Chapter 10
It was surprising when I read the news about Fiona dating Emily's ex. I thought I would be angry to read such news, but I felt nothing. The only thing I felt was worry about Emily. Did the news hurt her? Was she still in love with himt The way she looked at him when he sa was beginning to doubt everything Fiona had ever said to be after living with Emily for four months Not once had I seen a glimpse of the girl Fiona described for me. Emily thought that I wasn't paying any attention to her, but I was actually watching her. I wanted to see the spoilt brat who did not care about anyone but herself, but all I saw was the complete opposite. She I expected her to spend at
least twenty or thirty thousand dollars when I gave her my credit card, but the barely spent five thousand dollars. She even asked me if the amount she spent was okay or not after coming back and offered to pay me back some of the money she spent if it was over the bud This woman surely didn't know how beautiful she was. She had the ability to render me speechless with her effortless beauty. The Emerald green dress she had on seemed to be made for her. She ruined the design for any other woman who might buy the dress. I wanted to tell her that she looked amazing. I wanted to boost her self-confidence, but my tongue was tied. I couldn't say a
a single thing to her. It was rather surprising to me when I found myself asking her to make breakfast for me whenever she prepared it for herself. I was also surprised when she offered to treat my injuries. I thought she would totally ignore me because of my ill- treatment of her, but she proved to be nicer than me.
"Are you ready?" I asked her and she nodded.
"Wait," she said when I was about to walk. She approached me and her delicate hands reached for my tie. Being that close to her was dangerous. She didn't know what she was doing to me or how she made my heanbeats race. "Now, it's all good. It was a bit crooked." Sh "Thank you," I mumbled, and we both headed towards my car.
Thirty minutes later, we made it to the restaurant in time. Once we reached our table, all eyes turned towards us.
"Emily Harolds! Is that you!?" Roman Belford exclaimed upon seeing my wife.
"Roman" My wife said excitedly,
How did he know her! He got up from his place and pulled her into a hug. It took everything
ng in me to not pull her back. Why was he calling her Harolds? She was
"It's been what! Two years!" he said as he finally pulled back.
Kensington.
"I think more. Almost three probably," she replied with a huge smile on her face. Was that her genuine smile? She had a captivating one. She lud never smiled at me like that. But I had never given her a reason to give me one of those smiles Why did I even care?
"How do you know each other?" I asked, wrapping my arm around her waist. He had to know that she was my wife,
"We had some classes together. Had it not been for her, I wouldn't have passed. She is a lifesaver," Roman said as we all headed to our seats.
"Don't exaggerate. I barely did anything" Emily said, smiling at him. She needed to stop smiling at him like that.
"Oh really" Okay, let's make the others decide. Guys, my professor asked her to tutor me because I was falling behind after my mum's death. Her notes were perfect, and she made the most complicated subject simple. Do you guys think I'm exaggerating when I call her "You were start. You made my job rasy," she assured him
"If that's the case, he's not exaggerating at all. I wish I had somebody who would have made college life easier for me, Timothy Black, a well-known architect, commented withinchable.
"I wish I had somebody who would have made accounting easier for me," Timothy's date said.
"I didn't know she was the girl you married. I wasn't in the US during your wedding," Roman addressed me.
"We surely missed
you at the wedding You'd have probably shown off your dance moves" My wife let out a light laugh, and I had to fight the anger that threatened to pour out of me. I was supposed to discuss a new partnership with him tonight, but maybe that wasn't necessary. My compar "Have you started working on the brand you want to laundi?" I frowned at his question. What brand was he talking about? Did Emily want toText property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.
launch a brandr
"Not yet," she replied.
I wanted to ask her about that, but I didn't want to ask in front of all of those people. I didn't want them to see the uninvolved husband I was.. "A brand for what?" one of the women asked her.
I silently thanked her for her curiosity.
"Clothing brand. I studied fashion designing," Emily replied. Then why was she working in the company if she wanted to establish a brand for herself
"My sister still has the dress you designed for her. She wore it to a family gathering once and everybody wanted to know where she got it from." My wife blushed at what Roman said. I wanted to see her designs too. I wanted to see that talent that he was talking so passionately about
"Maybe Julian could fund that project. I'm sure he wouldn't mind supporting his wife," Andrew Johanson said. I knew that man well. He was a good man and did not have any ill intentions. Nobody knew the truth about our marriage.
"He did offer, but I refused. I didn't know why she liked jumping to my rescue. "I want to establish my brand without any help, so when he offered, I refused. He's very supportive of me and has always been up-to-date with my designs."
The way she always had my back had me amazed. I wanted her to be bad in any way I wanted to hate her, but she didn't give me a single reason to do so. She was everything any sane man would want. Despite all of that, she wasn't what I wanted. She wasn't the woma "Don't let the girl suffer for long. Try to convince her to accept your help, Andrew told me.
"All she needs is to say the word and I will immediately give her whatever she wants." For some reason, I wasn't just saying that. If she asked me for help. I would help her out.
"Yeah, that's not going to happen any time soon I liked the teasing tone in her voice. I liked that side of her.
For the rest of the dinner, we discussed some projects and socialized for a bit. Emily was the perfect wife any businessman would wish for. She knew what to say and when. She was smart, elegant and articulate. Maybe if I had met Emily under different circumstances I wo "Thank you," I said as I drove us back home.
""For what?" Her voice was soft
"For coming with me. For making everybody think that our marriage is real and I'm a supportive husband." I took a glance at her, and our eyes met for a second. I was in love with the shade of green that made her eyes special. They were jade- green, and her eyelashes were black and thick. She didn't need makeup to make her eyes stand out because they already did.
"I didn't do anything other than what should be done," she replied.
"Why?" I stopped at a traffic light
"Huh?" She looked at me with confusion.
"Why are you good to me? You could have easily
told them tonight that I knew nothing about your designs, but you didn't. Why? That question was driving me crazy. I thought she was going to make my life a living hell. In some way, she was doing that but in an unexpected way.
"Why won't I be good to you! Why would I make our lives harder than they already are? Why would I tell them anything about our personal lives? There is nothing to gain in doing that. In fact, I would be bringing us trouble that we don't need. I'm not your enemy, Julian. I do any harm and believe it or not, I love to live in peace away from the press and media, she spoke
All I could do was nod because there was nothing I could say to her.
When I went to my bedroom after finishing a phone call I had to make, I realized that she had forgotten her bracelet with me. Its lock broke during our dinner, and I put it in my pocket.
I took off my jacket and took the bracelet with me as I headed towards her room to give it to her.
I knocked on her door and waited for her permission to get in. Instead, she opened the door for me. She was in some little pink shorts and a white top. Her hair was pulled
up in a ponytail and her face was already makeup free. She had freckles on her nose and cheeks, making her look adorable
"Julian" Her voice made me realize I had been staring at her. I didn't understand what was happening to me tonight.
"Sorry" I shook my head as I extended my hand towards me. "You forgot your bracelet with me."
"Oh, thank you," she said, taking it from e
"Why did you have to be beautiful?" The words got out before I had the chance to stop them, making her eyes go wide for a second. How did I say that out loud! What was I thinking" "W-what?" she stuttered as her bracelet slipped from her hand.
12.37 PM
We both beat down to get in, which made us closer in distance than we already were. Again, I found myself staring at her, but that time, she was
also staring at me.
"You're.. you're staring at my lips" She sounded nervous and cute
"That's because I want to kiss you" 1 admitted, causing her to furiously blush.
"Then kiss me," she blurted, taking me
me by surprise.
Without thinking. I found myself closing the distance between us as my lips met hers. For a couple of seconds, I was worried that I might have crossed a boundary she felt forced to cross, but I relaxed when she started kissing me back. I wrapped both of my arms around h It all started with a kiss on the lips, but the more I kissed her, the greedier I became. She was delicious and her lips tasted like strawberry. My lips trailed down her lips and a small whimper escaped her lips, yet she didn't unwrap her arms from around me and didn't push m "Are you sure of what you're doing?" she whispered as we stopped kissing for a second to breathe. "You don't like me, Julian" She didn't understand She was a victim in all of that.
"I want this. Do you want to do this?" She had to be on the same page with me. I wasn't going to have sex with her if she wasn't a hundred percent sure. She gave me a shy nod, looking down for a moment. "This changes nothing between us."
"I know. Her voice was small. Was I being unfair? Probably Was I hurting her? I wasn't sure. Was I dying to know what she felt like? Absolutely
She was so small against the that I worried I might break her.
"You still want this?" I didn't want to hurt her.
"Yes." This time, her eyes met mine. I could tell that she was nervous, but she gave me her consent
I wasn't sure what was going on with me. All I knew was that I needed to know what it felt like to touch her, I wanted to feel her skin against mine and breathe in her sweet scent.
"If you want me to stop at any time, tell me immediately I didn't want her to feel forced in any way.
"You too. You can stop at any time you want. No pressure," she said with her arms latched around my neck
This wasn't how I thought I was going to end my night, but this was surely a hundred times better than sleeping in my cold bed all alone