Chapter 4 THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT

FELICIA'S P O V

‘‘I don't believe you...,’’ were my final words which I uttered just before Marcus stepped towards me and without giving me any prior warning, he lifted the hem of my shirt, causing me to scream. ‘‘Hey! What the hell?’’

‘‘You want to know if I'm telling the truth, do you?’’ He continued to lift the bottom of my shirt while asking the question, ‘‘Here’s the evidence. You have a scar here…’’

He pointed at my stomach but I smacked his hand away and looked down myself, and sure enough… there was a long scar running along the lower portion of my abdomen. I couldn't help but suppress a groan when I saw the scar because it looked so revolting. It had an elevated appearance and was crimson. I can't help but worry if this will still be visible for the next years.

‘‘That’s the scar from giving birth to our son through caesarean section…’’ he informed me, as he studied my reaction.

How did it happen? How did I marry this guy who used to bully me? Even the fact that I fell in love with him is a memory that eludes me.

‘‘No!’’ I abruptly shouted, which caused him to frown and move back a few steps. ‘‘This is not possible at all! Why would I want to marry someone like you? You have made every day of my life a living nightmare! You are the worst, Marcus Blakely! I will never, ever, under any circumstances, marry you, even if you are the last man on earth!’’

Marcus was stunned for a little period of time, and his eyes appeared to be penetrating me as he stepped closer and then touched my chin. ‘‘You already did, sweetheart…’’

‘‘No!’’ I snapped, slapping his hand away.

‘‘Wait right here... I’ll show you something.’’

And before I even had the chance to say anything, he had already turned on his heel and gone out of the bathroom.

I groaned as I slammed the door shut, and I made sure not to forget to lock it before I washed my face multiple times in an attempt to calm myself down.

Eventually, I decided to take a shower, after which I changed back into the clothes I had been wearing earlier and wrapped the bath towel around my head.

I waited in there for a long, thinking that Marcus really ought to have left by this point in time. On the other hand, I needed to talk to him. Really talk to him… find out what the heck was going on and what this whole thing was about…

But I wasn't prepared to face the reality just yet. What should I do at this point?

I heaved a sigh. If I didn't have this talk, I was going to lose my mind, so I had to force myself to do it despite how difficult it was for me.

I had a newfound determination, so I cautiously opened the door and peered outside to see if he was still in the room. When I didn't see him, I slowly stepped out of the bathroom and closed the door with a soft thud, but then I shrieked when I saw Marcus just come out of the walk-in closet holding a silk robe.

‘‘Here, you failed to bring this with you…’’ When he threw the silk robe at my face, I caught it while giving him the evil eye. ‘‘In addition to that, you need to check this...’’

He picked up a computer-like on the table but this one has no keyboard, and its screen was flat and was about 9 inches long. ‘‘This thing is called an ‘Ipad’…’’ he said when he saw the amazement in my eyes while looking at the gadget in his hand.

He began touching the screen in the same way that I did to the phone with an apple on the back, and then he showed me something in the file.

‘‘This is our marriage contract...,’’ he mumbled, and I squinted my eyes as I snatched the iPad from his grasp and began reading what was written on it.

‘‘You mean to say, we don’t really love each other?’’ I asked, not really sure about my question but why the hell we have this marriage contract if we’re a normal couple?

‘‘Yeah…’’ he nodded and I sighed in relief. ‘‘We were arranged by our parents to get married, and this agreement was drafted well in advance of the wedding…’’

It is, however, not surprising given that I will never, ever marry him!

I gave him a condescending look before starting to read the contract.

It was mentioned that we came to the decision to become a couple for a variety of personal reasons after reaching an agreement. During the course of the marriage, neither party is permitted to pry into the other's private life or get involved in their business. Because it was also indicated that both parties are financially self-sufficient with regard to property, I believe it will work out well for me.

What is mine will always be mine. And what is his will remains his.

And that enlightened me to the purpose of this legally binding document in the first place. According to what I can recall, my grandfather has two sons: my dad and my uncle, who was an illegitimate child but is still considered one of the family.

But because Grandpa loved Uncle more than he loved my dad, he wanted Uncle to run the business that our family owned. However, Grandma didn't think that was a good idea, so she gave the responsibility of running the family company to my dad, who was the legitimate son of the family.

It's possible that this was the reason why they set up a marriage between me and this jerkface here because, as far as I was aware… Blakely family comes from a rich and powerful family, and they had intended for them to help and support us through merging with their business to ours.

‘‘This is a fake marriage…’’ I mumbled and Marcus nodded again as he squinted his eyes at me, observing my reaction.

But how did we end up having a child? Why did I agree to have sex with him if we really don’t love each other?

This left me confused as I stared at him, the way he was staring at me.

If there is anyone who could possibly know me better, it would only be myself. I knew that I won't ever let anyone touch me if I don't have feelings for them, but what if I actually do have feelings for this person right in front of me?

Nah… Never! No way! I knew how much I despised him! So, never would I allow myself to have feelings for him!

‘‘Hey!’’ When I noticed that he was getting lost in his thoughts, I harshly poked his arm to grab his attention. ‘‘How did Kenny happen?’’

He let out a long, drawn-out sigh that was much more audible than it should have been, and then he looked at me for a bit before moving on. ‘‘It was... my fault…’’

‘‘What?’’ I asked while making a face. ‘‘What do you mean?’’

I never thought that him bullying me wasn’t the only offense that he committed against me, but also having a son accidentally? And the revelation of this additional information made my blood boil even more for him.

‘‘What happened?’’ I asked him again while clenching my teeth and shooting him a cold glare, my hands clutching the Ipad tightly.

‘‘I was drunk that night…’’ he started. I couldn't tell if he was innocent or guilty based on the expression on his face, which was blank. ‘‘And you were drunk too. We were both drunk that night…’’

Oh my God!

‘‘I'm sorry, Felicia...,’’ he said, and guilt was now visible on his face, and I couldn't believe what I was seeing and hearing. He apologized to me for what he had done.

I was taken aback when I learned that Kenny was made because we were both intoxicated, but what surprised me even more was the fact that Marcus is apologizing to me right now.

I opened my mouth to spew rudeness at him, but my eyes were drawn to his lips, and I saw something I hadn’t seen before.

His jawline had been sculpted to perfection. A hint of stubble sprouting on his chin, cheeks, and area above his lips, giving him the appearance of a five-o'clock shadow. The light blue in the color of his eyes. He radiated masculinity and strength and had a stern demeanor.

For the very first time, and possibly ever, I found him attractive. Incredibly captivating. I mean, I could see what the other girls who liked him saw in him.

I snorted and turned away from him with a condescending expression on my face as a reminder to myself that this person was an idiot. And I didn't like him at all. Even if he were to treat me kindly for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t still like him. And I wouldn’t find him attractive. Not really.

However, he did apologize to me… and I found it to be rather odd.