Clara walked out from the bedroom talking to someone on the phone and was shocked to see Avan in the sitting room.

She quickly ended the call and put on a smile as she walked over to him.

“You didn’t tell me you were coming over; I thought you wanted to meet with Laura,” she said cheerily and threw her phone on one of the chairs.

Avan closed up the gap between them and held her closely, then kissed her hurriedly; he kissed her hungrily and with anger, trying to swallow her whole and at the same time trying to remove her clothes.

Clara was taken aback by the kiss and felt uncomfortable; she tried to push him away but he wouldn't stop and continued to nibble on her neck.

Clara yelped out in pain and that brought him to his senses, so he stopped and pulled away from her.

“Have you gone crazy?” she shouted at him and held her neck.

“I'm sorry, sweetheart, it's a...” he tried to explain and calm down at the same time as he started to tear up.

Clara noticed the tears in his eyes and her face softened instantly; she drew him closer and used her hand to wipe them from his eyes, then started to nibble on his lips slowly.

Avan responded and reciprocated the kiss; they continued to have a wet kiss and soon their clothes were off and they made their way to the room.

Both of them fell on the bed and continued exploring each other's bodies; he took the bedsheet and used it to cover their bodies…

Avan rested his head on Clara's bosom. Clara tried to look around the room for her phone and remembered she had left it in the living room earlier.

She sighed as she remembered what she had done to stop him from getting married to Laura.

She could bear the fact that they were both engaged while he was dating her, but to watch them get married wasn't something she could stand.

She had invested a lot in their relationship to just let go.

What if after getting married to her he decided to break things off with her? She had to find a solution and that was to make sure Laura got married to someone other than him.

Seeing Avan's wallow in sadness pricked her heart and she felt guilty; she had just wanted to prevent him from getting married to Laura and didn't expect that he might end up losing the company too.

Now that the deed was already done, she was never going to tell him about it and would just focus on getting him to marry her; she was going to prove to him that she was a better wife than Laura could be and help him to own the company too.

“I am going to kill two birds with one stone,” Clara thought and continued to caress his face so he could fall asleep.

~

Laura moves her things into Chris's house a few days later and a combined party is held in celebration of their union and business cooperation between the two companies.

Though Chris’s family members were not very pleased that he got married secretly to a woman who treated him lowly in the past, they still attended the party.

His mother especially did not want to believe it and Mira also wasn’t having any fun.

Mira is the daughter of his uncle’s friend and although Chris never agreed to anything, she is all over him and had even at a point in time asked his uncle directly what he thinks if they both get married.

He was not able to go to the venue with Laura because of his mother and went together with her and Mira instead. They soon arrived at the venue for the party.

She sighted Chris as he entered and quickly walked over to them with a smile on her face. She greeted his mother cheerfully and nodded her head in greeting at the other girl and immediately understood that she was the infamous Mira. She linked her hands together with Chris.

Chris was slightly surprised but didn't pull away and instead excused himself to go meet the guests with her.

The both of them were stopped by Diane and two others after they greeted a few important guests, and Chris recognized them as their old schoolmates.

"The groom is finally here, I thought he would run away like he did some time ago," Diana, her cousin, said, not so pleased to have Laura get married before her, especially to a man they all looked down upon but who had turned out to become a wealthy man.

Even her current boyfriend can't beat his status.

“Why did you keep Avan for all these years if you were going to get married to someone else?” Kayla also chipped in, still acting like a lackey to Diane after many years. She was one of the few who liked Chris back then and she was very disappointed to see him end up with Laura despite how she treated him.

"I had no idea that you were all so concerned about my relationship and wellbeing; I will take your words as a blessing for our relationship,” Laura retaliated.

"Don't be so happy quickly, who knows if he will act like someone and bring in another woman soon?" Kayla accused, trying to compare him to her father.

Chris got offended listening to her words and stepped forward to shut her up, but Laura held him back, knowing she was just after her.

"Is your stepmother treating you well? I heard she just gave birth to a son after so many years," Laura said, facing Kayla who folded her hands into a fist in anger.

"How dare you, Laura?"

"You should focus on getting a good husband instead of drooling over mine, Miss Kayla,” Laura told her and flaunted her ring in her eyes.

"Next time you see me, remember to add Mrs.," she said again and pulled Chris along with her away from them.