Chapter 9

The news of Laura's sudden marriage to the company’s new partner, CEO of TK Company, came as a shock to a lot of people, especially those who knew about her long-time relationship with Avan.

The likes of Sharon couldn't stand the news until they saw things for themselves.

Not only did she have a wedding with a man they didn't know, but she also didn’t invite her stepmother to the wedding.

Those at TK Company were also shocked, as phone calls poured in from lots of reporters and congratulatory messages flew around.

A number of ladies who admired their boss and wished they could make something happen with him were heartbroken after hearing the news.

To make things worse, pictures of Laura rushing into the hospital in her wedding dress and leaving late at night with Avan began to circulate on the Internet, and people started to make different assumptions and jump to conclusions.

Some believed she cheated on Avan and went behind him to get married, causing him to end up in the hospital, while some concluded that the marriage was just for the purpose of business, calling her a bad woman for playing with two men because of money and popularity.

While all these went on, Laura herself was cooped up in her room sleeping, oblivious to the uproar her actions had caused in the outside world.

She had turned off her phone after the tiresome day yesterday and didn’t get any information about the ongoing assumptions about her.

She woke up a few minutes to ten in the morning and first went to wash off the makeup on her face, then freshened up and changed into other clothes before turning on her phone to see tons of messages.

“Beep!”

A lots of messages popped in, and for the next few minutes she continued to receive different phone calls, especially from Avan and Clara.

She saw a number of messages from a few friends asking her if she had really been cheating on Avan from the beginning and was truly with Chris instead.

Surprised to see such messages, she went on the Internet to see different news and speculations about her relationship with the two men.

She called Clara immediately, and Clara briefed her about the whole situation.

“TK Company is already taking care of the issues online, but I think you need to handle the gossip in the company yourself,” Clara told her, and Laura sighed, frustrated to be faced with another issue after solving one.

“I think you should call your husband. His secretary has been trying to reach you,” Clara told her, and Laura immediately ended the call.

She must have lost her reason yesterday after hearing that Avan was in the hospital and didn’t think of what outcome could come from rushing over there when she had just gotten married to another man.

“Hello,” Laura said after dialing Chris's number, and she was met with an awkward silence on the other line.

“I am so sorry, I really…” she was apologizing, but Chris cut her off as if he already knew that would be her first words.

“Let’s meet. I will pick the time and place,” he said, then hung up again, which made Laura pissed at his hostile attitude. But she was in no place to blame him though.

She was the one who left him at the altar and rushed to take care of her ex on her wedding day.

“He seems really pissed,” Laura murmured, thinking of the best way to explain this to him. Her phone lit up with Avan's number the next second, and she answered it.

“Did you really get married to Chris behind me? Have you really been having an affair with him behind me?” he shouted at her immediately.

Laura cut the call, not ready to listen to or deal with his nonsense. She already had a lot on her plate.

She dressed up hurriedly and headed to the company to handle the situation before it got out of hand, and received a message from Chris as she drove out telling her the place she should go to meet him in the evening.

~

Laura made her way into a private room where she was to meet Chris after ensuring that the rumors had been put under control, and was met with an attendant assigned to the room.

She took a seat and ordered some water while waiting for Chris, who joined her in a few minutes and took a seat opposite her.

“Hi,” she greeted, noticing the unfriendly glare in his eyes, and asked the waiter to serve them some wine.

“I thought you would come together with your fiancé or might want to settle things with him before you meet with me, but I guess not,” Chris said sarcastically.

“I am sure you are not here to discuss that with me,” she retorted.

“You are wrong. I am actually curious to know. I heard you rushed out to take care of him at the hospital. Is he feeling better now? What if he falls sick again while you are away?” he said, and Laura was speechless at his words.

She couldn’t believe he was such a petty person who would taunt her in such a way.

“He is my ex-boyfriend, and I am sorry about my behavior yesterday. But at least I am not hiding my past unlike someone,” she apologized but also pointed out his unsettled relationship.

“What are you trying to say?” Chris questioned.

“Just some rumors about your marriage engagement with another woman, nothing more,” she said with sarcasm.

“There is nothing between Mira and me,” he refuted her claims strongly.

“Oh, so her name is Mira,” Laura continued to tease him.

“Are you trying to get on my nerves?” Chris asked, seeing what she was playing at, and she stopped.

“I really don’t care about your love affair, and I am sure you are not concerned with mine. But I won’t allow something like this to ever happen again, at least for the time we will be together,” she said to assure him, but Chris felt annoyed.

She was clearly drawing a line between them.

“Also, to assure you that something like this will never happen again, I will sign a contract to implement the terms. Whoever breaks the terms will bear the consequences,” Laura said and placed a file in front of him.

Chris took the file and brought out the document inside. He read a few lines at the beginning and dropped it.

“How can I be sure this is not your tactic to dupe me? After all, you betrayed your boyfriend of seven years just for this deal,” he said, meaning to get at her but not expecting his words to come out really harsh.

“I can change it however you like,” Laura said after a few seconds of silence and made to pick the document, but he stopped her.

“We will end this marriage in six months,” he told her, and she immediately agreed.

“Any other thing you want to add?”

“You will live together with me during this period. Living separately will lead to more rumors,” he said again, and Laura took a minute to think about it.

“Of course we should do that. I will take full responsibility for you,” she said, misunderstanding his meaning.

“Don’t misunderstand, I just want you to live with me so you can help me get rid of others,” he said.

“Miss Mira, right? I heard she is a very kind person. Who would have thought you don’t like kind girls,” Laura teased.

“You don’t think you are kind?” he asked her.

“Do you like me?” she asked jokingly, and that startled Chris.

“Of course I don’t. I don’t like either of you,” he answered sharply.

“Don’t worry, I will do a good job at helping you,” she said, a little pissed at his response, and drank a little from her glass.

“Also, you don’t have to meet with my mom. Ignore her calls if she calls you,” he added, also taking up his glass.

Laura smiled silently and continued to drink. She didn’t want to spill it out to him that his mother had already called her, and she got to know who Mira was from her.

“If you have no objection, I will have my secretary send you a copy of the contract so you can sign it,” Chris told her and stood up to leave, but Laura rushed to block his way, stopping him from leaving.

“The thing is, if we are going to live together, then we should be friends at least and know one or two things about each other,” she said, smiling childishly, a behavior Chris always found cute in the past.

“Friends in your dreams,” he replied and left.

Laura scoffed at his back and sat down to drink some water.

Consoling herself and concluding that getting a divorce from her first marriage isn’t a big deal, Laura continued to drink and decided to try her best to live well with Chris for the next six months.