The Fallen Heiress: Contract Marriage with the CEO Who Hates Me

"Vernon Lin, do you take this woman to be your wife, to live together in holy matrimony, to love her, to honor her, to comfort her, and to keep her in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do."

"And you, Jane Devold, do you take this man to be your husband, to live together in holy matrimony, to love him, to honor him, to comfort him, and to keep him in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?"

"... I d-do."

Vernon took the white gold ring from a small blue velvet pillow and carefully placed it on Jane's finger, his voice calm and steady as he continued.

"I give you this ring as a token and pledge of our constant faith and abiding love."

That was it. It was almost over.

"By the power vested in me by God, I now pronounce you husband and wife."

And now, it's over.

It all started back then. The moment I approached him, I knew it was a mistake. I felt it in my gut, but somehow I still couldn't turn around, couldn't walk away. If I had—if I'd just walked away—would everything have turned out differently?

***

"You are the sea filled with sorrow,

And your eyes brim with pearls,

And every time they hit the ground

They strike like bombs.

You walk like a forest fire,

Dragging a string of hearts through the mud.

You turn flowers to dust,

And encircle their necks with a wire,

Choking out their light.

You puncture butterflies' wings

And when their tears start falling,

They fill up your sea again.

And then you come back.

And start over.

And there is no end."

Jane woke up to the sound of an unfamiliar male voice but was still far too tired to open her heavy eyelids.

Was it Charles reading her favorite poem out loud? She could not tell whether that voice belonged to her boyfriend or not, the weight of the slumber was still crushing her down, forcing her to drift away again, still listening to the sound of the voice she thought she had never heard before reciting the poetic words she held dear to her heart.

When Jane opened her eyes, the quiet classroom was already filled with the warm orange light of the setting sun, and she found herself in the exact same position in which she had fallen asleep a couple of hours ago—sitting behind the wooden desk, leaning over its cold surface. The only thing that was different was the warmth of the soft bomber jacket hanging down her tender shoulders.

"Are you finally awake?"

"Charles?"

Now she was certain it was him—the faint scent of his cologne emanating from the jacket's fabric was a definite giveaway.

Charles Chastain, Jane's boyfriend of two years, smiled back at the girl and gently patted her on the back with his big, warm hand.

"Get up, princess, I have to take you back home."

Jane stretched her body like a cat, still leaning over the desk, then finally got up, and checked the time on the screen of her phone.

"It's already this late?!"

When she decided to skip the last lecture and take a nap instead, she did not expect to sleep for almost three hours. Seeing how the time was already past 4 PM, Jane had no other choice but to agree with her boyfriend's words and follow him out to his car.

"How many times have I told you already not to fall asleep in random empty classrooms? Do you know that you were almost locked in there today?"

Charles' kind but somewhat reprimanding tone was cute most of the time, and although Jane knew that his nagging was coming from a good place, she still could not help but feel rather upset by the mere fact that her boyfriend still could not let it slide even once.

"P-professor Taylor's lectures are b-boring. Besides, I d-did not get enough sleep l-last night, I was tired."

"Are you having trouble sleeping again? Is it your headache?"

Jane instantly regretted telling Charles about her insomnia.

Her boyfriend was very caring and attentive, but he was also a worrywart when it came to Jane's afflictions, and while she found that side of him quite attractive, she hated seeing him all riled up, almost to the point of being paranoid.

"Yeah, the d-doctor said I should try and stay away from p-painkillers as much as I can, b-but I guess it won't happen for a while."

Charles took a big step forward and stopped right in front of his girlfriend, forcing her to almost trip over and fall.

Anticipating that to happen, the guy opened his arms and took Jane in his warm embrace, pecking her lightly on the forehead as if in an attempt to wipe away the traces of that dreadful headache with his lips.

"My poor Jennie, I wish there was something I could do for you. I'm so sorry you have to go through this pain like this."

Charles did not know that he was making Jane feel better just by saying those kind words because every time he was this sweet to her, she could feel her pain being erased while her heart was melting inside her frail body like gold.

That sweet idyll was interrupted by a loud commotion coming from the campus parking lot and the two lovebirds simultaneously turned their heads in the direction of its source.

"How can you be so heartless? Can you at least reject her nicely so that she does not have to cry her eyes out like this?!"

The ruckus was caused by a short, rather young-looking girl who was pointing her finger at another girl whose red and puffy face was clearly indicating that she had been crying for quite some time already, while the tall guy in a somewhat modest attire of straight black jeans and a black sweater on top of a white shirt, fixed his round glasses and let out a short, annoyed sigh, which was followed by an unexpectedly cold response.

"So? Is it my fault that she is in love with me? I rejected her because I don't care either about her feelings or her overall persona. Why do I have to feel bad simply because she decided to cry about that?"

Jane widened her eyes as she heard such a heartless statement and shared the genuine bewilderment of the girl who was trying to tell him off for being so cold.

"Who is this g-guy?"

She asked Charles but her eyes were still glued to the rude guy's expressionless but still-handsome face. Her boyfriend sighed and shook his head in disapproval.

"That's Vernon Lin, our senior from the Computer Science Department."