~

Laura made her way into a private room where she was to meet Chris after ensuring that the rumors had been put under control, and was met with an attendant assigned to the room.

She took a seat and ordered some water while waiting for Chris, who joined her in a few minutes and took a seat opposite her.

“Hi,” she greeted, noticing the unfriendly glare in his eyes, and asked the waiter to serve them some wine.

“I thought you would come together with your fiancé or might want to settle things with him before you meet with me, but I guess not,” Chris said sarcastically.

“I am sure you are not here to discuss that with me,” she retorted.

“You are wrong. I am actually curious to know. I heard you rushed out to take care of him at the hospital. Is he feeling better now? What if he falls sick again while you are away?” he said, and Laura was speechless at his words.

She couldn’t believe he was such a petty person who would taunt her in such a way.

“He is my ex-boyfriend, and I am sorry about my behavior yesterday. But at least I am not hiding my past unlike someone,” she apologized but also pointed out his unsettled relationship.

“What are you trying to say?” Chris questioned.

“Just some rumors about your marriage engagement with another woman, nothing more,” she said with sarcasm.

“There is nothing between Mira and me,” he refuted her claims strongly.

“Oh, so her name is Mira,” Laura continued to tease him.

“Are you trying to get on my nerves?” Chris asked, seeing what she was playing at, and she stopped.

“I really don’t care about your love affair, and I am sure you are not concerned with mine. But I won’t allow something like this to ever happen again, at least for the time we will be together,” she said to assure him, but Chris felt annoyed.

She was clearly drawing a line between them.

“Also, to assure you that something like this will never happen again, I will sign a contract to implement the terms. Whoever breaks the terms will bear the consequences,” Laura said and placed a file in front of him.

Chris took the file and brought out the document inside. He read a few lines at the beginning and dropped it.

“How can I be sure this is not your tactic to dupe me? After all, you betrayed your boyfriend of seven years just for this deal,” he said, meaning to get at her but not expecting his words to come out really harsh.

“I can change it however you like,” Laura said after a few seconds of silence and made to pick the document, but he stopped her.

“We will end this marriage in six months,” he told her, and she immediately agreed.

“Any other thing you want to add?”

“You will live together with me during this period. Living separately will lead to more rumors,” he said again, and Laura took a minute to think about it.

“Of course we should do that. I will take full responsibility for you,” she said, misunderstanding his meaning.

“Don’t misunderstand, I just want you to live with me so you can help me get rid of others,” he said.

“Miss Mira, right? I heard she is a very kind person. Who would have thought you don’t like kind girls,” Laura teased.

“You don’t think you are kind?” he asked her.

“Do you like me?” she asked jokingly, and that startled Chris.

“Of course I don’t. I don’t like either of you,” he answered sharply.

“Don’t worry, I will do a good job at helping you,” she said, a little pissed at his response, and drank a little from her glass.

“Also, you don’t have to meet with my mom. Ignore her calls if she calls you,” he added, also taking up his glass.

Laura smiled silently and continued to drink. She didn’t want to spill it out to him that his mother had already called her, and she got to know who Mira was from her.

“If you have no objection, I will have my secretary send you a copy of the contract so you can sign it,” Chris told her and stood up to leave, but Laura rushed to block his way, stopping him from leaving.

“The thing is, if we are going to live together, then we should be friends at least and know one or two things about each other,” she said, smiling childishly, a behavior Chris always found cute in the past.

“Friends in your dreams,” he replied and left.

Laura scoffed at his back and sat down to drink some water.

Consoling herself and concluding that getting a divorce from her first marriage isn’t a big deal, Laura continued to drink and decided to try her best to live well with Chris for the next six months.

~

Avan stumbled back home after getting a call from his mother, drunk and wasted.

He still didn't believe that Laura went ahead with her threats and got married to Chris of all men.

He couldn't help but think that she was actually the one who'd been cheating on him behind his back all along.

If only he hadn't accidentally locked himself in after getting drunk the other night, then he wouldn't be in this whole mess.

He removed his clothes after getting to his room and wanted to put on his nightwear when his father banged in.

He charged forward towards him and hit him hard on the head.

“You bastard!” he yelled angrily while Avan staggered in pain.

“Just to handle a little girl is so hard for you to do; after all these years of being together with her you are still unable to get her married to you and watch another man do so in a few days,” he yelled at him in anger.

“Dad... Dad,” he stammered, not knowing what to say.

“You allowed someone out of nowhere to reap all I’ve been laboring for you, fool. How can I trust you with the company if you…”

“They're two different things, Dad!” Avan yelled, not allowing him to finish.

“What?”

“You promised to hand over the company to me once I sealed the deal months back; are you trying to go back on your word now?”

“If you wanted the company then you should have done better at your assignment,” his father retorted.

“She is not a thing; she is human. If you have a problem with her father then resolve it yourself — why do you have to…” His words were cut short by a slap from his father.

“Don’t dream of getting anything from me, you idiot,” he said and walked out.

Avan screamed in anger and threw the vase beside him against the wall.

“I am going to kill them both,” he said with anger in his eyes.

He left the room and headed to the place he got for Clara to ease his anger; he felt like exploding and needed some comfort.

He arrived there in about thirty minutes and entered the PIN to the door.