"Oh, are you her husband?"
"Yes. She is my wife," Anthony pretended to put his arm around Shanon's shoulder.
“I'm sorry darling, it's hard to get a parking space here.”
“O-oh, I'm fine.”
Shanon slowly removed Anthony's arm from her shoulders. She ignored Anthony's growl of protest and pretended to be busy answering questions from the receptionist to fill in the personal data form.
"Okay, I will call your name when it's your turn. Please sit in the waiting chair."
"Thank You."
Shanon walked towards the row of waiting chairs, still ignoring Anthony who was following her angrily.
“Seriously, are you ignoring me?”
“What are you doing here, Anthony?”
"What do you think?"
"I don't know. You suddenly appeared and chose an obgyn for me as if you had the right to do so. Seriously?"
“I do have the right to do so,” Anthony tilted his chin up arrogantly
Wednesday, and the day after the annoying fight in Anthony's car, Shanon was huddled in a corner of the campus library with a laptop and a stack of textbooks to help her formulate her thesis conclusion. Her fingers typed smoothly on the keyboard. The calmness made her relax and helped her concentrate on writing her thesis.Shanon could hardly imagine that her adventure in taking the master's program was almost over. With all the tears she had shed, all of them would be rewarded with her success in achieving a master's degree. Within one month, she would present the results of her research in front of all the students and lecturers of the master's program, including Anthony and the campus council.Thinking about it made Shanon's stomach churn, and she felt like throwing up. She repeatedly covered her mouth with the palm of her hand as her stomach churned even worse. Nervousness made her unable to concentrate on typing some words on her laptop.Half an hour later,
"What time does your sister get off work?""Usually it's six or seven o'clock if she has to take stock of goods in the warehouse.""Okay. We have about two hours.”“Excuse me, we?” Shanon asked skeptically.“There is no more we. You're on your own. I have nothing to do with your business. So, take me home, and then it's up to you how you meet Avery.""Are you still angry because of our argument yesterday?"“I'm mad at you for everything. Not just because of our argument yesterday."“I want the best for you. For your safety and our child's safety, I want you to stop working at the club.”“Who do you think you are? How dare you control my life? This child is my responsibility,” Shanon hugged her stomach defensively.They had only left the campus parking lot for five minutes, and they were already arguing in the car. Anthony didn't know how he could rec
“Shanon, why did you bring him here? I told you that I didn't want to see him in our house?"“Ave, please. He has something important to talk to you about. This is about father's company.”“I have nothing to do with our father's company anymore. He already bought it.”Anthony cleared his throat softly. He had been sitting in the living room for more than thirty minutes listening to Shanon and Avery arguing behind the wall. Their voices could be heard very clearly from where he was sitting. They talked about him as if he were an invisible ghost.“You two, can you stop talking about me as if I'm not here?” Anthony snorted.“I don't mind you guys badmouthing me right in front of me. But at least, don't talk behind walls that can barely disguise your voice.”Avery was the first to appear from behind the wall, followed by Shanon behind her. Avery wore a cold expression that was not friendly at
Shanon shuddered when something warm blew in her ear hole. She hurriedly turned on her heel and groaned in annoyance at Tom, who was laughing out loud behind the bar counter."I swear I will tell your wife about it."Tom laughed out loud while holding his stomach. He was so happy because he managed to tease Shanon, who was daydreaming by blowing in her ear hole.“Sharon is right, your weak point is in your ears.”“All women will also feel ticklish if you blow in their ears. Don’t do it again!"“You've been daydreaming a lot lately. And I saw Mr. sexy never comes. Do you miss him?”“Huh, no way. I'm thinking about my thesis."“Really? No normal woman would think about a thesis with a face like that.”"What kind of face do you mean?"“A face that looks like you want to kiss someone right now.”“Bullshit. I know you're just trying to provoke me.
Anthony walked hurriedly down the deserted hospital hallway. He passed room after room until he finally found the room he was looking for. 322 stuck to the surface of the tightly closed door. Anthony pulled the doorknob open and burst in with worry all over his face.Shanon lay weak on a gurney with bruises on the right side of her face. Her wrist was decorated with an IV needle and one of her legs that was sticking out of the blanket was wrapped in a bandage. The scene was far worse than Hugo had described. Anthony clenched his fists tightly and swore he would kill the damn man who had made Shanon lie weak on the gurney.“Anthony?”“Hey, did I wake you up?”"Why are you here?" Shanon groaned softly. She tried to retrieve her memories, which felt like they were buried in mud.“You should be in Germany, right?”“I flew here as soon as Hugo told me about your assault. I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner t
“How do I look?”"Bad. Like, hideous.”“You look like you've just been hit by a tornado,” Avery added from across the room.Shanon sighed softly. She knew she was that bad without needing to hear Sarah and Avery's comments. Two days of not getting off the gurney was truly like hell for her.“Anthony and his over-protectiveness are terrible. He acted like a fierce dog and kept me here. He wouldn't let me get off the gurney to go to the bathroom. He said I could use the potty and poop in this bed. Gossh, this is super disgusting. I want to see my reflection in the mirror.”“Trust me, you're better off taking Anthony at his word. You might faint if you look at your own face in the mirror.”“Am I that bad, Sarah?”Sarah grimaced a little, but didn't comment. For Shanon, that was enough to explain how bad she looked right now.“Anthony only wants the best for yo
In less than two weeks, Shanon worked hard to complete her thesis. She did it with super speed and with the determination to quickly complete her studies. The people around her were a very good support system. Avery and Anthony worked together to support her. They no longer argued about the past. Avery helped Shanon calm Anthony, who was always overprotective of her. Anthony always watched her closely while on campus. Anthony burned her uniform and submitted the resignation to Eric on behalf of her. It made Shanon sick, and she whined at Avery to tell Anthony to stop watching her as if she was a state fugitive.“You don't need to take me home today. Avery will pick me up," Shanon put the phone to her ear. She was rereading her thesis before tomorrow she will make a presentation in front of all the master's program students, her lecturers, and the campus council.“Are you sure Avery will pick you up, and you're not going home on the bus? Don't try to lie to
“You ready?”“Yeah, I'm ready.”Sarah patted her twice on the shoulder to encourage her before she walked towards her seat.Shanon felt intimidated standing alone in a room with a capacity of two hundred people. The room was oval shaped with chairs like in a football stadium. From all sides, all eyes would be on her standing at the podium. Even though the chairs weren't full, Shanon guessed that there were already a hundred people present in the hall. In the front row, sat the lecturers including Anthony and Mr. Angelo who would watch her presentation. Several campus council members, including Samie Witacker, were also in attendance. They all sat stiffly without making the slightest small talk while waiting for her to start her presentation.Shanon glanced at her watch. Fifteen minutes until the presentation starts. She was starting to get bored and a bit nauseous with her activity of pretending to check her presentation slides. Sh
Her marriage was in turmoil. Shanon almost believed her wedding was canceled because Anthony couldn't come to his own wedding. Isn't that crazy? The main character couldn't attend his own wedding!Shanon was stressed about handling all the wedding preparations alone while Anthony was in Singapore to attend a damn conference which he said was very important to him. Anthony delegated all his responsibilities to Shanon and only gave a few short confirmations via telephone every time Shanon called to ask about several things related to their wedding. Anthony then asked Ben to do things that Shanon couldn't do herself because she was pregnant. Anthony promised to arrive in Boston the day before their wedding, and he asked Shanon to calm down.But, the day before their wedding, Anthony didn't show up at the airport at all. Shanon, who had been haunted by worry for weeks, tried to call Anthony to ask for clarity about his return. To her surprise, Anthony gave her some very ba
"Turn right."“No. We still have to walk straight over there.”“But I want to see the baby crib here.”"There is a baby shop that makes the best quality baby cribs there."Shanon folded her arms across her chest. Her eyes narrowed at Anthony.“Well, I keep forgetting the fact that I'm going to marry a man who bathes in a thousand dollar soap. You obviously couldn't possibly buy a baby crib at Ikea.”“Don't be so skeptical about my life, Shanon. I just want the best for my son.”“I know, I know. I'm just not used to your very wow lifestyle."“I don't like you commenting skeptically on my lifestyle. Like it or not, you have to get used to it from now on. You will live under me.”“Oh, really, Anthony. I want equality. What century do you think we live in, huh?”The two of them stood in front of the Ikea entrance and glanced at each other sa
“Deal.”“Nice doing business with you, Mr. Maddock.”Avery held out her hand to shake Tim Maddock's hand. They ended the meeting with satisfied smiles on each of their faces because they managed to reach an agreement on their next project. Tim Maddock then walked away, leaving Avery who still remained in the restaurant to pack up her things.“Avery? What a coincidence, huh?”Avery looked up. She just gathered the documents and put them in the briefcase. Her face lit up when she saw who had just greeted her.“Jordyn. Hey, what are you doing here?”“Umm... Lunch. Actually, it's not really lunch. I only ordered coffee because I was trying to build a good image in front of people I had just met.”“So, do you want to have lunch with me? I haven't eaten anything since just now.”"That is a good idea. You saved me from starvation. Thanks, Ave.”&ldquo
A month after the graduation party, which was full of drama and showers of congratulations from her friends, Shanon still couldn't come out of her euphoria. She welcomed the day with joy and the promise of a better future. Every morning she woke up and realized the fact that she was Anthony's fiancé. Formally. There was no secret. Everyone knew for sure that she belonged to Anthony, and vice versa. Just imagining it, her life became lighter than before. Negative thoughts disappeared in an instant from her brain."Good morning."“Hi, princess. You look really excited.”Shanon kissed her sister's cheek briefly. Avery had been sitting at the dining table since seven o'clock. She was ready in a formal suit, a black bag sat on the empty chair next to her, and she had a cup of coffee on the table.“I'm always excited. What would you like for breakfast?”“You don't need to bother making me breakfast. You prepared me br
I apologize....Shanon turned off her phone before she read the entire message Anthony had just sent her. Just seeing the word at the opening of the message, she could already guess that the message would end badly. Something like, Anthony couldn't be there on her graduation day and couldn't see her throw her cap in the air.“He sucks,” Shanon muttered under her breath.She squeezed her phone before stuffing it into her bag.She and hundreds of students from various departments were gathering in the main hall of the university to celebrate their graduation. Shanon had worn her best dress along with a black robe and academic cap. Avery put on light make-up and put on soft pink lipstick, which made her look even more stunning. Unfortunately, Anthony couldn't come to complete her happiness today. Though she really hoped that Anthony would come to see her go up on stage and make a speech on behalf of the hun
“Cheers.”“Oh man, is this party necessary?”“Of course it is necessary. Let's have a toast.”Shanon lazily clinked her glass with Sarah's. Hers had apple juice, while Sarah's had beer. Her house was very noisy tonight because Sarah and Jordyn threw a party to celebrate her graduation. Shanon officially completed her master's program and graduated with the best grades. They insisted on celebrating with a party because Shanon deserved the best graduation party. An hour ago, they came to her house with three boxes of pizza, several boxes of Thai food and Chinese food. They also ordered fries and burgers. The living room table had turned into a party table with a variety of food that they couldn't possibly finish that night.“I feel like you guys shouldn't throw me a party.”Shanon looked at Anthony with a frown. Anthony had just arrived after Sarah called him to join them. Anthony didn't need to think t
“This is the time.”Shanon released her hug from Sarah. She wiped the tears dripping down her cheeks.“I'm sure you can, Shanon. Show them who you really are.”“Thank you, Sarah. You're my best friend. I wouldn't have been able to get through all of this without you.”“We love you, Shanon.”Shanonh turned to look at Jordyn. She then snuggled into his warm embrace."Wish me luck."Shanon walked into the hall with extremely impressive calm. The campus council and lecturers had gathered in the hall to test her. They were all there, except Anthony. Shanon was sad because she couldn't see Anthony this morning in the hall. But, an hour ago they had spoken on the phone. Anthony regretted that he couldn't be there for her when the campus council chewed her out. Anthony promised to always support her from afar.“Are you ready, Shanon?”“Yes, Mr. Angelo.”
“Jane Heather.”"Who are you?"Jane frowned in annoyance at finding an uninvited guest suddenly entering her room and locking the door, as if she had given her permission to do so."I'll call security to drag you away from here and report your impoliteness to—""Who? Those damn campus councils? They won't hear you. They are busy crushing Anthony and Shanon.”“Where are your manners? Call him Professor Bruce.”"Not anymore. He was no longer a professor since the rusty campus board fired him. They stripped Anthony of all his titles. Now, he is just an ordinary guy. Without any title.”"You must be kidding."“Do I look like I'm kidding now?”Jane studied the woman's face closely and she suddenly snapped her fingers.“I know who you are. You're from the economics department. You're one of Anthony's students. I see you always stick with the other woman."
After disappearing from civilization for two days, Shanon decided it was time for her to face all the problems she had left hanging in limbo.For two whole days she just holed herself up in her room. She removed her cellphone battery and did not want to be exposed to the outside world in any form. Her mind created all kinds of terrible scenarios about her life and future. Avery had tried to persuade her many times to come out of her room, but she ignored her. She used two full days to think. She wanted to blame Anthony for all the problems that happened to her. Before she got involved with Anthony’s life, everything was normal. Her only misfortune was having a very cruel stepmother like Yvone.But, after she got involved with Anthony, things got out of hand. She experienced a series of events that she had never imagined before. Including the problems she was currently facing. She never thought that she would be in danger of failing to get a master's degree just b