CHRISTY:Then Everette's eyes snapped open.I held my breath as I stared at his beautiful eyes."Kitten...""You're awake. Are you done pretending that you were asleep?" I asked softly, already tired of fighting with him. A year of hiding from him only made my love for him grow even stronger.My heart yearned for him, and seeing him after a year, I felt like I had become whole again.He sat while I snatched my hand away and put it on my lap."You still love me," he commented."I did not say anything like that," I denied, averting my gaze. "Yes, you did. I heard you say one, Kitten.""It was only your dream, Everette. You did sleep, right? You were dreaming earlier."Touching my chin, he forced me to look at him. My toes curled. Yes. I still loved this man. A year of not seeing him made me want to jump at him and kiss him like crazy and have lots and lots of sex as if to make up for the lost time. My hands yearned to touch his face and traced the outline of his cheeks. Everette le
CHRISTY:To say I was excited was an understatement. For the nth time, I'm going to meet my date whom I met at Swiped, an online dating app. Others might call me cheap for that, but I did not care. Poppy Brooks, my best friend, had been married for the second time to her billionaire husband, and I believed it was the perfect time for me to settle down.Not the billionaire thingy, but the married part. But...why did men seem elusive? I had met different kinds of men and the last one was Pedro. I thought he was the perfect partner for me, but it turned out he was two-timing me with another woman whom I did not know. I lifted my chin while pressing my lips for the fourth time. Is my lipstick not smudge? Am I beautiful? Will my date not run away upon seeing me?What if Rett preferred tall and skinny women? I was not that skinny, but voluptuous. Though I appreciated my body. A lot. "You have to get serious, Christy. Date serious men who don't only after your body and sex. Get marri
CHRISTY:Runaway bride. Billionaire jilted groom. Yes. I was Everette Watson's runaway bride. A billionaire and owned a multi-billion company where my father was also an investor. Our marriage was about a potential business marriage, but since I was a romantic fool who believed in love, I did not accept the marriage and ran away even if I risked my parent's wrath. My parents disowned me, but did not care about it thinking this was my life and I was the only one who could decide for me."You look lovely in that dress, by the way," Everette commented while devouring me. It was an overlapped v-neck red dress which I had been saving for occasions like this. The fit was perfect for my size. If he was the Rett I chatted with three months ago, I would be happy by now. But seeing him made me look like a fool.Did he even know it was me behind the screen name? Did he know it was me replying to his messages? Did I fall into Everette's trap?But I never noticed any signs that he knew me. T
CHRISTINA:Could my parents sell me to this man? I mentally shook my head. Why would I be surprised?They could. They already put me in a business marriage and selling me off was not that a big deal. For them. My parents sold me to Everette. That was clear. Was that something surprising? No. But I thought I was done being a collateral to their failures. "I...I don't believe what you are saying," I said."You want a receipt?" he challenged. "Everything is put in a contract. It was already signed. I can give you a copy."I sucked in a breath as I struggled to maintain my composure. How could my parents sell me like this? "No. Seeing your damn receipt means I trusted your lies." I stood. "I need to get to the bottom of this."Oh, come on, Christy. You don't have to investigate. You know in yourself that what Everette was telling is the truth. Your parents sold you. Period. I stood. "Let's cut any communication, Mr. Watson.""Not even wanting to listen to everything I say?" He clic
CHRISTINA:This was supposed to be a joyful day, but how come it led to this? My heart was already full of anger so that tears wouldn't come out of my eyes. It had been a couple of hours since I left our house and stayed in my car. I wanted to go to Poppy and pour my heart out, but Sebastian and her were newly made up and I did not want to become a burden to them. If I had known I had such kind of parents' I would have never been born."You're fat. Do some exercise," I remember Mom said upon seeing how my clothes no longer fit. I had an additional half pound on my weight and she already said I was fat, though there was nothing wrong with being fat."Wear some bangs. You have a huge forehead," she said another time.I never remember her praising me for being good. For excelling in my academics. All she was focused on was my physical appearance and how I was different from my peers who were already marrying billionaire husbands.Mom did not know how to show affection to us, nor did
CHRISTY:“You know what? Why don’t we choose somewhere where we can talk freely?” Everette suggested while looking somewhere else except me. Talk anywhere? And where the heck was that? I no longer trusted this man. I shook my head. “No. I like it here.”“Here?”“Why? Is there something wrong with this place?”He was about to say something but stopped. “Why don’t you answer my question, Mr. Watson?”A smile slowly spread across his face, making my heart jump.Damn.I did not like seeing his smiles causing my heart to flip like crazy. Whenever he smiled, it looked like the world brightened. “If you cannot give me the answer, then I won’t be—”“What do you want to hear?” he inquired, cutting off my words. “The truth. What else?” I asked with a dah gone. “What will you get from this business marriage? Hmm. Of course, you will be having a husband like me. Handsome. Powerful. Rich.” “You’re too full of yourself.”“I'm plainly telling the truth.”Well, he had a point. He was indeed ha
CHRISTY:I looked for any hint that Everette was only joking, but the way his eyes twinkled was an indication that he was not. He wanted a wedding? He wanted to show off how he was so rich.A shiver ran down my spine as I imagined myself with all the cameras on me. Then, Everette was all smiles at the camera. That’s not going to happen.I will choose my own wedding whether he wants it or not. “I refuse to marry you if you insist on that kind of luxurious wedding.”Mom would be happy about it. To show off, but not me. If I was going to wed over someone whom I did not even love, I might as well go on with the kind of wedding I wanted. Everette’s brows furrowed. “Why? Christina. What kind of woman would not want that kind of wedding? That’s how my wedding would be. That’s also what my family wanted,” he explained. Ah, right. Everette had a loving family compared to mine. They had such close ties that even his brothers and sisters were living in their mansion. I had no problem with t
CHRISTY:I was expecting that there would be a lot of visitors to our wedding, but I was surprised when I found that it was only Everette and his secretary and my friend—Raven. I thought Everette would be bringing his family…Talk about having an extravagant wedding only to find out that not even his family was present. I could not help but feel a little bit hurt about it. Does this mean that his family hated me for jilting their son? And now, I was also the one who forced him to carry on the wedding as soon as possible. Well, if I had an in-law like this, I would also be hurting. Whatever. Now was not the time to be sensitive. Today, I would be marrying Everette Watson— a CEO and billionaire. “Hi. Am I late?” I asked, bringing the silence. I shifted my weight from foot to foot as I felt their gaze trained on me. If I had known that they would stare at me like this, I would have paid more attention to my makeup. All the men were now watching me as I sauntered towards them. “Wh
CHRISTY:Then Everette's eyes snapped open.I held my breath as I stared at his beautiful eyes."Kitten...""You're awake. Are you done pretending that you were asleep?" I asked softly, already tired of fighting with him. A year of hiding from him only made my love for him grow even stronger.My heart yearned for him, and seeing him after a year, I felt like I had become whole again.He sat while I snatched my hand away and put it on my lap."You still love me," he commented."I did not say anything like that," I denied, averting my gaze. "Yes, you did. I heard you say one, Kitten.""It was only your dream, Everette. You did sleep, right? You were dreaming earlier."Touching my chin, he forced me to look at him. My toes curled. Yes. I still loved this man. A year of not seeing him made me want to jump at him and kiss him like crazy and have lots and lots of sex as if to make up for the lost time. My hands yearned to touch his face and traced the outline of his cheeks. Everette le
CHRISTY: When you least expected someone, you would meet that someone. I thought my husband had already gone home like what Poppy had said. Did Poppy lie to me or was it only because my husband waited for me to step out? "Kitten...It's you." He looked at my face and down to my body and back to my face again. "I was right. You are only at the bakery shop. W-Why did you have to lie?" he asked, his voice trembling. His hair was already long and his mustache and stubbles had grown so much as if he was a completely different person. Despite that, he was still beautiful. The very person whom I managed to love. "I'm not. Y-You're mistaken, Mr." I pretended to fan myself. "You're drunk, Mister." "I only drank two canned beers, Kitten." He sauntered towards me, but I stepped back. "What are you doping? Like I said, I am not who you think I am." His expression turned glassy. "Kitten, please. Tell me what I did to punish you like this. What did I do wrong, Kitten? Why did you leave me
CHRISTY:"He is gone," Poppy announced after talking to my husband. I hid in the kitchen as Poppy struggled to look for some alibis and lied to my husband. I was glad I was able to watch the CCTV camera and found him approaching. If not, he would know I was here, working in Poppy's bakery shop. If Everette will find out that I was only here for the whole year, he might be mad at Poppy. The woman had no fault. In fact, she was kind enough to give me a job where I wanted it. Everette…he looked like a hermit who just came out from his hiding place. He had a rugged expression on his face, but he was still handsome.How long has it been since I last saw him face to face? More than a year already and I just wanted to run into his arms."Thank you, Poppy. You're the best," I said weakly. “Thank you for having my back.”She looked at me with a stern look. “I was not happy with what you did, okay? I was only forced to do it because I loved you. But Christy…how long will you keep on punishin
EVERETTE: It had been an nth time since I stared at my wife’s picture when we had our cruise ship. It was a candid picture of her while we both sat on the sand. A year of missing her. My wife was gone just like what I dreamed. When I entered the house, when I returned back from working on the company, her clothes were still there, but she never returned. At first, I was scared that she was kidnapped again, but there were witnesses of her going somewhere else alone. She was not kidnapped. The truth was, she was only looking for a perfect opportunity where she could go and run away. It had been what? One fucking years of her absence. No calls. No text. Not even anything. Until now, I blame myself for what happened. Maybe…if I did not work late, I would still be able to stop her from disappearing. “Why don’t you give up, Everette?” Vincent said. “If you did not find her, it only meant that she did not want to be found.” We were in the house. I asked him to come and he did witho
CHRISTY: I want the world to swallow me now. What a very perfect timing. Beatrice being able to witness me slapping her husband. I would understand if she would hate me after this. She loved her husband so much that salpping him will be the reason why he would throw a fit. I did not know how to console Beatrice or how would I be able to face her and explain what she just heard and what she had witnessed. Did I regret going to their cabin? I did not. All I was thinking was this woman who looked like she could not even hurt a fly. "Beatrice..." I mumbled. Approach her. She deserved to know what her husband said. Are you sure? The other part of my mind said. If the truth would hurt her so much, was it worth it? Left with no choice, I sauntered towards her. "How long had you been listening?" I asked directly, no loger beating around the bush. If she hated me after this, all I had to do was accept everything adn move on. There was so much bigger things that needed my attention.
CHRISTY:I did it! I was able to slap Drake! I was able to avenge Beatrice!It was not so me to hurt anyone, but after slapping Drake, I felt this weird sense of fulfillment coming from the inside of my chest. Instead of getting guilty, all I felt was the sense of fulfillment of avenging Beatrice. My palms were itching to slap him again, but once was enough. As long as I was able to send him the message that not everyone liked him was already enough.Drake glared at me, watching the imprints of my hands on his palm. It hurt even for a moment and he would no longer be able to forget me. Staring down at me, he asked, "What the fuck was that for? As far as my memories are concerned, you and I had no proper conversation. What did I do to earn a slap from you? Be thankful that you're a woman or else," he trailed off.“So what if I am a woman?” I asked. I scoffed. "You have to ask me those questions? Are you that dense?" I asked. He stared at me for a long time, his face bright red wi
CHRISTY:Beatrice looked at me as if I had grown horns. I was a bitch for suggesting it to her, but what could I do? I was not the type who would just stare at a woman who was hurting because of a man.Yeah. I know. It was the suggestion that she was totally unexpected. Or maybe she already expected it, but she could not do anything about it. Perhaps I was not the only one who had told her to divorce her husband. "Y-You want me to divorce my husband?" she asked in disbelief, using the same words I had suggested. "Do you even hear yourself?" she asked. “Divorce? How could you say that!”"I heard myself loud and clear," I said nonchalantly. “It’s time to let go of that jerk.”Tears swelled in her eyes.Beatrice always had a waterworks, and I did not like any of that. A woman’s tears were like a stab wound on me. I kneeled in front of her and said, "It's time to let go of the man who did not even love you. Do you understand? Stop hurting yourself because you deserve someone who would s
CHRISTY:"I knew women like you. You will grab every possible opportunity," she spat. “Seeing you annoys me even more. You reminded me of your Mom.”“Mom and I are two different beings, Mom,” I said politely, even if my heart was already bleeding too much. And I could not blame Clara. Mom showed her worse side. “As long as my husband won’t believe that I will cheat on him, I am fine with whatever you say, Mom.”Clara’s hand shook in anger. She was dying to hurt me. To slap me once again. “Christy is right, Mom. The only thing that you can do is accept this marriage.” Everette kissed me on my hair. Clar did not like it a bit. “Mom, let us have peace. Christy admitted it was a mistake that she left me in the altar. But don’t you think it’s already too long since that happened? Let’s move on, Mom. Please?” Everette was about to touch his Mom’s hand, but Clara slapped his hand away and looked at me with disgust.“You’re a witch. You bewitched my son!” She was about to slap me, but Everet
CHRISTY:Panic kicked in as I struggled to break free. No matter how much I attempted to shout, my voice was muffled. The person holding me won't budge at all. I kicked in. I thrashed. I shouted, but no words would come out.Everette! Please help me!What the heck was happening?"Stop squirming or I will hurt you for real," he threatened. “Do you think I will hesitate hurting a woman?”I stopped, sensing this bastard won’t hesitate to hurt me at all. My body went cold. It was the man whom Everette had fought with. Vincent was right. Sooner or later, he would come to get me. I should have listened to Vincent when he said I should be careful. Everette’s enemies would resurface. Did I listen? I did not. As he dragged me deeper into the darkness, I was losing even more hope that someone would be able to help me.It was safe to let him think that he was able to get my trust. Hot tears welled in my eyes as I thought of Everette. Would I die not being able to see my husband? If I knew