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138: Time for Some Revenge (IV)
"Enough about me? What brought you here?" Ayla narrowed her eyes at him in suspicion. "We clearly haven't met before, and I highly doubt that you had the time to come down here and entertai a complete stranger." She tilted her head to the side as she waited for his answer.
"Why would you say that?" James replied to her before taking a sip of his drink.
"Call it a hunch." The corner of her lips turned up into a smile. "That and the fact that no one has come up to us and asked you to leave." It did take her a couple of seconds but she was able to put two and two together. There was no way that Asher would leave her unsupervised given her situation. If a man was able to come and sit next to her, it would only mean one thing: Asher knew about it. Or better, he knew the man.
James stared down at her and only smiled. "You are one smart cookie."
"Blame it on the alcohol." Ayl
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The Heartless Bride 139: Time for Some Revenge ( V)
"Ayla?" James spoke up as he tried to get her attention only to be ignored by the woman. "You alright?" He knew that it was really dumb of him to be asking this when looked like she was on the edge of breaking down any second now. Sitting up straight, he followed her line of sight. As soon as his eyes landed on Claude's brooding figure, everything began to click in place for him. Of course, the sudden shift in her mood had to do something with the man behind her worries. "Ayla?" He brought his attention back to the sullen lady and made another attempt to get her to smile a little. James reached out to pay her on the shoulder, hoping that this time he would be successful in bringing her out of her thoughts. A small appreciative smile crept up on his lips when her eyes flicked back to his face. "Hey? Where did you go there for a minute?" He knew the answer already, but wanted her to speak aloud about it.
The Heartless Bride 140: The Reunion (I)
A couple of songs later, Ayla was too tired to even stand up straight. Her feet were ready to buck under her weight any second now. But the simple joy she was feeling in the moment was something she didn't want to give up on. Not yet at least."I thought you didn't dance." James leaned forward and spoke next to her ear. His hands were waving through the air as he followed into her steps, allowing her to take the lead."I can surprise myself at times." Ayla mumbled out a reply, her words mixing with the music. "You aren't half bad yourself." She added as her lips broke into a smile so wide that her cheeks began to ache."Asher would disagree with you on…" James trailed off as he felt his phone buzzing inside his jeans' pocket. He hurriedly took it out and frowned seeing the caller ID. "I have to take this one. Don't run away." With one warning, he jogged away from the dance floor, leaving Ayla to hersel
The Heartless Bride 141: The Reunion (II)
Days… He didn't get to see her face for days and now she was standing right before him with nothing but a couple of feet's distance between them. And Claude wanted nothing more than to run to her and wrap his arms around her. He was dying to feel her body pressed against his own. "You alright?" It took him a couple of seconds to regain his composure. "He didn't hurt, did he?" He took two steps in her direction before forcing himself to stay put. Claude knew that he wouldn't be able to hold himself back if he was to get any closer. The distance between them was most likely the only thing that was allowing him to have some control over his actions. "Ayla? I am asking you something." He spoke up again when she continued staring back at him instead of providing him with an answer. "Y-yeah. I am fine." Her voice trembled a little but she didn't allow her nervousness to peek throu
The Heartless Bride 142: The Reunion (III)
"What's wrong with me wanting to talk to my wife?"Ayla stared back at him, utterly baffled. The corner of her lip turned upwards as she tore her gaze away, shaking her head as she muttered more to herself."So, now I am your wife." She scoffed as she turned her face around to stare at him. "Are you sure that you aren't a little too late to be calling me your wife? I mean, you sure had your priorities set right a couple of days ago when you showed up unannounced with a woman on your arm while your wife was under the same roof.""She wasn't on my arm. Not literally." Claude shook his head as his lips twitched ever so slightly. "She was just sitting next to me when you made an appearance.""She came with you. Unannounced." Ayla retorted."We only shared a ride together, not a seat." Claude shrugged his shoulders as he brought his one foot to rest against the wall.
The Heartless Bride 143: The Reunion (IV)
"Things have to stay the same between us. Selene will be leaving soon, but that's not going to change anything else. We have to stay away from one another. I will have some place arranged for you to stay in the meantime…" "What are you even trying to say, Claude?" No matter how much thought she put into it, her mind failed to comprehend what he was trying to say. Claude stared back at her as he opened and closed his mouth a couple of times. He didn't know an easier way to put it out, but knew that he had to tell her nothing but the truth. She deserved to know it. Pulling himself away from her, he took a step back. "We have to keep our distance from one another. Our marriage will only be on paper. That's what I am trying to say here." His gaze dropped down to the floor as he avoided looking into her eyes. Claude knew that his resolve would disappear into thin air if he were to witness the hurt. "Cl
The Heartless Bride 144: The Reunion (V)
"We can continue with being husband and wife…" "Excuse me?" Ayla scoffed. " So, you want me to continue living at the hotel? Won't that be too much for your name in the market?" "Ayla!" Claude narrowed his eyes down at her, not liking the satire at all. "I would never want you to stay at a hotel. Like never. I only let you do it for the last couple of days because you needed the space." He rolled his eyes, trying to prove a point. "I would arrange for you to stay back at my penthouse. You'll have a housekeeper at your disposal and a couple of staff members too. The good thing is that it's located right in the middle of the city, so you won't be having any issues going back and forth between the hospital and the penthouse. It's closer to the company as well, so people won't be raising questions about the shifting." He continued on with explaining the arrangement. "Won't they be questioning your absence f
The Heartless Bride 145: The New Arrangement (I)
[A week later.]"Good morning, Miss." Ayla was greeted by the housekeeper as soon as she stepped into the open kitchen."Morning, Mrs. Grace." Ayla passed along a wide smile to the old lady who was working her way around the kitchen counter to prepare her some breakfast. "How are you feeling this morning? Is it better?" She perched herself on one of the high kitchen stools and continued with their conversation. "You really don't have to work today, or better, for a couple of days until you have recovered fully. I can easily fix myself some breakfast. You should go home and rest." Ayla tried to persuade the old lady even though she knew that it was a near impossible feat.Mrs. Grace, her new housekeeper, had not been feeling well for two days now but no matter how much Ayla tried to stop her coming to work for her, she wouldn't listen to any of it."Oh, please, Miss." Mrs. Grace shru
The Heartless Bride 146: The New Arrangement (II)
"Morning…"The slight dragging of the stool was enough to break her focus combined with the husky greeting. Ayla turned in her seat and stole a glance at the man who was looking no better than a mess."Morning." She greeted him as she raised her mug closer to her lips to blow off the steam. "What happened to you?" She continued to watch him from the corner of her eyes as the old lady busied herself with serving Claude his breakfast."Work." He kept his replies short."I didn't hear you coming back last night." Even after they had come to a mutual understanding, Ayla found it hard to not care for him. Not after figuring out her newfound feelings for the man who refused to engage into a proper conversation."It was pretty late. You were asleep already." Claude muttered out a reply, not bothering to carry on the conversation once his food was ser
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The Heartless Bride Epilogue
The Heartless Bride 191: Desires (II)*
The Heartless Bride 190: Desires (I)*
The Heartless Bride 189: The Most Precious Thing to Me*
The Heartless Bride 188: The Culprit (II)
The Heartless Bride 187: The Culprit (I)*
The Heartless Bride 186: Suspicions (II)
The Heartless Bride 185: Suspicions (I)
The Heartless Bride 184: I was Missing you (II)
