“Welcome to my boat “, Ian said, taking another sip of the wine in his hand. Rita was never patient enough to wait for the wine to ferment into something stronger, he needed to get drunk.
The woman threw him a look. Ian liked to call that look “The Ashley Toma alarmed look”. She had that look on her face a lot. Alongside a host of other looks he was unfortunately familiar with.
Rita always used to have the best intuition, her friends were always smart and people that deserved to be in her sphere. The only exception was this one. Ashley Toma. He had investigated her extensively and found that he knew her father, Leo Toma, and the man was always going on and on about how his daughter decided to become a lecturer instead of taking the reins of the family business and how he froze all her accounts of the money from the business till she decided to become useful.
Ian knew she was out to dig gold, perhaps she was spurred on by the fact that her father would make her lose out on everything if she didn’t find good enough connections. He hated people like her father, but he hated people like her even more. Sadly, she was his only companion on this ridiculous night.
His grandfather had called him right as he got into his hotel. Apparently, his fiancee had called him that she was calling off the wedding for him being "cold and mean to her". Ian wished he wasn’t as big on privacy as he was, after all if he had installed CCTVs, she wouldn’t have anything to say.
His grandfather, not really caring much about whoever he married, only wanted him married off the next day. So he had no choice but to marry Mava, or get a bride from the sky. The other alternative was choosing to forfeit all his potential shares. Ian was not in the best frame of mind.
“What do you mean by that?”, she asked, her eyes shining with concern, he also saw the underlying curiosity for gossip somewhere deep in her eyes.
“Are you that dumb?”, he asked dramatically, sipping out of his drink.
That garnered an “Ashley Toma offended glare”. It was his favorite look. She might be the embodiment of bad company, but she was very pretty, and who didn’t like to look at pretty things?
Her thick black hair was always in a ponytail that seemed to be defying its bonds every time he saw her, making him itchy to get them out of their prison and into something more healthy, like ribbons. Like a true gold digger, her looks were utterly mesmerizing, it was probably one of the only reasons he hadn’t gotten rid of her yet.
“I was cheated on today too”, he simply said, he didn’t know why he suddenly felt like talking to her, after all he was used to keeping his affairs private. What if this little minx used the information against him someway?
“Who in their right mind would cheat on you?”, she laughed quietly, a little snort escaping that always drove him mad.
“My fiancee”, he deadpanned, was she that dumb? She looked at him in fear, why was she scared?
“Beauty Queen Mava?! What the fuck?! Was she drugged?!”, She asked like it was any of her business. She was really playing her gold-digging cards to the fullest, everything she did managed to have an endearing quality.
“No”, he said, gritting his teeth and taking the path of the gremlin, forgoing the cup and drinking straight from the bottle. She looked at him in surprise, before glancing at his neck and looking away. Did she think he was blind? What was that look of lust on her face?
“I saw that you disgusting pervert”, he said in a low monotone. 3,2,1, ah yes, there it was. “The Ashley Toma offended glare”. He should trademark it.
“You saw what? And uh…that’s rough buddy”, she said, looking away. Ian had finished the bottle in less than a minute, ignoring the burn of drinking it too fast. He needed to get drunk, and fast.
He chose to ignore her question. “That’s rough? It was in MY bed”, he said, expecting a lot more than that’s rough.
“What?!”, she said, taking another swig of the strong vodka, he should’ve gone for the vodka too. It was stronger than the wine he had taken. “My boyfriend told me to get ready for a once in a blue moon date at seven. I decided to surprise him and tada”, she said, her hand vaguely going to where her heart was located.
Even the worst of the worst didn’t deserve to see that. He could also see that unlike his and Mava’s match, Ashley and her boyfriend’s match was a love match, that would hurt a lot more.
“She did it with my biggest rival”, he said, slightly losing his brain to mouth filter more and more with every passing minute. The woman in front of him got further depressed. Did he say something wrong?
“He did it with my step-sister”, she said and he recoiled. This was worse than rough, this was unfathomable. He wasn’t too surprised. He had investigated her boyfriend too. He was relatively well off, but he used to be notorious for never staying with one girl. Didn’t he know that? It was only a matter of time before he found her sex boring. No matter who she was.
“Accept my condolences”, Ian said, not knowing what else to say. He was gradually getting too drunk for this conversation. He used to be able to hold his liquor with any of Rita’s drinks, why was today different? He grabbed the bottle and did a double take. This wasn’t Rita’s alcohol, she had stolen it from his primary house when he wasn’t home. The audacity little siblings had!
“Nobody died”, she laughed, the little snort escaping. Ian felt his eye twitch.
“Even still”, Ian slurred slightly, it was too hot in here. He began to unbutton more till he got to his navel. There was only the drunk heartbroken woman beside him, he could afford to. Said woman was even putting her head on the bar.
“I’m grateful for your condolences”, she said, pretending to be royally giving a decree. She glanced at him and her eyes stuck to the part of his body exposed by his anger at the heat and his buttons. Her eyes darkened, he cleared his throat and looked away. He had never been so blatantly stared at before, especially not when his skin was on display.
“So…um uh… uh….”, she said, sounding disoriented. “Uh…how are you gonna handle… married life”, she drawled, already sounding more drunk than he had ever heard anyone sound.
“I’m not getting married to her”, Ian said like he was commenting on the weather.
“Who are you marrying then?”, she asked like a sloth. That sentence didn’t even sound like english.
“I don’t know”, he said, pinching his brows as he stood up. He should probably put her in the guest wing of the house. He held her hand and she immediately put her cheek to his exposed chest like it was a magnet and she was an iron pin.
“I should marry too. Show Melie I, she, good and all”, She slurred. Ian gritted his teeth and removed the woman from him.
“I didn’t understand a word of that nonsense”, he said in frustration. Who just randomly puts their head on a man’s exposed chest. That was rude. He was feeling more drunk. He should get her to the guest wing so he could sleep off the entire day’s struggle away.
“I should marry too”, Ashley started, frowning and counting her fingers as if to not stray off course.
“Show Melie I’m the boss and she’s a fake”, she said, glancing up at him proudly.
Ian rolled his eyes and dragged her away from the mini bar.
“NOOOOOOOOo, Vodka my love! You can’t take me away from my love!”, she protested. Ian felt a headache coming on and he threw her over his shoulder, her legs wiggling for freedom.
“WHy yOU hORRible MoNSter!”, she growled and tried in vain to free herself.
Ian opened the door to the room and threw her on the bed.
“Excuse me while I go find a bride in ten hours”, Ian said decisively, turning around to get out.
“WAIT!”, Ashley yelled after him.
Ashley stirred slightly. She felt beckoning warmth around her and nuzzled deeper into it. Her bed had never been this comfortable, she felt she never wanted to leave. She would probably be late to her class today for the first time ever. But she wasn’t leaving this bed, or the arms wound tightly around her.Wait! Arms?!She struggled to open her eyes. A searing headache split through her head immediately. Why did she feel like someone smashed a sledgehammer on her head multiple times? And why was she in bed with Richard? She had made that rule at the beginning of their relationship. She didn’t like that much physical intimacy. She could count the number of times they’ve kissed. It seemed as though she would have to reconsider. She finally opened her eyes successfully, ignoring the throbbing in her skull.Her eyes met with jet-black hair instead of Richard’s light brown. She blinked a few times to ensure that she was seeing right. This was not a trick of the light, neither was the man
Chapter 5Ashley decided to take a bath. From what she knew so far, he needed her to be his wife more than she needed him at all, so she wouldn’t hand over the rod of power to him. The countertops, floors and walls were all marble, at least twenty beauty products lined up on them, with a giant mirror on the ceiling directly above the equally giant bathtub.There were also His-and-Hers sinks with well-lit mirrors, and a separate glass-enclosed shower with rainfall showerheads. Ashley had seen luxury but this was on a different level. She mourned the fact that she couldn’t indulge the whole day in the bathroom alone. It was the nicest bathroom she had ever seen, and she had seen Rita’s bathroom.She roughly shoved the clothes over her head, throwing them on the floor where she stood. Apparently, they had worn pajamas before going to bed, which begged the question of Ian seeing her naked. She ignored the bathtub and headed straight for the showers, fogging up the glass door with steamy
Chapter 6 Ashley twirled in the large mirror, the lights decorating it accentuating the flow of the gold form-fitting gown that made her look like a celebrity on the red carpet. It was her favorite of all the gowns she had worn. She smoothed it down and almost lifted her phone to take a video when she realized she didn’t have her phone in hand. Where the heck was her phone anyways?She didn’t hold classes on saturday but other people could need her. She wandered about the bedroom, if she couldn’t find it in there she would have to get a new one. After about ten minutes of searching, she found it under a pillow.She turned it on, fully expecting to be faced with a million missed calls and messages from Richard. There was none from him. However, she had four missed calls from Chloe, her other best friend, the previous night.Did Richard really not call her? Was he trying to pull some macho move? Did he think she would come crying for an explanation? Deep down, Ashley knew that she wou
Chapter 7 Ian glared at the woman asleep in the car. They had reached the hangar and she was out cold. He hoped she didn’t expect him to carry her like the previous day. He would stop drinking, it was what brought him into this mess.He shook her awake violently and she jerked up with an unholy yell. “I’m not asleep!”, she yelled, her arms flailing and hitting the side of his face. As she tried to get her bearings Ian had the niggling suspicion that the hitting was intentional. Deep breaths, that was what his therapist said he should do whenever he felt like throwing someone off a highway. “Get out”, he seethed, staying resolutely in his seat till she would leave his line of direct sight.She huffed and stepped out, aided by the guard that had been sitting in the passenger’s seat. He saw her slightly swaying till she climbed the stairs to the private jet. Ian debated the pros and cons of mysteriously ending his life as he realized that he had only been around her for eight hours
CHAPTER 8Ian prepared his briefing for the turning point meeting he would be having the next day. He supposed that it was the only thing he could thank the pretty leech – that roped him into being her husband – for. He had lost all hope after his grandfather’s call, but at least now he was married, he was back in the running.“You wouldn’t believe it but the Presley woman posted something backhanded on her page this morning”, Yu Zhen spoke up from beside him. The asian man was scrolling through his phone with a look of annoyance on his face. Ian didn’t really care whatever his ex-fiancee did, it ceased to be his business since he had found another alternative.“Humor me”, he said, not interrupting the proposal he was typing for an investor. He always did his best drafting in the air.“She said and I quote”, he made his voice take on a higher pitch in mockery. “I’m sorry to all my fans, friends and family. I called off my wedding, I can’t live with a man incapable of feeling emotions,
Chapter 9Hours later, Yu Zhen decided that his new best friend was Ashley. Whether or not Ian kept her in his life after their year long contract, he would not betray his brand new best friend. She was so witty, and had so many stories to tell. At some point on the flight they had abandoned the manwha they were reading to delve into times Ashley had purposely paired two people for a project so they would bond in forced proximity.As they walked to the car that would take them to Ian’s main home, he was extra conscious to make sure to stick close to the short woman so no prying eyes could see her. He wasn’t sure she would want news of her marriage spread everywhere before she even had time to come to terms with it.“So, when do I leave?”, Ashley asked Yu Zhen inquisitively, holding her phone in one hand and her gown in the other. She didn’t need the edges of the beautiful golden dress sweeping the floor of Ian’s hangar.“Leave?”, Yu Zhen sent back, sounding genuinely confused. Ashley
Chapter 10Ian felt a strange prickle of pride as she stared on in awe, almost drooling. He ignored Yu Zhen’s pointed glare and led the way inside, several men in black following them in. He could almost physically feel her itch to wander off on her own, Ian none too gently verbally shoved her to walk away. Like a woman under a spell, she immediately wandered to the gardens. Ian on the other hand branched for the mini-bar. He wasn’t seeking to get drunk, he just needed the slight tang of good wine to face his grandfather’s onslaught of questions when he’d meet him.“Why are you letting her stay here? This is your place!”, Yu Zhen questioned accusingly. He liked Ashley, but that didn’t eliminate the main probability that she wasn’t using Ian for her own selfish reasons. He couldn’t imagine what possibly moved Ian to let her stay in this house out of all the houses she could have stayed at instead. Ian sat on the barstool and picked a bottle. Yu Zhen folded his arms and raised an eyeb
Chapter 11“Oh my darling, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to break the news in such an insensitive way”, Chloe was immediately horrified as Ashley started sobbing into her bent hand.“No No, it’s- it’s not how you- how you broke the news I’m just really weak emotionally right now”, Ashley stuttered through her tears. A knock sounded on the door of the room.Both Ashley and Chloe’s attention were zeroed in on it. Chloe furrowed her brows even more as she saw the full-view of the room in Ashley’s run to the door. Was Ashley with Rita? That was the only thing that would explain the grandeur of the room. “Who is it?”, Ashley said in a phony composed voice, trying desperately to make sure she didn’t look like she just had a mini-breakdown.“I’m ze butler madam”, a prim voice said in an accent that sounded heavily french. It would be the biggest cliche of all time if he happened to have a mustache and balding white head. She opened the door and lo and behold, he had balding white hair. Thankf