Shawn’s POV
Shawn was actually interested in hearing these conditions his wife-to-be was talking about. Not that he was just going to take everything lying down, of course. He was going to shut it down immediately if it was something ridiculous.
“First,” she spoke, her lips curving around the words, “If I am to agree to marry you, you are going to show me respect.”
Shawn sat up, a little taken aback. He had been fully expecting her to say something like ‘half of your assets should be signed over to me’ or something.
She continued speaking. “That means no shutting down my ideas, no raising your voice at me, no belittling, no degrading comments, and absolutely no walking out on me in a public place like that stunt you pulled yesterday.” The way she said ‘stunt’ sounded like she would like to use more colorful and less polite words to describe his actions the previous evening. Shawn almost felt like laughing again. If nothing else, then at least this girl was a bit amusing.
“Next,” she said, counting off her fingers, “I retain all personal and physical rights. You can’t tell me what to do, what to say, who I talk to or don’t talk to. In return, I’ll do my best to keep from doing anything to tarnish your image. As long as you do the same for me.
“Lastly, even though we’re going to be married, I don’t actually expect any filial loyalty from you, or anything. You can do whatever you want with whomever, as long as you’re discreet about it. I have my image to protect, and I’d rather not be seen as
Shawn was getting a little irritated. Did she really think he was that kind of person? Even if she didn’t care, he did, and business agreement marriage or not, he would never cheat on his wife.
“And you’re free to run around with any Tom, Dick and Harry you please, right?” he asked her venomously, “Are you seriously sitting here asking your future husband to grant you the freedom to whore around?”
Tiffany’s expression immediately changed like she’d just been slapped, and the hand she had on the table clenched into a fist and trembled.”I never said that,” she gritted out through clenched teeth.
“You might as well have, haven’t you?” Shawn said, actually chuckling this time.”Did you think I wouldn’t recognize that pathetic last stipulation for the weak attempt it was? Acting like you’re doing me some sort of favour.” He scoffed. “Well, I guess that still takes you a cut above other women I’ve met. Most of them want me only for my body and my money, but it seems you’re only interested in the latter.”
Shawn internally sighed. He didn’t know why he was saying all of this. He was known to be a man of few words, it was literally his thing. And now this girl was here, something about her making him do things he didn’t usually do. Warning bells were ringing in his head. He needed to stay away from this one. But of course, he couldn’t.
“Screw. You.” Tiffany spat, her eyes red-tinged at the edges from fury. ”Hell will freeze over before I take you into my bed.”
Shawn shrugged noncommittally, as if what Tiffany was saying was of no real concern to him. “We’ll see about that. The other two terms are acceptable, but not the last. Everything stays except the last.”
“Whatever,” said Tiffany, draining her wine glass in one second. She stood up, signalling tht the conversation was over. “I’d like to leave now, please.”
Shawn had no oppositions to that, even though they hadn’t had dessert yet. He signaled to a passing waiter, and he came hurrying over with their check. Shawn paid, and they left.
Tiffany was boiling with rage as she stepped into her house. She slammed the door so hard that it would have rattled on its hinges if it were a normal door, but the heavy mahogany wood simply stood sturdily in place, mocking her.
There was no one to ask her what the problem was – most of the staff had left already, and her father had gone into the office again. Not that she would have told him if he were at home. She didn’t want him to worry, or give her the option to not marry Shawn at all. This was her sacrifice, and she would bear it alone.
She peeled off her heels, holding them in her hands as she made her way barefooted up the stairs.
Getting into her bed felt like the second best feeling in the world, right after unclasping her bra. She drew ger blanket over her head, snuggling into ger pillow and wondering why Shawn’s personality couldn’t just match his face.
Tiffany was having a dream that she was calling her father. She had gone to visit Shawn Gold’s house, but upon getting there, she had discovered he wasnt really a man but a huge red lobster in a black suit with scorpions as cufflinks. As she put the phone to her ear to ask her dad to come rescue her, Shawn had raised his giant red crab claws and tried to pry the phone from her ear. The claws kept vibrating so hard that the phone and her entire cheek shook from the tremors.
Suddenly, she opened her eyes and discovered that she was thankfully, blessedly, in her own bed, and the vibrations of Shawn’s crab claws were in fact just her own phone ringing non-stop.
She sleepily reached for it, but as she grabbed it, it went silent, and she glanced at the screen just to see that it had been a call from Freya. Along with that notification, there were several more under it, all missed calls from Freya and Timothy, and a host of other people she went to school with or had been in various clubs and societies with.
She saw that there were a few messages as well, but before she could start going through them, her phone started ringing again. It was Freya, again.
“Tiff, what the hell?!” Freya shouted into Tiffany’s ear as soon as she saw that Tiffany had picked up. “Why haven’t you been answering? I’ve called you like five hundred times!”
Tiffany checked the time. It was barely seven, so why was Freya calling her with this level of urgency?
“Because it’s literally six in the morning? I was sleeping! What else did you think I could be doing at this time?”
“Sleeping?!” Freya’s shriek pierced Tiffany’s ear drums, and she had to hold the phone away from herself for a few seconds before she could recover. “Tiffany, how could you be sleeping at a time like this? Aren’t you bothered?”
Tiffany frowned. Bothered about what?
“By the way,” Freya continued, “Why didn’t you think it was important to mention to your best friend that, hm, I don’t know, that you were seeing a freaking billionaire? The Shawn Gold! Come on, Tiff, does our friendship mean nothing to you??? Get up now and get dressed. You’re going to tell me every. single. thing. at school. Oh My God! Shawn Gold! What’s he like? Is he that handsome up close or only in pictures? You know what? Don’t tell me, don’t tell me. Meet me AT SCHOOL. Tiffany OMG.”
Tiffany’s heart stilled, and she stared dumbfounded at the phone Freya’s voice continued to ramble from. How did she know? Tiffany didn’t know anyone that could have possibly told Freya. The only people that knew about the deal were herself, her dad, Shawn, and Shawn’s dad. As far as Tiffany knew, none of these people were in contact with Freya.
Freya was still talking, she sounded like she was munching on something, “At first I was like, no it can’t be the Tiffany I know, right? Right? Wrong! It was. It was just like the five stages of grief. Denial first, then-”
“Freya,” Tiffany cut in, still reeling from shock, “How did you know? I-I mean, who told you?”
Freya’s end went silent for a while, until Tiffany began to think that Freya had ended the call. She was about to check her phone screen when Freya’s voice came again, quieter and less excited than before.
“Oh,” she said, “You don’t know?”
Tiffany was way above confused now. “Know what? Freya, what’s going on?”
“Um…” Freya replied, “Hold on, I’ll text you. Just, click the link okay?”
Before Tiffany could reply, she heard a firm, drawn-out beep signalling that the call had been disconnected. A few seconds later, her phone pinged, and a message from Freya popped up.
Queen Freya:
Read this!!
Underneath the message, there was a link to some site called ‘vancouvergossip. com’.
Tiffany went straight to the link without replying, and what she saw there made her feel dizzy.
It was a photograph of her and Shawn sat under the dim, ambient lighting at D’amor, but it didn’t look like it was at all. In the picture, Shawn was leaning towards her, smiling, caught in the moment in-between giggles. Only part of her face could be seen, but it was still unmistakably her, and she was leaning in as well, her blonde hair provocatively hanging over her shoulder, revealing her long, slender neck. It looked like the perfect picture of two lovers having a date night out, and nothing like the mini-battle it had actually been.
Under the picture was an article with the heading,
‘NEW ROMANCE IN BLOOM?”, and Tiffany stared at it for a long time before she could fully understand what she was seeing.
“What the fuck?” Tiffany whispered to herself as she began to read.