Chapter 21Two weeks later:Ashley flopped on the bed tiredly. It had been a horridly trying week. Mid-terms were always the worst for grading. Especially for her class, because these students happened to be extremely competitive, so she had to check every single word closely.She screamed into her pillow and huffed in annoyance. The one thing that the week even more trying was the fact that ever since Mava had broadcasted that stupid video, everyday had been a different battle of trying to get close enough to him to get him to even listen to her presentation. She had a week! A week to convince him; and as Rita, Yu Zhen and the guards relayed to her, his ire would only increase with time.He was losing to Mark even business wise, because the last thing she heard was about an international company looking for who to partner with. Rita told her that they thought Mark was more popular and hence the better choice. Ashley immediately believed their industry was crap. Who in their right min
Chapter 22The senior management of Hills corp dragged their bodies out of the meeting room tiredly. They had sat there for ten hours straight, since seven in the morning. They were weary in body and in mind, so weary that they didn’t even linger to talk to each other like they usually did. They blamed it on Lewan. The man was so focused on trying to get an emotion out of Ian that he had mentioned how well Mark was doing in recent times due to his engagement with Mava Presley. It was said in casual conversation but Ian took it personal and chaired a ten hour meeting from seven to five.None of the employees were allowed to leave until the meeting ended, no matter what their jobs were. The entire atmosphere of the headquarters of Hills corp was somber and depressing, because one man was in a bad mood. “What’s next on the list?”, Ian asked his assistant, Kevin – the one that made him discover just what would have been happening under his nose if he had gotten married. Kevin swallowed w
Chapter 23The whole room was divided between people congratulating Ian and trying really hard to stare the mask, sunglasses and the hat off of Ashley. It was a remarkably curious thing. Who was the woman special enough to make a hard-hearted man like Ian Hills smile?“Thank you all for your well wishes”, Ian started, his voice cutting through the chatter, “But I would like to be with my wife, you all are dismissed”, He said and waved them off. They could not get away fast enough, he could suddenly change his mind and start another ten hour meeting.Ashley felt something pull at her heartstrings a little bit as he said ‘my wife’, reminding herself that it was acting and he was a surprisingly good actor, she waved at them like an elegant hostess.Only Sven, Yu Zhen and Rita still stayed behind.“Ashley you are literally the coolest person alive”, Yu Zhen breathed. Rita smirked and flicked her hair.“Of course she is, I have excellent taste in friends”, she puffed. Ian squinted at the b
Chapter 24Ian didn’t expect her to be able to present anything at all. But she did, and her voice was so convincing that he had half a mind to tell her to become a saleswoman, she would succeed massively. He surmised that she didn’t formulate the proposal on her own, she wouldn’t have chosen to be a biology professor if she was this good at concocting business plans.He had to admit, even without the proposal, Ian would have given in to her demands. It wasn’t that he was jealous of Mark, he just didn’t want the literal bastard having an upper hand over him in any way. So her plan, no matter how strange it was, would ensure that he and Mark had an equal playing field. However, if he was being really honest with himself, he would have given in because of how good she looked. She was eye-candy of the highest variety, like an empress out to defend her throne.He remembered the feeling of absolute shock that descended on him when he realized Ashley was the foxy woman elegantly strutting
Chapter 25Ashley was sipping a juice box through a straw. It was her fourth juicebox of the afternoon. Christopher and Chloe were sitting in front of her and they were also sipping from juice boxes. They were all in her own relatively small – compared to where she was residing currently– home, sitting haphazardly on the sofas as Christopher read comments aloud from the video she had ‘anonymously’ posted in the morning of her entire stint with Ian the previous day. She had to commend Sven, the camera didn’t waver once.@Ian’sfavoritesuit commented: “He is glorious, he is our king, he is perfect, he is Ian Hills.”@Ian’swife’sredcoat commented: “Her body is so gorgeous I want them both to adopt me!”“My body is gorgeous and I have a fan, both of you should pay to see me”, Ashley interrupted with a laugh. Chloe gave a mockbow and Christopher knelt.“Our gorgeous bodied queen”, Chloe snickered. Ashley threw an empty juice box at her.@ibelieveinHillssupremacy commented: “CAN Y’ALL SEE YO
Chapter 26Ashley had an upbeat song in the background that made her feel like a foreign princess as she ran down the halls in a billowing red gown Ian had provided. Louis delivered it to her with a wink and she was obsessed with it. Her footsteps matched the tempo of the song as she slid down the library’s round staircase, singing along as the material flowed behind her. Chloe and Christopher would be there in an hour, so she had one hour to get up to her best shenanigans.The servants of the mansion were already used to her exuberance, seeing as none of them batted an eye when they saw a five foot six woman running bare feet in a brilliant red flowing gown.“Try muah muah, try zdaga zdaga”, she sang, and melodramatically flailed against one of the giant bookshelves in the library. It wasn’t everyday a woman got to wear gowns they only dreamed about. The long sleeved silk arms slid against her skin and she felt like a rich heiress, wiggling her arms and whipping her hand around.She
Chapter 27"Drunk? I don't get drunk, Toma", he glared at her petulantly and Ashley knew he was indeed tethering over the edge of drunk.She walked up to him and snatched the bottle from his hands. "You're not allowed to drink, you can't sabotage me!", She huffed. Ian looked astounded at her audacity, his hands poised like he was only a second from clutching his chest due to the fact that he was flabbergasted."D-""No, nothing. We agreed that you'd come along with me, you can't be drunk!", She exclaimed. Ian shut his eyes and massaged his temples looking tired.Instead of arguing, he just crossed his long elegant legs and leaned back on a pillow.Ashley didn't know why she seemed to do this around Ian, but like before, she felt the need to fill the void of the silence."My dad wants to ban me from my inheritance", she said awkwardly, sitting at the edge of the pit. The last time she did this was the night they got married, and the conversation had flowed well at that time, perhaps i
Chapter 28Ian glared at Rita before she even opened her mouth. He knew exactly what she was going to say.She said it anyway."Oh my oh my, you're doing the devil's tango in a wine cellar, how naughty", Rita grinned from ear to ear like a Cheshire cat."Which eye of yours saw us touching each other?", Ashley asked, as annoyed as he felt."You seem to be in that stage where you're giving him directions", Rita winked."We're literally not touching", Ashley said, falling back on the pillow across from him."Hey Ashley, what did I miss?", Yu Zhen strolled down in an emerald green blazer with his dress shirt unbuttoned to his navel yet again. "They were having sex", Rita said, strolling down the staircase and taking a bottle on her way."Drop it you thief-""We were not having sex, we will never have sex-""Don't sound so sure Ash, and don't be so stingy Ian", Rita chastised like a mother. Ashley threw a pillow at her in annoyance. It hit her head with a plop and she scowled."Why are yo