Even if I were to die in his hands someday, at least it was better than staying in this den of snakes and scorpions that I call family.
After making a decision in my heart, I calmly wiped away the tears on my face before standing up to face the three of them and then I couldn't help but thinking. How was it that I did not realize how selfish, hypocritical, detestable and mercenary these people I called family were all this while?Let's start with mom. She appeared to love her children very much but in fact she loved the luxurious life that only my dad could offer more. Therefore, she would never allow anyone, not even us, her children to disrupt or hinder it. And as for the man in question, he seemed like a stern and loving father normally but was in fact an hypocritical bastard who wouldn't hesitate to sell his daughter for glory as long as it brought enough benefits.As for Aaron... Like the others, today has made me realize that the brother in my memories who always had a warm and accomodating smile on his face was nothing but a mercenary person who wouldn't hesitate to push his biological sister into what he knew was a firepit.And talking of that twin sister of mine... Ha.She indeed worthy of being called the 'perfect' socialite after all one thing I had observed about those so-called socialites was that they were no doubt hypocritical. They were the exact kind of people who wouldn't hesitate to stab you right in the back as long as they were given an opportunity to do so and the worst part was that they even do it with a smile on their faces!"What a family!", I lamented while even being in a mood to joke with myself."Then if there should be no mistake, my existence should probably be a genetic mutation. That explains why I could never seem to fit in with them from the onstart."Speaking of which, while I consider it as me having a great adaptability which helps me in coping in whatever situation I found myself in, no matter how bad, my friends call it 'being heartless'My first and only ex-boyfriend also called me that after I broke up with him back then. But not until this moment did I belive that I might really be without a heart because that was the only way I could explain why my heart was so calm, terrifyingly so at this moment. It was as if the tears I had cried and later wiped away had brought with it all the indignation, hatred, suffocation and other negative emotions which I 'should' still be feeling. I had probably forgot or maybe I didn't, that there was something called keeping everything bottled away in one's heart. It was a good way to convince yourself and others that you are fine and that nothing ever really gets to you. That you are as heartless as they thought... But that was that. Currently, I had to focus on the matter on hand. So, I took a deep breath and locked away every other distracting thoughts before speaking. "Fine. I agree to marry that man.""Really?! ", I wasn't even surprised that the first to show her excitement as always was the woman who gave birth to me. Therefore, I paid her no attention and acted like I heard nothing. Instead, I stared calmly at the two men who could really make the decision here. That was also why I noticed that although they both didn't show their excitement as obvious as their wife(mother), the glint in their eyes still gave them away. However, before they could get ahead of themselves and be too happy early, I continued."But only on one condition.."Immediately after I said that, I saw a vigilant and defensive look appear in both men's eyes and I couldn't help my amusement at the situation and ended up chuckling out loud."Really? Don't worry. I am seriously not after anything that belongs to you.""Or that will belong to you," I added as an afterthought, connoting Aaron who looked at me defensively after I stated I had a condition. Not that I could blame him for reacting so, after all to him, the Hale family was no different from being in the bag considering the fact that Mr. Hale had patriarchal tendencies. So, the fact that I was suddenly raising a condition had no doubt made him suspicious that I wanted a share of 'his' pie. "What I want in exchange to marry that man is simple. A severance of ties' letter from you. That should be not be a problem for you, I believe?"The moment I finished saying that, I saw Mr. Hale's face darken while Aaron looked thoughtful. He was probably thinking of whether there was a deeper motive to me saying that. "What do you mean by that, Valeria? ! You better explain yourself," Mrs. Hale pointed at me as she questioned angrily. "That is my only condition. You either fulfill it or I don't go through with this farce of a marriage. Of course, you can also try forcing me to do so but I doubt that man would be pleased by that." I confidently waited for Mr. Hale to make a decision, one that I knew would no doubt be in my favor considering how calculative the man was.Sure enough, I soon heard him saying, "Alright! I agree.""Darling! Are you.." Mrs. Hale was probably planning to raise an objection to his decision when she got interrupted by her husband. "Shut up for me. Your thoughts aren't needed here!"Instantly, I saw Mrs. Hale shriveling up and bowing her head submisssiveky but not before giving me a complicated look, a look I couldn't even be bothered to decipher for it meant nothing to me. With a smile on my face, "That's great then. For all of us. After today, I would have nothing to do with your family and nor you will you have any to do with me. From now on, let's consider ourselves strangers, okay?""Val..""I think that's all I have to say. Do inform me when that man or rather his subordinates arrive here. Before that, I will be heading to clean up my room."Afterwards, I didn't wait for any of them to react and headed upstairs leaving the trio alone in the living room.AaronIt should be said that the issue that was hanging over their heads like a sword had been resolved however I knew that none of us who were still in the living room felt completely relieved about it. Myself in particular had a heavy heart as I gazed in the direction which Valeria had disappeared to with mixed feelings in my heart. Unable to completely understand what was really going on, I turned to my dad to talk to him about it but before that, I noticed my mom's fidgety appearance first. I didn't even have to make use of my brain cells that much to figure out what was on her mind, especially when she seemed not to be able to take her eyes off the direction of the stairs - wasn't she just worried and panicked about Valeria's dismissive attitude towards her? To be honest, sometimes not even me myself could figure out the exact kind of person my mom was even with how smart I consider myself to be. But as far as I had observed, she was a person who seeks only what benefits her an
VALERIAUpstairsInside my bedroom, I was busy stuffing my clothes and other necessities into the suitcase when I heard the door open. I looked over casually and the shadow of my mom's shrinking figure reflected in my eyes and on seeing that it was her, I disinterestedly withdrew my gaze and continued with what I was doing. Only then did I ask in an emotionless voice, "What is it that you want?"Behind me, I didn't see how my mom's face instantly fell after I said that but she probably thought of why she was here in the first place and instantly forgot or rather set aside her dissatisfaction with my attitude."Valeria, I... I had no idea that that was what they were planning from the start If I had known I would have... would have...""You would have what?" I turned around and asked in a tone literally dripping with sarcasm. "You would have risked the anger of the man who held your financial lifeline in his hands and the man who would also have that power in the future and told me
VALERIANot long after Mrs Hale left, one of the helpers around the house came to knock in the door. She told me that the people sent by the man I would be marrying were here. I wasn't surprised to hear that my to-be groom himself didn't come since I didn't consider myself important enough to make him who had never shown his face do so now.Honestly, I would be lying if I were to say that I wasn't nervous or apprehensive about the fact that I would be marrying a man I knew virtually nothing about. Nothing except for what the public generally rumored him to be - Ruthless, Vicious, Heartless.There were more, but they all roughly meant the same thing - that my groom-to-be wasn't exactly what you would call a good person.But thankfully, I had a trump card in my hand and planned to use it to negotiate with him. Initially, the trump card was meant to be used to negotiate with my dad to exchange for my freedom when the time came for him to choose me a husband that would help the family's bu
ZANELooking at the woman apologizing sincerely in front of me, I felt close to nothing in my heart. My only concern at the moment was questioning if I had been too rash in making the decision to marry Valeria Hale. True, she might have saved my life a year ago but there are many ways to repay her apart from marriage, no?While I might have no feelings for her nor plan to do so in the future, I however have no intention of being cheated on as long as she still held the title of my wife. And judging from how she had lost her composure just by how I supposedly reminded of whoever she meant, that person definitely held a special place in her heart.For some reason, I couldn't help but think back to a line in the document that recorded the information on her investigated by my men....has been in the relationship only once.Therefore, a good guess was that the person she was referring to was most likely that ex-boyfriend of hers.I was deep in thought when a hesitant 'sir?' entered my ears
VALERIABefore today or rather before meeting the man before me, I had no idea that I even had a special fetish for voices or that it would even affect me that much. The only thing I knew was that after I heard him speak, my insides literally turned into mush and I had to use a hundred percent of my willpower while biting my lips to keep myself from making a funny sound. While I do feel some regret at the fact that he and I had happened to meet at the wrong time, I also felt fortunate at the same time. Fortunate that all I was feeling towards him at the moment was nothing more than pure attraction and not love at first sight.The former I knew would fade over time because although he was my ideal type come true, I hadn't really gotten to know him that well so except for feeling some regret every now and then whenever I remember him, nothing would really change. However, the latter would definitely have been a huge problem.From the time I stepped forward to apologize to the time I fel
VALERIAThe morning sun shine through the glass windows and curtains to land on me. It was my cue to know that a new day had come.Roused from my sleep, I rolled from one side of the bed to another a few times before sitting up on the bed. I then stretched my body lazily for a few minutes before finally getting off the bed and head to the bathroom.In the bathroom, I stood in front of the mirror looking at the reflection of myself while brushing my teeth and before I knew it my thoughts drifted away.Three days. It has been three days since I arrived in Mr Devil's house yet I haven't got to meet this mysterious husband of mine and at least confirmed what he actually looked like. What I was told was that he was on a business trip with no definite time of return but ironically enough, we are already legally married.All I had to do was hand over some documentation to Mr Devil's exclusive assistant, Assistant Michaels whose first name I had come to know was Zane and the next thing I knew
ZANE(In my study)Valeria and I sat facing each other. I saw her look around the room and then exclaim. "Woah. Your boss treats his employees a little bit too good, ain't it?""Who would have thought that in addition to having your own room, you would also have your personal study INSIDE your boss's own house! That's too good of a treatment even for an exclusive assistant."Her words made me involuntarily raise my eyebrows as I thought inwardly to myself.'Did she really not suspect my true Identity at all or was she just pretending not to?'Not to mention the fact that the lies I told her about myself were full of obvious loopholes, the truth was that I never really planned to hide my true Identity from her (of course I meant the one on the surface here) since she would sooner or later know of it after we leave Meteor City for the Capital.Yes, you got that right. I am not a native of Meteor City. I only came here about a year ago which also happened to be the time when I got betra
ZANEOn digesting everything written on the folder, one question had occurred to me.'Was there still a need to continue with this marriage?'Objectively speaking, I had made the decision to marry Valeria because I thought that in the end, we would both just be taking what we both need. However, the current problem was that she apparently never even needed my help in the first place.The obvious choice to make next was no doubt to let her go on her way by divorcing her and at the same time, compensate her with money and real estate just like I planned to do or would have done in the course of the marriage being over after the three years I intended. Yet, for some reason I feel reluctant to do so. I wouldn't be naive to think that it was because I had fallen in love with her because I knew that I definitely hadn't. If there should be reason for that feeling of reluctance, I would probably attribute it to the fact that getting along with her in the past three days had been quite comfor