The Ugly Billionaire

ZOEY "Auntie, please don't do this to me," I cried, begging my Aunt Hilda. "Zoey, you will be better off if you marry Sir Anthony's son. Another thing is that Rose, the wife of Sir Anthony, and I already have an agreement.” My aunt begged me in return. "But Auntie? I don't want to marry their ugly son. Auntie, please have mercy on me. I don't want to attend my wedding tomorrow with that ugly guy!" I cried because I knew that no matter what I did, my aunt's decision would not change. I know that she has made up her mind to marry me off to the eldest son of Mr. Anthony Harris. I'm here in San Francisco, and I grew up here. My aunt raised me from childhood because I am completely orphaned. My father died from a serious illness, while my mother died from drowning. My aunt is the only family I have. "Zoey, listen to me carefully. We have no money. Instead of working at the hotel, why not marry Mr. Anthony's son? Your wages are just meager and we can't pay our debts. If you marry their son, we will no longer be charged with the debt we owe them for the treatment of your father, so please just agree with my decision. Go and pack your things now because tomorrow their driver will pick us up and bring us to them,” she begged at me once more. My shoulders fell, and I didn't say a word anymore. I went to my room and just put some of my things inside my bag to take to Los Angeles. I really need to accept that I am going to marry the ugly son of Sir Anthony. Another reason that I didn’t want to get married yet was because my aunt has no one to be with once I start living with my husband. But Mr. Harris promised that they would not abandon my aunt once I was married to their son. As I lay on my bed, my tears flowed freely. Aunt came inside my room, went closer to me, and rubbed my back. "Zoey, this is for your own good, too. Your life will be better when you are married to Rayden Zayn,'' Aunt consoled me. "How would it be better, Aunt? You know the rumors that the ugly man has a bad attitude, that’s why no matter how much money he has, no one wants to marry him because of his looks and character," I protested to my aunt. "Child, don't listen to the gossip because it is not true that your fiancé's behavior is that bad," Aunt defended my soon-to-be husband. I just shrugged and prepared myself because Sir Anthony's eldest son and I are getting married the day after tomorrow. I have never seen the face of Rayden Zayn, but there are a lot of rumors that he is ugly and arrogant. He doesn’t let anyone take a picture of him, maybe because of how he looks. I never dreamed of marrying an ugly person. But it seems that I really can’t do anything anymore. I was left with no choice but to help my aunt, who has taken care of me since I was a child. By eight o'clock in the morning, Aunt and I were picked up by a driver in a black Mustang car. "They are already here to pick us up, child. Hurry up because we are expected to arrive in Los Angeles at the Harris's condo,'' Aunt's was pushing me to hurry. I'm carrying my luggage with only my essentials and important papers inside. Aunt and I went out, and the driver of the Harris' car, Peter, opened the door for us. Aunt and I got in the back and went to the airport for our flight to Los Angeles. Our trip took almost nine hours. When we arrived in Los Angeles, another car was waiting for us and took us. After a couple of minutes, it parked at an exclusive condominium called Multi Tower Condominium. I got to know that it was owned by the Harrises. The wall of the building is entirely tinted glass, and its design is very impressive. Aunt and I went down, and two uniformed servants greeted us. They took the bags that Aunt and I were carrying. "Mr. and Mrs. Harris are waiting for you upstairs, Mesdames,'' said a servant who looked as old as my aunt. My aunt is 50 years old. I didn't say anything and just followed the servant. We took the elevator and went up to the 9th floor. When we reached the 9th floor, we entered a room. When I saw the room, I was amazed at the beautiful arrangement of the furniture inside. At the door, we were greeted by Ma'am Rose, who will be my mother-in-law. "Glad you are already here! My daughter-in-law is really beautiful. Come now and have a seat,'' she smiled at us before kissing my aunt and me. We sat on the soft couch, and their servant served us some tea and juice. Sir Anthony arrived a few minutes later. "There you are! Is our lunch ready?'' he asked his wife. "The servants are already preparing it, honey," Ma’am Rose answered. "Good morning, Sir," I greeted Sir Anthony. "Good morning to you, too. And Hilda..." said Sir Anthony, shaking hands with us. "Where is Rayden?" Ma'am Rose asked him. "Maybe at his condo unit. Call him, Divina,'' Sir Anthony ordered one of the servants. "Sir Anthony, Sir Rayden was not at his condo. He said he was not in his office either,” Divina informed him after making a call. "What day is today?" asked Sir Anthony, particularly to no one. "Today is Saturday, sir," came a reply from Divina. "If I'm not mistaken, it was a motocross race today! That son of yours is really stubborn!'' Sir Anthony said angrily to his wife. "Your son is still doing motocross races?'' Aunt asked Ma'am Rose. "Yes, Hilda. That's why we're rushing his and Zoey's wedding, so that he would stop his racing habit. You know that sport is dangerous,'' Ma'am Rose replied to Aunt. That man is not just ugly and arrogant. He’s stubborn, too. I hope that he meets an accident so that our wedding will not push through tomorrow. Gosh. I don’t know why I am thinking of bad things. After a few hours, lunch was served. There were only four of us at the table because their daughter, Hannah, was in Holland. While we were eating, someone spoke from behind me. "Good afternoon, everyone!" boomed a baritone voice. "You are here finally. Come and join us so you can meet your future wife,'' Ma'am Rose's smiled at the person behind me. He approached and kissed his mother, then he sat next to her. I was looking at his face, which seems burnt, and his sharp nose. It looks like his face was burned from his left eye to his forehead down to his right cheek. It's true that his face is ugly, but his height probably reached 6 feet. He was wearing a fitted white V-neck that molded his muscular body. Obviously, the gym takes care of it well. His lips were thick as if they had burned, and only half of his cheeks were smooth. I can't imagine that I will spend the rest of my life with this kind of man. "How are you, Aunt Hilda? This niece of yours is really beautiful,'' he said to Aunt Hilda and looked at me, starting from my head to my chest. His eyes are sharp as if fire is coming out of them and they are burning my skin. "I’m good. By the way, she is Zoey. Zoey, child, he is Rayden Zayn, your future husband,'' Aunt formally introduced us to each other. "Please, forgive me if I can't give your niece an extravagant wedding. You probably know by now that the wedding will only be facilitated by a judge and no other guests will attend. I want my life to remain private and I don't want the media hanging around me. Zoey, I hope it's okay with you that our wedding tomorrow will be simple,” he told us listlessly. What they said about his personality is true. He has a bad attitude. "Don't worry about it. I, myself, don’t want my friends to know that I am marrying an ug--." I didn't continue what I was going to say when my aunt touched my leg. I saw that he laughed at what I said but looked at me angrily. "An ugly man? Well, you're right. Who would want to publicly announce that their future husband is ugly? Don't worry because I'm not like others, too, who are proud of their wives who just married them because of their money,'' was his sarcastic answer. I gulped when he said that, and I glared at him. What did he think of me, a gold digger? "You two, stop! Rayden, sort yourself out! You shouldn't talk to your future wife like that!''' his father scolded him. "Dad, you know that all women only want money from me. And you can't blame the people if they’ll think that she only wants money from me,'' Rayden replied calmly to his father. "I don't care what people think of me because they don't know the truth. If only my family didn't owe you, I wouldn't marry you! But I will swallow my pride and marry you as our payment for the debt we owe you," I rasped in reply because I don't want this cursed man to think that I am only after his money. "We better eat now. Rayden. Once we’re done, take Zoey for a walk here in Los Angeles,'' Ma'am Rose said stopping the conversation from going any further. "I have a lot of work, Mom. I don't have time to go for a walk,'' he replied to his mom. "Don't worry about me, ma'am, because I'm tired from the flight and I don't have time to go for a walk with him after our lunch either! Probably after I’ve rested, I'm going to go for a walk by myself,'' I replied coldly, not minding the anger in his sharp eyes. He just raised an eyebrow at me and looked at me mockingly as he took a bite of his food. … The next day, the wedding between Rayden Zayn and I happened at an early hour. I was just wearing a simple white dress. We got married at his condo unit. Aside from his parents, two witnesses came, and they were Mr. Rafael and Mrs. Matilda Johnson. Enrico Thompson, Rayden’s friend, also arrived to attend the wedding. His other friends were unable to attend. As for me, I didn't even have a friend to come attend my wedding, but I was fine because the most important thing to me was that Aunt Hilda was here. After our wedding, which was officiated by a judge, we all just ate at a famous restaurant in Los Angeles. While we were eating, his friend Enrico, who just came from another country, asked. "Where is your honeymoon?" Enrico asked Rayden and me. "Honeymoon only happens if you both love each other," replied my ugly husband. "Ow, ohh! Honeymoons aren't trendy for you then. I want the honeymoon to be in Las Vegas once I get married," Enrico replied. "Rayden, you can take a vacation so you and Zoey can have a honeymoon wherever you want to go," Rayden's father said. "Dad, we have talked about this. I agreed to marry the woman you want for me but I hope you don't dictate what I want to do after," Rayden said coldly to his father. His father didn't say a word and just continued eating. Since last night, I couldn't sleep wondering what my fate would be at the hands of this ugly man. If only I had a choice, I would rather be an old lady than marry this rude, ugly man. But there's nothing I can do anymore because I'm already married to this scumbag. I wondered why he didn't just let doctors fix his face since he was rich. Thinking about it, even if his face were fixed, no doctor could ever fix his personality. I secretly smirked. After he finished eating, he stood up. "Everyone, I have to leave you for now because I have an important meeting," Rayden said, saying goodbye without even looking at me. "Son, can't you at least cancel that meeting of yours first? You and Zoey just got married," his mom suggested, looking apologetically at our godfather and godmother, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. "That's right, Rayden. You can cancel your meeting and take your wife for a walk so you can get to know each other," replied our godmother at the wedding, Mrs. Johnson. "I still have a race to join, Aunt. It's the last one, so I can't postpone it. Let's go, Bro," he answered as he urged Enrico to join him in leaving. His parents can’t do anything but watch them go. Then, they just looked at me and apologized for their eldest son's stubbornness. After we ate, my aunt was brought by Peter back to San Francisco. I still wanted to go with my aunt, but she wouldn't allow me because I was already married. I was disappointed because I didn't have the chance to talk and say goodbye to my friends Ruby Rose and Halley before I left San Francisco. They didn't even know that I was getting married. I decided to just call them when I had the time. I know Halley is busy looking after her aunt's store, and Ruby Rose is busy with her studies.