4| Not made for each other

Sianna's POV

The moment I received his message, I headed back towards my home and got ready for the meet-up. And with the help of the cab, I reached my destination on time.

He asked me to meet him at 7:00 PM sharp but it is now half an hour past the decided time and there is no trace of him. I am waiting for him like an idiot, cutting my time by scrolling down the social media feed.

My head moved up as the sound of the clicking of boots against the marble floor reached my ear and I found him walking towards me with his hands in his pants pocket.

As he owns this restaurant so the staff greeted and welcomed him like he is a God. They were shivering like a leaf in front of him. And they are not wrong on their part because this man is so heartless that he doesn't think twice before spoiling the career of others.

He was being followed by two bodyguards as if I am going to kill him. This is after years I have got the chance to see him from this close and for more than a minute.

He is still in his business suit which is enchanting his adequately built body even more. There is no doubt that he is a drop-dead handsome man. With the fire and passion in his shiny eyes, manly peppered beard, chiseled and concrete jaw, broad shoulders, and burly physique talking about his strength and with the spicy aroma surrounding him any girl can go crazy for this epitome of perfection. He possesses leonine power.

His feet were striding towards me with authority and purpose.

He stopped when he reached the table and I stood up. The side of his lip twitched a little in triumph as he thought that I am giving him respect by vacating the seat.

My breaths became ragged as I saw that mocking smirk on his face. There is a limit to hypocrisy. He fires at least 4 to 5 employees on daily basis for not reporting on time and here he is full thirty minutes late when he can't tolerate tardy people.

Moving my hands over the table, I grabbed my purse and stepped forward to leave the place. His eyebrows twitched a little in confusion.

Hah! What does he think of himself!

If he is a prince of his empire then I am also a princess of my world!

As I was passing by him, I felt a tug, and within a blink of an eye, I found myself standing in my previous position as I was pulled back by one strong arm.

"Where do you think you are going? Hunh!"

He tightened his hold around my arm to the point where it started hurting, his eyes were burning in rage and he was seething in anger as I have just hit his most sensitive point i.e ego.

I yanked my arm free from his iron grip and turned to face him fully. I was looking small in front of him due to his bulky and tall frame but this is not going to intimidate me. I lifted my chin confidently and looked into his eyes with equal fervor.

"You are full thirty minutes late!"

"Keep your eyes low and stay within your limits" he admonished me.

"Who are you to decide my limits?" I cocked my eyebrow.

"I am your boss, you work under me. Don't forget that I can bring you on streets within a snap of my fingers" his jaw clenched tightly.

"You are my boss for five days in a week and that too from 9 to 5. Today is Saturday, so currently, you are just a random person who failed to show up on time" I avenged.

"You..."

He took an angry step towards me with tightly clenched fists but controlled himself by closing his eyes, taking deep breaths, and muttering profanities under his breath.

He rotated his neck and turned his head back to me. The moment he opened his ablaze eyes, I gulped down, losing my confidence for a second.

Now I understand why they say that when he is in anger, one look from him can make people pee in their pants!

"Listen" he seethed "I don't have time to argue with you. I am not indolent like you, I have a lot of work to do. I was here to talk on a very important topic so let's just do that and head towards our respective ways"

I took a deep breath in indignation and tried to avoid the word he used for me because at present the discussion for which I am here is more important than anything else.

"Ok," I agreed, looking into his eyes, not wanting to show any sign of defeat.

"So the point is, it is not even five minutes of our meeting and we are continuously brawling. So it is very clear that we can't stand each other in the same room even for a minute"

He stated and I hummed in response.

"So go and tell your father that you can't marry me"

My jaw dropped as it was my plan. I was going to ask him to deny the offer. I opened my mouth to reply but closed it as he added on his words.

"And I know that you are marrying me because of my money. Don't worry about that" he extended his hand and one of his bodyguards handed him a cheque.

"Here is the blank cheque. You can fill as much amount as you want"

He stuffed the cheque into my palm forcibly and this took my anger to cloud nine. How dare he!

I lifted the check to my eye level and tore it into many pieces. He was astonished by my action and blinked multiple times to accept it.

"Not everyone is hungry for money Mr. Aldrich Lionel. The last thing I want from you is your money" this time my eyes were spitting fire.

"Oh! If you want to marry me because I am handsome, then let me tell you one thing Miss Sianna Gomez that I will marry someone who is of my standard, who brings money to me. I am not interested in you" he ranted.

"The feeling is mutual, Mr. Aldrich Lionel," I told him bluntly.

"Then go and tell this to your dad" he ordered.

"I can't"

"Why?"

"Because this is my father's last wish. I can not deny it" I looked down as the tears pricked into my eyes.

Whenever I think about my father's health, tears start to well up to my eyes on their own. And I hate it when I can't control my emotions.

"Why don't you deny the offer when you hate me so much?" I asked blinking my eyes to sweep away the tears.

"I can't because if I did so then my father will donate the money to the trust"

"All you want in your life is just money" my lips quirk up.

"Yes, for me life means money"

"One day, despite having a house full of money you will still feel empty-handed. Mark my words"

Suddenly these words came out somewhere from the depth of my heart.

"Oh please! Keep your philosophy with you. People like you can never understand the importance of money because you haven't tasted success, you don't know the actual power of money, you don't have a passion to rule over the world. The world is meant for people like us who attract money like a magnet which make people worship us" he smirked.

"This money has dominated not only your heart but your brain too. Too much desire for anything is destructive and I can see you going on the path of destruction" I said with my narrowed eye fixated on him.

"Then let me destroy myself. You have already wasted my 10 minutes in which I could have finalized a deal for the profit but here I am wasting my time on you getting nothing in return" he smoldered.

I want to slap him tight and teach him the manners of talking. The choice of his words is so wrong. He doesn't know how to respect others. Or maybe he talks like this to everyone.

"I am tolerating you because I am standing on the edge of the precipice and I was here to find out some solution" he nagged.

"I am in the same boat," I said in a calm tone.

This man is filled with anger but I know how to keep my anger in control and if we want to reach any concrete solution then one of us has to act maturely, which I can't expect from him.

"When we can't go against the will of our fathers then I don't think we have any way to come out of this situation," I said defeated.

"Where there is Aldrich, there is always a way" he smirked.

"Hunh?" My eyebrows knitted.

"We are going to play roles" the side of his lip twitched "of ideal husband and wife"

"What?" I frowned and my eyes darted around his face looking for the exact meaning of his words.

"We are going to sign a contract marriage..." My eyes widened as I was not expecting this "...of one year"

"Contract marriage?" The words came out of my mouth on their own.

"We will be marrying the coming Friday, in a court where there will be only four people, you, me, and our fathers. We will sign contract marriage papers there. This way our problems will get solved" he told me.

"How?" I inquired.

"My father will transfer all his business on my name after we complete one year of our marriage and in the meanwhile, your father will die, so you can keep his promise too"

My heart sank in the pit of my stomach at his last words. How can he say this?

"What! Why are you looking at me like that? What else are you expecting from me? I have just stated the truth. Accept the fact that your father is dying and no one can save his life"

I hate him!

"After the end of the contract marriage,  our motives will be accomplished and we can go to our respective ways"

This is sounding sensible. I moistened my lips and swallowed hard.

"Ok, if this is the only way then I am ready," I said in a low tone as my heart was still clenching with his rude words.

"I was not asking you in the first place. I was just conveying my plan"

I huffed and turned my head in another direction, too full of thoughts to say anything specific.

"But..." he emphasized bringing my attention back to him.

"Do not forget that we are going to just pretend to be happily married. Because I don't want my dad to discover about our deal and donate my money to the beggars. So for the world, we will be an ideal couple but behind the closed doors we will be nothing more than strangers "

He spoke the last line so sternly, it feels like he wants me to imbibe these words into my brain in bold letters.

"And DO NOT expect anything from me or this marriage. We are like opposite poles and I am sure I will never fall in love with you, now this is your responsibility not to feel anything for me if you don't want to end up with a heartbreak" he chastised "We can never end together as we are those INCOMPATIBLE SOULS that are..."

He paused to take a breath and I caught what he wants to say, so I repeated the words with him in the same tone.

"NOT MADE FOR EACH OTHER"

We turned on our heels on our respective places and moved into two opposite directions with a determination not to look back.