Chapter 3: Watching

“Did you see how she looked at me? Damn! Does she think that I will acknowledge her as my bride? The hell! In her dreams!”

That phrase has been bothering me for the past few days. I tried to ignore it, but I just couldn’t. Does that mean he also doesn’t want this marriage?

“Ma’am Rose, this is your iced coffee.” I heard someone say something that caught my attention, so I stopped typing and turned my head to look for the person who entered my room.

When I noticed that it was the head housemaid, holding a glass of iced coffee that I requested a while ago, I smiled at her. “Thank you so much. You can just place it beside my laptop.”

I looked at my laptop again and started typing. I was just working on the outline of my novel first so I could recall it if ever I had writer’s block. It would be easy for me to finish my novel, especially if I’m getting lazy sometimes to write. I always force myself to work and imagine sometimes which leads me not to be satisfied with my work and looks like I forced everything just to finish the story. So I had to outline everything, a detailed outline to be exact, so I could make a beautiful novel.

“I apologize for interrupting you, Ma’am, but may I know what you are doing?” she asked, and I failed to notice her presence. I thought, right after placing the iced coffee that I requested, she’d excuse herself, but no. She’s asking some questions which irritates me for a little because I’m in the mood to outline everything but here she is, asking me again.

I close my eyes to calm myself because I can’t taint Rose’s name. I know she said that I can act natural, but I can’t just do that because I know that they have a reputation to maintain and I have no choice but to calm down. “I’m doing something important. This is urgent. Can you leave me for a while?”

She nodded her head, “But I just wanted to inform you, Ma’am Rose, that Sir Mercedes will not come home again because he’ll be staying at his condo.”

My forehead creased at what she said because ever since I came here, I never saw him again and I think he’s trying his best to avoid me. Did he hate my existence?

It’s not good to leave your soon-to-be-wife in his house all by herself. I thought a man should be doing his responsibility to protect a woman, but well, it’s understandable why he doesn’t want to live here and I can’t blame him for that.

I understand his pain, and his anger, but can’t he understand my situation too? Did I like to be in this kind of situation? I mean, Rose’s situation. Geez! I forgot that I’m acting Rose here.

“Just let him. He can stay at his condo whenever he wants. It’s his freedom and I’m not in the right place to lecture him, to forbid him from what he wanted to do. It’s his life decision and I’m just here because of our grandfather’s agreement. Nothing more, nothing less,” I said nonchalantly.

It’s true, right? We’re just in this situation because that is what Rose’s grandfather and his grandfather’s deal are. I can’t just control him. What if he just gets rude to me? If he insults me? I can’t let that happen, so if it’s possible, if I can avoid him, I will, even if we’re just staying at this house.

Besides, it’s easy for me to be his wife if we’re not going to see each other often. I wouldn’t get in trouble easily if I saw him or we bumped into each other, so there’s an advantage on my part because I’m not going to get nervous.

“Yes, Ma’am, but I’m just trying to inform you because you still have the rights since you are getting married to him,” she reasoned.

Geez! Why do I have to deal with this old woman? She’s just making my blood boil. I was in the middle of my imagination, yet she distracted me by informing me that my soon-to-be-husband would not be staying here at his house because he would be staying at his condo. I’m trying to concentrate here. Can’t she see?

“All right. I understand. Please give me space. It’s urgent and I need to finish it right away,” I uttered before typing again, trying to bring back my concentration to my imagination.

...

“Finally! I finished my outline! I’m going to start this novel tomorrow and hopefully, I will execute it,” I whispered and closed the laptop. I stretched my neck because it was aching and I didn’t even realize how many hours had passed because I was so focused and the good thing was, the outcome was good.

My phone beeped, which made my eyebrow arch, so I tried opening it, only to find out that there was a message from my editor. She asked me if I had revised what I passed before, but because of working on my next novel, I forgot to revise it.

Instead of replying, I decided to scroll through my social media accounts so I could update my readers if I was going to publish my next book again. They’re anticipating my next book. Some of my readers demanded the second book of my Action-Romance novel, but I told them to wait for that day because I’m doing something important and it’s connected to that book which they understood right away.

Some of my readers suggested that I write a Fantasy novel, but I told them that I couldn’t for now because it’s not my forte and I’m not good at fantasy books. Although I wanted to try, I didn’t want to take the risk. It’s too impossible for me to do that because it feels like it’s kinda hard to finish the fantasy novel because I have no clue what type of fantasy I should focus on. If it’s a werewolf, vampire, wizard, fairy, mermaid, or whatever creature it is.

I almost jumped in shock when my friend called me so I immediately answered, “Hey! What’s the matter?”

“Annalise! Where the hell are you? I came to your apartment but you’re not there!” she exclaimed, so I turned the volume down, enough for me to hear what she was saying.

“Why did you ask? I’m currently on vacation since I need to clear my mind. My novel got rejected and I can’t focus on it, especially when Fitz broke up with me,” I whispered.

“You — what?! Did he break up with you? How come you didn’t tell that to me?” she asked.

“I forgot. I was kinda preoccupied with everything and I couldn’t do anything, so I needed a break. That’s why you didn’t see me at my apartment because I was fixing myself so I could write again. You know that I love my career and many of my readers are waiting for my next book, but it turns out that it got rejected because it didn’t pass the company’s standard. They just said that my novel isn’t good for the reader’s preference. The hell! Why can’t they just admit that it didn’t pass their standard?” I ranted because I still can’t believe why my novel got rejected like that, even if it’s a freaking masterpiece!

“Girl! That’s too much! Are they saying that your novel isn’t going to get a lot of sales knowing that you have an enormous fan base?” she exclaimed. “Gosh! What do they want then? They wanted to have similar plots to someone’s work because that’s what the readers prefer?”

“Anyway, we’ll set a date so we can talk about your problems. I apologize for being absent. I was just busy with my business, Annalise. But I’ll try my best to meet you, so don’t worry!” she said before ending the call.

I let out a sigh and rested my back on the chair. It’s been almost a month since the last time I saw my friend. She became busy with her business while I was busy with my career and my future since I’ve been waiting for my novel to be finished. However, I had no intention of revising that book because it’s too precious for me and I wanted to stick with the original plot rather than revise it just to fit their standard.

While thinking of a solution for my novel, my phone beeped again and I’m not expecting another call again from someone who I’m close with so interrupt me again this time?

From: Unknown number

I’m watching you.