Chapter Fifteen – I hate her.What was going on? Arya stabbed at the fish in her plate, she glanced at Damien who was on his laptop, sitting at the end of the room, then looked back at her fish. She really wanted to talk about the marriage contract. It wasn’t very specific but she assumed they’d create more terms when he returned from China but he hadn’t spoken of it. He made her sleep in the same bed, but far from her. Made her eat with him and kept her clothes in the same wardrobe with his. Like they were a freaking real couple! So far, he had been nice and soft with her and she couldn’t deny he looked hot while scolding his sister for being mean to her. However, they were just acting, only it felt like he wasn’t. “Not a fan of fish?” Damien asked, seeing she wasn’t eating. She took a bite and swallowed. “No, I’m good.” She replied, exhaling afterwards. She wasn’t a fan of fish actually, chicken was better. He tried to remember something Anna had said about her sister and fish
Chapter Sixteen – Fate.The coast was clear. Arya sighed, before walking out of the room to drop the tray of chicken bones she had with her. She had never eaten so heartily since she arrived there. Damien giving her chicken and rice then leaving the room for her to eat freely, had to be the nicest thing he had done for her. She sighed again, thinking of the satisfaction she got. She knocked when she got into the kitchen. There was no response but she barged in to see cooks and chefs, stunned. They all wore white uniforms with small caps. She bowed at them. “I wanted to clean this up quickly.” She showed them the tray but one of them took it from her and bowed back. Where they going to clean it? She tried to take it back but a chef stopped her. “Madam, please, let her do it. We serve you here. You can order for some other snack too.” Arya looked at her blankly. Serve? Snack? Order? Right, she was living with billionaires. She nodded with a smile. “Alright then, take care.” She bow
Chapter Seventeen – Seth called.A smirk was on Selena’s face as she retouched her hair and added powder to her face. Her room door opened and Debby walked in with slumped shoulders. “I watched your confrontation with my brother’s wife.” Selena said, a smirk on her face. “She won’t be your brother’s wife for long.” Debby mumbled, searching for an item in her bag. Selena chuckled, looking at herself in her mirror. She nodded, satisfied with the result. “My brother’s wife is quite a badass. I’m beginning to like her.” A bag dropped to the ground and she jolted, turning to it. “She isn’t your brother’s wife! And you shouldn’t like her!” Debby shouted. Selena wasn’t fazed by her screams, if anything, it pissed her. She ignored her and looked back at the mirror, checking for a hair out of place, She saw none. “Don’t get crazy with that puppy love of yours. My brother is married. I tested his wife and she seems like she can keep up with my energy so congratulations to us.” Selena fac
Chapter Eighteen – Paparazzi.It was a total mistake on her side. Arya forgot about Seth’s warning to her to wear warm clothes. She left with Damien on a sleeveless pink gown. She had only been thinking of looking cute to appease Seth that she forgot he wanted her warm. She was basically distraught all though the ride to the summit. “You look beautiful, Arya, don’t feel bad.” She turned to Damien as he spoke, he gave her a reassuring smile and she smiled back. “Thank you.” She sat straight. Well, if her billionaire husband thought she looked nice then Seth would surely not be able to resist her. She looked behind her, as she was at the front seat, there was no one at the back seat. “Um… where’s Debby? Isn’t she coming?” “She went earlier, speakers come in earlier to get their script. I stayed to wait for you.” He explained. Arya nodded. She was actually glad the girl wasn’t with them, someone who hated her for no reason, it would be a lot of bad energy on this day she needed al
Chapter Nineteen – You’re cool.Damien finally got to the speakers' table. He exhaled as he sat down, taking his phone out to call Debby as he didn’t see her seated. On second thoughts, he decided to ignore her. It wasn’t her first time in that part of the US so she knew her way around. Also they hadn’t settled after she degraded his wife. He looked up, trying to find his wife amongst the crowd. Lots of girls seemed to be wearing that color, pink and red. Perhaps the girls of the university had a dress code. His eyes dimmed when he finally saw Arya but besides her was a young man, smiling at her. Her cheeks were red and she was trying to avoid his gaze. They were speaking but he couldn’t make out the words well, he stared trying to lip read what they were saying. A frown rested on his face as he stared at the man. “Tell me, Arya.” He lip-read from what the man was saying. What was the man expecting Arya to tell him? Just as Damien wanted to stand up and walk to them, someone sat
Chapter Twenty – Confrontation.Debby noticed the man staring at her again, she frowned. This was one of the reasons she avoided coming to America. There was always some annoyed freak hoping to kidnap her. The last time it happened, it was because she was Chinese and the man wanted China to release his brother in jail in exchange for her freedom. The audacity! But she did like the idea of being sort after, only she preferred if it was by Damien. The summit was coming to an end and Damien was the one speaking. The students were cheering and screaming after he announced a donation and offered free tour around his company for the young engineers. Debby smiled as he received the praise but her smile faded when she realized that the ‘proud wife moment' belonged to someone else not her. It was twenty minutes before the summit would end, she left her seat through the back and aimed to meet with Arya. She couldn’t just keep calm about what she saw, she wanted that cheating wife to know
Chapter Twenty-One – Missing The crowd started cheering after the summit was officially announced closed. Winx and Arya stood up to clap. Arya noticed Damien walk out through a door. “Let me introduce you to him, come.” she pulled Winx by the hand. Outside the building, they found Damien searching about for someone. Arya told Winx to wait and rushed to him. “Good speech in there.” She started a smile on her face. But he didn’t return the smile, that was a first. “Did you see Debby? She isn’t inside.” He told her before rushing towards his car. Arya frowned, was he bothering about Debby when she was complimenting his speech? Winx ran to her, with opened hands. “Why is your husband looking troubled? Honestly, he looked quite hot running.” “He’s looking for that Debby girl.” Arya rolled her eyes. The grin of Winx’s face fell. “Why?” “I don’t know. He should look for her, I don’t care.” Arya replied. She attempted walking back into the building but Winx held her arm. “Wait, ask
Chapter Twenty-Two – Tell him.The drive back to the Wade’s mansion felt longer than when they were going to the summit, maybe it was cause Arya felt more awkward being in the same room with Damien. Basically, that day, she was one sentence from confessing to her crush. If she had, then sleeping on a bed with another man would be wrong. And Damien’s earlier words, prioritizing her over Debby, still made her giddy. But her mind kept reassuring herself that he was polite because of his relationship with her sister. She exhaled, taking out all her challenging thoughts into the air. The air around her was chilly so she wrapped her hands around herself. “Seth was right, I should have worn warm clothes. I mean, after everything, I didn’t even confess to him.” She sighed. She glanced at Damien who didn’t seem fazed by the cold. He had a cloak and inner shirt on. She dropped her hands. “Guys covered up and look attractive. But a girl gotta show skin to look attractive? Ugh.” She grunted
Chapter Ninety-Eight – Interest. It was the second wedding Arya was attending but the first she was feeling really excited about. It was Anna’s wedding. The reception had taken place immediately and ran out to look for Connor. He was with her phone and she needed to take lot’s of pictures of Anna. She has to show them to Winx who couldn’t attend the wedding due to her injury. Arya wished Jim could have taken it back so Winx would attend as a bridesmaid but the groom was in so much haste to marry his bride. One of the reasons being that he had to return to his base as soon as possible. Arya finally caught sight of Connor with some girls. Should she walk over to him or just let him be? She wasn’t sure. He once told her how he grew more popular at school after his issue with the reporters went viral. All she hoped was he didn’t repeat it again, it might take a different turn. Thankfully, Connor turned around to look at something and noticed her watching him. “My phone
Chapter Ninety-Seven – Paired up. Lucy had heard the news on the radio. The part she didn’t hear, however, was how her mother was the murderer of Juliet Marbles, her aunt. How in the world? Lucy was still fighting with the fact her mother conspired to kill Arya, she was hoping her mother was still her mother while holding on the fact she wasn’t the mastermind. But to think she had actually masterminded and perfectly executed the murder of her own sister years ago? It blew Lucy’s mind away. Everyone at the work place was talking about Debby and Winx issue while Lucy racked her brain over her mother’s. It was revealed that one of Debby’s accomplice had been caught, while the other escaped. No name was mentioned. Lucy knew she was safe even still because her mom didn’t share her surname. She divorced her father and went to Mr. Stark so decided to go back to her maiden name. “And to think that Mr. Stark was also killed.” Lucy shivered. Her mother had really gone down a dang
Chapter Ninety-Six – Parting gift. Winx accepted to be a witness to keep Deborah Chan in rehab. Many protesters wanted her to be kept in jail despite her being a minor. She was losing fans by the minute. The media had caught whiff of what happened because a popular celebrity had been in the boutique when it happened, while shooting a video for her fans. She also witnessed that Debby just walked into the store then went after the girls. The identity of the other girl wasn’t necessary to the media, they only wanted to know why the genius attempted murder. Also, it seemed they forgot Debby was once acquainted to the Wades or they’d begin asking barrages of questions. Meanwhile, while detained, Debby desisted from answering unnecessary questions. All she said was she didn’t regret going after the girl because she wanted her dead. The girl being Arya but to the masses, Winx. Debby’s reason was unknown and since there was no prior relationship between Winx and Debby, the med
Chapter Ninety-Five – Sorry end. Chen broke into boisterous laughter, then he pointed the knife at Aunt Jenna and slowly menacingly towards her. “You want to meet your man?" He scoffed."Didn’t we both have a deal? You should protect the woman I love and I’d not harm your loved ones, right?” Jenna’s eyes shook. What ever did he mean by that? Had something happened to his loved one? Had Debby been caught? And even if she wanted to, how did he expect her to protect Debby when she was Debby’s hostage? And between she and Debby, she needed protection against Debby than she needed to protect the girl. Aunt Jenna looked at the blood on his knife, and her stomach turned. Who did that belong to? “I-I don’t understand you.” Did something happen? “Well, Since it has come to this, I’d flee the country, never to return here.” Chen seethed. “But you, the police will come for you next.” Next? Jenna realized what had happened. Debby must have been captured. “Did you go after her? Those
Chapter Ninety-Four – Last Card Arya arrived at the Wades’ Mansion. Kane dropped her then drove out again, without speaking. She knew his head would be filled already. She slowly walked into the living room but was immediately embraced by someone. She patted Connor’s back when she realized it was him. A part of her wanted to see Damien first. Kane had called home to inform them what happened. When Connor let go, Arya saw that Damien wasn’t home yet. “Are you alright? And was it really Debby?” Selena asked quite agitated. It's the first time she showed concern for her. Arya smiled, nodding. “Yeah, it was her. Winx protected me and was stabbed at her right collar bone. The nurse said she’d be okay though. It was very sudden.” Selena gasped, rubbing her face. “Winx. My poor girl. I can’t still believe Debby became this selfish, became this monster!” Mrs. Wade just had a sour expression, looking down at her hands. “Arya, go and rest. This incident must be frightening.”
Chapter Ninety-Three – Fear. The dark circles under her eyes had increased, along with the heaviness of her eyes and her heart. Debby didn’t know if she was still alive because she felt so dead. She could hardly walk around in public for fear that the police could be unto her. And she really needed to stroll. “Chen?” she called but no one answered. Since he spoke to her, asking her intent on killing Arya, he had been distant after she didn’t give a satisfactory response. Had he left her alone too? She just wanted that bitch dead. Why was it too much to do? Why didn’t anyone get her? She slammed her hand at the desk and screamed. “Arya, I’d kill you if it’s the last thing I do!! Bitch!!” The fact that she was somewhere, excited and with Damien made her furious. Damien rarely showed excitement with her, how was he able to open up with Arya within a short time? Debby grabbed Chen’s hoodie and forced it on her body. She needed to move out and plan her next attack. She had been to
Chapter Ninety-Two – I’d stay.But why did it feel like a miracle she stayed in the marriage? Arya wondered if he didn’t expect her to stay. “Did you plan to divorce me?” she asked jokingly. “Ah no. I actually thought you’d find someone else. You know, the contract permits you to.” Connor smirked. Arya shrugged. “I thought so too but…” she paused. Wait! He knew about the contract marriage?? She grabbed his shoulder and shook him. “You knew about it? How?” Damien would definitely not have told him. “I married you, you know. I had gotten curious and read the contract during the court marriage.” He revealed. Arya clenched her teeth. Then all these while, he knew their marriage wasn’t real? Did he tell anyone? Even when she had asked him from relationship advice. She felt so stupid. “Well, I was bent on making it work out, though. So I didn’t tell anyone about it, if that’s what you’re worried about.” he added with a pat on her back. Her expression changed to a sober one. He wante
Chapter Ninety-One – Wedding She had been having second thoughts about lots of things lately. It was partly Debby’s fault, but the other, hers. Arya washed her face with water then left the restroom. Winx was waiting for her, she stared at her best friend and smiled. “Something’s been on your mind.” She had been noticing her stalling or standing at a place, lost in thoughts. “No shit, of course.” Arya agreed with a smirk. “I don’t want to talk about it, though. I’d like to sort this out myself.” She always had a way of sorting out her emotions, the ones she needed and the ones she didn’t. Crying and feeling overly excited weren’t things she grew up doing due to her strict father so she didn’t have time to ponder about strange feelings. “Wouldn’t it be weird if I liked Damien now after trying to stay away from him for months?” She muttered to herself. But could she do anything about what she felt? She was matured enough to like someone. Only that her feelings for Damien were qu
Chapter Ninety – Satisfaction.Jenna tried the knob of the door but it didn’t still open. It’s been hours since Chen left to check on Debby. She sighed, plopping down on the bed besides her. The only thing in the room. She had ended up being kidnapped and forced to be an accomplice. Her current situation was far worse than she could contain. She was beginning to harbor thoughts of turning herself to the police, after all, Stark, who she was hiding her dark side from was already involved. Chen had drugged him for days, keeping him unconscious. Jenna knew it wasn’t healthy but she had no say as Stark had seen Chen when he came to her house to drop instructions and he began asking questions. The both of them were basically hostages at the moment. She hadn’t been able to contact Lucy while Debby had been sending strange letters to her. “I don’t want Lucy to get involved, really.” She groaned. “If only there was a way to reach the outside world now.” She regretted everything. Her h