Married to one,Promised to Another

Later that day, Adrian decided to talk to Natalie, She was in the greenhouse, looking at the different beautiful flowers. He called her to the living room for a talk. “i want to apologise about earlier, you know how mum is,she definitely didn't mean to put you on the edge “, “ but she did— I'm so tired of everyone calling me someone I know nothing about, and…”, she said in an almost state of tears “I'm not your bride” “I understand “, “you do?” she replied,” “ yes, you should probably get some rest too”, “I will “, she left. Adrian was left curious but still convinced that Natalie was just stressed, hence had minor memory loss. In the evening, Natalie was seen staring again , but this time at a frame of Maria and Adrian when they were teenagers, “Who actually are you?”, she asked, with an inquisitive look. due to all the events that had happened in the past few days, she did not have the luxury of time to even question why she looks exactly like the Maria , and why she had ran away on such a special day, “It's definitely going to be because of that overly demanding man, that calls himself a gentleman”, she chuckles as she walked away from the where the picture was framed, The house felt quite different at night, it had felt somewhat peaceful. As she was about to enter the bedroom, she saw Adrian, who was already on the bed working on his laptop. “Hey you” he said to Natalie in a soft voice “Hey…” she replied with a suspecting look. As she was walking towards him, she slipped on the foot mat, and directly landed on him, her face was directly on top of his, “Why do you look so different tonight?”, “Different, how”, “ you look more stunning”, The room was filled with a lot of tension “Thank…you…”. Natalie replied as she slowly stood up from him, Adrian couldn't stop glancing at her, “excuse me—I need to powder my nose,” she said as she speed walked into the restroom “what was that?” she asked, She had seen him calm, but not this calm, he all of a behaved softer, She thought to herself “maybe he's not all terrible—and the food—the comfortable bed— the servants answering to my every call…” she paused, as she then said a thought she had never imagined herself say, ” what if I act like Maria, and enjoy this lifestyle”, she walked up to the bathroom mirror “I'm Maria now, broke Natalie doesn't exist “, she said as she walked out of the bathroom, and instantly smiled at Adrian, “Hi hubby”, Adrian replied surprised “hubby?, since when did you regain your memory”, he chuckled softly, “ correct me if I'm wrong, but few hours ago, you claimed you're not my wife “, “At the time I was still in denial, but now— now I remember, I'm Maria, your wife, and this is my home “, “well I am relieved you remember now”, he said as he leaned in closer to her, “you know, it was never all about the contract, I genuinely like you and I never got the chance to tell you this, but I'm really glad you accepted” , “I like you too”, Natalie said, but this time she was not faking it , She had started having real feelings for him and planned to live a happy married life with Adrian. “ Can I kiss you?”, Adrian asked with yearning eyes, ”yes”, Natalie replied, And he went for a deep kiss as they lied on the wide master bed. Adrian then pulled out of the kiss and slowly took his shirt off, Natalie pulled him back from his belted jeans, and they consummated their marriage. The next day, Natalie slowly sat up from the bed, reminiscing on what happened yesterday's night. she smiled shyly, as she turned to wake up Adrian “Good morning”, “morning love”, he replied. “today's going to be a busy day at work, so I may not be back early”, “ that's fine” she replied. Adrian then stood up, opening the long brown curtains, revealing the harsh sun rays in the room. he then walked towards the bathroom. Natalie was about to go back to sleep when she heard a ringing sound, it was from Adrian's phone. She stretched to the table side to get it, it was an unknown number so she picked it out of curiosity. “Hello Adriii baby, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have run away, I…I… was just scared, can you just please tell me you forgive me, I'd apologise to Papa too I promise, hello?, can you hea…”, Natalie quickly cut the call and blocked the number, “Maria?”, she said shakily to herself. Adrian then came out of the bathroom “ I heard a phone ring, was it mine?”, “NO”, Natalie replied hurriedly,” it was mine, it was a friend that called”, then chuckled fakely. “Okay love, I'd get dressed and go to work, you make sure you have breakfast ok?”, “okay”, she replied. that one minute call still replayed in her head. Was the person that called Maria… and is she planning on coming back.