Chapter 6

The first morning of the second day of those one hundred days arrived with sunlight filtering through the gaps in the linen curtains of the master bedroom. Lyonna slowly opened her eyes, momentarily confused by the high ceiling adorned with crystal chandeliers that had not belonged to her for the past two years. All this time, she had slept in the guest room at the end of the corridor, far from the master bedroom, which had always been empty because Darren more often spent his nights at the apartment near his office.

She got up, reached for her phone on the nightstand, and found a short message from Darren sent at five in the morning.

[I'm waiting for you in the dining room. We're going to discuss the rules of your ridiculous agreement, so hurry up.]

Lyonna snorted softly, reading the sentence twice before putting her phone back down. She dragged herself toward the bathroom, letting warm water run over her shoulders while arranging the sentences she would throw at him later. Last night, she had written down ten points of the agreement on lined paper, complete with her own signature at the bottom. She was determined not to let Darren change a single word in it.

Five minutes before seven, Lyonna was already sitting in the dining room, the folded agreement neatly placed beside her plate. Darren was already there, wearing a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his hair still slightly damp. He sat across from Lyonna without saying good morning, immediately reaching for the cup of coffee that had been prepared by the household staff.

"What did you bring?" Darren asked, his eyes glancing at the paper in Lyonna's hand.

"Our agreement," Lyonna answered shortly. She pushed the paper across the white tablecloth until it stopped directly in front of Darren's plate. "Ten points. Read them carefully before you complain."

Darren put down his cup, took the paper with one hand, and read it in silence. His eyebrows rose little by little as his eyes moved down the page.

"Breakfast and dinner together every day unless there is an urgent matter," Darren read in a flat tone before looking up at Lyonna. "Are you serious?"

"Very serious," Lyonna replied, straightening her back.

"Attending at least two public events a week as a couple," Darren continued, his voice now beginning to sound impatient. "Lyonna, I'm a CEO. I don't have time for—"

"You always have time for business dinners with investors," Lyonna interrupted quickly, crossing her arms over her chest. "But you never have ten minutes for your own wife. So yes, I'm serious about that point."

Darren's jaw tightened. He placed the paper on the table with enough force to make the spoon beside it clink softly.

"Point number five," he said, his voice sharpening. "'Sleeping in the same room.' Do you think I'll agree to this?"

Lyonna's face grew warm, but she held herself back from looking away. "A real married couple sleeps in the same room, Darren. Not at opposite ends of the house like strangers."

"Then you misunderstand what you mean by 'real,'" Darren shot back, staring sharply at her, his voice dropping into a cold whisper. "I agree to play the role of a couple in public. But the bedroom is a private space, and my privacy isn't part of this business agreement."

Lyonna held her breath for a moment, trying to gather the courage that had briefly wavered. "Fine. I'll compromise on that point—with one condition. You move into the master bedroom, and I'll stay in the guest room. But everyone in this house, including the staff, has to believe that we sleep in the same room. I don't want anyone whispering rumors that our marriage is nothing but a cheap act."

Darren fell silent, his eyes studying Lyonna's face as though searching for a weakness. Yet all he found was a strange determination, something he had never seen in the woman who, for the past two years, had always lowered her head whenever he walked past her.

"Whatever," Darren finally muttered, turning his gaze toward the large window overlooking the backyard. "Anything else?"

"The last point," Lyonna said, her voice softening slightly. "You have to address me respectfully in front of everyone. No more 'you' in that contemptuous tone, especially no more comments about my weight."

For the first time, something resembling guilt briefly flashed in Darren's eyes before he hurriedly concealed it behind his impassive expression. He reached for the pen in his shirt pocket, signed beneath Lyonna's name without saying anything else, then pushed the paper back toward her.

"Keep this paper somewhere safe," Darren said coldly as he rose from his chair. "Because when the hundredth day arrives, I want to see you keep your own promise to leave without demanding anything."

Lyonna took the paper and pressed it tightly against her chest. "I always keep my promises, Darren. The question is, can you keep your own promise to act like a husband for the next one hundred days?"

Darren did not answer. He only glanced at his watch before walking toward the dining room door, leaving the faint scent of his cologne lingering in the air. But before actually leaving, his steps stopped briefly at the doorway.

"Tonight, there's a dinner with business partners from Singapore," he said without turning around. "Seven o'clock, here at the house. You have to appear as the hostess. Don't embarrass me."

"I never intended to embarrass you," Lyonna replied softly, but the sentence seemed to evaporate in the now-empty room after Darren had left.

Lyonna stared at the agreement in her hand, rereading Darren's signature firmly scrawled at the bottom. A strange feeling spread through her chest—not quite victory, but not defeat either. She had just won one small round in a much bigger game, and she knew the next ninety-eight days would not be this easy.

She folded the paper neatly, placed it inside the drawer of her dressing table, then looked at her own reflection in the mirror. The body she had always hidden beneath loose clothing, the face that had rarely worn a genuine smile over the past two years. Tonight, for the first time in a long while, she had to appear as the hostess in front of people who might have heard whispers about her cold marriage for a long time.

Lyonna took a deep breath, straightening her shoulders in front of the mirror.

"One hundred days," she murmured softly to her reflection. "I'll prove that I can survive, even if it means facing Darren Alexander Graham every single day."