BETROTHED TO THE BILLIONAIRE

Ryan’s POV

The moment we get to the shade and I help her sit down before sitting across from her, she picks up a paper and throws it at me.

I was expecting a long moment of silence from her before I eventually asks her to forgive me but from the look of things, I have already been forgiven. She is just ignoring me on purpose.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

I take the paper to see if it is actually a newspaper. When I drop it over my lap, I see the headlines.

Ryan Lorenzo, the CEO of Multi-Million Company seen with his newly wedded wife having a private dinner at ….”

I look up to see Mother’s expression. Still unreadable.

Did my plan work?

“Is it true?” She demands weakly, her hands trembling a little. I notice she isn’t as lively as she was the last time we came here for dinner. She seems to be getting weaker every day.

I nod without a word.

There is a picture of Valerie and I attached to the news. I don’t understand why she is asking me if it is true.

Maybe she wants to know if it is indeed Valerie or maybe she thinks it is just an act.

“Are you being real with her?” She questions again, but right now, her eyes seem to be speaking volumes of words and it is shining brightly now.

“It was just a surprise dinner I organized for her just to get her forgiveness”, I say nonchalantly like I am speaking nothing but the truth.

“Forgiveness? You two fought again?” Horror and worry crosses her expression and I shake my head with a smile.

“No. We didn’t fight. It was for the last fight we had…”

“The one about her ex-boyfriend?” She requests immediately and I jerk up in alert.

Does she know about her ex-boyfriend?

“Fred?” I raise a brow in curiosity, wondering how she got to know him. “How did you know him?”

“She told me about him. She said you two fought because of him”, she mentions to my hearing and I nod, glad that she told mother this instead of something else.

But with that, I keep asking myself how long it will take for her to get rid of him totally.

Is she still stuck on him for her to talk to Mother about him?

“You don’t need to be jealous. I’m sure she no longer likes him”, Mother taps me and I stare back at her, then nod with a smile.

“I’m happy you two are getting along well”, she eventually smiles and takes her hand off my body. Then, she stares into space.

Before I can think of something to chip in to make the story she had already formulated in her head real, I see Valerie approaching us, her pace faster than usual.

Her gait seems different too and she is striding fast like a man who is going to war.

When she gets closer, my gaze shifts to her lips. I notice she is always in red lipstick and it is reminding me of the few seconds of kiss we had last night.

That kiss was brief but sweet.

I haven’t been able to get my head off the kiss. I didn’t kiss her because I planned to. I did kiss her to shut her up and also because her lips were too inviting to be ignored.

I couldn’t help it and now I crave more of the kiss, even though she might behead me for that.

“Valerie”, Mother notices her as she gets close to us. Her face is in a frown as though she is wincing from the pain and her step becomes slow.

Mother also observes it too. “What is the matter?”

“I’m fine”, Valerie replies and turns to me. “We need to go now, please.”

I stand up quickly and rush to her, my right hand going straight for her waist while the other holds her right hand. “Are you ok?”

She shakes her head. “I’m having pains in my stomach”, she responds and mother appears too with worry etched on her face.

“I will be fine”, she smiles at Mother. “I just need to take a rest. If I don’t feel better by tomorrow, I will see a doctor.”

“Yes, mom”, I agree with her and face Mom. “I will watch her and see if she gets better. If she doesn’t, I will call the doctor.

Mother nods with relief. “Please do. If she doesn’t feel better by the time she gets home, please call Julian.”

“Alright, mom”, I nod at her and hold Valerie more firmly as we both whirl around to leave. Turning to take a last look at Mother, I say. “Tell dad we are gone. I will give you a call when I get home.”

“Ok.”

Concern fills her expression still.

Valerie and I find our way to the garage where our car is packed. I notice she no longer winces like she was doing earlier and I am beginning to feel relieved that she is getting better.

I begin to wonder why she is having pain. Did she eat something she is allergic to at dinner? Is it cramps?

I can’t ask her because I don’t want to cause her more pain.

The moment he opens the door, I help her in and climb in beside her immediately and John drives out of the gate.

With my hands still on Valerie’s, I utter softly. “Sorry. How do you feel now?”

She no longer looks like someone in pain. She shut her eyes and face me squarely, letting go of my hands.

A scowl descends on her face and I furrow my brows in confusion.

“That was all a trick to get us going. Tell me why you haven’t fulfilled the promise you made to my parents?”

I still don’t understand what she is saying but I understood what she meant by a trick. She pretended to be unwell so we could be alone and then she could raise the issue that was bothering her.

Wow. Really?

“Ryan, I am talking to you”, she snaps at me, her loud voice echoing in my ears and making me raise an angry brow at her.

“What the hell are you even talking about?” I demand with annoyance. She made me disturbed about her health for no reason just for this?

Why didn’t she just demand us to go home instead of making me and Mother get worried over nothing?

“The hell I am talking about? Do I look like I am joking with you right now?”

“Maybe you are because you just pretended a few minutes ago to be ill.”

She scoffs and turns away from me, seething in anger.

I am trying not to get irritated by her actions. It is absolutely uncalled for. I thought we have gone past this stage of arguing with each other. When are we going to act like adults who are married to each other for crying out loud?

I didn’t even get to seek Mother’s forgiveness for what I did to her. She cut short our discussion all for this.

“Ryan, I am not going to repeat myself. I just got a call from home now and I was told that you haven’t fulfilled your promise…”

“What promise?” I don’t seem to be getting what she is saying.

She stares at me in disbelief. “What promise? You still don’t know what I am talking about? Stop with the fucking pretense, Ryan.”

“Well, maybe I wouldn’t be pretending now if you didn’t pretend a while ago.”

She does not say anything but I expect her to. Instead, she looks away again, smiling sadly to herself before grabbing the purse she kept beside her.

She sits upright and says to John. “Stop the car.”

“What?” John and I exclaim at the same time.

She has a determined look on her face and I can’t think of something to say to her to stop her from taking such a rash decision.

Where the hell is she going by this time of the night? It is getting late already and we are in the middle of a quiet area.

“I said stop the car. I want to get out”, she yells at him and he halts the car immediately.

I can’t even bring myself to tell John not to stop the car. It will look childish to do something like that and cause another argument in front of him.

She opens the door instantly and rushes out without a word.

After slamming the car door shut, she begins to race toward the end of the road.