“If you want a perfect husband, you have to start by being a perfect bride! Listen to me!” my mother started shouting. I knew that the reason why I was hanging on to this scar didn’t make any sense at all, but I just couldn’t bring myself to erase it. “I have a headache. I’m going to sleep now; I have a test tomorrow…” I mumbled before turning away. “You can’t avoid this forever! Elena!” my mother shouted after me. I ran up the stairs as quickly as I could and headed for the sanctuary of my own bedroom. Closing the door behind me and locking it firmly so that I could hide away from my mother. Her shouting seemed far away now. Running away was the option that I always chose so that I wouldn’t have to fight with her directly. She’ll get busy with other things, and she’ll forget about this scar on my back. After entering the bathroom, I started stripping in front of the mirror. Turning my back towards the mirror and glancing over my shoulder, I could see the thin patch of scar on my
“He is a nice person,” I replied flatly. They were all nice. They were nice to me just like I had to be nice to them. Superficially nice. Just like I never showed my true self to them, I suspected that none of them ever showed their true self to me. I wasn’t sure how my parents expected me to consider marriage to any of these men when we both didn’t know anything about the other. Of course, I kept all these thoughts locked away in my own mind without ever voicing them. Getting married right away after graduating from high school wasn’t what I wanted. Although the other girls in my class viewed it as the highest form of achievement to get engaged right after graduation, I had other plans for myself. I had been thinking about this for a while now and after almost a year of thinking, I have finally found a way to convince my parents to send me to university. Unlike the popular majors that other girls were aiming for such as the arts or design, I wanted to study business. It was still
***Back to the Present***“Listen, I’m tired. Can we discuss this again tomorrow or another day?” I whined. “Sure…” my mother replied. “Everything should turn out just as we expected anyways so there’s not much to discuss…” father said with confidence. “I’m going to my room…” I said softly as I slowly got up from my seat.My bedroom was on the second floor. It was the same room that I had since the first day that I moved into the house all those years ago. I used that room up until the day that I married George and moved out of the house. Of course, during university I moved out for a bit to live closer to the university but that was about it. “Sleep well daughter dear! When you wake up, you’ll be a billionaire!” my mother called cheerfully after me. I rolled my eyes, knowing that they wouldn’t be able to see my reaction with my back turned towards them. Without bothering to turn around, I continued on my way to my bedroom. Their sounds of joyous laughter haunted me all the way u
The text message was simple. He asked me to meet him at a certain hotel suite to entertain a client that he was meeting. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Most of the time if George had a meeting or dinner with a client and the client’s wife or girl came along, it was almost mandatory for me to be there to entertain them both. There wasn’t a lot of time left until the meeting, so I went to work on dressing up immediately. I picked out a glamourous red dress with a slightly sexy vibe that came straight off this season’s fashion runway and paired it with matching red high heel shoes. Red dresses go well with rubies, diamonds, and red lipstick. By the time that I was done, my driver was already waiting for me to take me to the hotel where George was waiting. The hotel was one of the most luxurious in the city and the only one connected to a casino and mall. All owned by the same company, the luxury hotel, casino and mall were the top destination for entertainment for people in the co
“Why do you look so shocked? I’ve been looking forward to our reunion for all this time,” Brandon said before flashing me an enchanting smile. “What are you going on about?” I snapped as I glared at him. “Why don’t we sit down and talk first before…” he said before trailing off as his hands gestured to the large burgundy leather sofa set located in the middle of the living room. Why am I talking to him? I should just turn and leave. I could see the king-sized bed through the ajar door to the bedroom connected to this living room. However, just like all those times before, my body couldn’t move when I felt his stone-grey eyes looking directly at me. Brandon’s hand snaked out and quickly grabbed my wrist before he dragged me behind him, leading me to the sofa. He pushed me softly onto one of the seats before he took his seat opposite from me. The sight of him sitting crossed legged with the fingers of his hands laced together reminded me of the past that we share. “It’s been a whil
“What do you have in mind?” George asked, clearly interested. “One card. Whoever has the highest card wins. Simple, right?” Brandon said with a playful smile. “How much do you want to bet?” George asked. “I have too much money already so it’s a little boring,” Brandon said as he laughed softly. “What do you want?” George asked, sensing that Brandon already had something in mind. “Let’s see. What about a night with your beautiful wife?” Brandon suggested as he rested his chin on his hands and smiled innocently. George didn’t quite understand Brandon’s obsession with Elena, but he was more than ready to use that to his advantage. Since they had gotten in touch to discuss Brandon’s interest to invest in some of his funds, George had realized that Brandon had asked or spoken about his wife quite frequently. He knew that his wife was very attractive, so it probably wasn’t unusual if Brandon had developed a liking to her. Although he had no idea if Brandon had ever met Elena in person
His grey eyes watched me, and his intense gaze only served to turn me on even more. I called his name softly without knowing what else to say as his fingers slowly approached the wetness in between my legs. “Brandon…maybe we should…stop…” I said hesitantly. “When you’re already this wet? Are you sure? You’ve completely soaked your panties” he responded as his fingertips began stroking my wetness through my thin lace panties. “Ahhh…no…don’t touch me…there” I whimpered weakly. His fingertips stroking my love opening through the thin fabric of my panties felt so good. As if he knew how good it made me feel, his fingers applied more pressure as it pressed against me. “You mean, you want me to touch you directly, don’t you?” Brandon said knowingly before he chuckled a little at me. Suddenly, my panties were sliding down my legs and soon it was completely removed from my body. His hands were on my thighs before he spread my legs wide apart. I cried out at the suddenness of my legs bei
If I had thought that the night was over, I couldn’t be so wrong. After he saw that I had rested enough and was able to catch my breath, Brandon was all over me again. “No more…please. I can’t take anymore…” I pleaded breathlessly. Stone-grey eyes just narrowed at me before his handsome face bent down and captured my lips in his. The heat of his lips seeped into mine before I felt the wet tip of his tongue wedging itself in between my lips, forcing it open. I moaned softly when his wet tongue slipped between my lips into the depths of my mouth. I sighed at the pleasure of his tongue mingling with mine. His kiss quickly became more demanding as our tongues grinding against each other passionately. His arms tightened around my body as he carried me princess-styled in his arms. With long and determined strides, I knew that he was taking me to the bedroom of this luxurious presidential hotel suite. My whole body felt weak, devoid of the energy and the will to resist him anymore. “How
“What are you sorry about, Elena? Are you sorry for turning me down?” he asked.His cold and very calm tone made my body tremble, and I could feel myself sweating from my own nervousness. I wanted to answer him but then I realized that I didn’t know what I was sorry for. “Please let me go home. I’ll make it up to you another day,” I said to excuse myself for the day. I turned to reach for the car door and once again I felt his grip on my arm pulling me back. It was rare for Brandon to act persistent like this, and it just made me want to scream at him out of frustration. I whirled around to face him ready to do just that.“What is it that you really want?” I spat. “To have sex with you,” he replied smoothly.“You know well that that isn’t want I’m talking about…” I said through clenched teeth as my frustration quickly turned to anger. “What’s wrong, Elena? If you can do it with him in the hospital, surely, you can do it with me here in the car…” he said as he stared at me with a v
The lights turned green, and we were on our way again. Our brief yet intense conversation came to a pause. We were getting close to the intersection where Brandon would usually let me off so that I could walk back to my place. The night felt darker than normal, and I wasn’t sure if that was because of my mood or not. Not a lot of cars were on the road which thankfully made the traffic lighter than normal. “Should we go to your room? It’s supposed to be really close by, isn’t it?” he suggested seductively. I turned to give him a curious look. His sudden question came out of nowhere and it surprised me even more to find that he seemed quite serious about it. My lips curved into a smile before I automatically began laughing it off as a passing comment that didn’t mean anything. “Thanks for driving me back,” I said as I reached for the door. There was no point in delaying my departure any further. We had arrived at the spot where I was supposed to get off and so I should do exactly th
“Yes, and I like it that way as long as I’m the only one buying,” he replied without missing a heartbeat. I bit hard on my lower lip when I had to admit to myself that I had asked him the wrong question and had invited this misfortune upon myself. His hand around mine felt warm and his grip was firm as he pulled me after him toward his car. Something told me that he wasn’t kidding when he said that. I let out a sigh when I resigned myself to following him silently to his car. Fortunately, there weren’t many cars on the road and traffic was extremely light. That meant that it wouldn’t take too long for him to drop me off so that I could walk back to my place. It wasn’t like I was scared of him, but I did feel uncomfortable being in the enclosed space of the car with him alone. The revealing and brightly colored dress that I had on did not make me feel better and I wondered why I wasn’t smart enough to opt for a pair of pants and matching blazer instead. Everything might have been in
The desire that I sensed in his intense gaze made my heartbeat quicken despite the many times that I told myself silently in my head to remain calm. My lips felt dry, and my tongue instinctively moved to lick my lower lip. “Thanks for the advice, I guess. If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave so you can get back to whatever it was you were working on,” I muttered softly as I tried my best to excuse myself. “One more thing before you go,” he said to halt my departure.This time it was Brandon who got out of his seat. I turned my head around as he walked toward the worktable in the room. To my surprise, he returned with a box. Brandon came to stand right in front of me before shoving the box toward me. “What is this?” I asked with a hint of suspicion. “Open it and you’ll see,” he said without answering my question. “Ok…” I murmured while feeling slightly confused. It was so like Brandon to be mysterious about everything. With what had just happened between us, I didn’t think
Maybe, just maybe, things would have turned out differently if he hadn’t left me. If we never broke up, my life might have been better or more normal. I was very tempted to think that it was his fault that I ended up the way I was. If I had been younger and less experienced, I would have thought exactly that. That it was all because he dumped me that I was forced to marry George to save my family’s face. Back then, I was too heartbroken to think straight or resist my parent’s proposal. The man that I chose out of my own free will had betrayed me and suddenly left. I was too shocked to even face reality and the mistake that I made. It made me lose all self-confidence that I could make any correct decisions in my life and that perhaps, my parents were the ones who knew better. If I had been younger, I would have pinned everything on Brandon as his fault. However, I was no longer that young, fresh, and green. I looked up and I couldn’t hold in my giggle and ended up laughing softly at
There were many things that I needed to apologize for, and I was certain that he knew that already. It was unfortunate, but I wasn’t in a position with a whole lot of bargaining power, and he absolutely knew that as well. It wasn’t going to be easy, but he wanted to hear me say it, then I had no other choice but to say it. “That day at the hospital, I was unprofessional. Although I was supposed to be working for you, I ended up serving another client when we happened to run into each other…” I said before I pressed my lips tightly into a thin line. My throat and my lips felt dry, and I had to run my tongue along my lower lip. Brandon did not say anything, and he did not seem at all impressed at my attempt to do things his way. His eyes stared coldly at me, and I knew that he was waiting for me to go on. “This is all still kind of new for me, and yes, I know that it’s not a great excuse, but I didn’t know how to handle running into two of my clients at the same time. I panicked…” I
Just as I had expected, within the already very private space was another level of privacy when he led me to a private room. Once again, I began to wonder what exactly Brandon had planned. Although he appeared the way that he always did, I couldn’t deny that the atmosphere between us was unusually tense. I wondered if he also felt the way that I did or if I was the only one who felt unusually stiff while we were together. “Sit anywhere you like,” he instructed casually as he gestured to the large set of white sofas in the middle of the room. My eyes scanned the pristinely white and modern interior of the private room that we were in. Apart from the large sofa set that was in the middle of the room, there was a very large shiny white work desk with a matching white leather chair. Brandon must have been working in this room before my arrival because his laptop still had its lid open on the table. “I didn’t know that you liked working in shared working spaces nowadays…” I said to make
Brandon was definitely the heir to the largest chain of casinos on top of hotels for sure. Brandon never played any game unless he was the gamemaster. I have never seen him lose a bet before either in my life. George was seriously a fool to think that he could win against Brandon and at his own casino at that. So now, what game is he going to make me play?The only way to find out was to ask him. I thought that that was ironic in and of itself. If I had to pick, then I would say that I would prefer not to see Brandon. Although what happened was more my fault than his, my desire to hide away from him outweighed my rational sense and reason to want to meet him. Before I would chicken out and change my mind, I took out my phone and sent a simple text to Brandon. ‘Where and when do you want to meet me?’ I counted silently in my mind to around twenty as I stared at my phone screen. Just as I had anticipated, Brandon sent me back a reply within that timeframe. Had he been expecting for m
“About that trip to the orphanage that we were talking about…” he began before looking at me as if to gauge my reaction. “I’d still love to go if you still want me to,” I replied almost immediately. “Really?” Adrian asked with such an excited look on his face. Suddenly, he appeared much younger and a lot more innocent. Just like an excited little boy who had successfully invited his friend on a trip, he beamed a smile at me. With what had happened between us, maybe he thought that I would have changed my mind about going on a trip with him. If he was someone else, that might have turned out to be the case. However, if I was being honest, I really looked forward to going on that trip with him. It wasn’t just because it was a chance to spend more time with Adrian, but the idea of visiting orphanages felt like the right thing to do for me. Getting in contact with my past life might do me some good and help me figure out something about my sense of self and who I was. After being adop