"Don't get worked up, dear wife. It was a mutual agreement." The man said, his voice was calm and collected. And he was sounding persuasive.
"Will just stop addressing me as your wife? It is nauseating. And what mutual agreement is that?" Bella snapped at him. She was panting heavily as she was so worked up. The man heaved a sigh then spoke up.
"Let me tell you..." He wanted to volunteer to remind Bella of what the game was about but she stopped him sharply, with a raise of her hand.
"You don't have to. I am remembering, oh no..." Bella muttered more to herself as another whirlwind of memories hit her like a tidal wave. Her head throbbed terribly.
*FLASHBACK*
"Listen carefully. Here is the instruction; if you are able to answer the three questions I am going to ask you, I will marry you. But if you can't, I will make you eat all the foods and drink every single drop of alcohol on this table." The strange, attractive man proposed.
"No, girl. If I were you, I would just answer the questions correctly because... That's a whole lot." Emily stated as she looked and pointed at the table that was filled up completely with variety of foods and drinks.
Mara and Audrey supported that and cheered Bella up. All of them were drunk and were irrational.
"Of course. Your bestie is an intelligent woman, have you forgotten that, Em?" Bella slurred and chuckled.
"Good. Let's get right to it." The man had said.
A few minutes later, they were done with the question and answer section.
"Now, I have no choice but to marry you, my intelligent lady." The man announced and in a twinkle of an eye, he had pulled out a ring box from his chest pocket.
The women screamed in excitement.
"Our man came prepared!" They said jubilantly.
Bella smiled in awe. As the man held out the ring to her, her befuddled mind was making it seem like it was Dylan, her fiance who she was getting married to, in few days, that was holding out the ring.
"I will marry you, sweetheart." She said loudly and the man put the ring on her finger in one smooth move. She collected the other ring and put it on the man's finger too.
*END OF FLASHBACK*
"We were just fooling around, we were all drunk." Bella yelled at the man angrily.
She gripped her hair in frustration and huffed in annoyance, wondering how a silly game was becoming something else. Something dreadful.
"Well, I wasn't fooling around neither was I drunk. We are married, my beloved Bella." The man said to her with a relaxed smile and her heart sank.
"How did you know my name?" She asked, gritting her teeth. She could remember they didn't do any introduction that night.
"I have my ways, babygirl. You are my wife now." He maintained, she shook her head in disbelief.
"You better stop this tomfoolery right now. I am not your wife, as a matter of fact, I am getting married soon. I came to this city for bachelorette party." She told him, firmly, believing the revelation would change everything but she was wrong.
"Well, as it is now there won't be any need for that marriage. You're already married. To me." He said, laying emphasis on his last sentence.
"You are kidding me right?" She blurted out, glaring at him.
"I'm afraid I am not. This marriage is real and you can't even dissolve it without my consent. And just so you know, I am not ready to let go of my newly wedded wife." He said, a lazy smile playing at his lips. Bella was flabbergasted. She didn't know how he could be acting that calm and relaxed when she was boiling inside.
"Not when we have even consummated the marriage. You can't tell me you have forgotten about the exquisite fun we had at midnight." He added, jolting her memory of that moment.
Bella could remember how their warm bodies had been enjoined as they explored each other's body. It was a hot and passionate moment. She closed her eyes regretfully.
"I have made a terrible mistake. I shouldn't have allowed myself to get that drunk." Bella sobbed inwardly. She regretted every bit of her actions as she remembered Dylan.
"That was just a stupid mistake." She protested, her voice low and persuading, as she reopened her eyes.
"Getting married to you will never be a mistake for me. It is one of the great things I have ever done in my life." The man insisted, sounding genuine but Bella had no time to assess his tone.
"You don't know what you are saying..." Bella was saying furiously but her phone started ringing and that cut her short.
She quickly grabbed her phone from inside her purse. The caller was Emily.
"Where are you? Our flight is in an hour." Emily's voice said hurriedly from the other end, immediately Bella accepted the call.
"Oh, right. The flight!" Bella said to herself and quickly hung up without bothering to reply Emily.
Frantically, she grabbed her discarded clothes and hurried into the bathroom to get dressed.
"Hey, what's going on?" The man inquired but got no response. Few seconds later, Bella walked out of the bathroom, fully dressed. Without saying another word to the man who was still on the bed, she grabbed her purse and wanted to walk out of the room.
"You can't just leave..." The man was saying but she didn't let him finish his sentence.
"You can't make me stay." She snapped at him, looking at him briefly over her shoulder. Then she started walking to the door.
"You don't know what you have gotten into, woman. You are my wife and you won't get married to anyone else. You are mine alone." The man spoke up, his voice rising for the first time since they started the conversation.
His sharp voice sent a shiver down Bella's spine and she knew he wasn't joking around.