As I got home and parked my car by the driveway, my aunt kept calling me. With annoyance, I asked my personal assistant to pick up the call. “What do you want now?” I asked angrily. “Should you not be taking care of your husband?” I asked sarcastically. “You bitch, your uncle would not have been in this position for you. You made him so angry that he even had a heart attack, after all we have done for you!” She screamed at the top of her lungs. “Please keep quiet, mam." I heard from her background that it was probably the paramedics talking to her; she was not even considerate enough to talk in a low tone just so that her husband could recover, yet she had the guts to blame me for her misfortune. “Mrs. Greene, you never did anything for me; all you guys did was make my life miserable. You would not have had the lavish lifestyle you are used to if not for my parents. Let me remind you that your husband was just a common manager of a software company, and you were still a parasite, s
He walked towards the other side of the car, where I sat, and opened the door for me like a gentleman. I held his hands as I walked down. Although I knew it was important for me to show confidence, I could not help but bend my head down. I did not want the news of me being Ryan’s wife to break the internet the next day. “Why is your head down?” He asked with an amused smile. “Obviously I don’t want to appear on any tabloids” I told him and he looked dissatisfied. I was the only one who did not want to go public because of our relationship; I did not want it to affect the way people treated me. “I don’t want people to look at me differently." I explained, telling him the same thing I have been telling him for a long time now. “And you think they would treat you the same when they literally saw the big ass mansion you live in? Eliza, wake up; every freakin body already knows you married rich; why is it so difficult to let them know that you are married to me?" he complained, and I re
Hearing his father call out fifty-five million, Ryan smirked coldly. “Sixty million." He immediately said that for a second there was pin-drop silence before the venue was filled with murmurs, not because of the amount of money Ryan was spending but because he was openly going against his father. “You this bastard,” his father cursed silently but made sure to lower his voice. "Sixty-six million,” Mr. Blaqk said while Mrs. Blaqk sat beside him, looking so dignified. “Okay, how about sixty-six million, one dollar?” Ryan smirked, and I almost burst out into laughter. He was literally using the oldest trick in the book, and by the look on Mr. Blaqk's face, I was very sure that he was more than infuriated; he probably wished he could strangle Ryan. But I did not understand why Mr. Blaqk would openly compete with his son, who has way more money than him; he literally signed up for failure. “Seventy million!” He shouted angrily, and Mrs. Blaqk also began to look annoyed, and her dignit
I walked towards Rita and Amber. I tried my best to be inconspicuous, but I also could not avoid people from talking to me. I was literally Mrs. Blaqk, and of course people would want to use me to get Ryan’s favour. "Mrs. Blaqk, you are as beautiful as ever." "Mrs Blaqk" "Mrs Blaqk" "Mrs. Blaqk," I kept hearing from right-left centre. With difficulty, I managed to escape from them, and I finally got to Rita and Amber. “Good day, Mrs. Blaqk.” They nodded at me, and I smiled back as I sat down on an empty seat. “You can call me Eliza, by the way." I smiled. “This is Sheila Horess, Franky Lorelei, and Vienna Heart.” Amber introduced the ladies, and they all gave me a lovely smile. “So tell us,” Amber said with a smile, and I immediately knew what they wanted to know; it was obviously going to be about my relationship with Ryan. “Tell you what?” I asked, sounding ignorant. “How did you and Ryan meet?” Sheila asked, and I was stumped. How stupid could I be? In our six months of m
“Have a good night, Ryan. With a warm smile on her face, Madam Elise said to Ryan. I guess we were leaving then. We walked out of the venue, and Ryan called his chauffeur to drive the car over. We went, and I was silent for a while, as I was not ready to step on a land mine. But after a minute, I got tired of the silence, and I could not help but speak. “You know you did not have to overreact back there; now all my new friends would be stiff around me.” I sighed. I would be lucky if Amber and Rita did not go back to being reserved around me. “They are not your friends, Eliza; no freakin' body in that hall is your friend,” he said, which shocked me to silence. "Oh,” I breathed out after a while. “You have to understand that you are Mrs. Blaqk, my wife, and that carries a lot of weight. The way you carry yourself is the way others would treat you. The reason that foolish lady spoke to you like that was because of your demeanor," he snapped, and I can’t lie, I was hurt by his state
Alex was not going to be free at all for the rest of the month. But I was too sad to dwell on it, as it was the death anniversary of both my parents. I planned on spending the entire day at their grave, so I had the cook prepare my breakfast and lunch and put them in a picnic basket. On every death anniversary of my parents, I always made sure to visit them; that was the only time of the year I actually gathered enough courage to be able to face their graves once again. I would sweep their graves and adorn them with flowers with a bitter smile on my face. After that, I would sit there in silence for the entire day. I did not put any thought into my clothing choice; I just put on a simple shirt and sweatpants, and I did not forget to take my sunglasses with me. I came out of Ryan’s room, all ready to go, and went downstairs. I went to the kitchen to collect the picnic basket, but I was shocked when I saw Ryan sitting on the couch in the living room, looking up to the ceiling. It was
Putting Lisa’s outburst at the back of my mind, I sat in silence as Ryan drove us home. When we got home, Ryan immediately went upstairs, and I stood there at a loss for what to do. I slowly walked towards the basement. I made sure to turn on the lights before I came down. I did want to be part of any statistics. Once I was down, I immediately made a beeline for the vintage piano sitting in the corner. I found my solace, apart from Ryan. I sat on the chair and ran my hand through the keys of the piano, enjoying the feeling on my fingers. I started playing my mother's favourite music and sang with a heavy heart. ‘Sun bleeds gold through willow leaves, painting shadows on the stream. Whispers dance in the velvet breeze; secrets only fireflies can redeem. Stars ignite like fallen dreams, scattered diamonds on the night. In this hush, where silence gleams, I find solace, bathed in light. Slowly, I got lost in the rhythm, and I unconsciously kept on playing and singing. Once I wa
Charlotte happily dropped me and drove away, leaving me alone to face a bunch of angry contestants. Seeing me, the assistant director immediately led me towards where all the other contestants were standing. “You are late, Miss Greene,” he said with a monotone voice, and I sighed. I was pretty sure they had already made up their minds that I was a spoiled rich brat. He led me into the house, and sure enough, it was pretty big, but of course not as big as Ryan’s house. They had already started filming once you arrived, so we made sure to avoid the filming area. The host was introducing the judges to the online audience. We walked towards the dining room, where the other contestants were waiting to be called on to introduce themselves. As I walked in, they all turned to look at me, and I saw a hint of recognition in some of their faces. “Just wait here when it is your turn; someone will come get you,” he said. He did not even wait for me to reply befo