Chapter Twenty-Nine – Break up.
Arya’s face was still ruffled and her eyebrows furrowed as she remembered the words of her cousin. She should have slapped her twice, left and right.
Damien noticed her fists clenched, he smirked. “I totally loved the energy with your cousin back there. I’m not an advocate for peace either.”
She exhaled, blowing all the annoyance she was feeling. Facing Damien, she ran her hands through her hair, while staring at him.
He was confused by the move, being distracted and he nearly hit someone’s car. Was she trying to seduce him or was he misunderstanding the situation?
“Is there a reason you wanted me to be your contracted wife? Because I don’t think there’s a need for me to be.” Arya asked.
Damien felt at ease that she wasn’t trying to seduce him but he didn’t know how to react. He cleared his throat. “From what I remembered, you called me first.”
She agreed. “Yes, but then I didn’t know you and was desperate.”
“So?” he raised a brow.
“I’m not desperate anymore.” Arya deadpanned.
Damien’s eyes darted to her and nearly missed a bus curving from an intersection, he concentrated and parked the car by the side. “And now, you want to leave the marriage?”
Arya sighed. She had been avoiding this conversation for long but it was high time they spoke on it.
Or else, she’d be a real whore, just using his money while not loving him.
“Being in a loveless marriage and having a contract. That didn’t go well with my parents, even when one was in love. I understand that we have a condition…”
“Yes, that you can only leave when you find someone else. Go on.” Damien interrupted with a gruff voice.
Arya wasn’t sure why he sounded displeased, perhaps he had a place to be.
She still went on to express herself. “Yes, but why didn’t you just help me with the $10, 000?”
“Again, you called and talked about being sent for marriage. I needed a contract wife and that’s how this happened. Is there a point to this though?” Damien clenched his jaw.
Arya was sure he was displeased but she cared less, she met his gaze. “Well, I was desperate and didn’t think it through. I should have borrowed $10, 000 from you instead.”
“You should?” Damien asked.
Arya frowned “Yeah, wouldn’t you have given me? Anna is your friend. I don’t think we should’ve moved to marriage.”
“So you want to annul it?” Damien asked quietly.
It wasn’t exactly what Arya wanted, she didn’t know what she wanted, but if that could be done, then she was all for it. “Can that happen?”
Damien stayed quiet, to think carefully of his next words.
“You’d repay $90, 000 then. I’d lend you the $10, 000 as you requested. I’d dissolve the contract and inform my family it was faux and deal with the lawyers and all.”
Hearing everything, Arya began to question everything. Was it worth it? And indeed she will be entitled to repay the $90, 000 that her father took as her price.
And how’d she repay the $10, 000? And the look on Selena’s, Junior’s, and Mrs. Wade’s face when they realized it was a fake, they’d be hurt.
And why was she thinking of leaving? She was living like a princess and was happy. She only felt guilty because she wasn’t in love with him but someone else.
However, things were not as easy as it looked. She couldn’t just back away. She turned to him. “You make it sound hard, after the one year, won’t all these still happen?”
Damien smirked. “After the one year, the contract will expire. No need to repay anything. And if we breakup, I could tell my family we just didn’t work out.”
Arya noticed the ‘if we breakup’ part. It was not impossible to fall in love with him but she wasn’t planning to. “Right, I’m sorry for bringing it up.”
“You mean threatening me to break up.” Damien tsked, starting the car.
Arya looked at him, then looked away. “I’m sorry, but it’s not really threatening since I get to lose way more than you do if we do breakup. I can’t pay those bills.”
Damien looked at her, with frustration.
Did she have any idea how much he had to lose if she left him? The most expensive being his mental state and heart.
“I lose some rights to my company, Arya. Only when married do I get it. Also, my mother’s heart will be broken. I basically lost $100, 000. And many more, believe me.” He replied.
Arya didn’t realize that and her jaw dropped. Even his company? Then this marriage was more of his interest then hers. Maybe that was why he acted like it was real.
“I’m much more sorry about this.” She apologized, feeling very bad for her actions.
“Don’t regret expressing yourself. I wonder though, was there a reason you wanted to break up?” he enquired.
Arya didn’t meet his gaze. “Not really. I just felt that since we didn’t love each other, I was milking off your money.”
A thin smile spread on Damien’s lips. She didn’t love him, he loved her with all his sanity.
“You serve an important role being my wife. Money can’t buy that.” Damien confessed, even if she wouldn’t know what that role was.
Arya nodded. “I’m sorry, this matter wouldn’t be brought up by me again.”
Damien breathed in and out, glad that the chapter had been closed. He tried to find a good mood in him but they had been drowned.
His eyes stayed glued to the road, turning and speeding up. They shared no words with each other again.
All the while, Arya was eating to speak with him about her childhood stalker but she knew she had already destroyed the mood for it.
It couldn’t leave her head that if she ever tried to correct a thing in Damien’s life, or if she gets mad a him for a thing, he’d assume it was because she wanted to break up.
Just like he’d be scared of a real wife breaking up, he’d be scared of her leaving, because of his company, mother’s trust and more were in the line.
She shouldn’t have spoken about the deal.
“But what if I get Seth to like me back? Can’t I leave the marriage?” she whispered within herself.
Glancing at Damien for a while, she noticed his mood hadn’t changed. “Would he let me go if Seth likes me back?” she wondered.
Well, she would have to get Seth to like her first, and that could take more than one year since she had already started with the ‘cool person’.
“You are mad at me, right?” she finally broke the silence.
Damien moved his head to face her, he noticed the pout on her lips and smiled. “Should I be?”
She shook her head. “No. I told you what was bothering me. You can share yours with me too. After all, we are gonna be partners for a while.”
Damien felt better that she was accepting the situation, he relaxed. “Well, till you can work at my company, I may not be able to share my problems with you. 80% comes from there.”
They shared a laugh.