Chapter 5

"Go ahead." Thinking of this, Sonia sighed in relief. She would do anything as long as his list of requests weren't asking too much of her.

"First, no affairs. You don't cheat on me. Second, you'll have to take care of me," he said seriously as his lips straightened into a thin line.

How dare he? The first condition didn't even make any sense! The second one was that he obviously intended to treat her like a slave. As they say, if one handed you lemons, you can just go and make lemonade. She shook her head at the thought.

But as long as she could win the bet against Fabian, then she could bear all of it. After all, it was only for two months.

"Fine, but you should also behave yourself. Don't take advantage of me," she warned him.

"I've seen every part of your body, and there is absolutely no part that I haven't touched. What else can I take advantage of?" he teased.

Sonia flushed, wishing that the ground beneath her could swallow her right up. She wanted to curse him into the oblivion as she turned and walked towards the bus stop.

When they were waiting for the bus to arrive, a woman walked up to them. "It's you two! What a coincidence!" she exclaimed.

Sonia furrowed her eyebrows, thinking that the woman must've mistaken her for some other person. "That day when you registered at the Civil Affairs Bureau, my husband and I were also registering at the same time." It seemed that the memory was still fresh in the woman's mind.

"Hello." Startled by the lady's sudden appearance, Sonia rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly.

The woman smiled and glanced at Daniel gently. "Handsome boy. You two really shocked us that day. The registration staff said that you two were drunk, so you can do it once you're sober, but you grabbed his collar and threatened him to approve it or else he'd disappear from the ends of the earth."

She laughed, turning to Sonia. "You're more powerful. You grabbed a paper knife from the desk and pointed it at your wrist saying that if you aren't going to be registered that day, then your blood will drench the office. We were so touched that we just had to tell the staff to serve you first."

Daniel coughed in embarrassment at the memory. It was better for him to not have remembered it at all.

Sonia's cheeks flushed.

'I'll want to marry the man over my dead body!

The last thing I want is to be married!'

When the bus arrived, she waved at the woman and dragged Daniel inside.

"It seems our separation is blocked yet again," he said with a faint smile.

Luckily, she didn't divorce him today, or else they would be the talk of the town.

As soon as they got back in the apartment, they began to fill each other's void.

They've said that when a man and a woman stay in the same room, they are either passionate or infatuated with one another.

Sonia was neither. The only man she had been infatuated over wasn't even in the room.

The next day, when she woke up, Daniel was already gone.

After getting along with him for a few days, she realized that she didn't like him very much. Not only was he incredibly picky, but he's rude and unpredictable. The only upside about him was that he was handsome.

As long as he had the looks, he could definitely get by even with his horrible attitude. She snorted at the thought.

After yoga, she went to the bathroom to take a shower. When she came out, Daniel had finally arrived, holding a cup of coffee in his hand.

The luminous moon replaced the bright sun in the sky.

The light in their room became a mix of silver and gold, looking as if God had descended in the midst of their household.

Daniel leaned against the handrail of the balcony, admiring the scenery above him. His eyes were similar to the brightest stars in the night sky, illuminating even the darkest of hearts.

The collar of his shirt was popped open, revealing his well-defined chest muscles.

Asshole!

She swallowed hard.

His eyes fell on her, and a sinister smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.

It was then when she realized that she was just wearing a bath towel. Her face flushed. She wanted to hurry into her room, but when she passed through the sofa, the bath towel got stuck around the corners and fell from her grasp. Her entire body was in display under his lustful gaze.

She quickly picked up the bath towel and wrapped it around herself. Her face was tomato red. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights. His eyes lit up almost immediately, looking like a kid whose Christmas present got in early. In the blink of an eye, he stood in front of her. She was so scared that she completely forgot to run away. She bowed her head and stepped back, wanting nothing more than to keep a safe distance from him.

However, every time she stepped back, he took another step forward. They continued doing this till he had her backed up in a corner.

"What– what are you doing?" she stuttered out, clutching her bath towel.

Daniel's strong arms blocked her from going left and right, locking her beneath him. He leaned in so close that she could almost hear his heart beating in his chest. "Did you do that on purpose?" he whispered, his breath fanning across her nose. His voice was hoarse and raspy as if he had just gone days without a cup of water. She inhaled sharply.

"Nonsense. Why would I do that to you?" she said hotly, but she still couldn't help but shrink under his lustful gaze. He raised his hand and let his fingers brush against her face like a light feather.

She should've just turned, ducked, and ran, but she didn't.

Her stillness gave him another dose of confidence as he leaned forward and kissed her on the lips.

Soon enough, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him. She froze under his grip, not knowing how to react.

In fact, she was so surprised that she couldn't even move.

He acted like a curious child exploring his own toy as his tongue prodded inside her mouth. She groaned slightly, which aroused him even more.

It was as if time had frozen around them.

He kept telling himself to stop, but he was too enamored by her taste and fragrance that he found himself leaning against her even more. A few seconds had passed, and he finally, reluctantly, decided to release her.

He stared at her affectionately, not even noticing the tenderness in his smoldering gaze. Sonia gasped in surprise. She felt as if she had just been force fed some alcohol given how much of a daze she was in. Finally snapping out of it, she gritted her teeth and slapped him hard right on the cheek. "Bastard!"

Half of his face had the imprints of her hand.

She was the first person who had the guts to slap him!

His dark eyes flashed. "I'll show you who the real bastard is," he snarled. Without another word, he lifted her up and carried her to the bed.

As her back hit the cushions, she struggled to sit back up, but his rough hands grabbed her towel and pulled it. The air wrapped around her naked body as if she was a long lost friend.

"No!" she screamed, clutching the pillow behind her to cover up her body. "If you touch me, I'll tell the police, and I'll sue you for molestation!"

"You're my wife. No one would care."

Shit!

"Look, I was wrong, okay? I–I'm sorry," she begged. Seeing as he was so fired up from the slap she had just given him, she decided to ask for mercy. She closed her eyes, readying herself for the beating. Tears slid down her cheeks, wetting the cushion below her.

Daniel's heart twitched. He glanced at her plump lips and wet face. All of a sudden, his anger was gone. Instead, it was replaced with tenderness and guilt.

He took a deep breath and slowly approached her.

When she heard the footsteps, she tightened her grip on the pillow and raised her head, as if preparing herself for the hit.

Daniel's lips quivered at the sight. He raised his hand, flicked her gently on the forehead, and walked out without a word.

He decided to let her go for now.

Hearing the retreating footsteps, she opened her eyes and sighed in relief. She was safe.

He had gone into the shower. Not bothering to wait for him to come out, she grabbed her bath towel and ran into her room.

For the whole night, she didn't dare fall asleep. Her eyes were fixed at the doorframe. The day before yesterday, when she accidentally locked the door, he easily opened it with his credit card. Seeing as the lock didn't stop him, what would stop him now?

She glanced around the room and an idea came to her.

She jumped off the bed to push the large wardrobe behind the door before pushing the bookshelf to grant some extra support.

Thinking back to his strong muscles, she moved the sofa for a third level of protection.

Seeing as she was safe, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. She just hoped that a disaster wouldn't hit her that night, because she might have nowhere else to go.