Chapter 35Ian was disappointed. He had hoped she would sleep in the car so he'd sleep too. He was still riding on the high of sleeping two hours and he had hoped that an extra one hour or so would help him through the week.He could sense a general broodiness in her emotions. It was even worse than the night of their wedding. He didn't know how to suddenly change his displacement to her overnight, so he wasn't exactly sure what he did wrong. He should have brought his laptop in here. He didn't know how to operate entirely through a phone like Yu Zhen, so except for making some calls, he was stranded.He hated this feeling of having nothing to do. It was strange and unwelcome. Ashley had closed her eyes, but she didn't seem to be asleep. A single tear ran from her eyes and he massaged his temple. How did one comfort a woman that wanted to be left alone?Why did he want to comfort her? She looked like the epitome of depression. Like a woman scorned by life. He decided to try out how
Chapter 36Ashley refused to panic, she just needed to give him chest compressions and mouth to mouth. She had seen this happen to one of her students and she saw how the paramedics brought him back.She sealed her mouth over his and gave him two breaths. She checked for a pulse and there was no pulse. She pumped his chest three times. Still no response.She alternated between breathing and pumping his chest in cycles. On the fifth cycle, she felt a faint pulse. She continued till Ian gasped and opened his eyes. Ashley didn't realize that she was intensely shaking until she pulled him into a hug and felt her body vibrating against him."I take it that I'm not dead", Ian said, his voice hoarse. Ashley was soaking through the fabric on his shoulder with her tears."W-w-w-w-","Cry it out first", Ian interrupted as she hiccuped through her tears trying to ask him a question.He tapped on the divide, the woman still clutching him tightly. The driver dropped the divide and looked through
Chapter 37Ashley stood ramrod straight, glaring at the man standing across from her on the other side of the bed."Drop it", she snarled."I'm thankful you saved my life. However you still have no right to act like you're actually my-""Drop. That. Shit. Now", she glowered.Ian stood stubbornly, refusing to drop it.Ian had freshened up first and Ashley had waited till she got night clothes before she went to bathe.When she came back in the fluffy pajamas she was provided, Ian was already working at the desk in his room. Whose bright idea was it to allow a workaholic install a desk in their room?"I swear-""Do not forget that you're my wife only in name", Ian said coldly, his rigid exterior coming back to play.Ashley did not give a shit. She didn't know why but she cared for him, and she refused to let Rita lose her sibling so early in life, so if she had to channel her inner disappointed housewife, she would channel it to the best of her ability."I won't hesitate to smash it", s
Chapter 38Ashley lifted the jar containing the tiny snake with relative ease. The observations had always been her favorite part of biology. She supposed she had Ian to thank now that she could conveniently leave for field work after her tenure was over. The man was a savage negotiator and she could see why he was highly revered in the business world now. He made it seem like he wasn’t helping, rather he was paying her allowance for sleeping with him.An allowance worth more than five hundred thousand dollars every week. She was glad to be donating it. What would she do with all that money? She loved to spend but that amount was utterly ridiculous.“Professor, uh, there’s a…thing crawling up behind you”, a girl said in a shaky voice. Ashley shuddered and turned back to see a giant snake. “Awwn, you mean Crowley? He’s harmless”, Ashley tittered. She had found it as an egg in field work, one of the joys of being a biologist. It was a clingy one, always wrapping his entire six foot le
Chapter 39"You look good", Ian said, walking into the studio in a coal three-piece suit with purple lapels that were the exact color as her gown. He had given the gown to her personally and she was absolutely obsessed with it. The way the back was slightly open was so elegant, and there was a mini-coat for when her back got too cold. Being rich truly had the best perks."...Thank you", Ashley bit the inside of her cheeks to contain her blush. "Do you ever wear color?", She asked, rolling her hair up as the video in front of her played."There's purple on my suit right now", he deadpanned and Ashley rolled her eyes and continued to focus on the video.The realization had come starkly to her that the professional makeup artists would know who she was, and now she was doing her own makeup.She knew Ian could have them sign an NDA, but the less people that knew generally, the better. She could barely field the thought that some people had most likely seen Ian and Yu Zhen walking into he
Chapter 40Yu Zhen walked into Ian’s studio expecting to see Ashley getting ready with Ian working in the background. He was initially meant to be in the house with them, but he had to ensure Ashley had taken a good enough bath before he could even think about being in her presence. He knew Ashley was weird and fearless in a good way, but reptiles? His job tonight was to make sure Ian, Ashley and Rita didn’t get hurt in any way, and he had suspicions that were hard to ignore, ever since the day of Xelsa’s anniversary party. He was so glad to tell Ashley they’d get to spend time gossiping again but then he got rudely shocked.He debunked everything he ever thought about Ashley being his friend; she didn’t even think to warn them that she would be receiving a tight hug from a reptile when they entered and although it was partially his fault for not informing her beforehand, he felt he could throw the blame at whoever he wanted to for the traumatic experience.Even Ian deserved the blam
Chapter 41"Hey! Wait for me!", Rita ran out of the house, her dress billowing behind her as she came to stop in front of them."Where's my suit?", Ian raised an eyebrow, pausing in his movement of opening the door for Ashley."You're wearing it", she rolled her eyes and walked up to the car."I seem to remember someone promising to buy a new one", Ashley said offhandedly, pretending to check her nails.Rita threw Ashley a glare and she chortled."C'mon Ian, I deserve to buy something new, from my brother's money", Rita pouted.Ian raised a corner of his lips in irritation. Rita raised a hand placatingly and moved to stand behind Yu Zhen."Where's your car?", Yu Zhen asked the woman cowering behind him."My car? We're going in Ian's Maybach", she grinned."No, we're going in the Maybach, you have your own car", Ian rolled his eyes and impatiently ushered Ashley in.Rita groaned. She had hoped that Ashley being his wife would give her extra access to some perks he blatantly denied her
Chapter 42"Remember, you love me, and so you have to smile around me, no matter how hard it is", Ashley instructed him seriously as she put on her mask and dusted off the crumbs from her dress.Ian was sure it wouldn’t be hard, she performed even better than his drugs, so much that he hadn’t had to use them. He was as prone to smile around her as a baby around their favorite person.Ian also dusted off crumbs from his shirt as she had deigned to feed him somewhere along the line when his stomach betrayed him with a growl."Do you not know how to eat? Or feed?", Ian rolled his eyes as the crumbs seemed to have gotten everywhere."Don't blame me, you nearly bit my hand like seven times", she bit back. Ian held back a mischievous grin as he had indeed tried to bite her hand. It was a thing of impulse, her hand was right there, he was overwhelmed with the urge to bite it, and so he tried.Later in his life, Ian would come to learn about a little something called cute aggression .“I don