Chapter 3

A week had passed since Marie proposed to him. Fully supported by his desire to carry out his plan to control the Hermann Co., he finally accepted the proposal on the condition that their marriage would be held on a small scale, which Marie agreed without thinking twice. Maybe that woman also thought the same thing as him. All marriage matters ranging from wedding gown and suits, places, invited guests—everything was handed over to him because the woman's busyness made it impossible for her to take the time to take care of it, so he had a headache because he never took care of this kind of thing. Usually, he would leave the task to Alan or Aura. His two confidant always managed to do their job quickly without complaining, creating a feeling of admiration for both of them now.

Over and over again, he had asked Marie's decision, and the woman's answer remained the same, making him give up. The woman did not protest with all the choices he made. Therefore, now they were in a small boutique owned by Raine—one of his men's wife named Peter—to choose the right gown and suit for their wedding. He had asked the boutique owner to keep his identity secret from Marie before he came to this place. Luckily, Raine was the type that could keep a secret, so the woman treated him like everyone else once they arrived at the boutique. After going through a long inner struggle to choose the three outfits that Raine suggested, he finally chose a dark blue suit that would suit him perfectly.

He handed the clothes of his choice to one of Raine's employee—Laura, then walked over to Marie, who was still busy watching her iPad screen.

"Your turn, Marie."

"Wait a minute."

He snorted in annoyance at hearing the same sentence from that woman half an hour ago. He quickly pulled the iPad away from Marie's hand, turning her attention to him.

"I said, it's your turn, Rosemarie Clark."

Marie's eyes widened, surprised by his sudden attitude, then her hand looked up, asking for her iPad again with a flat face. "Give me the iPad now."

"No, until you try on the wedding gown. I've asked Laura to choose it for you."

"What's in there is more important than the wedding gown, Keith. Give it back to me. Now.”

"Scusa? I think this matter is also much more important."

"Scusa?" repeated Marie in surprise.

His eyes flickered, realizing that he had accidentally spoken Italian to her. He cleared his throat, changing the subject so that the woman would immediately forget the fact that he spoke Italian earlier. “I-I mean, our business here is just as important as whatever inside your iPad. Remember, our wedding ceremony will start next week."

"Then, you can choose the wedding gown for me."

"I decline it. I've taken care of everything. Do you think I'm not busy?"

"Indeed. You have much more time than me. You only work at the cafe. Me? My company is waiting for my decision. So return the iPad to me right now."

If only the woman knew how troublesome he was because he had to divide his time taking care of the wedding ceremony that the woman underestimated, with his job at the cafe and as the leader of the Aldebrando family, maybe she would retract what she said earlier. He could have cursed Marie and then forgot about his plans to take over Hermann Co. and return to his old life, but he could not do it. He was not the type to do things halfway.

While enduring his hurt feeling for what the woman said, he returned the woman's iPad. Taking a deep breath, and biting his lower lip because his hard work was not appreciated by Marie, he moved away from the woman, grabbed his coat lying on the chair beside the one Marie was sitting on.

"You are right. Sorry for my rude attitude. Comparing to you, I’m not that busy. So, whatever. I've done everything I can, and you can take care of the rest by yourself. Good afternoon."

After saying this, he put on his coat and walked away from the boutique. Ignoring Raine, who just came out of her room and was surprised to see him annoyed. He could hear Marie's voice calling him from the room, and he ignored it. His head ached now, as the result of barely sleeping for a week, and it was easy for Marie to tell that he had much more time to spare than the woman.

His grandfather was right. He should have followed his grandfather's advice to not accept her proposal. He knew that there would be no love in their marriage because they got married for their own business. Marie most likely proposed to him because she wanted someone who could help her avoid the questions of people who question her single status, and he, who wanted to take over her grandfather's company that will help with his business in buying and selling weapons. He should have known the consequences of his own plan.

But why was he now pissed off by Marie's annoying attitude?

He continued to walk along the path full of pedestrians since it was already entering lunch hour while clenching his hands in annoyance. He already decided. Today, he would go home and spend the rest of his day sleeping. Fuck with the wedding. He better cancelled it now before his mind went crazy over having to spend the rest of his time with annoying women like Rosemarie Clark.

Just a second. Why did he feel annoyed with Marie's attitude? Could this be due to the influence of his lack of sleep, which affects his emotions at this time?

Yes, maybe so. It was so unlike himself.

For a moment, he stopped at the side of the road to give his body time, which was now screaming exhausted because he did not have time to rest, under the tree that was planted to decorate the city every two meters to give the impression of shady to Rose city although their existences did not really help because the tree actually looked pathetic. In fact, the trees were planted as the first step in the efforts of the Rose city's government to follow in the footsteps of Cirillo city, which was named a UN pilot city because it succeeded in making their city environmentally friendly. That said, the city where he lived today still had a lot to catch up with if they wanted to compete with Cirillo city, and he was sure that this city would not be accomplished their goal in a short time. His gaze began to blurry because his eyes felt heavy due to the drowsiness that began to hit him, while his right hand touched the smartphone in his pocket. Forcing himself to stay awake, he looked for Alan's name on his list of contacts.

He was just about to call his confidant when a hand stopped him. Half asleep, he turned around to find Marie catching her breath as a result of running after him.

"Who allowed you to go?" Marie asked him after managing to regain her breath, tightening her grip.

"No one. But I also have no reason to stay there, so I'd better go home rather than looking like an idiot over there." 

"Idiot? Who told you that?" Marie let go of her hands, stood up with half her body weight leaning to the right side of her body. "Nobody thinks you are an idiot."

With a deep sigh, plus keeping his eyes hard open so that they did not close in front of the woman, he faced her. "You are right. Only I think of myself as a fool."

"We go back to where we are, now."

"For what? All the work is done. I've already chosen a suit for myself, our wedding location, taking care of the wedding cake, the banquet because you said you wanted to have it at night, invitations for the guests.”

"Why are you pissed off?" 

“Oh, so you mean I can't be pissed off? Okay, I'll add to the note to the list 'Things I Should Not Do While We Are Married'', Marie," he blurted out, unable to hold back his irritation any longer. "I'll be your puppet, doll—whatever—for a year, and after that, our business is over. Yes, of course, it's easy as that. After all, this is just a contract marriage. There will be no commitment."

Marie was silent in response to his anger, watching him closely. The woman's face turned anxious as soon as he finished speaking, puzzling him.

"We'll postpone our plans for today. We're going home now."

"Going home?" he asked with an irritated grunt. "We? Sorry, don't we still live alone?” 

"From today, you'll live in my house."

"I refuse. Didn't you say to yourself that we could only live together once we got married?"

"I changed my mind. Follow me. Now."

The woman's arrogant tone managed to silence him. No, rather he was already feeling tired to continue their argument that did not seem like it would end. Surrendering, he let her take his hand and lead him back to where he had been, shoving him into the car.

Neither of them tried to break the silence created by the two of them. He could not keep his eyes wide open, finally allowed the fatigue that took over his body.

***