Chapter 3 Learning To Act

• That was not how I imagined my wedding…
• Staring at the ceiling, I was starting my new life as someone I was not, as a fake wife.
• The next morning, my door knocked and some maids informed me that he was waiting for me downstairs, worsening my state.
• Freshening up, I attempted to dress well, forcing myself to accept this marriage and be sincere- what other option did I have?
• I came down only to find the dominant man, looking scary as always. Seeing his strong muscles visible through his white buttoned shirt distressed me.
• His black hair was behind messily, complimenting his face, plus the rolled sleeves that made the tattoo of the burning rose visible.
• I greeted quietly, “Good Morning,”
• “Hmm,”
• Taking a sip of his morning coffee, one leg resting over the other, he hummed, motioning me with his index finger to sit before him.
• Gripping my dress, I was anxious to eat in front of him and paused, waiting for him to speak and his piercing resonance came.
• “Liliana,”
• My heart skipped a beat when he called my name firmly.
• “Yes?”
• “I want you to learn how Emerald used to behave in order to act before people. No need to do it before me,”
• “Then, when?”
• “At parties, before my parents, just any time there will be an outsider with us, do you know how to act?”
• His brows knitted handsomely, increasing my heartbeats at his strong presence, intimidating me by doing nothing even.
• “Y-Yeah,”
• “Good. Take this file, it had everything you need to know written in it,”
• He spoke without looking up from his phone, keeping a stoic posture as he threw a file on the table.
• “Okay,”
• “And you have to bear all the taunts of the family.”
• “Taunts about what?”
• “About not having an heir. Yet.”
• I blinked in confusion but my heart thumped madly when he emphasized on ‘yet’.
• “Why are you putting me up as your late wife before the world in the first place?” I asked what had been bothering me since the second I signed the marriage papers.
• What he wanted to do or attain from this false bond was beyond my comprehension.
• “You don’t need to know. That's not your concern,”
• Putting his phone back, he rose, worrying me if I hadn’t spoken too much.
• My shoulder tense but he only walked past me like I didn’t matter.
• “I am not planning to attach myself to this bond in the first place, I placed my conditions already, you get the money including your sister’s treatment and I get ‘you’,”
• Speaking coldly, he almost climbed the stairs to leave me all alone to ponder what terrible choices led here.
• “Yes…”
• “Learn some acting so I can take you to my place and we put this sham to use for the next six months,”
• His voice came from afar and not lifting my crushing gaze, I nodded again, vanquished, left with no other choice anyways.
• “Okay,”
• He paused, I could feel it when his footsteps instead of becoming faint, they became louder.
• He was approaching me again, ‘Did I displease him? Did I do anything wrong?’ I thought fretfully.
• “You have to do everything I say?” And he stopped right near my ears, “You hear? Everything,”
• “I-I understand…”
• My body became stiff when I sensed him stopped behind me, so tall and muscular that the shadow itself alarmed me with a straightened back.
• “And try not to question me,”
• His voice went lower, temptingly with a gist of amusement like my obedience was too much to his content.
• “Yes, Sir…”
• Releasing a seductive but suppressed chuckle, he leaned forward to stare intensely into my soul.
• “My, my, aren’t you an obedient one?”
• Flinching at the closeness, I held the hem of my dress while curling my toes in order to control my vexation as he indulged in the sight.
• “Is- Is there something?”
• “Good. That is exactly what I want from you. Absolute obedience,”
• Whispering enticingly, he pulled away with a snicker before leaving me in trepidation.
• The slightest perception of ‘What he intended to do with me and for what reasoning’, it sent a deadly shiver down my spine.
• This wasn’t the marriage I imagined to have.
• Not the bond I dreamt of experiencing.
• Nothing was like my expectations.
• Yet bearing with the weight thrown over my shoulders for the sake of money and for the sake of my dignity, I decided to see where it would lead.
• Later, in the evening, I avoided him today as well, frightened to share a moment with him, going through the file again, endeavoring to act.
• “I am okay- not like this, Liliana, softer- I am okay, yeah, that’s better,”
• Keeping her tone in mind, I used it, hearing her voice recording to follow it but my phone ran and it was an unknown number.
• “Hello?”
• “Liliana,”
• But, it was him… again.
• “I have told you to not call me again,”
• He growled furiously, “Do you think my feelings are a joke, Liliana?”
• And I had seriously no explanation, I had shattered his heart by marrying another man- there was no twisting of words.
• I was someone else’s wife, how could I possibly think about a secret lover?
• Besides, who told him to be mysterious? If he had entered my life before…
• “For the past year, you talked to me, you flirted with me and now..”
• This was harsh to cope with me too, as if chains I created for myself strangled me.
• “You left me like I never existed. How could you? Doesn’t it hurt?” He hissed.
• My chest clenched, forcing myself to close all contacts. I was not that low or undignified to become a cheater like my mother.
• Although it made me his culprit without a doubt…
• “Because I am married and what do I know about you in the first place to be agonized huh?”
• So I decided to eradicate whatever used to exist between us by my heartlessness.
• ‘I am sorry, I am so sorry,’
• “Do you even know my husband? You are nothing before him,”
• Faking a chuckle, I sought ways to separate us because if I won’t, his heart would sting eternally.
• “I don’t care. Just answer my one question, honestly, please,”
• I swallowed hard in apprehension, checking the door, “What?”
• “Did you even love me?”
• Yes, I did.
• An arrow pierced my chest, blowing the spark that once used to exist between us and I firmly believed it was for the better.
• “I don't think we should talk anymore,”
• “Answer me sincerely, Liliana,”
• His voice broke, pleading with me to provide him with at least fake hopes that I couldn’t.
• With a tear rolling down, I sniffled to subdue my agony and continued unintentionally in a crying resonance.
• “I don’t know you, you don’t know me. It’s better if this remains like this. I am married-”
• “Don’t you want to know my name?”
• Yes, yes, yes!
• My heart skipped a beat, bodily functioning ceasing for a heartbeat with the deepest desire of my heart.
• I had always wanted to call his name.
• “Huh?”
• “My name is… Gray Clifford,”
• “It doesn’t matter anymore.”
• With a miserable tear rolling down, I shut my eyes and before it could induce wrong intoxications in me, I cut the call with my shaky hands, throwing the phone away.
• ‘You are too late, Gray,’