Chapter 76: Chapter 76

“Lovely to finally meet you. I have heard a lot about you. It is still amazing how Thomas has found himself a wise and beautiful lady.” An old man around James Walker’s age commented while sipping on his drink. He was introduced to her as Philip Brown. He had grey hair and a kind, comforting smile. She could not ignore how he said that in a bit mocking way. The surprising thing was that Thomas appeared smiling instead of offended. She gave a confused smile as she did not know how to respond to that. She was always awkward around strangers.

“Oh Philip, my old man.” He was about to throw himself on him but was pushed away jokingly.

“Shut it, Walker.” The man smiled, “See, he is like a child. That was why I am surprised how he could find a wise lady like you.” He said shaking his head at Thomas. At that moment, she saw Thomas steal a glance at her which she ignored—or at least pretended to ignore.

She did not say anything to Philip’s comment. She did not think of herself as the “wise lady” to which he had referred her as. But that was not what occupied her mind at that moment. What was Thomas’s behavior with the old guy? She found it surprising that he could act in such a chill way while he could also be an ass to her. Human beings were indeed difficult to understand.

“Don’t mind them dear. They are always like this.” His wife commented with a smile. She looked like a sweet lady.

She came to know by their conversation that he was an old friend of James Walker. He was also close to Thomas. It was surprising considering their age, but they joked around as two friends would. Thomas and she shared a table with a few other people--Philip and his wife, with a couple of guys from the company. They all gave her curious looks which made her a little uncomfortable.

They were busy chatting when James went to the stage and called Thomas to congratulate him and let him have his first speech as the new CEO. The way he walked to that stage screamed about his strong aura. There was no doubt that he was a charismatic person.

The held the mic in his hands with his confident smile and started talking. She could not make what he was saying as she was lost throughout his speech—lost in the way he moved his lips; or the way his eyes traveled to her a couple of times. She was not even aware when his eyes stopped on her. He was smiling expectantly.

But what was he expecting?

Looking around, she saw everyone looking at her with smiling faces. Some appeared as if they were waiting for her to do something. She felt so dumb.

Another look at Thomas cleared her confusion. He gestured for her to come to the stage. Hesitantly, she stood up trying not to trip on her gown. She started going toward the stage when he got down and offered his hand to her. She gave a brief look and saw him smiling down at her—yeah, smiling down because even the fact that she was wearing stilettoes did not make her reach his eyes.

She reluctantly put her hand on his as everyone was looking their way. Their CEO recently—well not so recently--tying the knot must have piqued everybody’s interest. He took her to the stage and made her stand beside himself. He put his right arm around her surprising her.

Since when was he this pretentious?

“Let me introduce you all to my lovely wife. This is Olivia Anderson, Mrs. Thomas James.” He said and gave her the most believable whipped look one could muster. She almost believed him herself.

She heard the applause the guests threw. She did not know why they were clapping. She looked away from his eyes as he almost seemed to woo her.

“Enjoy the dinner.” He said his last words before taking her down the stage the same way he had helped her up.

When they were on their way to the table, he stopped.

“Can we talk?” He asked her with his hand on her back. She slowly pushed his hand away.

“I am going to the bar. I want some space.” She said and without waiting for his answer, she scuttled away.

She could feel Thomas’s eyes on her as she left. She did not feel like being lovey-dovey. She had completely ignored Thomas while they were sitting at the table and on the stage. She could tell Thomas was not a fan of her behavior at that moment, but she did not feel like caring much.

She was not a fan of drinking, but she needed something in her system. The thing about her situation with Thomas was that she would have done her level best to go with the flow and put out the acting and all to show the world that they were a happy and in-love couple—if it was before he said all those hurtful things. Now, whenever she felt like pretending, she could not. All those words came back biting her back.

She was not this sensitive. When she was a stripper, she faced a lot of harassment, curse words, and hurtful words threw her way. She had been hurt and bullied in school when she was an outcast. Nothing hurt her as much as his words did. She was confused as to why it did. Why did his words hurt so much? And the accusing tone he used with her…

She sighed chucking another glass down. It was her fourth glass. She knew that if she did not stop, she would be completely wasted. However, she did not want to stop.

“Easy there.” She heard a voice and felt a presence beside her. She had quickly emptied another glass which must have been the reason behind that comment.

She did not look at the stranger. Her head started feeling heavy. They were almost halfway through the dinner, and she was on the brink of being wasted.

“I wonder what made a gorgeous girl like you have these many shots!” his voice sounded amused as he said that. She turned her head a little to glare at him, but her breath was caught in her throat the moment she did that.

He was…beautiful. She knew that the particular adjective is rarely used for a guy, but she did not know how else to define him.

He had the longest lashes she had seen on a man. They looked more flattering with his big green eyes. his brown hair was curly. His nose was sharp, and he had a sharp jawline. His smile showed the dimple.

‘God, why? Why did you give so much beauty to a guy? I should have been this pretty instead.” She moaned as he grabbed her head. She suddenly heard a chuckle.

“What do you mean? You are the most gorgeous girl I have ever seen.” She heard his comment which made her smile first and then she snapped her head toward him in shock.

‘Did I say that out loud?’ She thought.

“Yes.” He heard a hearty laugh. Even his laugh was beautiful. It was not like some guys who brought earthquake with their laugh. It was like a melody. His voice was nice.

Wait…that was not the point. The point was how he could read his thoughts. She was sure she did not say that out loud the second time, or did she?

She shook her head and diverted her attention to the drink. She poured herself another glass and was about to drink it when the beautiful guy beside her grabbed her wrist. She gave him a confusing look.

“I would advise against having any more drinks.” He said with his dimple-cladded smile. She wanted to listen to him just to see more of his killer smile, but she could not. She wanted to drink and drink until she did not make out where she was, and then she would not have to go through all that shit.

She removed his hand from her wrist. She did not want to stop. She wanted to feel like doing what she wanted to do without a pair of accusing eyes dictating her moves and hurtful words poured on her. Back at the mansion, she felt like she was always suffocated. Too many rules, restraints, and expectations from her when she was not even the actual bride.

She knew that she should have thought about all that before getting into the agreement. She did. She really did. However, she never expected that she would be in such a difficult situation when she could not even visit her mom or say that the person he was thinking of as responsible for his parent’s death was her father.

To top all that, Thomas had put her through a lot in the past months.

“Why are you crying, baby girl?” She felt his arms around her. Was she crying? She did not even know.

She was not aware of her surrounding anymore. The faint sound of the music had faded away. The chatter had vanished. She could not even feel Thomas’s eyes digging holes at her back.

Yes, she could feel it. It was weird, but she felt his eyes on her all the time.

“My head hurts.” She mumbled as she put her elbows on the counter to support her heavy head with her hands. She could still feel an arm wrapped around her, but she could not make out who the person was. She could not move her head to look at the person. It felt like she was spinning or the ground beneath her feet was.

“Are you okay? I hate seeing beautiful women cry.” She heard the previous voice. She wished he would shut up. She did not feel like listening to anyone.

“Shut upppp!” She said in a louder tone than she had been using with him. She was slurring although she was unaware of it. Yes, she was drunk. Yes, she had been entertaining the guy in her drunken state. But she did not want to talk anymore. She wanted to push away his arm, but even that felt like a difficult thing to do.

"Leave her alone!" She felt the roar in her stomach. Her stomach was already feeling weird.

Suddenly. the arm around her left her for which she was grateful. However, it did not feel like it had left on its own accord. She felt like it was forcefully removed. Whatever! She was just glad the person was not adding to the pounding of her head.

She felt some commotion, but she could not lift her head to look at what was happening. All she could hear were the last words before she dozed off, or was she unconscious?

The last words were spoken by a familiar voice.

"How dare you touch my wife?" She heard him say as he made a sound, apparently with his hand, apparently he had punched the stranger guy.

She did not even know she had smiled before losing consciousness.