“Here we are. Welcome to your new palace, my lady.” David informed Mariane.
Mariane couldn’t help but awe while staring at the gigantic mansion owned by none other than David Cruz.
‘Wow… This guy I married is really rich. I couldn’t imagine staying at this kind of house.’
The size of this 30,000-square-meter mansion is staggering. After entering the gate, a park lawn will immediately greet you with a circular path for cars leading to the entrance. In the middle of the circle, there was a golden fountain fish design that catches Mariane's attention. Because of the light coming from the LED lights attached to the ground and focused on the fish, the fountain shines as if it were brilliant gold.
“Is it made of gold?” Mariane asked, pointing to the fountain behind them.
David turned to look at what Mariane was talking about.
“How’d you know? Well, it was a mix of gold and cement. There’s a part of the fish that has gold. Can you guess which part of the fish has gold?” David challenged her.
Mariane narrowed her eyes as she went closer to the fountain. She pointed to the scales of the fish. “This one, right?” she asked.
David smirked. It surprised him when Mariane distinguished between genuine gold and cement and got only painted with gold color. Where, in fact, the said gold in the fountain was unrecognizable.
“How can you say so?” He asked.
Mariane shrugged. “I just guess it.” David raised his brows in disbelief.
“So, was it your intuition?” he asked, making Mariane nod.
“Yes,” she simply said before she turned her back on the fountain and went to the entrance.
‘I’m just guessing. It really all looked like made of gold.’ She thought.
“Can we get inside?” Mariane asked.
“Sure. Sure.” David said.
David led the way, opened the double doors, and asked Mariane to enter the house. Mariane got surprised when David's servants immediately appeared. From the male and female butler to a gardener to cook, followed by the cleaner, the washer, the two personal assistants, the driver, and George, David’s secretary, lined up at the entrance to the very first step of the stairs.
“Welcome home, Madam Mariane,” Servants greeted her with a smile plastered on their faces.
Mariane smiled. “Thank you,” she said.
David called one of the personal assistants. “Mariane, this will be your personal assistant here in the house. Her name is Agatha. If you need something, you can ask her.” He informed Mariane.
“I can take care of myself. I don’t need a personal assistant,” Mariane refused.
‘You’re just planting me a human surveillance camera to report all my deeds here in the house.’ Mariane wanted to say it out loud, but she chose not to.
“Alright. Do you want me to fire Agatha in this instant?” Mariane’s eyes widen in shock.
“Why will you fire her?” she asked in disbelief.
Mariane looked at Agatha, who was about to cry when she heard that her boss, David, would go to fire her. ‘Was he crazy? Is this how he treats his people?’ she wondered.
“Because you said, you don’t need a servant to serve you. So, do you want me to fire them all? Just so you know, Mrs. Mariane Ramos-Cruz, I only hired them for you. If you don’t need them, then might as well fire them all.”
Mariane shook her head in disappointment. When her eyes darted to the poor servants, Mariane sighed exasperatedly.
“Fine. I need all the servants. Just don’t fire them.” Mariane said.
The servants who looked depressed earlier became happy. They mouthed thanks to Mariane, who was now stressed. She knew that aside from servants. He also hired them to report everything that she will be going to do.
‘I need to befriend these servants. Like they said… Get your friends close and your enemies closer. I cannot trust all the people here.’ she thought.
“Alright. Agatha, send Mariane to her room.” David ordered.
Agatha led the way. “This way, Madam.” She said, which made Marian nod and follow her.
“Can you just call me Mariane? I’m not used to being called Madam.” Mariane said.
“I’m sorry, Madam. We are not allowed to call our bosses by their names.” Agatha said apologetically.
Mariane heaved a sigh. “Alright. But when there’s only the two of us… Just call me by my name. And don’t worry, I will not tell David about it.” She raised her brows, waiting for Agatha’s response.
But when Agatha tried to reason out again, Marian interrupted her. “No more buts, alright? And that is an order.” Mariane smiled.
Agatha smiled at her, and eventually, she nodded in disperse. “Thank you. I thought you were as strict as our Master. But you weren’t. Thank you also for saving me earlier. I thought I was gonna lose my job,” she said.
“Madam, we have arrived in your room,” Agatha informed Mariane.
Agatha opened the door for her. And she got mesmerized by the interior of the room. Spacious, minimalist. It has a king-sized bed in the middle of the two bedside tables. There was a long vanity mirror with two single round couches. And when they went to the wardrobe room, Marian noticed that it had men’s clothes hanging on the cabinet.
‘Was it David’s clothes? Does it mean we're sharing the same bed?’ Mariane’s eyes widened at her own thoughts.
‘No… This can’t be. I don’t want to be in the same room as David.’ She muttered.
“Um… Agatha… Is there any room aside from this? I think this is David’s room.” Mariane asked, making Agatha confused.
“Uh… But Master said this is also your room. I don’t think he will allow you to have a separate room since you two are married.” Agatha stated the fact.
‘Right… We’re married. But I don’t want to be with him.’ She shrugged as she pouted at her thoughts.
‘I should talk to him.’
Mariane was about to speak when the door suddenly opened. And it was David.
“Leave us for a minute. I will call you back to fix the luggage. I just need to talk to my wife.” David ordered Agatha.
Agatha bowed as a sign of respect for her employers before exiting the room.
“I thought it was MY room?” Mariane asked David after Agatha closed the door for them.
“It is your room. Well, legally speaking, your room is my room. And this is also MY room. Since we’re married.” David stated. He sat on the edge of the bed. He even emphasized the word ‘MY’.
Mariane groaned and massage her head. “I want my room,” she asked.
“Sorry. I can’t have you that. We are married in papers.”
Mariane sighed exasperatingly. “In papers, yes. But that doesn’t mean we will be in the same bed together. And I don’t want to sleep with you when I don’t have feelings for you.” Mariane said as a matter of fact.
David sighed in defeat. “Alright. I will ask Agatha to prepare the room next to mine. Happy?” He asked in a sarcastic tone.
“Yes. And also… I want to discuss our terms for this setup.” Mariane said, making David frown.
“Terms?” He asked.
“What do you mean?” David asked in confusion.His brows furrowed when Mariane took a pen and a piece of paper. She sat on the cushion in the vanity mirror and started writing.‘What is she doing?’ he wondered.‘Is she talking about making a contract? No. I won’t allow her to give what she wants. I should be the one who will make terms in my own house and not her.’ He thought.David stood up and approached Mariane. He stopped behind her. David’s jaw clenched when he saw Mariane’s neckline. As if he wants to ravish her neckline and make a mark on it. And that thought makes him turned on. He suddenly has a boner just by looking at her neckline. While Marian was oblivious to what was happening in her back. She finished writing down the terms she wanted during her stay in his mansion. Mariane smiled in satisfaction as she raised her hand with a paper and turned around. But she got jolted when her hand, which was holding a paper, almost hit the middle of his thigh.Mariane looked up and gas
Mariane woke up early for her job interview. She decided to leave early to avoid the traffic because she still had a long way to go to the city, where she had an interview. A week has also passed since Mariane passed her CV to companies thru emails. Among the fifty companies she applied to, only three companies responded to her email and scheduled interviews today. Mariane is confident that she will pass the interview. Because apart from having experience at work, her school credentials were also good.But of the three companies she went to, none of them hired her after she was interviewed. And what surprised her was that after a staff member came in, while Mariane was in the middle of the interview, it immediately stopped. And they just tell her, “Sorry, the position you were applying for is already full,” or “we'll just call you.” The anxiety was evident on their faces as if they were afraid of something.Mariane frowned. ‘Couldn’t David have something to do with it? It is possible.
“It’s all thanks to you, Kim. Maybe I couldn’t get a job if it wasn’t for you.” Mariane sincerely said.But Kim shook her head in disagreement. “No, Yan. I didn’t do anything. It was you who made it. Don’t thank me. Besides, my brother didn’t do anything about it.” Kim leaned closer to Mariane and whispered, “Actually, my brother was too strict. He doesn’t want someone to dictate to him what to do.” Kim informed her, making Mariane nod slowly as if she could understand what Kim was talking about.“How about… I’ll treat you to a meal?” Mariane asked. Kim’s eyes twinkled as she felt hungry.“That’s a good idea, then! We have a lot of things to talk about too… Since we’ve seen each other in the convenience store. And you have a lot of explaining to do.” Mariane frowned at what Kim had just said.“Me? Like what?” she asked in confusion.“Why don’t you treat me to a hot pot first? I will tell you there.” Kim snaked her arms to Mariane’s and dragged her friend to the nearest hot pot along t
“Who is he?” Mariane, Mark, and Kim turned their eyes at the newcomer. “George? What are you doing here?” Mariane asked. “Who is he?” George asked again, not minding Mariane’s question. Mariane heaved a sigh and excused herself from her friend. “Excuse us for a while,” she said before she dragged George away from her companions. “What are you doing there?” Mariane pointed to the table of her companions. She was talking about George, asking her earlier who the guy was sitting beside her. She was disappointed as George suddenly appeared out of nowhere and abruptly asked who the guy was sitting next to her while looking at the guy accusingly. “You’re lucky that it’s not my boss who came and asked you that.” George simply replied. Mariane suddenly panicked when George mentioned her boss’ name. She looked around to check if David was there. ‘He’s here? Right now? But we just talked over the phone. Darn it.’ She thought. Mariane sighed in relief when she did not see David inside th
Mariane and David silently sat in the back passenger seat while George was their driver. Mariane leaned on the window while watching the stars in the sky while pouting. She was pissed when George interrupted their dinner again and sat at the table next to theirs, then she received a message from David telling her to go home. Mariane had no choice but to follow her party-pooper-husband. She didn’t even have to talk to her friend.“Why so gloomy, Mariane?” David looked at her sideways.Mariane glared back at him and did nothing to say. Instead, she chose to stay quiet and close her eyes to get some sleep while they were on their way back home. David snorted and decided not to speak with her again.The entire ride became quiet as no one wanted to speak until they arrived at their house. Mariane immediately got out of the car. She immediately went to her room, not minding David, who was following her from behind.‘I won’t talk to you anymore. Party pooper!’ Mariane snorted as she slammed
‘Give me an heir.’ Kim passed by Mariane’s desk, and she noticed her friend, who was staring blankly at her computer. She snapped her fingers to get Mariane’s attention, but it didn’t help. “Earth to Mariane!” Kim knocked on her desk as she exclaimed to Mariane’s ears, making the latter wince and rub her ears. “I’m not deaf, you know.” Mariane glared at her friend. “You’ve been spacing out for like minutes? What’s on your little brain thinking?” Kim asked, narrowing her eyes at Mariane suspiciously. “Was it a guy?” She added while giggling, making Mariane hiss. “Guy, my ass.” She rolled her eyes in annoyance. Mariane remembered what David had said to her one week ago. “And lastly… Give me an heir.” Mariane got astounded by what he said. ‘An heir?! Is he crazy? How can I give him an heir?’ Mariane gasped. ‘Could it be…’ Her eyes widened in horror. ‘No… No… No… This can’t be.’ She thought. Mariane immediately crossed her arms over her chest, as if she was covering all of her bo
Mariane was busy typing on her computer when she received a text message. ‘I’ll pick you up later. We’ll have dinner at the restaurant I reserved.’But instead of getting excited, Mariane just snorted and toss her phone inside her bag, and didn’t bother to reply. She went back to typing and processing the documents of their clients. She drowned herself in working and didn’t notice that there was a guy standing in front of her desk. The guy cleared his throat to get her attention, which made her look up and noticed it was her colleague. Mariane smiled at the guy whom she didn’t know the name of yet.“Uhm… Hi? What can I do for you?” She asked.The guy looked at her shyly, with his ears red. “T-this… Flowers for you, Mariane. Happy Valentine’s Day.” He said and handed a bouquet of roses to her, which made Mariane stunned.She wanted to refuse it, but she didn’t want him to be embarrassed as the other employees were looking at them as well. Mariane knew she can’t bring the flowers to the
After a hundred missed calls, David gave up calling her. ‘Dammit,’ David hissed. He was pissed as he canceled all of his meetings in the afternoon just for her, but Mariane will not join him for the valentines dinner he prepared for her.Even if Mariane told her not to pick her up, David still went to her workplace and waited for her. He noticed the employees were coming out of the building, so he hid behind the tree, wearing a black cap just to cover his identity.While David was hiding, he noticed Mariane went out with Kim, so he sighed out of relief. At least, Mariane did not break their rule. She was with Kim and no one else. He frowned when Kim called a cab. ‘Where are they going?’ He wondered.But when he followed them, they reached a fine dining restaurant. ‘Is this where will they meet their client?’ He wondered.David kept spying on her from the outside, and he recognized another familiar person inside the restaurant with Kim and Mariane. He frowned when Kim bid goodbyes to M