Page 10
Story: His Ring, Her Rules
“The only thing she told me was that ‘everything changed after Julia’s death.’ I questioned her about who she was, but she refused to tell me, claiming that I should be asking you,” I repeated the last word, pointing at him.
“So, I guess you should tell me,” I said.
“You are not supposed to know everything.”
“I do have the right to know I am your…” I paused in mid-sentence, recalling what he said the last time I referred to myself as his wife: “Let it be…goodnight.”
He grinned, moved closer to me, and murmured in my ear, “Good, you learned your lesson. Goodnight.”
As he left my room, I understood how cleverly he had turned the subject.
Since one of my readers requested that I update one more chapter, here it is…
The next morning, just as I was getting ready for the workplace, there was a knock on my door.
As I answered the door, Jaxon stood there, all suited up and scanning his phone.
He raised his eyebrows and responded: “We can’t go to the office separately. I don’t want to give the paparazzi a new topic to talk about.”
“So you’re coming with me,” he explained.
I pushed my lips together in a narrow line, thinking about going with him. Well, he is correct; we are meant to act like partners.
“Fine,” I grumbled, walking past him and downstairs for breakfast.
I welcomed Jenny and sat down at the table as she handed me a croissant and a warm cup of coffee.
After breakfast, I followed Jaxon outside to where his car was parked.
He approached his black Lamborghini, which was already parked outside the garage, and I frowned.
“What?” he questioned, noticing the anger on my face.
“I don’t like Lamborghini; I won’t go in that. Take out some other car.”
He ignored my disdain for the automobile and proceeded to get into the driver’s seat when I answered, “Fine. I’ll go on my own.”
If looks could kill, I would have died by now.
He stepped out of that automobile, gave me a deathly gaze, and slammed the door shut.
He entered the garage and, a minute later, pulled out his BMW I8. I was expecting it to be black or white, but it was shiny turquoise. I literally died at the sight of that.
Anyway, I sat in the passenger seat while Jaxon drove. After 15 minutes of perfect stillness, the automobile came to a halt at a red light.
From the corner of my eye, I saw him pull a cigarette from his pocket, and as he was about to light it, I grabbed it from him.
He was astonished at first, but then he grew enraged, really angry.
“Even I am sitting in the car, and the smoke can harm me, Mr. Dante,” I stated before he could question me.
He tried not to cry as he took a deep breath, and then he pulled something from his pocket again, this time the entire pack of cigarettes.
I pushed in closer, attempting to take the box as well, but his grasp on it tightened.
“The light has turned green,” I told him, prompting him to refocus his attention on the road. His grasp on the box loosened, and I seized the chance to take it away.
“What the hell are you doing?!” he yelled.
But I just chuckled and said, “I win!”
He arched an eyebrow at me and said, “How old are you? Five?”
I poked my tongue out at him before turning to face the window as he muttered under his breath.
“…and this is your office,” Jona stated as we arrived at my new office following a tour of the floor.
Jona ensured that this office looked comparable to the one I had in my building. Everything was practically the same, save for a connecting door between Jaxon’s and my offices.
One month later…
It’s been a month since our wedding, and nothing has changed. Every morning, I arrive at the workplace with Jaxon in perfect silence, except for when I ask him a few work-related questions. Nothing else has changed.
“Come in,” I responded when someone knocked on my door, and, as predicted, Jona entered.
“What?” I enquired when he remained silent and stood there uneasily.
“S-someone is down at the reception…to meet you.”
“That ‘someone’ must have a name, Jona.”
“Tristan and Logan…Adek,” he eventually said, making me freeze.
Tristan and Logan Adek.
Can’t they leave me alone? They annoy me every few months!
“You know what to do, Jona.”
“But Vivian…” I interrupted him; “No, buts, Jona, send them away. I don’t want to meet them.”
“At least they’re trying, Vivian,” Jona attempted to explain, but I don’t give a damn about them!
“I said ‘no’.”
“Vivian…give them a chance,” he urged.
“I don’t understand why you are taking their side; you are my best friend and my assistant.”
“Because, you have such a beautiful heart, you can even forgive someone who tries to murder you but you are not willing to at least give them a chance, why don’t you understand?”
“Why don’t you understand, Mr. Zoe?! I don’t want to meet them and that’s final!”
“They came all the way from Alaska to spend money, and you can’t just send them away like that.” The line about money irritated me the most.
“If their concern is about their money getting wasted then give them the money for the tickets. Don’t say again that their money is getting wasted by me!”
“And anyway that time is about to end in a few months, you will have to meet them anyway”, Jona quipped.
“So, why don’t they understand that when I gave them a specific time, why don’t they stick to it. Why do they keep disturbing me?!”
“What’s all this commotion about?!” a voice bellowed, and we both looked to Jaxon, who stood at the door that connected both offices.
I sighed deeply and murmured, “Go, Jona.”
He walked away, giving me one final disappointed glance, and I went back to work.
“You can leave, Jaxon unless you also want to argue with me.”
“You’re coming with me to a restaurant for lunch today,” he said, and because I wasn’t in the mood to argue, I answered, “Okay.”
I planned to inform Jona during lunch before going out with Jaxon.
I strolled up to his desk, reading through my phone, and said, “I am going…” but stopped abruptly when I lifted my head and noticed that his desk was vacant. He’s never left so early for lunch.
I phoned him, but he did not answer, so I went to look for him at the cafeteria on the first level.
I scoured the cafeteria for him and eventually saw him. He was sitting at a table, but not alone.
Mr and Mrs Adek sat with their backs to me.
I instructed Jona to tell them to go, but instead he was sitting here enjoying lunch with them.
Great job, Jonah Zoe.
As if he sensed my presence, his eyes met mine and widened in disbelief. He didn’t expect me to discover him eating lunch with them.
Before he could say or do anything, I fled.
I hurriedly exited the building, towards Jaxon’s car, which was already parked outside, and sat inside. _______________________________________
“You have to eat the food, not play with it,” Jaxon said, noticing me prodding the fried chicken b****t on my plate with a fork.
I didn’t say anything and kept prodding it; I expected him to be enraged, but he remarked calmly, “Whom are you planning to murder tonight?”
I looked up at him and asked, “What?”
“You are poking the chicken as if you want to stab someone really badly,” he added amusingly, with the slightest of smiles on his lips.
I shook my head slightly, then sliced a piece of chicken and placed it into my mouth.
Jaxon leaned across the table and said, “I’m free tonight, and I can help you murder that person.”
I swallowed the chicken and shouted, “Shut up. I am not murdering someone…I am just angry with Jona.”
“And you know you look like a gang leader, I always thought about it. The way you blackmail people, the way you can make people disappear…”, I went on.
He grinned, leaning back. “You think I’m a gang leader? Seriously?”
“You do act like one.”
He teased back, “Just the way you act like a child?” I sneered and began eating, and after a few seconds of feeling his stare on me, he too resumed eating.
We didn’t quarrel for the first time in our lives, at least not seriously.
If he could only be like this, and show me some compassion, I might be able to spend the rest of my life with him and adjust to him, but I’m not sure if he can…
“Do you have a boyfriend?” he said unexpectedly, and I detected a note of envy in his tone.
“No.”
“Hmm…good,” he murmured to himself, but I caught it.
“So, I guess you should tell me,” I said.
“You are not supposed to know everything.”
“I do have the right to know I am your…” I paused in mid-sentence, recalling what he said the last time I referred to myself as his wife: “Let it be…goodnight.”
He grinned, moved closer to me, and murmured in my ear, “Good, you learned your lesson. Goodnight.”
As he left my room, I understood how cleverly he had turned the subject.
Since one of my readers requested that I update one more chapter, here it is…
The next morning, just as I was getting ready for the workplace, there was a knock on my door.
As I answered the door, Jaxon stood there, all suited up and scanning his phone.
He raised his eyebrows and responded: “We can’t go to the office separately. I don’t want to give the paparazzi a new topic to talk about.”
“So you’re coming with me,” he explained.
I pushed my lips together in a narrow line, thinking about going with him. Well, he is correct; we are meant to act like partners.
“Fine,” I grumbled, walking past him and downstairs for breakfast.
I welcomed Jenny and sat down at the table as she handed me a croissant and a warm cup of coffee.
After breakfast, I followed Jaxon outside to where his car was parked.
He approached his black Lamborghini, which was already parked outside the garage, and I frowned.
“What?” he questioned, noticing the anger on my face.
“I don’t like Lamborghini; I won’t go in that. Take out some other car.”
He ignored my disdain for the automobile and proceeded to get into the driver’s seat when I answered, “Fine. I’ll go on my own.”
If looks could kill, I would have died by now.
He stepped out of that automobile, gave me a deathly gaze, and slammed the door shut.
He entered the garage and, a minute later, pulled out his BMW I8. I was expecting it to be black or white, but it was shiny turquoise. I literally died at the sight of that.
Anyway, I sat in the passenger seat while Jaxon drove. After 15 minutes of perfect stillness, the automobile came to a halt at a red light.
From the corner of my eye, I saw him pull a cigarette from his pocket, and as he was about to light it, I grabbed it from him.
He was astonished at first, but then he grew enraged, really angry.
“Even I am sitting in the car, and the smoke can harm me, Mr. Dante,” I stated before he could question me.
He tried not to cry as he took a deep breath, and then he pulled something from his pocket again, this time the entire pack of cigarettes.
I pushed in closer, attempting to take the box as well, but his grasp on it tightened.
“The light has turned green,” I told him, prompting him to refocus his attention on the road. His grasp on the box loosened, and I seized the chance to take it away.
“What the hell are you doing?!” he yelled.
But I just chuckled and said, “I win!”
He arched an eyebrow at me and said, “How old are you? Five?”
I poked my tongue out at him before turning to face the window as he muttered under his breath.
“…and this is your office,” Jona stated as we arrived at my new office following a tour of the floor.
Jona ensured that this office looked comparable to the one I had in my building. Everything was practically the same, save for a connecting door between Jaxon’s and my offices.
One month later…
It’s been a month since our wedding, and nothing has changed. Every morning, I arrive at the workplace with Jaxon in perfect silence, except for when I ask him a few work-related questions. Nothing else has changed.
“Come in,” I responded when someone knocked on my door, and, as predicted, Jona entered.
“What?” I enquired when he remained silent and stood there uneasily.
“S-someone is down at the reception…to meet you.”
“That ‘someone’ must have a name, Jona.”
“Tristan and Logan…Adek,” he eventually said, making me freeze.
Tristan and Logan Adek.
Can’t they leave me alone? They annoy me every few months!
“You know what to do, Jona.”
“But Vivian…” I interrupted him; “No, buts, Jona, send them away. I don’t want to meet them.”
“At least they’re trying, Vivian,” Jona attempted to explain, but I don’t give a damn about them!
“I said ‘no’.”
“Vivian…give them a chance,” he urged.
“I don’t understand why you are taking their side; you are my best friend and my assistant.”
“Because, you have such a beautiful heart, you can even forgive someone who tries to murder you but you are not willing to at least give them a chance, why don’t you understand?”
“Why don’t you understand, Mr. Zoe?! I don’t want to meet them and that’s final!”
“They came all the way from Alaska to spend money, and you can’t just send them away like that.” The line about money irritated me the most.
“If their concern is about their money getting wasted then give them the money for the tickets. Don’t say again that their money is getting wasted by me!”
“And anyway that time is about to end in a few months, you will have to meet them anyway”, Jona quipped.
“So, why don’t they understand that when I gave them a specific time, why don’t they stick to it. Why do they keep disturbing me?!”
“What’s all this commotion about?!” a voice bellowed, and we both looked to Jaxon, who stood at the door that connected both offices.
I sighed deeply and murmured, “Go, Jona.”
He walked away, giving me one final disappointed glance, and I went back to work.
“You can leave, Jaxon unless you also want to argue with me.”
“You’re coming with me to a restaurant for lunch today,” he said, and because I wasn’t in the mood to argue, I answered, “Okay.”
I planned to inform Jona during lunch before going out with Jaxon.
I strolled up to his desk, reading through my phone, and said, “I am going…” but stopped abruptly when I lifted my head and noticed that his desk was vacant. He’s never left so early for lunch.
I phoned him, but he did not answer, so I went to look for him at the cafeteria on the first level.
I scoured the cafeteria for him and eventually saw him. He was sitting at a table, but not alone.
Mr and Mrs Adek sat with their backs to me.
I instructed Jona to tell them to go, but instead he was sitting here enjoying lunch with them.
Great job, Jonah Zoe.
As if he sensed my presence, his eyes met mine and widened in disbelief. He didn’t expect me to discover him eating lunch with them.
Before he could say or do anything, I fled.
I hurriedly exited the building, towards Jaxon’s car, which was already parked outside, and sat inside. _______________________________________
“You have to eat the food, not play with it,” Jaxon said, noticing me prodding the fried chicken b****t on my plate with a fork.
I didn’t say anything and kept prodding it; I expected him to be enraged, but he remarked calmly, “Whom are you planning to murder tonight?”
I looked up at him and asked, “What?”
“You are poking the chicken as if you want to stab someone really badly,” he added amusingly, with the slightest of smiles on his lips.
I shook my head slightly, then sliced a piece of chicken and placed it into my mouth.
Jaxon leaned across the table and said, “I’m free tonight, and I can help you murder that person.”
I swallowed the chicken and shouted, “Shut up. I am not murdering someone…I am just angry with Jona.”
“And you know you look like a gang leader, I always thought about it. The way you blackmail people, the way you can make people disappear…”, I went on.
He grinned, leaning back. “You think I’m a gang leader? Seriously?”
“You do act like one.”
He teased back, “Just the way you act like a child?” I sneered and began eating, and after a few seconds of feeling his stare on me, he too resumed eating.
We didn’t quarrel for the first time in our lives, at least not seriously.
If he could only be like this, and show me some compassion, I might be able to spend the rest of my life with him and adjust to him, but I’m not sure if he can…
“Do you have a boyfriend?” he said unexpectedly, and I detected a note of envy in his tone.
“No.”
“Hmm…good,” he murmured to himself, but I caught it.