Tiffany made no mention of anything she assumed Alejandro had not told Melanie about, for she felt that his reservation was likely due to personal reasons. Hence, she could not betray his secret against his consent. “Uh, yeah. It’s a pity. I mean, he’s a good guy with pretty handsome features whose only flaw is, well, his disability. It’s alright, though, I mean—you agreed to marry him, so I know you don’t mind it.”Melanie felt a little more confident. “No, of course not. I love him,” she replied. “Anyway, I shouldn’t keep both of you any longer. I’ll be off.”It was then that Jackson came out of the kitchen with glasses of fresh orange juice in his hands. Melanie eyed the juice and added implicatively, “Oh, I guess I’ll have to skip the juice. You can enjoy mine, Miss Lane. It’s your favorite drink, isn’t it?”Before Tiffany could ask Melanie about how she knew that, the woman was already gone. So, instead, she took the juice from Jackson’s hand and drained half of the glass in on
It took Melanie almost two hours to find her way back to the Smith Estate.The trip inspired quite a rant about the estate’s unnecessarily inaccessible location and how it made a simple visit to Tiffany’s an exercise that consumed hours.She had not even finished complaining to herself when Jett suddenly approached her with his unemotive, mechanical tone. “Madam, Mr. Smith would like to speak to you in the bedroom. He’s waiting for you.”Melanie’s heart skipped a beat, the implication behind Alejandro’s invitation dawning onto her. Her husband would usually do everything he could to avoid her, but this was the first time he was proactively seeking her. She gave Jett a hum to show that she understood before starting toward the stairs.Jett abruptly stepped forward again and advised her. “Madam, please don’t do anything that could get on his bad side. Be careful with your words.”Melanie was so close to countering him with a ‘seriously?’. He made Alejandro sound like a man-eating og
Passion came and passed. Melanie rested on Alejandro’s chest.“Hey, why don’t you let Jett take a few days off? He has his wife and kid to attend to too, you know. Let him have the chance to be with them…. And let me fill his shoes for a few days. I want to know you better,” she breathed tenderly. “You know, I’ve been thinking about how things turned out, and it still amazes me. I’d only seen you a few days before our marriage! And still, I’ve fallen deeply in love with you. Could this be love at first sight? Regrettably, I don’t know you enough yet—but I want to. I want to be the one who knows you the most.”Alejandro remained nonchalant. “‘Love at first sight?’ Hmph. I’m more inclined to believe it’s lust, or maybe you loved how we f**ked.”The darker he sounded, the more entranced Melanie was. “Aww, don’t be so crass! It could be lust, for all I care, but I love you. I love to f**k you, Alex. You’re not escaping me. I want to be with you forever, till death.”Alejandro espied th
The first thing that leaped into Tiffany’s sight was the very dastardly-handsome face that haunted her dreams, and immediately, a wide grin crept onto her face. “A-ha! So you haven’t slept, have you? Look at you, lying down on your bed with that sad-puppy look. Are you tired, or did you just realize that life turns meaningless because I’m not beside you for these two days, huh?”Jackson considered her features through his phone and replied, “Hmm, maybe both. I mean, you’d requested leave for our wedding, but I haven’t done that myself, so I still need to work on the day… By the by, tomorrow’s the day we get our license. Thrilled yet?”“Hmm, not really,” Tiffany fibbed, belying her true feelings. “I think I’m more thrilled to see you. You know what they say—absence makes the heart grow fonder.”It was likely out of genuine tiredness that Jackson’s eyes closed. “Ditto on that. Natch, I wanna see you too, as soon as possible. Oh, but I still need to inspect our wedding venue after we r
Alejandro, in a state of intoxication, yanked open Lynn’s clothes and peered at the snow white skin underneath. “No man can resist a woman’s body,” he gibed. “And yet, despite what you have, you cower. I now see, I’ve given you far more chances than you deserve.”Lynn dared not struggle, nor did she cover herself. And so she stood, naked, vulnerable and trembling in fear. She could not tell what would happen to her given Alejandro’s current drunken, testy state.That was when the door opened, and Melanie strode into the bedroom.An unreadable expression shadowed her mien as soon as her eyes fell onto them. “Alex, what… what are you doing?”Alejandro released his grip from Lynn’s hand, and the latter instantly took a step back and tidied herself up. “I’ll take my leave.”Melanie shot her a snide sidelong glance before marching toward Alejandro, her voice raising several bars higher. “I said—what are you doing!?”Alejandro finished the wine in his glass and leaned back onto his cha
As soon as Melanie left the room, she ended up face to face with the Smith family butler. She lowered her head and concealed her feelings. She held her right hand firmly over her left to cover it more. “What is it?”“Don Smith is waiting for you,” the butler replied in a professional manner.She nodded and followed him to the courtyard. Don Smith did not seem to plan on going to sleep. It was already so late, yet he was still drinking tea. The type of tea he drank helps keep people awake, so it certainly does not help with sleep, especially for old people at his age.“Grandfather,” she greeted dutifully.The old man waved his hand, beckoning for her to sit down. There were only street lamps in the courtyard, so it wasn’t that bright. Hence, she didn’t need to conceal her wounded left hand.The old man looked far into the night sky for a very long time, then suddenly spoke up, “Do you have any questions for me? You’ve just joined the family not too long ago. You must feel apprehens
Don Smith praised her generously, “Looks like I’ve made the right choice. You just need to be a good wife and take good care of Ale. Leave the rest to me. Go back and take care of him. He’s had a lot to drink. He’ll need someone to care for him.”Melanie got up. “Okay. Please excuse me. You should get a good night’s sleep too, grandfather.”By the time Melanie arrived back at the room, she suddenly realized. Was Don Smith implying something? What did he mean when he said that she didn’t need to worry and to leave it to him? He wasn’t going to do anything to Tiffany, was he?She had never experienced these kinds of things before, and didn’t dare overthink it. However, she still felt very uneasy.The next morning, Jackson drove to the civil affairs office straight away. He saw that Tiffany’s car hadn’t arrived, and wanted to call to hasten her. However, he was worried about her bad driving skills and thought that a call might distract her, so he had no choice but to wait for her pati
Alejandro opened his eyes and looked at her, probably because he had heard her voice. Then, he passed out again.Tiffany followed the ambulance taking him to the hospital. Alejandro and the van driver were pushed into the emergency room. Only then did Tiffany return to her senses and call Jackson. “You should go home for now. I can’t come. Something happened while I was on the way!”Jackson did not expect this to happen. He sounded dismayed. “What happened? Where are you? You’re not only late for such an important thing, you’re not coming at all…”Tiffany did not plan on telling him about Alejandro’s involvement in the accident, but she was afraid of inciting antagonism by keeping it from him, so she decided to be honest about the accident.“I’m coming to the hospital to get you. You’re coming home with me at once!” Jackson ordered after hearing her explanation, to her surprise.She hesitated. “But Alejandro’s family members aren’t here yet. I can’t leave. You should go. I’ll be f