Stuck in an Arranged Marriage with the Popular Playboy.Chapter 11: here with a man, who hates me."Hello?" Elijah says, snapping his fingers in front of my eyes. I blink and turn my head. I ache been looking into your phone before he called my attention, checking my notifications in case Jordan finally texted you back. He didn’t of course, but the hopes were still there."I just asked you if you also wanted something to drink", he says, distaste lacing his voice. I raise my head, letting my eyes race over his assistants face."Uhm, sure. A grande iced Americano please.""One grande iced Americano and one regular iced peppermint tea, coming right away", she says, hurrying off afterwards.I look back at my phone, checking my messages. Nothing. "What are you looking at anyways?" Elijah asks, shifting in the makeup chair. "Nothing that should interest you", I throw back."Honey", he warns. "What?" I throw back. Since when is he calling me honey? That’s so weird.He signals me t
Stuck in an Arranged Marriage with the Popular Playboy .Chapter 12: just a cheating bitch . “Okay, hold your pose. We will sort through the pictures now”, the photographer tells me and turns to his assistant.They retreat to the computer, discussing the pictures passionately with the help of the interviewer.“Get your hands off of me”, Elijah growls, shaking my hand off.“Geez I am”, I throw back, retreating my hand, “be even more obvious.”Elijah stares down at me with his jaw clenched.“Nobody’s watching. We don’t need to pretend now”, he snarls.“Can’t you at least pretend for as long as we are here? For hells sake, be professional will you?”Elijah’s eyes darken, if looks could kill I would fall over dead right here and now.“Good news!” the photographer interrupts our staring contest, “we have the pictures! You are officially finished.”“Oh thank fuck”, Elijah sighs. He has stormed away so quickly the photographer can’t even thank him for his hard work.He is by the door, put
. Stuck in an Arranged Marriage with the Popular Playboy .Chapter 13: a little bit of kindness never hurt . The energy in my office changed. I can feel it the moment i enter it and nobody turns to look. "Good morning everyone!" I greet them loudly in case they hadn’t heard me come in. "Mornin' boss!" one of my newest recruits greets me, wearing a sly smirk. Well that was one informal greeting. I will ignore it for now, he is new here after all. I will just have to have a talk with him about basic respect later. A few others of the employees greet me on my way past them, wearing a suspicious curiosity in their eyes. What is going on here? Did I forget to change out of my pyjamas today? I look down at my body. No I didn’t. So why is everyone staring at me like that?"Ma'am?" My personal assistant says, standing up from his seat, "good morning. Here are the reports you asked me for. Shall I get you a cup of coffee?" "Oh that would be lovely. Thank you", I say, meaning both the
Stuck in an Arranged Marriage with the Popular Playboy .Chapter 14: he is drunk or he is in love? ."Do you want to talk about it?" he offers."No, not with you”, I choke out.Elijah studies my face, clenching his jaw and furrowing his brows."Look I never called you disgusting for the way you were eating. No let me finish."I had wanted to throw a snarky remark back at him, but close my mouth instead, sending him deathly glares through my tears. "But if I made you feel like I did then I apologize", he studies my face, "is that what you wanted to hear?" "Fuck you and your duplicitous apologies", I grumble. "Fine then think that I am, what do I care?" He turns the television back on. "Are you serious?" "What?" his voice is slightly raised, "I had a stressful day too, alright? It’s just a stupid article, no need to be so dramatic about it. I just want to relax.""You had a stressful day? Try leading a company when ninety percent of your employees stopped respecting you because
Stuck in an Arranged Marriage with the Popular Playboy.Chapter 15: perhaps Arrogant Boys are actually nice .“He is drunk”, Jay says nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders.“Uhm, yeah”, I look to the side, hoping that it is dark enough that Jay can’t see my blushing cheeks, “I’ll be going then.”“Yep, good luck”, Jay says, getting to his feet.“Are you guys going to get home safely?” I ask him, wanting to be nice.He smiles, eyes softening.“Don’t worry about us”, he assures me, “we’ll just party some more and then take a cab, we can hold our liquor so don’t worry.”“Alright, uhm see you around”, I mumble.“Yes, see you Lori.” he gives me one last smile and then he turns to hurry back into the club. "Thank you for picking him up, see you later", one of his actor friends says, following Jay very soon. The others are soon to hurry off as well, after having said their thanks of course and maybe, just maybe, checking me out one last time.I scoff and shake my head in disbelief. Well,
Stuck in an Arranged Marriage with the Popular Playboy.Chapter 16: this is working out? .I let out a disbelieved chuckle, breaking my eyes away from him. He listened to me? I didn’t think that he would actually pay attention to the phone calls I was having close to him. What the hell? Why did this make me feel good for a split second? I look away. I go to work on his second shoe, fighting with the knot. This one is so much tighter than the other one, good god.“So is it for Aqua Cleanse? How important was it?” he asks.“Very, it’s the research reports for the products. I need to go through them before the meeting with the CEO on Monday.”“Isn’t the CEO your father? Why are you so stressed then?” he asks, laughing.“And? You think he is going to be nice just ‘cause I’m his daughter?” I spit.Elijah stops laughing and swallows heavily at the intense glare I send him. He clears his throat and lowers his eyes. “What’s the meeting about?” he asks quietly.I click my tongue and look ba
Stuck in an Arranged Marriage with the Popular Playboy.Chapter 17: brothers can be betrayers too.“Did you do that?” Elijah barks slamming the door to my office closed.I look up from the contracts i was reading through, quirking an eyebrow up at him. This is the first time he visits me at my company. It is definitely weird. Why would he want to visit me?“Good day to you too”, I mumble and look back into the contracts.Elijah storms to my desk and slams his hand on the table.I huff out air in annoyance, closing my eyes for a moment.“For heavens sake, can you stop slamming things?” I grumble, sending him a dark look over the brim of my glasses.“No I won’t, it’s what you get for planning a goddamn vacation”, he spits.At that your attention shifts. I place my pen down, raising my head. Elijah is practically fuming in anger, lips stretched into a thin line.“I’m sorry, what? Did you just say vacation?”“Check your mails”, he says angrily yet calmly and sits down in a chair. He cr
Stuck in an Arranged Marriage with the Popular Playboy.Chapter 18: progress at least? .“Would you mind walking a little faster?” I call over my shoulder.Elijah raises his head, blinking at me in bafflement. He had been gawking at his phone before that, playing Candy Crush. He locks his phone and stores it in the inside pocket of his suit jacket.“Excuse me?” he says, speeding up, “I’m not the one who insisted on getting smoothies before take-off”, he says, having reached my side.The two of us are hurrying through the halls of the airport, each carrying a big smoothie and trying my hardest not to bump into people. I was running terribly late. The driver had called me three times already, informing me that my plane must take off soon or else I would have to wait three hours for a free spot in the schedule of the airport.I know that it was my fault that we were late. Elijah said so already. I insisted on getting smoothies before take-off and the people, who prepared them, moved in
Stuck in An Arranged Marriage with The Billionaire Playboy.Chapter 24: shoulder high shrubs .I study his features for a moment. I have spent enough time with Elijah to notice his habit of making himself smaller after every sentence he speaks. Especially when he thinks that his words could have offended the other person in any kind of way. I blame it on him being secretly very shy, but still can’t shake the feeling that perhaps there was another reason for said habit. I let my eyes linger on his shoulders, looking at whatever little part of his back is visible.“You don’t like it when people touch your back. Do you?”His eyes flit to his lap, his shoulders rise to his ears. He looks smaller instantly. Smaller and just a little scared.“Please don’t tell anyone about last night”, he begs in a whisper.I blink quickly, placing the cup down. Why should I tell anyone about last night?“No of course not. I just want to know for myself so I don’t accidentally do it.”His eyes widen in
Stuck in An Arranged Marriage with The Billionaire Playboy.Chapter 23: awkwardness phase .I peel my eyes open. There is a pillow in my arms. It is Elijah’s pillow. But the owner is nowhere to be seen. I sit up, eyes half-lidded as I inspect the room. It is abandoned.The sheets on Elijah’s side of the bed are cold as I touch them. Not that he spent a lot of time on his side last night. I wrap my arms around my body. It was kind of nice to be held like this. He felt so soft and warm in my arms and smelled so nice. My heart flutters.“No”, I realize, “no, do not fall for him”, I say out loud, giving my own cheek a little slap.You said so yourself, he can’t give me love or affection. Those past few nights were merely because we both wanted to sleep. Yes, this must be it. A mere attempt to find sleep.First me with the thunderstorm. He held me so I would stop wiggling and he could fall asleep again. Yes this must have been it. But then. I touch my forehead. Why did he kiss me?And w
Stuck in An Arranged Marriage with The Billionaire Playboy.Chapter 22: two nights in a two .Another thunder rumbles, but it doesn’t sound that scary anymore. Elijah made sure it wouldn’t by placing his hand over my ear before it could cut through the air.Shit. He is actually calming me down. Kim Elijah is actually managing to give me enough comfort to calm down.I close my eyes and inhale deeply. He smells of ylang-ylang and lavender. It's kind of nice.Elijah’s breathing changes, he must be falling asleep again. With his last bit of strength he flips to his side, pulling me against his chest.My eyes are wide open again. My hands are just sort of resting on his chest, his fingers in my hair and his arm is around me. This is so much more intimate than the other position. I can even feel his chest rise and sink and when I concentrate hard enough, I can even feel his heartbeat against the tip of my nose.Should I hug him back? Or is that going too far? But my arm hurts so much in t
Stuck in An Arranged Marriage with The Billionaire Playboy.Chapter 21: thunder rumbling storm .“Aren’t you your own person? You said so yourself to your brother. So why are you not acting like you are?”“I don’t know what you want me to say.”“I mean it. You allow your employees to talk to you disrespectfully without firing them instantly, you do everything your parents want you to do without complaining. Hell, you don’t even own a car because your parents don’t want you to and you work in a shitty office because your father told you to”, he laughs dryly, “you’re a strong, hardworking woman and yet you allow people to use you as their doormat.”I scoff in disbelief. What has gotten into him? Where is this sudden urge to life coach me coming from? I didn’t ask for this and yet I am left staring into his eyes and listening to what he has to say.“You think people will respect you if you show them over and over again that they can treat you as they wish without suffering consequences
Stuck in an Arranged Marriage with the Popular Playboy.Chapter 20: there was a moment.I am already in bed, reading a book, when Elijah comes back. He was out for dinner after his swim and I spent my alone time boiling myself in the hot tub and doing a face mask. It was meant to calm me down, but it really didn’t. I was still feeling terribly guilty. Now I am reading, I very much enjoy reading before bed and tonight I attempt to use it as a distraction in order not to think about everything that had happened.“I’m back”, Elijah announces himself.I hum in acknowledgement, not looking up. I did so because my book is terribly thrilling and you don’t want to miss out on anything. He studies me for a moment, grinding his teeth.“Are you not going to talk to me?”“Mhm?” I sneak a glance his way, “why should I?”He blinks, eyebrows raised.“Okay then”, he gives up, “Imma take a shower”, he murmurs coldly.“Do that”, I say dryly, flipping the pages.Was that too rude? Will this start a
Stuck in an Arranged Marriage with the Popular Playboy.Chapter 19: do cheaters burn in hell .What Jordan is doing right now?I slip my hand into the pocket of my slacks and touch my phone. I could call him.“Hello?” his voice is croaky when he finally picks up.“Jordan, hey! How are you?” I greet him, instantly feeling better now that I can hear his voice.“Sleeping”, he grumbles.“Oh my god”, I gasp, “holy shit, I totally forgot. I am so sorry, Jordan.”He laughs tiredly.“It’s fine, my alarm would have woken me in ten anyways”, he yawns loudly, “how are you? How was the flight?”“It was alright. I worked for the entirety of it.”“Did the jerk annoy you?”“Who?”“Your husband.”“Ew, true he exists too”, I fake gag. Jordan chuckles, voice raspy from sleep, “that bad?”“It's been manageable for now. Let's see if I will have changed my mind tomorrow.”“So you had fun?”“Jordan, don’t tell me you’re jealous.” “Yeah? As if I ever made a secret out of it”, he says and laughs breathle
Stuck in an Arranged Marriage with the Popular Playboy.Chapter 18: progress at least? .“Would you mind walking a little faster?” I call over my shoulder.Elijah raises his head, blinking at me in bafflement. He had been gawking at his phone before that, playing Candy Crush. He locks his phone and stores it in the inside pocket of his suit jacket.“Excuse me?” he says, speeding up, “I’m not the one who insisted on getting smoothies before take-off”, he says, having reached my side.The two of us are hurrying through the halls of the airport, each carrying a big smoothie and trying my hardest not to bump into people. I was running terribly late. The driver had called me three times already, informing me that my plane must take off soon or else I would have to wait three hours for a free spot in the schedule of the airport.I know that it was my fault that we were late. Elijah said so already. I insisted on getting smoothies before take-off and the people, who prepared them, moved in
Stuck in an Arranged Marriage with the Popular Playboy.Chapter 17: brothers can be betrayers too.“Did you do that?” Elijah barks slamming the door to my office closed.I look up from the contracts i was reading through, quirking an eyebrow up at him. This is the first time he visits me at my company. It is definitely weird. Why would he want to visit me?“Good day to you too”, I mumble and look back into the contracts.Elijah storms to my desk and slams his hand on the table.I huff out air in annoyance, closing my eyes for a moment.“For heavens sake, can you stop slamming things?” I grumble, sending him a dark look over the brim of my glasses.“No I won’t, it’s what you get for planning a goddamn vacation”, he spits.At that your attention shifts. I place my pen down, raising my head. Elijah is practically fuming in anger, lips stretched into a thin line.“I’m sorry, what? Did you just say vacation?”“Check your mails”, he says angrily yet calmly and sits down in a chair. He cr
Stuck in an Arranged Marriage with the Popular Playboy.Chapter 16: this is working out? .I let out a disbelieved chuckle, breaking my eyes away from him. He listened to me? I didn’t think that he would actually pay attention to the phone calls I was having close to him. What the hell? Why did this make me feel good for a split second? I look away. I go to work on his second shoe, fighting with the knot. This one is so much tighter than the other one, good god.“So is it for Aqua Cleanse? How important was it?” he asks.“Very, it’s the research reports for the products. I need to go through them before the meeting with the CEO on Monday.”“Isn’t the CEO your father? Why are you so stressed then?” he asks, laughing.“And? You think he is going to be nice just ‘cause I’m his daughter?” I spit.Elijah stops laughing and swallows heavily at the intense glare I send him. He clears his throat and lowers his eyes. “What’s the meeting about?” he asks quietly.I click my tongue and look ba