Eliana Brown~•~“WHAT???” Catherine exclaimed. “What do you mean by getting married? I haven’t kept in touch for one week and you’re getting married?”I stayed silent and allowed her to continue ranting.“I always thought I was going to get married before you, even when you were still with Harry because let’s be real, everyone knew you weren’t going to end up marrying him. You just broke up like a month ago. How are you getting married? Why are you getting married? Who are you getting married to?” She stared at me, waiting for a response.“What question should I answer first?” I joked but Catherine wasn’t in the mood for joking.“Who are you getting married to?”“William Caddel.”There was a long pause where Catherine just stared at me like I had grown two heads. When I didn’t take back my words, her jaw dropped. “No way! William Caddel? The billionaire man you owe twenty-five thousand? That one?”I nodded. “And I don’t owe him anymore.”“What? He forgave your debt because no offense
Eliana Brown~•~Two days later, I was standing inside the private elevator in my apartment complex that led to the penthouse above. To say I was nervous was an understatement. Since there were no stops, I got to the penthouse in less than a minute and the doors of the elevator opened to reveal William Caddel leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He was still in formal attire as though he had just gotten back from work.When he saw me, he pushed off the wall and approached me. “You’re early.” He checked the watch on his wrist. He had told me to come over by seven o’clock. It was six-fifty-eight. “I like that.”I didn’t know how to reply to that so I just went with “thanks.” I stepped out of the elevator just as he reached for the shoe rack and placed a pair of slippers in front of me. Getting the hint, I took off my shoes and put them on, following him inside when he resumed walking. They fitted perfectly, making me wonder if he usually had women over.I came to a pause. Wh
Eliana Brown~•~A week later, William and I had gotten our marriage license and we had also signed the prenuptial agreement. When we visited his grandfather to tell him about our progress, excluding the prenup of course, he suggested we get married immediately.However, William stood his ground and said we would wait for a month. In reality, I knew he wanted the prenup to marinate first so I didn’t say anything about it and just let him convince his grandfather. Besides, I wasn’t rushing to get married to him.It was also going to be my first day at my new job and I was pretty nervous.[William: if you’re ready, come downstairs, I’ll give you a ride.]William sent me a text as I just finished getting ready. I was supposed to have breakfast but since he was ready to leave, I forfeited breakfast and went downstairs.[Me: the parking lot?] I texted him back as I put on my shoes and exited the house. The complex had an underground parking lot. Sadly, I didn’t have a car.[William: no, I’
William Caddel~•~“Did I hear correctly?” Duke exclaimed as soon as Eliana left my car. “You are getting married to her? I’d think it’s just your delusion but she didn’t oppose it.” His voice portrayed his surprise. I hadn’t told him and George yet about the trip to the lake house or the fact that we were getting married.I glared at him. “Watch your mouth. I’m still your boss.”He scoffed, undoing his seatbelt so he could turn to face me properly. “I knew you were obsessed with her but I didn’t think you’d be getting married to her six weeks after being in contact with her. How did you convince her?” He paused. “Wait, did you threaten her?”I rolled my eyes. He was so dramatic yet he acted so mysterious at work. When I first met Duke, he barely spoke, only talking to me whenever it was necessary. Now, he yapped even more than George.“You manipulated her into leaving her job. You manipulated her into staying in your apartment complex. Now you’re manipulating her into getting married
Eliana Brown~•~My first day of work was quite bland.After they showed me around, they took me to my desk and left me there for the rest of the day. I felt like an intern all over again. Everyone was busy and I just had to sit there and stare.Not wanting to look idle, I turned on the computer in front of me and started browsing through several sites, trying to learn more about 3D printing.Before five, the desks started to empty one after the other. It was the end of the day but I didn’t know whether I could leave or not. The head of the sales department was still in his office and I hadn’t been productive throughout the day.I let out a sigh and shut down the computer, looking around when I got a text on my phone. Grateful for the distraction, I quickly checked it.[William: you done?][Me: I guess][William: you guess? I have to work for one more hour. I’m in a meeting. I’ll come pick you up when I’m done. Can you wait?]We just talked about the possibility of being seen earlier
Eliana Brown~•~William paused and slowly arched an eyebrow at me. I immediately felt embarrassed. I sounded like a jealous girlfriend.“Right about now.” He murmured and brought out his phone to book a cab. I turned to the side, looking out the window the car zoomed away from the building. Why did I say that out loud? “And done…”I gritted my teeth. William was doing it on purpose. From their interactions, I could tell my boss admired him. She wanted him but I wasn’t so sure how William felt about her. It didn’t exactly seem like he liked her but he was entertaining her which was somehow worse.I took a deep breath. That wasn’t my problem to worry about, was it? They were old enough to do whatever they liked. They only had a six-year age difference while I was younger than William by sixteen years. Even if I liked him, which I didn’t, I was too young for him.“How was your first day?” William asked, bringing my attention back to him.I cleared my throat and found the courage to face
William Caddel~•~“We are all friends and we share everything with each other, but somehow, Will made the decision to get married without telling any of us.” “If he hadn’t spoken about it in front of me, I never would have known.”“And if you didn’t tell, I’d be in the dark up till now.”The two of them paused and stared at me, waiting for me to say something. When I didn’t, George scoffed. “Of course, he doesn’t even care that he hid it from us.”I let out a breath. I didn’t hide shit from them. Duke was my secretary and George drove me around sometimes. They knew almost everything going on in my life and I never had to relay it to them. I wasn’t used to telling them my business because I knew they would find out about it eventually.“Are we invited at least?”“No.” I finally spoke up.“Why the fuck not?” Duke exclaimed.“I told you it’s not a big deal. Grandpa is the only one invited. We’re only getting married because of him.”“Not a big deal?” George snorted. “The woman you’ve b
Eliana Brown~•~It was real. I was actually getting married to the stranger I met less than three months ago. I was getting married to William Caddel. It was crazy. It wasn’t like we were dating or anything. My impulsive decision led us here, which was why I was so nervous about walking down the aisle.Yes, we were having a regular wedding. There were only five guests; William’s grandfather, Catherine and her boyfriend, and William’s two drivers, who I later found were his friends, George and Duke.George was an artist who drove him sometimes while Duke was his secretary. They were his closest friends and I’d seen them once or twice in the past month. Well, I’d seen Duke a lot since we worked in the same building but I’d interacted with him once or twice.I was straying from the point.I was getting married today. I was in my long white dress that William had paid for and the ceremony was about to start. All I had to do was walk down the aisle. It was going to be a very short event.
William Caddel~•~One week later I was finally back at work.Eliana resumed work way before me since her boss already didn’t like her. She didn’t want to give her reasons to fire her.The news of my grandfather’s death had hit the internet and every call I got these days was to offer condolences to me. I wouldn’t lie. It was quite tiring but I understood that my grandfather had a lot of friends and business partners before he retired and left the company for me.I had been tempted to have a private funeral but I wanted his friends to be able to say goodbye to him one last time, which was why I announced his death and the funeral to the public.The funeral happened two days ago yet people were still calling to sympathize with me.A knock on the door interrupted me from my thoughts and without waiting for permission to enter, Duke came in, slamming the door close behind him.I cocked my head at him. “Is something wrong?”“You have an unwanted visitor.”“Who?”“Eliana’s ex.”I frowned.
Eliana Brown~•~After being recognized as William’s wife publicly, it was a lot easier to navigate expensive places.Back when I was just Eliana Brown, it was very hard to even book a reservation for places like this. If my friends and I wanted to dine in such a nice restaurant, we had to book several months ahead, but this time, I could just waltz in and get what I wanted without any stress. I wouldn’t lie. William’s connections were quite good. It was precisely because the owner knew William which was why the staff prioritized me as soon as I got there. It felt good. Also, I didn’t have to keep William waiting. He finally wanted to eat something. If I took too long, he could change his mind. I couldn’t have that.They boxed my order and the owner handed it to me personally, telling me to send his regards to William. I nodded and assured him we’d visit soon before I left and flagged down a taxi.The ride back home wasn’t long but I was impatient and kept bouncing my leg each second
William Caddel ~•~Fate was playing a cruel trick on me.I lost my parents a long time ago at the same time. At the time, I thought my life was over, but my grandparents took me in. Since I was young when my parents died, I didn’t have many memories of them.I didn’t have any uncles, aunties, or cousins that I could lean on. I only had my grandparents.Twenty years ago, my grandmother got very sick and passed away, so it had just been me and my grandfather for the past twenty years.He got older each day and even more weaker as the days went by. I saw this coming. I knew it would happen soon but I still wasn’t prepared for it.Even after the official announcement of his death, I still couldn’t believe he was gone. As though I was in a trance, I dealt with all the paperwork and did all the necessary things to transfer his corpse to the mortuary.Eliana accompanied me every step of the way, staying close by as though she was scared I would snap.I wouldn’t. I felt numb. It hadn’t prop
Eliana Brown~•~I woke up to the sound of rustling on the bed.My head was aching from all the alcohol I had the previous night, but William’s footsteps were too heavy to ignore.I rubbed my eyes as I sat up on the bed, wondering why William was up. It was four o’clock in the morning. Even if he was an early riser, he didn’t wake up so early these days.I watched as he dashed into the closet and came back out dressed in less than a minute.“What’s going on? Where are you going?”He turned to look at me when he heard my voice. “The hospital.”Every atom of sleep cleared from my eyes immediately. “What? Is something wrong with Grandpa?” As I asked that question, I was already getting out of bed. Thankfully, William hadn’t taken off my clothes last night so I didn’t have to bother about finding clothes.He nodded as he grabbed his car keys from the nightstand as well as his phone.“I’m coming with you.”“You had a stressful night. You don’t have to.”“I will.” I rushed into the bathroom
William Caddel ~•~It didn’t matter that we just had a bunch of food and snacks with my grandfather. Eliana took me to dinner again.Well, we went roller skating first, which was chaotic because she had never done it in her life, but after that, we went to a restaurant.I was forty, but apart from my parents, no one had put in this much effort to celebrate my birthday. They died pretty early, which meant I hadn’t been celebrated like this in more than thirty years.If I wasn’t already married to Eliana, I would propose to her again. I didn’t regret any of my actions because she was the best thing to ever happen to me.I looked at my watch. “It’s already past ten. Do you have something else in mind or is this the end?” I couldn’t help but question because it felt like she wanted to celebrate every second of the day with me.Eliana giggled, already feeling tipsy from the one glass of wine she drank. She was such a lightweight. “One more once we’re done here.”I was intrigued, wondering
William Caddel~•~I was still surprised as Eliana opened the door and exited the car. I followed suit anyway.“Happy birthday, dude. Have a nice day.” Duke waved to me and started the engine again when we were out of the car.I didn't even have the time to answer him before he drove off, leaving me and Eliana alone. She was struggling with the bag and the box of cake, but when I offered, she slapped my hand away. “I can do it.”“I know.” I humored her. “I just want to help.”“You're the birthday boy, you shouldn't have to do anything.”My face scrunched up in displeasure. “Don't call me that again. It's insulting.”“My bad.” Eliana laughed. “I forgot the age you're turning today.”“Let's just go in.” I took the beg from her and headed for the hospital doors. She ran behind me and tried to take the bag from me but I didn't let her.Knowing we were obviously going to my grandfather's room, I went straight there. For years, I had spent my birthday with my grandfather, but I never expec
William Caddel~•~As bright and early as six o'clock in the morning, Eliana knocked on my door and pulled me from sleep.I had woken up but I didn't move from the bed. When she got tired of knocking, she pushed the door open and walked in. “Wake up, Will. It's your birthday today.”I kept my eyes closed. She was announcing it like I didn't know that as well. “Will? William?” Her voice got closer and soon I could feel her presence right next to me. “Wake up, William. You are not usually a deep sleeper.” At this point, her face was right next to mine. “Are you doing it on purpose?”I responded by pulling her onto the bed and wrapping my arms around her. I let out a satisfied sigh, loving the feeling of her body mashed up against mine.“Will!” Her voice was muffled since her face was buried in my chest.“It's my birthday today.” I reminded her of what she said just a few seconds ago. “Let me enjoy this for a moment, please.”“Will.” She mumbled for the last time before she eventually g
Eliana Brown ~•~I was crazy.I had told myself to do a lot of thinking before I approached Will but as soon as he cornered me, I melted into his arms immediately. It was scary. He had so much power over me and he didn't even know it.It wasn't the first time we were kissing but unlike the first time, I felt really embarrassed. I didn't even know how to leave my room, but if I didn't do that soon, I was going to be very late.Taking a deep breath, I finally arranged my bag and opened my room door quietly. When it was open, I looked around the hallway. Thankfully, it was all clear.I held my heels in my hand and tiptoed down the stairs. I didn't dare go into the kitchen no matter how thirsty I was. I kept my gaze on my focus as I slowly approached the corridor.So close to teaching my target, I was beyond shocked when I felt an arm around my waist. I didn't even have enough time to be surprised before I was suddenly lifted up.“What are you doing, Will!?” I yelled in horror as he plac
William Caddel~•~I kissed her immediately and I could feel it when her defenses fell. She melted against me and kissed me back with equal fervor, wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling me closer to herself.I groaned against her lip in satisfaction but for some reason, the sound had her pulling away to stare at me.I didn't give her time to reflect on her actions as I pulled her in for another kiss. This time, she wrapped her legs around my waist, eliminating any space between us. I was pressed up against her and my hands were running up and down her body, trying to touch her everywhere at the same time.“Will.” She whispered against my lips.“Hmm?” I captured her bottom lip in my mouth once again, sucking without restriction. When I pulled away, her cheeks were flushed and her lips were swollen. “Yes?”“I- I missed you.”I felt my chest tighten with excitement. When I first saw Eliana, I had thought it was just a minor obsession that would eventually pass. I thought she was j