Tears welled up in my eyes, spilling down my cheeks as the gravity of the moment hit me. I had never expected this, not here, not now. I could barely hear the murmurs and whispers from the guests surrounding us, all my focus on the man kneeling before me."Mina," he continued, his voice firm and strong, sure of himself "I'm asking you, Mina, would you make me the happiest man in the world and agree to marry me?“"Yes, yes, yes, and again, yes! I'm ready, I will marry you!" I said, my voice trembling with excitement as I let Emerson, Eric’s father, slip the engagement ring onto my finger. The diamond was huge, far bigger and heavier than the one Eric had given me. My fingers felt the weight, and I couldn’t help but compare them. Emerson's ring was much more beautiful, a true piece of art and a clear statement. Unlike Eric’s, which now seemed like a hollow promise.He stood and pulled me into a hug. I hesitated, not sure if it was appropriate to kiss him right there with everyone watc
I could see the disgust on my mother's face and it killed me that my own family could do this to me. Emerson stood his ground. He didn’t flinch, didn’t back down. Instead, he calmly faced her, never losing his composure.“Kristen, listen to me. I respect you, I would hate for us to be at odds. After all, you're going to be my mother-in-law," Emerson said, his voice respectful, although I could hear the mocking in his tone.My mother’s face turned into pure disgust and anger the moment those words left Emerson's mouth. She recoiled as if the very idea repulsed her. “Never, never! You will never be my son-in-law!”“Well,” Emerson responded calmly, “I just asked your daughter to be my wife, and she said yes.”“Emerson,” she spat his name as though it burned her tongue, “what kind of joke is this? You’re older than me! How can you even think of becoming my son-in-law? Don’t the two of you have any shame? Don’t you feel any embarrassment? The humiliation!….” She pointed an accusatory fing
We went around the wedding reception greeting people, and saying hello to the guests at the party. Half of them were the company’s employees anyway. And since Emerson was the boss, the CEO and owner of the company, people couldn't help themselves as they came toward us, congratulating us on our engagement. We both knew that everybody invited here was either in the business, wanted to get into the business, or was some sort of associate. And since I was with the top dog, they might or might not agree with our engagement, but they couldn't help but congratulate us with a smile. They congratulated us with plastered smiles on their faces, saying how happy they were for us, but I could see in many faces they weren't exactly overjoyed over our engagement.Some were probably more jealous than happy, wondering how I managed to land a man who had been single for more than fifteen years of his life ever since his wife left. And then all of a sudden, he was getting engaged to me, after divorci
When I got into my hotel room, I thought that the first thing I would do was get a bubble bath and then go to sleep, but it wasn't. Yes, I did have a long, soothing bubble bath, but after I went to bed, I couldn't fall asleep. I tried falling asleep in every angle and every corner, but it didn't work. I was too high on adrenaline, and I decided to throw myself a celebration.I called room service and ordered myself two bottles of wine, a two-layered chocolate ice cream cake, and some much-needed food. I had lost contact with most of my friends when I got married to Eric because he always pressed me about my nosy friends and told me we should be focusing on building our family and the company. He wanted to prove to his father that he was capable so his father would retire early and let him run the company and I wholeheartedly supported him. What a fool I had been.The truth was I didn’t really mind distancing myself from those friends because Rita was there, and she was always the fri
Emerson looked away, rubbing the back of his neck and wiping his face as if to clear whatever confusion was clouding his mind. "I’m sorry," he said, his voice softer now. "I know how much you loved Eric, and it wouldn’t be the first time people got divorced only to realize they were still in love with each other. So yeah... I considered it." He admitted sheepishly.I was stunned, staring at him in disbelief. My mouth opened, but no words came out. A part of me wanted to scream, to yell that he had no idea what he was talking about. How in the hell would he think that?But instead, all that came out was a soft, "No.""No, please don’t tell me that you thought that," I said, "Please don’t tell me that you thought I would get back with that cheater, with that 'asshole.' Seriously, Emerson, give me some credit."I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The sheer audacity of it made me want to scream. "You think I would have married him if I knew what kind of man he would turn out to be? D
After I took a shower, I started folding my clothes and putting them into my bag. I didn’t know that it took too long until Emerson came in. He knocked twice on the door and then got inside.“What are you doing?” he asked me.“As you can see, I’m folding my clothes. You did come to pick me up, right? So, I’m folding my clothes so after we’re done, we can leave.”“Yes, but I was actually expecting you for breakfast. It’s getting cold. Come on, let’s go.”“I’m just about to get finished” “I’ll help you later,” he said, as he took my hand in his.The gesture made me feel so loved and cared for. I smiled at him as I let him lead me to the table. I sat down, and then we had a quiet breakfast. When we were done, I asked him, “Okay, so are you going to help me with my clothes?”“Yes, I think as we do that, we can continue our conversation.”That’s when I remembered what he had said yesterday. “Yes, that talk.” I sighed. “Alright.”As we walked towards the bed, he casually asked, "So, ho
We sat in silence for a moment, until Emerson finally spoke, his voice more serious than before. "What I really wanted to talk to you about is this marriage," he began. "I know that we’re not in love with each other….you’re not in love with me….and this marriage isn’t real. You’re only doing this for revenge."I nodded, unsure of where he was going with this."But I also want you to know," he continued, "when you make that vow and you’re married to me, you represent me, the Blackwind name, my company, everything that comes with it. I can’t have you making me stand there in public with my dick in my hands."His words made me smile, but I quickly stopped when I saw the look on his face. "Yeah, I understand. And I would never think of tarnishing your name. Or hurting you for that matter""I know," he said with a slight nod. "But it’s good to talk about these things. To have them out in the open, so there’s no confusion or misinterpretation later.""Okay, I get it," I replied, appreciat
We finally arrived at Blackwind Mansion, the sprawling estate where Emmerson, the patriarch of the Blackwinds, lived. The place was huge. The size of the estate was overwhelming, with its vast gardens, two pools, one inside, one outside, a mini-golf course, and a staff quarter tucked away behind the mansion. Despite all this huge space, it always puzzled me how Emmerson managed to live here by himself. Technically, he wasn’t entirely alone, he had his staff, but still, it seemed a bit crazy to have all this place and be here on your own.As we sat in the car, neither of us made a move to get out. I glanced at Emerson, as we sat there watching the house in front of us. "I always wondered why Eric didn’t want to stay here," I said with a thought that had crossed my mind a few times. "I mean, he moved out when we got married. Why didn’t he just stay here?"Emerson raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean? He told me you were the one who refused to live here because you didn’t want to live