawn.” She whispered in a hush, straining her facial features like she could knock sense into his skull.
“He would not only be a personal assistant. He would also be a bodyguard. And for your info, I lost my memories, not my senses.” Ethan argued.
“You asked me to give you someone I trust! I was going to do that.”
“I changed my mind.”
“And HE was your choice?” She pointed at the empty space, where she knew the man was bound to be standing just behind the hedges.
“I monitored his social pages, and saw he's a trainer at a judo academy. But he ran out of business, so I hired him.”
“But why would he need someone like him?”
“I thought you'd be able to judge who's a criminal, and who's not. Does that apply to me alone?”
“Uh? D… definitely not.” She made to leave, but stopped, “Just know that I'll have him in a cell the minute he steps out of line!” Then she turned, with a stomp, only to trip on her dress, and scream.
However, she was grabbed, and turned around quickly, before knocking her head on his chest. With a gasp of relief, she looked up into his face.
“Just trust me, lady.” He let out in a relaxed tone, and she stepped back hastily. There he went again, saying such words without so much as a smile.
The two returned to the garden, where Delphi stood with the strongest frown she'd ever had since she'd been put in charge of Laura's care, while the man was now stiff. There wasn't even a smile or a tear on his face.
“Your rings.” Delphie reminded them, and Ethan watched Laura as she bent to pick the rings. She would never know how happy he was just to have his comrade by his side in all this mess.
And she wouldn't know that he was benefitting more from the marriage than she was. She only had to stay as innocent as she was.
“Don't bore a hole into my face, please.” She pleaded, as she pushed the ring into his finger.
“We need it for the pictures.” He replied, and as she raised her eyes to meet his, her cheeks blazed up, as patches of beautiful pink filled them.
Alessandra had never had this expression on her face. He'd never for once seen her blush this hard simply because he stared at her.
How could he have been such a fool? When a woman was in love, she clearly showed it with all her body. Now for Laura, love was definitely not the case, but definitely, she was attracted to him, just like the other insignificant women.
The photographer began to click photos, and he struggled to hold her as fondly as he'd held Alessandra, but he just couldn't. Laura was way too soft. He felt he'd squish her if he held her the way he'd held Alessandra, who had been firm and imposing.
He couldn't stop comparing Laura to the demon. How it messed with his mind, he…
“Oh, please, am I… am I the target of your displeasure? I would say you're after my life!” The photographer exclaimed, and the picture was passed round. In it, Ethan looked like he wanted to strangle the photographer.
“Again!” Delphi called exhausted.
~
They'd spent hours taking pictures in the garden, before framing them, and hanging them all around in the house. Yet, not one of those pictures had his smile in it.
Finally, he was left alone with Ryder, and he'd explained the little he could remember. He knew he was poisoned that day, and could remember the bodies falling, but the details of how it happened were locked away somewhere in his head.
“Here.” Ryder said, offering him a slightly wrinkled note, where he was to write a fresh will, so it could be easily passed as a will he'd written long ago.
Ethan began to write, ‘....I have a secret twin brother that I've told no one about. He looks the same as me. I transfer all that's in my name into his hands. The day he is found, may he claim all I have…’ He continued to write.
“This Will will be submitted, but I can't show up just yet. I have to seem perfectly oblivious to all these, and build a life with Laura first. We can't have suspicions rising.”
“Are you sure you can build a life with this woman? I can tell how hard it was just to take photos with her.”
“There's nothing I can't do. If it's pretending, I will ace it. Now, for my body, we have to find a dead body, with a decomposing face. The body will have traces of my tattoo, and some specific scars. That will be how I'll be recognized. But we must find a corpse of my build first.”
“This will be dangerous. Where are we getting the money from?”
Ethan tapped his pen on the paper once, “She will provide it.”
- Writer
