Chapter 3: Be My Wife

She could feel her heart was pounding hard when that man turned around again to face her. She knew what he meant, and honestly, she thought that he would be the best rebound she could find to piss off Karl on his wedding day. But it sounded so pathetic if she was to beg that man to help her. So, she pretended as if she didn't understand him instead.

Ashton slowly approached her again and leaned his head closer to her.

"Let me be your husband, not just for his wedding day, but forever..." he whispered to her ear captivatingly that she couldn't help but gasped in disbelief.

Then he straightened his body again and waited for her to respond while looking deeply into her eyes.

"But I just met you... I don't even know you..."

"I make roughly about one hundred billion dollars every year. You don't have to know me that much, I can assure you that you will have an easy life if you be my wife."

"But why me? Why do you even want to help me?" She stared at him with ominous feelings. Honestly, she didn't believe it when he said that he made one hundred billion dollars every year. She thought that he was probably just bluffing about it to make himself look impressive.

'Because you had a Golden Ratio body. You'll be my muse forever and all you need to do for me for the rest of your life is to be pretty,' he mumbled the reason internally.

"Because I wanted to. And it feels great being able to talk casually with someone like this. Like what you and I had been doing right now. Don't you find it strange that we can still talk so casually after what happened last night? That's chemistry right there. Maybe we're compatible with each other," he spoke a different reason to her literally.

"Think about it. I'll take a shower first," he said and turned around to go to the bathroom.

"Okay. I agreed," she responded right away and that made Ashton halt. He didn't expect that she would agree that fast. He looked at her again, with a look of scepticism.

"You're not going to take some time to think about it? There's no going back from this. You know that, don't you?" He reminded her carefully.

"I know. I'm aware of it. And I'm going to agree with it anyway," Ashley made up her mind. She had no reason to think that long. She was an orphan who had no family members. She didn't need permission from anyone to get married. She could just do it right away without a problem.

"Well... aren't you at least going to ask your parents first?"

"I'm an orphan. I don't have parents and I don't need anyone's permission to get married."

Ashton was a bit surprised by that information. He didn't really expect that she was all alone. He nodded a little and then he pondered for a while, thinking about what he should do to make this woman his wife. Certainly, marriage was on the list, but he needed to move her into his house as well.

"Where do you live?" He asked. He knew she did mention it last night but he didn't quite hear her clearly that time.

"Larson Ray Apartment, Tenth Avenue," she answered promptly.

"Are you renting the apartment or owning one?"

"Renting."

"Call your landlord then. You're moving out today. If there is any penalty fee that you need to pay, just tell me later. I'll get the money."

Ashley just nodded in obedience. She didn't want to question much. She didn't know why but after seeing his house, she believed that this man was capable enough to take care of her. Thus, she was just going to go with his plan.

An hour and a half later, they arrived in front of Larson Ray Apartment. Ashton's driver, Cory opened the backseat door of the black Rolls-Royce Ghost car swiftly. Ashton came out and like a gentleman, he helped Ashley got off the car as well.

"Mr Doris must be in his office on the ground floor. I'll go to him to cancel my lease," Ashley said to Ashton.

"Let's go together," he replied gently.

She looked at him in hesitation, she couldn't believe how she ended up entangled in that situation. She just broke up with her five years boyfriend yesterday and then today, she suddenly got a new one who agreed to marry her sooner. The situation was too bizarre, she still felt like she was just dreaming.

"Why? What's the matter? Is something wrong?" Ashton asked as he could see that she went pensive for a while.

The woman shook her head and just smiled. Then she walked into the apartment building and he followed her from behind. After cancelling the apartment lease, Ashley brought Ashton to her apartment on the third floor.

"I don't have much stuff so it won't take long to carry them all downstairs. But they would probably be heavy," Ashley explained to him while opening the door. They entered the apartment together and he scanned around the house.

He approached a sewing machine placed in one corner of her living room and touched some stuff there. His eyes looked fascinated and he saw a sketchbook beside the machine. Ashton was about to take the book but Ashley grabbed it instantly.

"It's not good..." she chuckled.

He knew that she was a fashion designer and that sketchbook probably contained all her drawing ideas.

"Do you know that I studied Art during college?" He made a remark that sounded intriguing.

"You did?" Her eyes got widened and having that man stole her attention.

"Yup. I took double degrees. I studied Art and Business at the same time. Then later, I entered a Business School to further my study," he told his education background briefly.

"Oh... I only took Fashion Design during college. I got a job at a local boutique in the city, about fifteen minutes away from here."

"You will need to quit your job as well," he suddenly said.

"What?" Ashley was bewildered by his demand.

"Why?" She wanted to know his reason.

"My wife doesn't need to work," he responded and slowly went closer to her, leaning his face to hers until there was only an inch apart between them.

"She only needs to stay at home and be pretty for me," he added and gave a quick kiss on her nose. Then, he simply walked away and scanned the other area inside that apartment.

Ashley could feel her heart skip a beat when he said that. 'Stay at home and be pretty? Did he intend to make me his doll?' Her heart was a bit uneasy by it. Came to think of it, she still didn't know what kind of job he did for a living.

"I'm sorry if this sounds rude. You looked pretty well off. What did you do for a living actually?" She bravely asked. 'He's not a drug dealer, is he?' Her heart was in a fret while waiting for his answer.

"Well... I did a lot of things. I do design, marketing, training and selling at the same time," he answered indistinctly.

"Sound like what a company would do. But what is the name of your position inside the company?" She requested more details. That man chuckled as if whatever she said to him sounded so amusing to him.

"I'll take you to the company later. Let's settle the things here first," he said, avoiding answering the real question.

Ashton ordered some men to come to the apartment and packed all Ashley's stuff. An hour later, everything was done and Ashley passed over the apartment's key to Mr Doris again. All her stuff was sent directly to Ashton's villa.

"Where are we going now?" Ashley asked him. Right now, they both were inside the black Rolls-Royce Ghost car again, heading to an unknown destination.

"Getting your wedding dress and wedding ring," he replied with a smile on his face.

Ashley could feel her heart was beating fast again. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Somehow, her inside was hit with nervousness. 'So, it's really happening,' she mumbled internally, finally coming to realize that everything she had agreed with him at the villa before was real. Ashton really did want to make it come true.

About twenty minutes later, Cory stopped the car in front of an exclusive wedding boutique called Lovella Bridals.

"You can't possibly go in there. That's Lovella Bridals, a wedding fashion brand that only has five boutiques in the world. One piece of their dress cost the same as buying a bungalow. They used real diamonds as the garment for their dresses," Ashley was flabbergasted that he chose to buy her wedding dress there.

Cory couldn't help but chuckle. 'How silly is she to say something like that to Mr Grey,' his heart was amused seeing how worried her face when Ashton said nothing.

"Are you in a state of belief that I couldn't afford to buy a wedding dress in there?" Ashton asked languidly and Cory chuckled again.

"Cory, stop laughing at her. She's really clueless..." Ashton reminded his driver gently.

"I'm sorry, Mr Grey," the driver replied while trying to suppress his laughter.

"Are you really going in there?" She was still worried and seeing Ashton nod his head, she became even more vexed.

"Are you sure?" She asked again even though Cory had opened the car door for her.

"Let's go, honey," Ashton said leisurely and helped her got off the car. He put his hand on the back of her waist and led her into the wedding boutique.

"Welcome to Lovella Bridals, Mr Grey. Who is this lovely lady with you? I never saw her before," Miss Lily, the manager of the boutique went to approach the couple immediately right after she saw Ashton enter the boutique.

"This is Ashley White, my future wife. We're getting married tomorrow," Ashton didn't even hide the truth. He just announced it proudly.

"Huh?" Miss Lily was confused immediately.