12

One week later:

"How was youR day?" he asked as they ate their dinner silently. The maid had prepared smoked beef and steamed vegetable tonight requested by him. He always thought back to how after having that meal, they'd get together and share some wine as they spoke about their future together.

"Fine," Ari replied shortly and straight to the point as she took a sip of her purified water. She deliberately moved the glass of wine aside so as not to be tempted and take a sip. Their bubble was destroyed the moment he thought it was funny to-

"Mine was great too. Business is going well?" he asked, trying to keep the conversation going. She just hummed and gulped down her water, sucking her teeth and taking a napkin to wipe her mouth. His eyes went to the movement of her hands and he noticed that she wasn't wearing her engagement ring.

"Where's your ring?"

She looked at her hand, admiring her nails and stretched her fingers. "How do my nails look, babe?" He just grunted in annoyance and cut through his food. She gave him a disgusted look before screeching the legs of the chair against the carpet to make as much noise as she could and stood up to walk away.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Clearly, I'm done here. Don't tell me you can't see that as well," she said bitterly, hinting at something.

"It's rude manners to leave the table when someone else is still eating."

"My mother didn't teach me manners," she snapped and walked out of the dining room. Tired of her disrespectful attitude towards him, he got up and marched behind her, pulling her by the arm to turn and face him.

"Don't you dare talk to me like that ever again!" he yelled, spitting in her face unintentionally.

"Or else what? Are you going to force me into doing something again?" she looked at him, her eyes warning him to try something with her again. He slowly loosened his grip on her arm and let his hands fall to his side, only for his anger to rise up higher.

"I'd appreciate it if you wore your ring," he said calmly.

"Why should I wear something that doesn't signify anything?"

"Fine, give it back to me-"

"I probably lost it by now," she shrugged carelessly.

"That damn thing cost me one point seven million dollars to design it. It had real diamonds for god sake!"

"Well, that's not my problem," she scoffed.

"Don't test me Ari," he said through gritted teeth, raising his hands but she raised her eyebrow and he reluctantly dropped his arms by his sides.

"I'll see you in the morning," she said, not giving him a chance to reply before going up stairs to her own bedroom and locking the door behind her. She knew that he would not dare step foot in her room but she still locked it because she wanted to be completely alone from the world outside her peaceful doors.

She undressed and took a quick shower, stepping out with no towel and going to her bed to wear her sleeping clothes. While changing, she heard the notification for a new email but forgot about it that instant.

She was about to get comfortable under her covers when her phone started ringing on her work table by the side of the window and she cursed out loud, wondering if it was worth getting out and answering her phone.

She reluctantly pulled the covers off and switched on her laptop. The phone started ringing again when she read her new email and slides the screen without looking at the caller ID. "What is it? I mean who."

"It's uh, Kaden," the voice spoke.

"Do you need something?"

"Yeah, kinda," he said making her raise her eyebrow. What could he possibly want? "Did you receive my email?"

"Like five hours ago," she spoke sarcastically. She was in no mood for chitchat after dinner with that pig.

"Oh," he said, seemingly disappointed. She took a seat on the edge of her bed, pulling her legs up.

"I actually have no reason why I called then," he said lowly, making her roll her eyes as she found herself smiling. She no longer felt tired or sleepy.

"Way ahead of you," she snickered.

"Are you busy? Were you maybe about to sleep or some-"

"No, not really. Why?"

"I wanted to see if you had time to talk?"

"Sure, about?" She smiled, enjoying putting him in an awkward situation.

"Uh-huh," he chuckled lightly. "How was your day?"

"Pretty routine-y," she rubbed her arm as she thought of something to say. "Was yours any better?"

"No, not really. Just woke up and the cycle repeated itself," he laughed and she smiled. He was quite a chilled person over the phone, she could tell. "And then it got boring by, like, after hours."

"I'm afraid I can't entertain you."

"I'm afraid you're wrong."

"What do you mean? You don't even know me."

"I know enough to know that you're loads of fun to be around."

"I'm finding that hard to believe."

"You wanna meet up and allow me to prove it to you?" He asked quickly, making her brain replay the question. She had just had an argument with her soon to be arranged husband and she didn't think he'd like seeing her going out at this hour.