Sentenced to Marriage by MadlainQ
Chapter 71

Fight I woke up sitting on the floor by Aren's bed, my hand stretched to hold his while he slept, my upper body twisted in a weird, uncomfortable position. It took me a while to stand as my stiffened muscles refused to work, punishing me for my awkward way of falling asleep. It was four in the morning when I swayed back to my bedroom to lie down in bed and try to relax. I couldn't. The image of Aren, desperate and mortified in his sleep, haunted me each time I closed my eyes. What could cause him such pain? Was it something from his past? "Lanfen..." I muttered, staring blankly at the ceiling. It was probably a Chinese name. I wondered if it was his family member, but I had never heard him mention that name before. And what was it that he was calling? "Buyao zou"? I wondered what it could mean. Should I ask him in the morning? Would he answer? For the first time, I wasn't sure that he'd tell me the truth...

I was scared. I couldn't explain it, but something fragile had broken between us. I hoped that I was exaggerating, but my instincts were telling me otherwise. He was the only one who could clear the air between us, and he needed to do it willingly without me pushing, but was he going to? I lay with my eyes open for the next two hours. By the time the sound of the alarm clock spread loudly across the room, I just numbly pressed the switch off and got up from the bed, resembling a robot or a robotic zombie. I could have seemed indifferent on the outside, but on the inside, I was trembling with anxiety. I took a quick shower, corrected my face color with some BB cream, and went downstairs to the kitchen.

To my surprise, Aren was already up, greeting me with a smile and acting as if nothing had happened. That wiped all the anxiety from my system in a flash. I was no longer restless-I was seriously pissed. "How are you feeling?" I asked, hoping that he would mention having a nightmare himself. He smiled briefly before turning his attention to making an omelet. "Um... good, I think" I knew that I told myself that I wasn't going to push him, but his carefree mood was making me itch a bit too much. "Do you want to talk about what happened last night?" I asked, pretending to be calm.

He turned around, looking at me as if he didn't know what I was talking about. Then he looked up, trying to remember, and then said, "You came to my bedroom... You said something about a nightmare." I gave him a suspicious glance. "You sounded like you were in pain, traumatized over something... or someone called Lanfen."

I registered a minor change in his expression as I mentioned the name. A heartbeat later, his poker face remained in place, but for a split second, a form of restlessness intruded into his confident expression. "I don't remember having a nightmare," he said lightly. "I only remember you waking me up and telling me that I had one."

I didn't fail to notice the way he avoided telling me anything about that Lanfen. I also couldn't help but wonder if he truly didn't remember anything from his nightmare or if he simply didn't want to tell me. It started to bother me more and more. What if his yesterday's burst out in the car and that nightmare were somehow connected? Something in my gut kept telling me that it wasn't the kind of a problem that was going to disappear or solve itself as time went by.

"Do you really don't know anything, or do you not trust me enough to tell me?" I knew that it was a low move, but enough bad things were happening around us already, and I had no time to be gentle. He glared at me. "Don't start, Cora." His harsh tone surprised me, making me take a step back "I have never promised you full disclosure of my private life. This doesn't concern you. It isn't about you. I have a slight problem, and I will deal with it on my own."

My chest began to hurt as if it was crushed under a pile of stones. "Wow..." I muttered as a bitter smile twisted my lips. "And yet I was stupid enough to believe that I was your private life..." I turned around and left the kitchen.

"Cora!" Aren went after me, grabbing my arm as I stepped on the stairs. "Don't be this way. I only ask you to stay out of it this time, all right?"

It hurt. Was he drawing a line between the differences between the deal in our contract and the so-called real relationship? Was everything that had happened between us before an illusion? Was I only imagining that he had feelings toward me? Perhaps I was acting irrational, but I refused to let him have it the way he wanted. I turned around to face him and stretched my lips into a sort-of-smile. "I'm sorry, Aren. I should have cared about you, or held your hand for hours, hoping that you would sleep peacefully. I shouldn't have done it. I apologize for interfering in your private time. Now, would you excuse me? I'm going to call Benjamin. I think it would be better if I went to work separately, so I wouldn't invade your privacy even more." I jerked my hand away from him and marched up to my bedroom to take my purse and jacket. This time he didn't follow. I was glad he didn't because, at that moment, I felt like a doll made of the most fragile porcelain that could break in the breeze of the wind. "Idiot! You did it to yourself! Did you think that if you bared all of your most disgusting secrets in front of him, then he would do the same?!" I scolded myself.

My heart was aching, I felt betrayed, and I felt furious. Unfortunately, I couldn't hide my anger when I barged into the office with a frown stuck to my forehead.

"Wow! What happened? Lovers quarrel?" Alen sang teasingly, which earned him my darkest glower. He immediately raised his hands in surrender. "I come in peace, babe. Just remember that we have the power to kick his butt real hard if he hurts you."

I smiled faintly. As much as I wanted to do something that would make Aren feel as miserable as I did at that moment, we had more important things to do. Despite Aren's claiming that some other issue in his life didn't concern me, I treated replaceing the guy who kidnapped me and wanted to blow me up extremely personally. Frankly, I knew that I would sleep much better knowing who he was and how to get rid of him using legal means.

I worked continuously for long hours, ignoring Alan and Norton, who tried to force me to join them for lunch. I knew that if I didn't pour my energy into work, I might explode. As I sat alone in the office, I heard a weak knock on the door. "Come in," I tossed with little care about who was entering the room. "Mrs. Lan... can we talk?" I heard Neil's extremely timid voice. I faced him, narrowing my eyes. "Did anything extraordinary happen?" He laughed nervously. "That's exactly what I wanted to ask you about..." I sighed and leaned my back against the chair. "Aren has been acting strange since yesterday. First, he jumped out of the car in the middle of the street because he claimed that he saw someone, and then he had a nightmare and kept calling someone's name. When I asked him about it in the morning, he pretended he didn't remember and then he told me that it was his private matter," I summarized.

He smiled dryly. "You're mad at him, aren't you?" I raised my eyebrows at him. "Wouldn't you be mad if you were me?" He took a chair and sat in front of me, heaving a deep sigh. "You know that he didn't mean to hurt you, and he didn't mean it to sound like that." "Do I?" I huffed, irritated.

Neil put his hands together as if he was about to pray. "Have mercy, I beg you! He fired four people since the morning, and I know that the reason for his irrational fury is that he knows that he screwed up big time!" he called out pleadingly.

My lips curved into a smirk. "Are you aware that you are acting more like his parent than his assistant?"

Neil rolled his eyes. "He is the man when it comes to business, but when it comes to relationships, he is completely lost. Throughout his life, he was taught how to be the boss, not how to submit."

I crossed my hands over my chest. "Well, boo-hoo! He has a wife now and he will have to learn how to compromise... even if it's only a contractual relationship for him."

"I think that's the whole point." Neil shot me a crooked smile. "I think the reason why he doesn't know how to react is that he stopped thinking about the contract long ago." Neil's words made my aching heart heal in a flash and flutter faster than ever before. "W-what do you mean?" I asked, barely restraining my curving-up lips. He chuckled. "Well, isn't it obvious? In my opinion, that guy isn't just falling for you-he is head over heels!"