Ethan hissed, taking a couple of steps back away from Samantha. He knew she wasn’t easy to deal with, hell, he’d been with her for years, of course, he’d known. But he must have forgotten about it for a moment, he was so caught up with convincing her to marry that he’d put his guards down.

“You’re as wild as ever, huh?” he muttered, rubbing his shin.

Samantha tilted her head, unbothered. “I should have worn shoes with nails as heels. Oh, wait! How did even our ruthless CEO know about my wild side, hm? Did we meet somewhere in the past? I don’t think we did,” she scoffed, raising an eyebrow.

Ethan sneered, “Oh, yes. We did.”

She raised her eyebrow higher. “Where?”

“In hell, sweetie,” he whispered, leaning in.

Samantha backed away, clicking her tongue. “Enough,” she muttered, letting out a deep breath. She knew Ethan wouldn’t play nice if they continued. Just like how he used the endearment he used to call her when they were dating.

“Whatever you say, I won’t agree to this marriage. There’s no way I’m marrying you, Ethan Clark,” she firmly declared.

He stared at her for a moment, saying nothing. After a while, Ethan opened his mouth to speak. “You can't run away from this, Samantha. Neither of us can,” he said, sounding like he gave up playing which one of them had a bigger pride in.

“We can work on this together. A marriage doesn't mean we have to get along,” Ethan added.

“Yes, that's right. But I still don't want to marry you,” Samantha replied. “I don't want to be your plaything again,” she whispered, averting her gaze.

Ethan opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. Instead, he took a step forward and reached out for her face. “You can kick me all you want,” he muttered, evading her attack as she brushed his hand off her. “But that’s not going to change the fact that you’re going to be my wife. Your father has no intention of going back on this deal.”

Samantha was about to retort when Ethan pressed his finger to her lips.

“You don’t have to love me or act like a good wife. You can still live the life you wanted, Samantha. What’s the harm about giving this marriage a try?” he continued. “Since we don’t have to be responsible for each other’s feelings despite being married, isn’t this even better than a love marriage?”

But I loved you! Samantha screamed inside her head. Once again, she felt helpless against him. Even after many years, she still couldn’t win against him… His presence was enough to make her falter. If I marry you after listening to all of that, isn't it just going to break me even more?

“Y-You’re right,” Samantha forced a smile. “This is better than marrying with love. No emotional obligation, right? Fine. If we can’t avoid this anyway, let’s do it and cooperate.”

Ethan wanted her to agree, but even after she said yes to his suggestion, he didn’t feel satisfied at all.

“Great,” he said, nodding. “It’s settled then. We’re getting married. Just marriage, no feelings involved.”

Why? I want to end this discussion soon, but why do I feel like something’s not right? Ethan thought, letting out a harsh breath. Is it because she was convinced when I said that this marriage is loveless? Was she just worried about marrying me thinking I still have feelings for her?

“Then, shall we tell them? I bet they’re going to be the happiest if they know we’re doing this,” Samantha said, playing with the ring on her finger. “Let’s get this over with.”

Ethan fixed his tie and nodded. “That’s more likely the case. Well, we better hurry and put an end to this discussion,” he agreed, stepping aside to give her way.

Samantha walked past him with a cold expression on her face. It was as if agreeing to marry him made her colder. She walked with unique elegant grace and confidence, making the simple black dress she was wearing look like the most beautiful dress a woman could wear.

Ethan huffed, cursing under his breath as he looked away from Samantha’s figure as he followed her behind. He felt his blood rushing down, giving him the worst feeling at the moment in such a situation.

He had been trying to ignore how alluring his ex was when their eyes met again for the first time after a long time, but he could no longer pretend he didn’t find her disgustingly sexy he’d want to devour. Ethan was still a man after all, and Samantha was too attractive to resist, especially when she still had that look with that same fire in her eyes that once lit up his world and burned him to ash all the same.

Shit. Ethan clenched his jaw, trying to rein it in. The least thing he wanted was to grab and push her against the wall, so he’d have the chance to taste those sweet and soft lips of hers she once was crazy about.

“Hey, what are you doing? Hurry up,” Samantha called as she halted to look back at him. She had an annoyed expression on her face before rolling her eyes and heading straight to the living room where the elders were waiting.

“Oh, damn it.” Ethan waited for her to disappear from his line of sight before facing the wall and punching it, releasing the frustration clawing at his chest. The dull thud echoed in the hallway, but it did little to dull the ache inside him.

He flexed his stinging and reddened fingers and pressed his forehead against the cool surface of the wall. “Get it together,” he muttered under his breath, staying like that for a couple of minutes before following Samantha.

“Ethan!” Manuel Clark beamed at his grandson as soon as Ethan walked in. “I heard everything from Samantha. I’m glad to know the two of you are getting along well,” he said with such a wide smile that Ethan couldn’t refute.

“Yeah,” he nodded, trying his hardest not to twitch his lips. “We’re getting along just fine…” Ethan added, turning his gaze to her… the woman he once dreamed of marrying, and the same woman he’d end up marrying, anyway.