04.

They waved at the cheerful guest who had graced their ceremony as they walked out of the reception venue. They were heading to Jaxon's home now that the party was over and Alva couldn't help feeling another wave of nervousness, what was next, what would happen now?

Her friend was no longer beside her as she had to take care of cleaning up and couldn't follow her to her husband's house, but she would have loved her to be there.

The flash of the paparazzi hit their face as they made their way to their car, and they smiled for the camera. It was all fake smiles though, Alva knew that he didn't care much about her and was probably doing it for his father, so she tried her best to be nonchalant too.

It wasn't working, though. She had been smitten by him, hoping something would work out between them, but seeing the way he had treated her on the altar, she had just lost hope.

She entered the limousine right after her husband and searched one last time for her family. They were in the crowd looking ok as she gave herself away, what a shame.

Immediately the door closed, and Jaxon breathed a sigh of relief, “Thank God it's all done, to the mansion Dave,”

They guessed the driver's name was Dave as the man behind the wheel nodded and she side-glanced at her husband. She was still getting used to calling him husband both in her mouth and outside, and it felt surreal to her that she was married.

“Where is Erin?” He asked getting her attention, the driver replied, “I haven't seen her since the wedding ceremony, sir?”

He put on a pursed look…

Who was Erin? She couldn't help wondering, his sister?

He brought out his phone to check something, not bothering to talk to her, and she felt alone. Why was he treating her like this too?

She stared at his face, wondering if he would ever love her. She had read stories that ended like that when they had also started with contract marriage, maybe he would come to love her also.

Not only that, but she stopped in her train of thought, …or perhaps not.

“What are you looking at?” She startled from her position which she had taken to see him properly, and she faced front, “Uhm…nothing,”

He chuckled, "Smitten?” arching a proud brow at her.

She glanced at him quite surprised, “no!”

He kept on pressing his phone, ignoring her outburst and she thought, possibly this was her chance to know him better. She cleared her throat, "Uhm, so how about an introduction, we literally don't know each and should do if we'll be living together for the next year,”

He snorted, “I don't need to know you, it'll be over soon enough, and you'll be on your way.”

She felt the pain of his words deep in her chest, it was like everyone wanted to be away from her and couldn't wait to do so. Her mother had left her even though it was her fault, her remaining family couldn't care less about her and now the man she got married to was also ignoring her.

She cleared her throat, “I'll still introduce myself anyway, my name is Alva Garcia as you may already know, now turned to Alva Smith, and I'm 22 years old. I love to read, draw, and watch movies, and I'm a big fan of art. I went to Harvard College as you may already know too, and I studied business law in school. I—”

"That's enough… I don't want to know anything about you and I need silence here, okay?”

She felt tears sting her eyes, the tears she'd been trying to keep at bay were finally coming to the surface at his yell, and she whispered, "Okay,”

She recoiled into her corner, trying her best not to cry and when they arrived at the villa, she was the first one to get out. Likewise, she took in the villa which was a duplex building with lights illuminating every corner of it, and she took in the big swimming pool in front of it too.

Furthermore, she was amazed.

The tall palm trees around moved with the wind, and she couldn't help muttering, "Wow!”

“Let's go,” Jaxon's voice snapped her out of her appreciation, and she trudged forward after him in her dress. She hadn't changed her dress since she wore it that morning, and she was tired of it already.

Yes, it was beautiful, but you could only wear a wedding gown for so much.

They entered the living room which was more beautiful than the outside, and she couldn't help being amazed by the whole design, it had been done so beautifully.

“Erin!” Jaxon shouted.

It was that name again, she wondered who it was, if it was his sister, she hoped he had a better attitude than him.

She soon found out who it was though, and it was not his sister. The lady who walked down the stairs looked gorgeous in the dress she wore.

It was a black off-shoulder dress that reached the middle of her thighs, and the black lace around the edge made it more beautiful. The makeup on her face was done boldly, with red lipstick accentuating her lips and black eyeliner shaping out her eyes,

“Erin—” he breathed a sigh of relief as she got to him, “…where have you been? You weren't at the reception?”

She glared, “Why should I be there so that I can watch you stare at her again or how you immediately fall for her looks?”

She immediately remembered it, too, the way he had stared into her eyes. Likewise, she had not expected him to catch her in the first place when she fell, but she was grateful now thinking about it that he did. It would have been mortifying to fall after the stunt, she place.

She just wondered what it was then, the stare.

She looked back at the lady in front of her husband and watched as she folded her arms while pouting her lips. Not only that, but she guessed they were something else, something more than friends or siblings, as she had this sexy aura around her.

He was also comfortable around her too and had pleading eyes, "It is not what you think, nothing happened, and I have only you in my mind,”

Wait a minute, could it be…

Her husband pulled her close to hug her waist, "Then kiss me,” she demanded, and Alva was dumbfounded.

‘Kiss me?’ Did Alva just hear right, or she didn’t know what she was signing up for when she decided to walk down the aisle to marry this arrogant and cold man who cares nothing less about her?

It would have been better if she had run away from the wedding to save her from all these troubles.

She watched in painful awe as he bent down his head to kiss her on the lips, and he didn't let go after a minute but continued to kiss her even though she was there and watching, this was going to be hell.

She choked back the sob that threatened to escape.

"Miss,”

She turned to find a small, petite woman about her height beside her wearing her casual gown that said Maria on the side.

‘Seriously? Miss?’ Then it dawned on her, she wasn’t married for sure.

“Would you like to go to your room now?” The petite lady asked.

She glanced at her husband and the lady who was still kissing and looked back at the other lady, she felt ashamed. Her husband had just gotten married to her and was kissing another, it was a thing of shame.

She managed to nod her head, "Yes please,”

"Follow me,”

She grabbed her train which was still behind her with her gown and followed the lady who climbed the stairs and made turn after turn before arriving at a door, "This is your room ma'am,”

She nodded her head, "Thanks,” and the lady left.

She walked into the room which was as big as the one in her father's house, and she collapsed onto the bed.

She was heartbroken and tired, and she needed someone to comfort her. Reaching for the middle of her dress, she brought out her locket, which she had tucked into her dress at the beginning of the ceremony. It was a necklace around her neck, and it looked like any other necklace, but it wasn't.

The locket contained the picture of her mother when she was still alive and looking at the picture now, she cried.

She missed her mom so much and wished she was here with her. Maybe then, her family wouldn't hate her so much, and she wouldn't have married this man who didn't seem to love her one bit, she wished things were different.

She kept on crying herself into a stupor until she fell asleep.