She Never Had A Choice

“No, no” Gina quickly shook her head and cowered once more. “I– I wasn’t excited. I never expected to be taken directly to the mansion and didn’t take anything with me, e– even my phone,” she spoke truthfully.

Wasn’t he supposed to be happy that she said she was so excited about the wedding? But seeing that he hadn’t treated her well from the beginning, Gina could only mask her confusion.

“And… and also, I wasn’t planning to escape, I… I wouldn’t have agreed to the marriage in the first place if I'd wanted to do that,” she defended herself with a pout.

“Who said you had a choice” Adrian chuckled.

'Right, I never had a choice' Gina groaned inside. As he was the one that had asked to marry her in the first place.

Now that they were so close, she could grab her chance to study him properly. He might be among the boys who had bullied her at school then decided that it wasn’t enough, and was determined to make her life hell.

That was the only logical reason Gina could think of.

Adrian who had ignored the girl and now had his attention outside the window suddenly heard small movements beside him.

He frowned and glanced sideways, then found her face so close to his. Her little face was so close that he could see his reflection in her large bluish-grey eyes. 'Weird, why does she have this color of eyes?'

Gina flinched and quickly moved back. Even though it’s been so many years, the face of those bullies was deeply engraved in her heart. Adrian wasn’t possibly one of them.

Besides, except if they'd had plastic surgery, none of them could possess half of this devil's beauty.

He was as beautiful as he was dangerous. Gina had to admit that. She felt a huge weight lifted off her chest, seeing that he hadn't extended the matter, and a sigh of relief escaped her lips.

Maybe it wasn’t totally dangerous, conversing with the devil after all.

Adrian scoffed and turned his attention back to the window. He was surprised at how the scaredy-cat had suddenly changed in demeanor. Did she hit her head somewhere? He couldn’t care less.

He glanced down at his wristwatch and frowned, not believing that he had to be late for the meeting, just because he had to pick up the girl.

Turning sideways, his eyes darted to her hand which was gripping tightly to her cloth and trembling slightly. He scoffed again.

Gina bit her lips as the car sank into silence. Hearing the guy scoffed again, she was worried. Has his anger not subsided.

She cleared her throat and said, “I've told your friend not to bother, and I would get home myself... I can’t believe he informed you of this little thing.”

Yes, it must be his military friend that had informed him. Adrian would not have possibly bumped into her. The coincidence was too high.

“Friend?” Adrian frowned.

“Y… Yes, your military friend, he’s your friend, right? I told him he shouldn’t bother to inform you. Even at the hospital, the doctor said I was fine, but he was so worried so—”

“Hospital?” Adrian interrupted.

“Yeah, it was just a tiny injury, no big deal. But look now, you’ve traveled…” Gina trailed off, seeing his expression changed instantly.

“Ahhh” she shrieked as he grabbed her arm and hurled her. Her body bumped into his hard chest, and she panicked.

“Regina Carlson… so daring aren’t you,” Adrian chuckled and pulled her closer. “You even managed to end up in the hospital. Now, tell me… does that mean all the things you said earlier were lies and you'd really planned to escape!?”

All blood drained from Gina's face and she shook her head frantically. “No, no, no, I– I wasn’t planning to escape. Cross my heart, I would never lie to you.”

Gina wanted to cry. How did the situation take a huge shift? Had she actually poured fuel into the fire instead of water?

From his expression, it was obvious that he had no idea that she’d encountered those two guys. Then who would have told him that she wasn’t home?

Her attention turned to the guy and she endured the force he was exerting on her arm. “If you didn’t believe me, you can check my bag... I only came to take some of my things,” she muttered gloomily.

Adrian studied her expression and finally released her with a sigh. Why would he care if she wanted to escape? He could just tell his grandparents that she wasn’t interested in him. Not like he liked her either.

He will be elated to just kick the girl out of his life, but then, thinking back to the old couple's words, anger rose in his chest.

Without giving her another glance, Adrian took out his phone and got himself engrossed in it as the car drove through the city toward the company.

Gina rubbed her arm and shrink farther away from the guy. She patted her chest in relief and glanced out of the window.

Shortly after, the car arrived at a magnificent company in the heart of the city.

Was that owned by Adrian?

Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened.

Gina blinked rapidly and stared at the huge skyscraper in astonishment. *Global World Conglomerate* was boldly emboldened at the top.

Her heart gave a lurch and she couldn’t close her mouth even as the car drove inside what seemed like a private parking lot.

Even though she rarely watched the news, just like almost everyone in country H, Gina knew about the largest company in the city.

And other companies were just like flies in front of a giant when compared to the smaller companies under it.

Her head flipped to the guy and she stared at him in shock.

Was Adrian its mysterious CEO who never appeared in public? And even the company's chairman, no one ever had a glimpse of him, and some even said that he lived on a faraway island. But that was only believed as a myth.

No, Adrian might just be here for some business, right?