Bargain Bride: The Billionaire’s Forced Wife

MONIKA WAS GETTING READY to end her day when she received an email. The email of the sender isn’t familiar, so she chose to ignore it and closed her laptop afterwards, thinking that the email must not be urgent.

She walked towards the balcony of her room, inhaling a full hand of fresh air from the cold night. With a warm tea that help her sleep on her hand, Monika looked around the estate, reminiscing some memories from the past.

“Mi vida,” the baritone voice of the 27-year-old Ariti echoed in 25-year-old Monika’s ears.

She felt his warm lips kissed her nape, a delicate and sensitive part of her skin that Ariti loves. Monika turned around to face him.

A handsome man, with chiseled jaw, hazel eyes, and aristocratic nose, greeted her eyes. His face is really a sight to behold, and Monika wouldn’t mind seeing this face for the rest of her life, greeting her every morning once she opened her eyes.

“Amore mio,” she spoke before giving him a playful kiss on the lips. “Why didn’t you tell me you will visit?” she looked down at her clothing and pouted. “Look at me. I look like a bum.”

Ariti chuckled, which is enough to make Monika’s knees wobble. His palm touched her nape and pulled her closer to him. Their foreheads touched and she can smell his minty breath against her nose.

“You will still look like a queen to me even if you’re wearing old clothes with holes,” his nose moved to play with hers.

Monika pouted at his statement, then she remembered something. “Why are you here?” she asked because her boyfriend just popped up out of nowhere in her family’s house.

“Can’t I visit my girlfriend?” he asked with a sulking tone. “Don’t you miss me?”

She laughee at how fast Ariti sulk. Just a few words from her is enough to change his emotion and mood. Her hands went up to his neck and locked him in.

“I missed you, of course,” she replied, wooing him. “I’m just wondering because you’ve been busy these past few days. I thought you have a lot of things to do,” Monika explained herself.

Ariti’s eyes twinkled at her. “I was busy because I was preparing something for you, mi vida,” he answered with a huge smile in his face, as if he is excited to say something.

“Come with me, and I’ll show you something,” he added before pulling her towards the gate of her family’s mansion.

“Wait! Wait!” Monika exclaimed while pulling herself. Ariti looked at her with furrowed eyes brows. “I need to change first. I don’t want to look like I just woke up.”

With that, they ran upstairs towards Monika’s room. Since Monika’s parents were strict, Ariti had to wait outside her room. After a few minutes, they flew outside to go to the place that Ariti wanted to show to his beloved.

The car stopped outside a huge gate, and it looked like they will enter another house. Someone opened the gate for them before Ariti parked the car inside.

He gently pulled his girlfriend out of the car. Monika was greeted by a huge house, maybe a mansion because of its size. She looked around and saw that the front yard is a garden, filled with flowers, but mostly lilies.

It was still afternoon, and Ariti toured his girlfriend inside the mansion. He explained every part of it, together with what materials those parts were made. The mansion is so huge that it was already nighttime when they finished.

“Let’s go to the backyard, mi vida,” Ariti told her which she happily agreed to. Her feet were aching because of hours of walking inside the mansion, and her boyfriend just finished massaging it to ease to pain.

Her lips opened in awe upon seeing the changes in the frontyard. When they arrived and toured it, the frontyard just had a garden and a fountain.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

But now, a small pergola is seated just behind the fountain. Yellow-ish lights covered the top and columns of the pergola, with white and black curtains covering every side of it.

Leaves and flowers in red color were used as a decoration on the side of the pergola, and hanging vines were on top. The vines also have lights on them, lighting up the place.

In the middle of the pergola is a wooden table with white and red fabric. It has a vase with Monika’s favorite lilies in the middle, two candles lit the table up. Two chairs on opposite sides of the table were resting.

The whole place spoke romance. Monika knew that Ariti is a romantic man, but he never did something like this. Their previous dates were almost eating out and visiting other places.

“Do you like it, mi vida?” Ariti asked before kissing her nape once again. Her bob cut hair gave him a lot of access to his favorite spot.

With teary eyes, Monika looked at him. “I don’t like it,” she replied that almost madr Ariti’s heart fall. “I love it!”

She jumped into him with joy. Ariti caught her mid-air and hugged her back. Monika planted several kisses on his face before resting her feet on the ground. She pulled him towards the table.

The couple shared their dinner that day. Both of them were filled of happiness, delight, and love while looking into each other’s eyes. They cherished that moment – a new part of their core memory.

After a few minutes, Ariti invited Monika to walk around the frontyard. Monika was admiring the lilies and the beauty of the garden when Ariti suddenly kneeled down on one knee.

“Amore mio, what are you doing?” she asked with confusion.

Suddenly, Ariti reached for something from his pocket. He grabbed for a small, maroon, and square box, and it revealed a golden ring with a huge diamond on top. The parts around the golden ring is also filled with small diamond.

“Mi vida,” Ariti called for her. “You’re the woman I value the most. You’re my life, my light. You’re the reason I wake up and survive everyday. I don’t want you to snatch by anyone,” he chuckled at his own words. “I want to spend my life with you. I want to build a family with you. I want you to bear my children. I want to take care of you everyday, until we got older and weaker. Will you marry me?”

Tears fell from Monika’s eyes as she stared between her boyfriend and the ring. He doesn’t know how long Monika waited for him to pop the question.

Without hesitation, she answered him. “Yes! Yes! I will marry you!”

Ariti slid the ring in her finger, his hands were even shaking because he can’t believe that the woman he loves agreed to spent her life with him.

When he stood up, he immediately attacked her with hugs and kisses, showing her how happy he is now that they are going to be married.

“I spent years to build this house,” he spoke lovingly to her. “We will build our family here. Our children will grow up in this place,” he looked at her before kissing her lips. “This place will be the witness of our love.”

Monika went back to the present as she felt herself suffocating and a sound of breaking glass echoed. She didn’t notice that she had been crying for minutes. The tears blocked her airways, making it difficult for her to breath.

The shattered cup of tea fell on the ground. Some of its parts hit her feet, but she mind the pain. Instead, she bent down to pick up the pieces of glass and threw them to the trash.

In a dark and cold night, Monika was alone. It was very far from before. When Ariti was still around, the mansion is lively. There is no time where she felt lonely.

But since he passed away, Monika saw how the place shifted. She felt alone even if she has workers around. The presence of her beloved bursted up like a bubble.

She didn’t went back to her family’s mansion, and chose to stay in the house that Ariti gifted to her. Even when she got married to the man she doesn’t want, she chose to stay in the place that reminds her of Ariti.

Monika cleaned her wounds alone. She cried upon remembering how gentle and caring Ariti was when cleaning her wound before. He doesn’t even let her get any scratches, not even wounds.

Everyday in her life, Monika cannot help but to compare every events from how they were before when Ariti was still alive.

In her sleep, Monika can see her beloved jump from the cliff. Everytime she will try to save him and pull him up, someone’s hands will push Ariti towards his death.

Just like before, Monika woke up in the middle of the night, sweaty and heaving, while shouting Ariti’s name. Her hand reaching for something that’s not there.

She stood up to drink water. She cannot sleep anymore. This is her body’s system everyday. She will sleep, and once she dreamt of Ariti’s death, she will wake up, and she won’t be able to sleep again.

Monika decided to open her laptop to finish some works in the company. It is her past time. It made her forget the pain for losing the man he loved the most.

As she opened the email, the email she received from last night emerged. Now that her mind is clear, she read the subject of her email.

Her hands tremble, contemplating whether to open the email or not. Just the subject line of the email is enough to make her heart raise.

“Ariti Gomez didn’t kill himself,” the subject line from anonymous email stated.