What’s gotten in him lately, Jared was not entirely sure. But he felt foolish almost childish how impatient he was getting. He never knew himself to be impatient when it comes to women. He took his sweet time pursuing them and he enjoyed it. Not this time, he realized. When it came with his betrothed, a woman he barely knew – his patience was wearing thin by the minute and he wanted to strangle himself for being too possessive and careless. Is it because he knew she was figuratively born for him? The thought of it was shocking but the reality was Aurora was betrothed to him the moment she was born. Knowing that fact somehow made a significant difference, though never in his right mind did he think that he would feel so impatient, possessive and arrogantly careless to assume that Aurora would simply give in to his charms? For one, he realized while he was fixing his bow-tie in front of the mirror, his past ladies were easy to please. Jared was not entirely sure if Aurora would fit th

He returned to the hotel around eight the following morning, hoping to talk to Aurora about last night. He felt guilty misleading her to thinking that he was actually ready to marry her when in fact, he was not sure if he was eager to let go of his convenient relationship with Eleanor. In just a few days, he was aware that he made Aurora feel he was interested in her, kissing her, and making sexual advances towards her, even cared for her. And he did. But he was now sure he is not willing to commit to her. Last night, after a blissful night with Eleanor, he stayed up and pondered what may be the best solution to their situation. She needed to know the truth, and what he can only give her. He was passing through the front desk on his way to the elevators when one of the front desk personnel called out to him. “Good morning Mr Rickford,” the front desk officer named Joanne greeted. “Good morning,” Jared replied. “I have a message for you here from Ms Cu

Aurora stayed with her mother until the funeral that Saturday. Her father’s death was all over the news and it was impossible to stay low key when major television networks were wanting to cover almost everything from the marriage, to the merger, to the transfer of stocks, to the cause of death to the funeral. The funeral was attended by other notable business leaders from all over the world, even the President of the United States, and representatives from the British, Canadian, and Austrian government attended the funeral which made it all the more high-profile to Aurora’s dismay. But she knew it was inevitable and her mother knew how to handle such attendees. Jared made sure that everything was prepared and seamless, and she knew it will be efficient as it was. Now that the wedding, merger, and funeral are all over, it was time to get on with their present circumstance. She went back to Jared’s home a couple of days after the interment. She was no longer surprised that her mother

 “I’d like to know the full details and extent of your relationship to him before you and I got engaged,” he said, his expression serious and was now leaning behind his chair his attention focused on her. “Well,” Aurora still confused did not find anything wrong about his question so she obliged. “I’d like to know why are you curious about that when it was so over like I remember months ago,”“Because he was there earlier today. At your mother’s,” Jared looked at her with interest. She was surprised with that information and did not bother to voice it out. “He was? I did not see him”“He fetched Alicia and her daughter. He was waiting at his car when they came out of the house, and he shared a kiss with her,” Jared mentioned which made Aurora’s eyes bulge huge as saucers. “He kissed Alicia? Surely, you are mistaken!”Jared chuckled at her reac

“Do you expect your husband to woo you after turning him down when he said he can’t be certain he can reciprocate your feelings?” it was Rosalie speaking to her daughter in the drawing room of the Cunard family home. Aurora noticed her mother’s disapproving expression.“I’m not expecting anything mother,” she replied stoically. “Well, that is a lie. I honestly don’t know what to expect after that confusing conversation.”“I don’t see any confusion on that conversation, Briar,” Rosalie told her eyeing her quizzically. “As far as I understood based on what you told me, he asked you for marital relations and you refused on the grounds that he can’t be sure he can love you.”“Nobody brought up love mother,” she replied defensively. She stood up from where she was seated and looked about the window outside where her mother’s flower garden was sprawled bea