“Roland! What did you do to my fiancée’s bestfriend?” Denver loudly demanded his business partner.
“FIANCEE?!” Roland and Dyana were both shocked.
“Yes. This,” Denver grabbed her by the hand and wrapped an arm around her back. “This is Wisdom, my fiancee. And that panting poor woman who you just slapped is my fiancee’s best friend—and our soon to be maid of honor!”
Richard helped Candice up. Denver gave him a furious look.
“I was just helping the ladies,” Richard defended.
“I see. But why are you here, at the same time?” Denver’s territorial and Wisdom-is-now-my-woman look hasn’t yet left his face.
Richard looked at Wisdom first before replying. “I have some things to take care of. I guess this is just a coincidence.”
“What things?” Denver’s voice was still thick and hoarse and…dominant.
“Good day in seeing you, Wisdom. Candice.”
And just like that, Richard was now walking away, without bothering to say goodbye or even look back.
“What happened?” Denver asked, facing Wisdom.
“That bitch bumped us and insulted Wisdom!” Candice’s raging chest and angry voice was pretty much directed towards Dyana Stevans.
Roland let go of Dyana’s hand and, before a blink, he slapped her own daughter, sending her to the ground—in front of them and the mall’s staff and all the people’s judging eyes.
“I am sorry Mr. Giordano for my daughter causing trouble. I admit that, as a parent, I have also lacked discipline in my daughter. This is not her first time doing this. I am truly sorry and I shall humbly ask forgiveness for causing trouble to your fiancée and her bestfriend in my very mall.”
Denver held her chin high as he spoke. “You should, Roland. I didn’t invest with you, particularly to this well-loved mall, only to be ruined by your wife’s daughter to another man. Honestly, why do you still keep Dyana? You should send her to work like all of the women of her same age.”
Dyana, as annoying as her voice, cried and wept soundly—like a child being scolded for spilling other people’s drinks.
“I will consider your words, Mr. Giordano. I am truly sorry,” says Roland.
But Denver, together with Wisdom and Candice, just walked away from the scene…confidently. Without bothering to say goodbye to Roland, or even looking back.
***
“Do you know how much of a disgrace you are, Dyana?! You just shamed me in front of our biggest investor!”
Her father’s thundering voice could’ve cracked her bones but she endured her father’s piercing words.
This isn’t new for Dyana Stevens anyway.
“He’s my ex-boyfriend,” she whispered.
“So? The fact that you are his ex and you are my daughter doesn’t give you credibility to act as a worse bitch like you already are!”
She remained silent, as quiet as the grave.
“I only take you in…” Her father continued. “Because I promised and loved your mother. To think that I am not your biological father and I still treat you as one of my own is already a privilege to you. How long will you keep acting like that huh? Dyana?!”
Her mouth was still shut, refusing to spit any word.
“I guess Denver was right. I should send you to work—as a cashier at a 7/11 store.”
Dyana’s eyes widened as she jerked her head. She immediately stood and threw her father a pillow.
“I am not like that bitch who calls herself Denver’s fiancée. She is a mere citizen of this country. I am born rich and—”
“You are born outside of wedlock, Dyana. And to refresh your mind, your mother is not rich. My wife is not rich, it is I who provide her and bathe her in luxury. You. Are. Just. Rubbish!”
Roland Stevens just grabbed a cigarette and made his chest lighter with the smoke and smell of this delicacy.
Dyana ran outside the garden of the mansion of her father—her stepfather instead.
She had no one else now. Her father was right. She is just rubbish, a trash despite her enthralling physique.
“I will not lose, not this time to that Wisdom!” She grabbed her phone and dialed someone.
“Meet me at the same place, Gerry,” Dyana commanded.
***
“I’m amazed you haven’t shed any tears after that mall incident with Dyana, Wisdom.”
She just gave Denver a tight nod. Her silence reverberated within the elevator’s walls.
When the door opens, the receiving area is already magnificent. A huge tarpaulin bearing Denver’s face greeted her.
She smiled at him. Luckily, he smiled back.
“You look beautiful,” he uttered.
Candice is very good in choosing this dress after all—and for insisting her to buy and wear this.
“This way, please.” A man in a gray tuxedo, probably the valet, beamed at them.
Denver followed the man, his arm wrapping around Wisdom’s exposed back. “And you smell good too, Linnea.”
Still, she answered with a smile. The frown in Denver’s face would have lasted long if not for the opening of the ballroom’s doors.
“Please welcome, Mr. Denver Giordano, our grand host of this party, and his fiancée, Ms. Wisdom Calvin.”
Wisdom looked at her, in question and astonishment. “You registered me by my maiden name?”
“Yes. Calvin is your mother’s maiden surname, isn’t she?”
“But—”
“Mr. Giordano! It’s so good to see you.” A good-looking man hugged Denver, and he smiled at her too.
“This must be your little doll, Dennie?” The man asked with a giggle.
‘Doll. Is that really what he thinks of me?’ She pondered.
“Yeah. Wisdom, this is Henry Harker. He is a curator at a museum and an artist himself. Henry, meet Wisdom, the soon-to-be Mrs. Giordano.”
She forced a sweet grin on her face. Henry, on the other hand, took and kissed her hand. Denver’s eyes narrowed.
“My bestfriend here isn’t really lying, eh? You truly are beautiful, Ms. Wisdom.” Henry brushed a thumb on her cheeks. She blushed.
“Shall we dance?” He invited her, with her hand still on Henry’s grip.
She looked at Denver, then to Henry. And minutes later, she found herself dancing with Henry Harker. She spotted him talking with two old but regal looking people.
“Those are Denver’s parents. They don't know yet that you are his fiancée, that's why Dennie asked me to take you away from his eyes for a while.”
“I see,” Wisdom replied. “A while means an hour or two?”
Henry cackled. “Come on, Wisdom. Just give Denver time to talk with his parents. They just arrived from Milan two days ago.”
She just gives him a tight nod. They exchanged conversation for a ‘while’.
But that ‘for a while’ actually lasted for the entire night. The whole night. Wisdom spent her time talking and drinking and laughing with Henry Harker.
He wasn’t so bad. But, he wasn’t so good either. She just feels awkward and strange when she’s not facing and hearing her employer’s words—the voice of her Denver.
She understands this. But the fact that she bought a 200$ dress only to be caught by Denver’s eyes for a glimpse only and not the entire night was kind of disappointing to her.
Though she and Denver are living together, she still feels as if there is a boundary with them, a wall with them. A wall that just waits for either of them on who can break and crash it down. They are just waiting for one another, to be frank.
Wisdom supposed that, even if she became his wife, it still felt as if she was just being paid to do so. The title of being his wife, the smile he gave to her, the time he spent with her…those are just a part of the contract that she signed her name with.
And it is not the marriage contract that she was referring to, it is the contract of the job that she had agreed to apply for—the ‘Wife for Hire’ job.
Wisdom held her tears even when Denver made up for his missing time at the party—by doing her.
But she couldn’t hold it longer. Her tears travel down her face, using this as the opportunity as Denver’s face was buried in her neck.
She could hear his moans. Despite him being inside her at midnight, fucking and thrusting inside her, she couldn’t still shove away the thoughts of her being a hired wife only.
And his doll.