Chapter 2.
THE CONTRACT
Present day…
(One hour later in Ammon's house)...
"Here, sign this," he pointed at the line that was meant to be signed, "It's a marriage proposal, contract to be exact, seeing that I saved your face out there in public and we need definite proof that we are really married," Ammon said as he calmly took off his tie. He was internally seething in rage of the earlier event of the day.
"What contract? What marriage? My life is already in chaos, and I'll like to leave it that way so I can try to fix it," Marie replied stubbornly, pushing the document away from her field of vision. "I'll just have to apologize to everyone, including the company and the press. They will forgive me,"
"Heh," Ammon let out a light chuckle, his annoyance growing by the second, and he started unbuttoning his shirt, turning away from her. He started analyzing the situation.
"They will forgive you? Are you that dense? Don't you even have the faintest idea of the extent of your actions?" his voice was unfathomably cold.
Marie stared at him in confusion, seated on his bed, she crossed her legs together, clasping her hands firmly over them, "Fill me in, then."
Ammon turned to face her again, the glow of the evening sun on his face made him look so ethereal that caught Marie's breath when she looked at him.
He quickly drew a chair close to Marie, too close for her comfort as she started feeling heat rising in certain parts if her body.
"Why are struggling to get away from me? Does my proximity affect you that much?" He teased her slowly, a light smile on his face, his voice rich and smooth like the texture of a melted chocolate butter, "You get to see this beautiful view of me for free and you're stepping away?"
His eyes slowly caressed her body, and with a yank, he had her sitting across his laps, the way he always liked her.
He snaked an arm round her waist and whispered into her ears, "Sweetheart,"
Marie could feel her heart pounding erratically. She could deny all she want but she missed this position. When he whispered the word sweetheart into her ears, she could feel the shivers run down her spine.
"Marie," he whispered into her ears again and started slowly, "If you went to the press for forgiveness, you would get beaten up and humiliated every single day of your life."
Ammon finished that sentence with a smirk and carefully lifted her off him before stepping away from her to stow away his shirt and suit.
"What do you mean by what you said?" Marie inquired as she let out a shaky breath from how intense Ammon could get.
But now, she was curious about Ammon's deductions. She hated to admit it, but he was ninety-eight percent right most of the time.
Why would she get beaten? She was surely not the only person who had had temper tantrums on live tv, if that was what it was even called these days. She shook her head and stared at Ammon, waiting for an explanation.
"First of all," He started, strolling into his huge walk-in closet, with Marie close by. "First of all, I hope you know that despite your apology, the company would fire you and have you blacklisted," he stared at her to make sure he got his message across.
Satisfied by the horrified look on her face, he continued, "When the company blacklists you, no one, not even our rival companies would want to hire you for anything or any business."
Ammon casually selected his house wears from his range of collections as he went on, "Now, that would be bad on you, wouldn't it? Especially now I hear that you owe the company so much that selling your house, cars, stocks and shares, cannot redeem it. Plus, you have two dependants on you," he said with a small frown on his face, "Two children!" He suddenly spat out fiercely.
"I mean, if that was one of the reasons why we broke up, you could have just said that instead of lying to me every single time!" Ammon's voice was beginning to rise as each words escaped his lips.
Marie was surprised at how fast things had escalated, "Are we about to have this conversation? I told you I had problems I needed to solve, Ammon,"
"And that right there," he turned to face her, the evidence of anger clearly written on his face. It was scary. "That right there is the problem I have with you. You are always having problems, I get it, everyone does. But you always feel the need to solve it yourself!"
"If I don't do it myself, who will?" she asked him slowly.
"That's what you're always saying. The more you solve them, the more they keep piling up, the more you shut people out. Now, I'm beginning to think that these problems don't even exist!"
These words were the height of it. Her eyes stung with tears that threatened to spill, but she tried her best to hold it in as Ammon went on ranting.
Let him get all his feelings out, she told herself.
"Even if you had kids outside, Marie, I would still have loved you so much, and you know what it means when I say these things. I will never take you for granted no matter what, but you keep using these problems to push people away,"
He paused and took a deep breath before he continued, "Do you even have friends? People that could be your support system? Hell, do you even have anyone by your side? I honestly doubt it. Why? That's because you push everyone away every single time!"
Ammon was breathing hard when he finished his statement, "I want to help you for goodness sake, Marie. Accept help for once in your life!"
The tears were already streaming down Marie's eyes. She couldn't hold it in no matter how much she tried. She was bawling her eyes out before she knew it, she located the nearest bathroom and locked herself in.
How dare he say that? How dare he say that? He was the one who cheated on her! He was the one who left her! How dare he? She kept on chanting in her head.
Ammon, who was on the other side of the door, had calmed down after realizing the damage his words had done to her.
He didn't know what to say and just rested his head on the door frame. He was supposed to hate her with every fiber of his being, but why did he still want her to depend on him?
Ammon sighed slightly and knocked on the door. "Marie," he said calmly "Let's just get this over with and go on with our lives."
"I stand to gain a lot from this contract," Marie suddenly said softly after a few minutes of silence. "What are you going to gain from it?"
"Nothing!" he said almost immediately without thinking.
But that was a lie… He had a motive for this marriage.
He had tried wracking his brains to come up with a situation to get her to marry him since he came back, and he had found no opportunity. Her outburst on the live broadcast was the best opportunity to bring up this proposal.
It was selfish of him, but he really needed this marriage to happen…