After lunch, Ashley went upstairs to the bedroom on the third floor to rest while Ashton and Archer went to the back garden to check the wedding arrangement for tomorrow. They both sat on the chairs while staring at the small low stage decorated with white roses flower arch behind it. Ashton's villa was located on a hill and behind the house was the view of the sea. The sound of the sea wave rushing to the shore gave a calming atmosphere to the wedding venue.
"Have you really thought it through this time?" Archer asked seriously.
"Yeah... there's no point in waiting. It's been five years. I should move on," Ashton replied.
"What if Layla suddenly returns? What would you do then?"
"Don't jinx my wedding, Archy."
"No, seriously. What would you do if she suddenly returns?"
Ashton went silent, collecting his thought over that matter. Layla Jones, that name had been haunting his heart for years. That woman was two years younger than him, his junior during college and also his first love. They dated for three years. Then Layla decided to join a student transfer program and moved abroad to continue her study because she was offered some modelling opportunities there by a few agencies. She chose her career over him.
They broke up because there was no certainty that she would be coming back. But Ashton wanted to wait. So while waiting for her to come back, he built his own empire in the fashion industry, so someday when Layla comes back, she could just work under his roof, in his sight. He would never let her get taken away again by any modelling agency because he could create that world for her.
But now, it had been five years and still no news from her. He was tired of waiting. He thought that maybe it was fated for him to meet Ashley at the bar last night. He had been very sceptical about women in the fashion industry. He really wanted to find someone who had a perfect body proportion according to the Golden Ratio. Probably that was just a reflex from his mind that yearning to find a woman who was perfect and could replace Layla from his heart. He found that perfect woman and it was Ashley.
His mind was completely blown last night when he measured her body and realized she fitted the Golden Ratio proportion. So, he didn't wait long to make up his mind and made her his woman. Maybe that was the universe hinting him to move on. As to whether he loved Ashley or not, he thought that maybe he could learn to love her later after they got married. He would try to do that for her and make their marriage work.
"If she did return, then... I don't even want to meet her again," Ashton responded after being silent for a while.
"What if she tries to find you and then found you? If your heart still wavers for Layla, then there's still time to stop the wedding. It's better to stop now when your feeling to that woman is not deep yet than doing it later and hurt both women."
"Gosh, Archy! Stop it. It's been five fucking years. Layla won't come back. I had accepted that. Stop talking about her and just let me move on. Let me enjoy this moment, my moment, my wedding."
"Did you even love Ashley?"
"I could learn to love her. It seemed pretty great when I banged her last night. It didn't feel awkward at all. I think we had some kind of chemistry and are compatible with each other. My marriage with her will work. I'll make sure of it."
"So you just decided that you could live for the rest of your life with this woman because it didn't feel awkward to sleep with her? Ash, you slept with Layla so many times already. If Layla comes back, I think you would still want her. And what about Ashley then? What would she think if she knows that you used to sleep with Layla before? Not just once but a lot of times."
"Everyone had a past. Do you think Ashley had no past? I know for sure that she used to sleep with her ex-boyfriend too. And she just broke up with him yesterday."
"She just broke up with her boyfriend yesterday?" Archer was bewildered to know about that. He chuckled in disbelief.
"You fucking wanted to marry a woman who just broke up with her boyfriend yesterday? Are you in your right mind right now? What if she suddenly tries to get back with her ex?"
"That won't happen," Ashton said confidently.
"How do you know that? How can you be so sure?"
"Because her ex is getting married this weekend to another woman."
At that, Archer fell silent. He pondered about it for a while. He recollected the story inside his mind, trying to review it again.
"So, she got cheated on by her ex?" Archer was curious about that part.
"Yes," Ashton confirmed it.
"Where did you meet her again? I mean how did you even meet her?"
"I met her in a bar last night. She was drinking alone to drown her sorrow away. So, I took her home when she's drunk."
Archer laughed right away after hearing how ridiculous their love story was. He stared at Ashton, feeling disbelief that this guy just wanted to jump ship and marry a stranger. He deliberately put the back of his hand to Ashton's forehead.
"What the hell?" Ashton got annoyed and brushed off his hand.
"Nothing! I just wanted to check if you have a fever or something. You look sick as if your mind had gone haywire."
"Stop being ridiculous, Archy! I'm not sick. I'm completely sane right now. I'm marrying Ashley tomorrow and that's final," Ashton said firmly and stood up, leaving Archer alone in the back garden.
Inside the bedroom, Ashley sat on the bed, leaning her back on a pillow. It was the same bedroom as last night, Ashton's bedroom. She was looking through her phone trying to find her non-blood sister's number, Hana Millers.
Hana was her best friend from the orphanage where she grew up before. They both were of the same age and went to the same high school and college together. Right after they graduated college, Hana married an architect and now had a son with her husband. Ashley found her phone number and called it without hesitation.
"Hana, I think I had done something very absurd today..." Ashley said right after the call was picked up.
"You could start by saying hello first. What if it's my husband who picked up your call?" Hana replied playfully.
"Your husband is working right now. You're alone in the house with Max, isn't it?" Ashley joshed at her.
"Yeah... and he won't stop crying. I literally breastfeeding him right now."
"Sorry to bother you..." Ashley felt guilty instantly. She knew how hard it was for Hana to take care of her son alone when her husband was out working.
"No, it's fine. So, what is it? The absurd thing you did today..."
"First of all... I need to tell you that I broke up with Karl last night," Ashley told her the backstory first.
"Again?! How many times had it been since high school that you both broke up and then reconcile again after a few days..." Hana berated her, feeling ridiculous that Ashley kept breaking up with Karl like a thousand times already.
"It's for real this time. We're not going to get back together again. He's getting married this weekend," Ashley said bitterly.
"What?! With who? Who's that bitch?!" Hana felt like her blood was rising to the top of her lung. She couldn't believe what she heard from Ashley just now.
"With Lucia Darcy..."
"Oh gosh... Oh gosh... Oh my... How... Oh, God. This is terrible. I'm feeling like killing that bitch. No! I'm feeling like killing Karl right now! He knew well enough how much you hated Lucia!"
"I know... but that's not really the thing that I wanted to tell you..."
"There's more?!" Hana was truly bewildered. She thought that was the absurd thing that Ashley wanted to tell her. What else could be more absurd than that?
"Last night after the breakup, I went into a random bar and then I met this weird good-looking guy and I got so drunk and then..."
"You slept with him?" Hana guessed it right away.
"Yes..."
"That's fine, honey. That's acceptable. Your ex is getting married so you are certainly allowed to have a rebound," Hana comforted her immediately, thinking that Ashley was probably feeling guilty or regretting the thing she did last night.
"No. That's not it. That guy asked me to marry him..."
"What?" Hana felt like she misheard her.
"That man... the one I'm sleeping with last night. He wanted me to marry him."
"Is he crazy?" Hana asked. The story was too absurd. What kind of man suddenly wanted to get married to a random woman he slept with once? It felt like Ashley was making up a story.
"You're not pranking me right now, are you?" Hana began to feel suspicious of her.
"What? No... I'm telling you the truth. The thing is... I actually agreed with him and we're getting married tomorrow."
Hana laughed hysterically, thinking that Ashley was making a joke. But when Ashley stayed silent and gave no response, Hana turned silent too.
"Ashley, honey... Don't you dare say that it was true. That's just too absurd," Hana warned her.
"That's basically the first thing I said to you right after you picked up the phone. That I had done something very absurd today..."
Hana was lost for words. They both went silent for a solid one minute. "I... Where's the wedding? I don't think I can come tomorrow. Samuel needs to go for outstation tomorrow for a week in another city and he asked me to come with him. He literally didn't have the heart to let me take care of Max alone for a week," Hana said, feeling guilty that she might not be able to attend the wedding. "He wanted to hold the wedding in the back garden of his house. It's just going to be a close private wedding. It's fine if you can't go. I just wanted you to know. I don't have any other family members to tell. You're the only sister I have even though we aren't blood-related," Ashley replied slowly. "I'm sorry, honey. I really wanted to go but Samuel would be sad if I and Max don't follow him." "It's okay. I understand. I'll send you some photos after the wedding." "By the way, who's that guy again? What's his name?" Hana just remembered that she hadn't asked that guy's name yet. "Ashton Gre
"How did you know him? I mean... he was very low profile to be exact. I have never seen his face before. And I searched his name on the internet just now, they rarely had his picture in the articles. Just a few pictures of his side face but never showed his full face," Hana was weird that it was so hard to find Ashton's full face or full body pictures on the internet. That was kind of rare for someone who was rich and famous. "He was only famous with his name. And he strictly banned the media from publishing any of his full-face pictures to the public, or else he'll sue them. You're right. He's a very low profile person. I met him a few times actually. He always hired Infinite Designs Architecture to do the designs for his boutiques and branch buildings. I guess he just loved our design ideas." Infinite Designs Architecture was the company Samuel worked for. He was one of the senior architects in the company. "Anyway... I can't believe that your non-blood sis
Ashley did as told and about twenty minutes later, she came out feeling fresh and smelt so good. Then, Flora checked her armpits and her legs brazenly."She didn't need waxing. Proceed to do her hair and her makeup," she said to her assistants.Someone escorted Ashley towards the vanity mirror and made her sit on the chair in front of it. Her hair was blown dry and styled beautifully. At the same time, someone was giving her face a makeover as well. Since her skin was fair, they decided to give her a simple and fresh looking face for her makeup.Lastly, she wore her wedding dress and someone helped her to put on the jewellery set for her neck and her ears."Stunning! She's done!" Flora exclaimed in satisfaction while looking at the beautiful bride of Ashton Grey in front of her. The whole stylish team was staring at Ashley in adoration too."We still have time. Miss White, if you don't mind... can we check something?" Sandra said while glancing at
"Nothing..." Ashley replied bashfully.She avoided his gaze and she could sense him staring at her nonstop. She levelled her sight only towards his chest and focused her body to move for the dance. Her mind was in chaos right now. She felt like she needed some time to process the whole thing. Her chest was pounding hard and she felt like having a panic attack. But Ashley remained calm as much as she could because she didn't want to do something that would embarrass Ashton.Only when it was almost four in the evening did the occasion end officially. Ashton was sending the last guest out before he entered the villa again and ordered all the servants to clean up and rearranged everything on the first floor to normal again."Where's my wife?" Ashton asked Martha when he couldn't find her anywhere on the first floor."I saw Madam went upstairs just now, sir," Martha replied and Ashton only took seconds to make his way to the lift, intending to go to the third
Ashley showed a meek expression and shook her head lightly, suddenly feeling scared to answer him confidently. His manhood was still in her hole, still hard, so she knew he was not done doing her yet. She felt timid to tell him to stop at that moment because she feared he might be mad at her.Although he had been acting very gentle to her all this time, she could sense that Ashton was not someone who should be taken lightly. She could feel his dominance whenever he was around her."Then, why are you crying? Is it hurting down there?" He asked gently again with his hand stroking her hair tenderly.Ashley didn't know how to answer him. It was different when she did it with Ashton compared to when she was with Karl. She could act easy and natural when she was in bed with Karl. But when it was Ashton, she felt so vulnerable as if this man could suck out her soul any moment now."I'll make it fast and more gentle, okay?" He whispered those to her as if he was concerned about her sexual pai
"My dad was a known playboy during his young age. He had a lot of mistresses. My mother was one of them, so you see... there was no possibility of getting married in their situation. She was a clever one though, she got pregnant with me, kept the pregnancy and then after she gave birth to me, she raised me for six months, making sure I'm big enough for my father to take care of me alone and then she simply went to meet my father again and demanded money in return for me. They did the DNA test and it was proven that I'm really my dad's biological child, so he paid ten million dollars to my mother and she left." "Why didn't they just get married?" Ashley asked in the middle of his explanation. "Oh, they both didn't want it. My dad wasn't really the type of man that feel enough having one woman. While my mother didn't want to be tied into a meaningless marriage. She rather be single and had her freedom and she rather chose the ten million dollars than stick around to take care of me,"
Soon after he spoke, her heart filled with guilt instantly. She realized that they both were married due to unclear reasons and what he said was true. There was no love inside their marriage."It's just some kind of reflex from my brain, I guess..." he suddenly said."What? Reflex for what?" She was confused."That obsession of finding a woman with a perfect body proportion... I knew it sounded ridiculous for me to standardize women based on that. But I worked in the fashion industry, so I was prone to have that kind of thinking. I didn't have that kind of obsession before. But then five years ago, I broke up with someone because she wanted to move abroad to pursue her modelling career. She was someone that's obsessed with this kind of thing. So when she left, choosing her career over me, I think that those Golden Ratio scale number was the only thing that make me remember her. And so now, I had this habit of checking the measurement of the female models in the modelling agency, becau
The next morning, Ashley went down to the first floor of the villa fully dressed in a burgundy formal midi dress. She saw the clothes were already prepared on the bed right after she came out of the bathroom after having a shower. Apparently, Ashton had a habit of choosing what type of clothes she should wear for the day. "Oh, my beautiful wife finally come down. Come here, honey. Let's have breakfast together," Ashton greeted her from across the dining table near the open kitchen space. Ashley approached him slowly and saw he was wearing a burgundy suit with a black shirt underneath to match her attire. His perfect strong jawline face with the trimmed beard emitted out his masculinity and his dark wavy hair was styled so stunningly that she stared at him for a while before she had a seat at the dining table. The man was eating elegantly while looking at his phone once in a while. When he sensed that she did not start eating yet, he gazed up at her. "What's wrong?" He asked, feeling