KAMILA. I glanced up at the man sitting across from me in the dinning room. He was chewing eggs, a phone in his hand, a frown of concentration on his face. I blinked down at my meal then looked up at his face. I cleared my throat loudly, hoping that would get his attention, but he went on typing scrolling with one hand and handling the fork with the other hand. "Is everything okay?" I finally asked but all I got was silence from him. He was still staring at his phone screen. "Bryan?" He still didn't respond, I glared at him. "Bryan!" He looked up sharply, and our eyes met for a second, then he relaxed. "Hi." I chuckled dryly. Hi? That's what he's gonna say? "You are not taking your breakfast anymore, you keep staring at your phone and you are not even responding to anything from me." I complained. He sighed, taking a break from his phone to eat a little. "But I answered my name, yeah?" "After I called you the second time." I let him know with a firm tone. "Yeah, I was just...." He glanced back at his phone and more annoyance starting seeping through me. He tapped on it a few times, and continued talking. "I was just trying to fix something and....." His brows creased roughly. "I need to go." With that he rose up quickly from his seat. "You are leaving already?" I asked to confirm. "Yeah." He replied fastly without looking at me as he tried to do something on his phone. "You are leaving me alone" I murmured. "Again" He didn't even say anything to that. Maybe he didn't hear that part. I walked to him, stood in front of him and like something he was expecting, he waited for me to do my 'wifely things'. I adjusted his tie, his suit jacket, handed him his briefcase and he nodded. A nod. No peck, no thank you, no joke. And he's my husband. He was standing in front of me and I said to him. "Bye" He nodded again. "Have fun at work" I tried again, my gaze trying to check his gray eyes. Bryan nodded again without even looking at me this time. His face was already set towards the exit door. I smiled bitterly. Why was I even expecting him to say something, or hold me or kiss me? Why? I am his wife, the woman he married and all I get is a nod. A nod. He walked towards the door, his strides quick, sharp and confident and his hand holding his briefcase firmly. I took few steps forward, watching his hard back flex under his black formal jacket, his shoulders broad and stiff. I knew I could admire him like this all day even though he wouldn't talk to me when I needed him to. He finally left the room. He didn't bother taking a single glance back at me. Ladies and gentlemen, that's the kind of marriage life I'm in. And I'm done with it. *** Four weeks later, I was still in the marriage, but that was because I was planning something. When my husband came back from his company, looking tired, I felt that familiar sympathy for him, running through my emotions again. I collected his briefcase as usual and smiled a little. "I already made dinner" I announced unnecessarily because it was usual of me to make dinners for him. Urgh! Can't believe I actually made dinner again after how he treated me this morning. It was just like every other mornings, in fact it was worse than four weeks ago. The silence and the coldness in those gray eyes were worse. Yet, I was still a good wife. And a fool, because I was about to give him another smile again but something on his white shirt caught my attention. It was like a stain, pinkish red, and not too obvious until you squint and look closer. "What's that?" I pointed to it, around his collar. "And this?" I pointed to another one around his shirt button. He didn't even look at it. "Nothing" he replied tiredly and started to turn to the staircase slowly. I was supposed to follow him, but I was already breathing harshly, my whole face turning hot red. "Come back here, Bryan." I commanded and he paused. "What?" He wanted to confirm if he heard right. If the wife who doesn't talk is suddenly commanding him. "We need to talk." "Maybe later. And besides if you need anything you can talk to Connor." "You want your wife to tell your P.A about what she needs?" I asked, trying all my best not to yell. "Are you forgetting that P.A is not the same as husband?" "I know but...." "Did you forgot you are my husband?" He wanted to speak but he sighed and stopped himself, like speaking at least twenty words to me in a day was a taboo. "Talk to my P.A or just take anything you need. And yes I'm your husband. Fake husband." My head rang the loudest bell I've ever heard my whole life as he stated the last two words coldly. Fake husband. Wow. Of course I knew this was a marriage of convenience, a deal and even at that, I thought we would actually act like real husband and wife, at least to some extent, but look at us, we're like total strangers and it's so obvious one of us wants nothing to do with the other. He just wants to be husband on paper, and he wants the other to be a reserved wife in the house. "I'm done with this." I announced and watched his reaction to my words and I saw that what I said didn't stop him from turning around to leave. I chuckled. "I'm done with this marriage" I said a longer sentence to make him understand what I was really talking and with the way he halted on his track, I think he got the full words. "What are you talking about?" His voice ran deep into my mind. I think I'll actually miss that even though I rarely hear him use his voice in the house. "Let's get divorced." I said the words out boldly with my heart beating fast.

KAMILA. Slowly, Bryan turned himself around to face me and for the first time in this marriage, he took his time to stare at my face. He didn't even give me this much attention on our wedding night. "You want a divorce?" He asked carefully, his intense gray eyes fixed on my face. "I'll hand the divorce papers over to you and you'll sign and we'll have nothing to do with each other" I said, maintaining that boldness. For the first time, he wore an actual puzzled expression he didn't try to hide. "Why?" That question got me bursting out in laughter. "Why? Are you seriously asking why I want us to get divorced?" "Yes. Yes I am. This is so...." "Unexpected?" I finished for him. He sighed. "Do you....do you want something? You know I'll do it for you." That was funny coming from him. It kinda sounded sincere in a way, but he would never be able to give me what I actually want because he can't just do it. He can't give me his attention, his emotions, his time. He just can't and I'm already making peace with that by leaving the cage he created for me. "I don't want anything from you anymore." He looked taken aback by my response. "Kamila...." He called my name for the first time in....I don't know. "Did I do something wrong?" He asked with furrowed brows. I laughed quietly. "You've never done anything right since we got married." I replied. "What?" His brows creased more. "I've been keeping to my side of the deal. I mean, I've always allowed you have your freedom, I let you spend as you like...." "I don't even touch your money that much." I said, cutting him off then added a scoff. "That's because you don't want to. I always make sure money is never the problem." "But your time was the problem." I stated when I couldn't hold it in. "You think everything is about money, and yeah, you also think it's okay to be with other girls when you have a wife at home." "I told you you could do your thing too" He defended quickly, his muscular arms spread out in gesticulation. "This is a fake marriage. We shouldn't have to act like it's a real one, we had that conversation from the start before we actually got married, didn't we?" "Yes, but you didn't tell me it would be like this!" I cried out. "You made a housewife nobody knows about, you just kept me at home to punish me...." "What? I wasn't punishing you...." "Yet you never touched me for once in this marriage!" I choked out shamelessly. "Not. Even. Once" I showed up one finger on my left. "I...." He spread one hand. He didn't really look comfortable with where the argument led to, but he regained his composure back quickly. "Was I supposed to touch you?" His deep, husky voice asking that question sent a weird sensation to my stomach. "You are my husband." I reminded him softly. He blinked, processing that part of the conversation. "Yeah, yeah I am, but.... We were supposed to just be normal people in the house. We talked about this, right?" I threw my face away, and sucked in a breath. "Why exactly did you marry me again?" I looked at him. "You know why, right?" He shrugged his huge shoulders lightly. "My father wanted me to marry someone else and I didn't want to cause I can't and to piss him off, I had to just marry you." He married me to piss of his father and I married him because I liked him, I found him attractive and stable. I didn't want a husband that wasn't all fine, confident, or hardworking . So when Bryan came to the highschool I taught in for one of his event of public figure appearance thing, and I saw how he showed interest in me and made it known, and he showed me to the world, took me out on dates and made his intentions clear, he was straightforward and honest, I felt he was good. The good man that will make a good husband. I've had some men come to me for a relationship, but Bryan Preston was different, and now he showed that he was really different. Cruelly different. I nodded. "We are definitely getting that divorce." "Wh...what? Because of sex?" He said bluntly, going back to what I said about how he hadn't touched me, and I wouldn't lie that his bluntness had my face heating up fast. "Are you that sex starved?" "At least I'm not the one cheating on his wife after making her invisible." "No don't talk like that, it's not...." "We are getting that divorce, Mr Preston." I said quickly. "I mean you already did a great job pissing off your father, congratulations. Let's end this marriage ASAP" "But we had a deal, right?" He reminded me. "And I'm ending the deal, we are tearing up every damn thing that binds us together." "You....you can't just end this marriage, Kamila. It was supposed to be a five year marriage and this is just one year." I chortled. One year that feels like ten years prison already. "We had a plan about this whole thing, you remember that?" He asked me hopefully. "Remembering shit doesn't change anything." "Kamila" he called my name out slowly, his gray eyes staring intently at me and I knew why. He has never heard me curse like that. "What?!" I snapped. "You already achieved your aim, now I need to leave. Sign the divorce papers, and oh, I don't want this house." He stared at me. "Kamila, I didn't just marry you because of my father" I pressed my lips. "I hate liars" I grumbled under my harsh breath. "I married you also because you are the kind of wife I need" "The moron type of wife" "Come on, not like that. Having a wife at this period is necessary for my figure, and it's just essential for someone one like me, I knew that and found a good one, which is you." He thinks I'm a good wife. He thinks I'm good because I've been gentle and allowing him have his way. "Okay." I smiled sweetly. "But we are still getting that divorce." My face turned hard and I walked some feet away from him but he grabbed my arm fast. "Come on, Kamila" He drew me back. Damn, he's strong. And warm. "Don't leave this marriage. Divorce is not good for me at this moment." Selfish son of a bitch. He wants to get so much benefits in this marriage without thinking about how I feel. "Look, we still have four years to go..." "We don't!" I spat. One part of his jaw clenched and unclenched. "I have an idea" "Not interested." That's a lie, I'm very, very curious to know. He continued anyways. "I'll let you leave, but you won't leave this marriage." I frowned. "That doesn't even make sense." "It does" he argued. "You can leave this house if you want and you'll get your freedom else where while you remain my wife." I tilted my head slightly. That is actually beginning to make sense. "After five months, you come back." "No" "What?" "I'm not coming back" I said stubbornly. "You have to." His voice was firmer and more stubborn. I gave him a dry look. "Then why let me leave in the first place?" "To give you more freedom..." I scoffed, rolling my eyes. He went on. "Explore the world, discover more things, and by the time you come back, you would have found something interesting that would keep you busy and happy in the marriage with or without me." I folded my arms across my chest. "I can't explore the world with my own money or personal things while I'm still married to you." "That's not a problem. I'll still give you anything you want" He said without hesitation. "But if we were getting divorced, I might be getting much more money, right?" The question just came out. "You said you didn't want anything." "No. I said I didn't want this house. That's because I want the Green Mansion Estate," I said intentionally cause I know how much he loves that mansion. "Hell no." He hoarsed out. "Not my Green Mansion" I rolled my eyes sassily. "That's not even all" I said. "I want at least a hundred and fifty million dollars too" His jaw dropped for a full five seconds. "And you said 'at least'?!" "Yeah" I shrugged. He blinked, then cleared his throat. "Well thank God we're not getting divorced. At least not now anyways." He said. "Just go out as you want and come back five months after." "Five months is too short" Can't believe I'm considering this. "Five months is okay." He disagreed. "Then get ready to lose your green mansion sooner than expected." At the mention of his his green mansion, a big scowl covered his face, and even though I wasn't as huge and intimidating as he was, I gave him a bigger scowl right back. "Fine!" He snarled, his intense gray eyes burning down on me. "Let's go five months, two weeks." I lifted my lips slightly in annoyance and his serious eyes went to my lips, then my eyes. "Just make it six months." I said. He hesitated. "Six months...." "It's not like you're going to miss me or anything," I said sassily. "So it shouldn't be that difficult for you. And yes, I'm still having that green mansion." "But you said...." "I'll only have that mansion for six months, geez, relax you don't have to be so stingy." I shrugged indifferently. "But if you're not okay with me having the mansion, we can just get divorced, that way, I'll still have it." His jaw clenched hard but who cares? Definitely not me. Not like he cares about my feelings too. "Okay. Okay. Fine" he finally agreed and a small victorious smile stretched my lips. I didn't expect the conversation to turn out to be this way, but I love this one. It just makes this whole thing better for me and he doesn't even know it. He doesn't know what I have on my mind, what I plan to do during and after that six months. He thinks he has won, right? Oh my dear husband.... he's so clueless I wanna laugh again. I turned my back to leave, ready to walk out on him which RARELY happens. He caught my arm before I could disappear and pulled me back to him. "What do you want, Mr Preston?" He peered down at me, his gray eyes coming down to my lips. "A kiss." I frowned in confusion. "A.... kiss." "Something to at least remember me by while you're gone." A chuckle escaped. This man did even not kiss me like a husband should on our wedding day, now he wants to do it because I'm leaving so I can have 'something to remember him by.' "You are one cocky piece of shit" I cursed and slapped him hard across his stupidly perfect face. I didn't wait for anything. I turned away quickly and stomped out of the living room. If he thought I was still being gentle for him, playing with him, then that slap should let him know that playtime... is now fucking over.

KAMILA. When I said playtime is fucking over, I meant that....okay I don't even know if I really mean that now because for six months, I haven't really explored the world like I was supposed to. I stayed at the green mansion all alone for a while, then I moved out to another apartment which I got with my husband's money. The thought that I was spending his money was making me giggle, then frown angrily next because I wasn't spending much like I was supposed to. "Urgh!!!" I groaned out loud. My cousin, Janet gave me a side eye. "You miss your husband that much?" I smiled at her. "Oh yes" Oh God forbid. I rolled my eyes mentally. God forbid I miss that arrogant piece of little shit. "He must miss you too." She said and I almost threw up right there before stepping into the elevator majestically so I don't have to say anything to that absurd comment of hers. "You know after he's given you that much time to find your talents." I bit my lip. "Talents" I remembered that was what I told my cousin so it doesn't seem weird that my husband and I were living in separate spaces. And she believed every single thing that came out of my mouth, I don't know how she could just.... believe me. "I was exploring to find talents." I said to continue our conversation. Janet nodded supportively. "So did you explore well?" I cleared my throat. "I explored the whole damn world." I didn't even explore one quarter of the whole damn world, like literally. Janet grinned at me and I cleared my throat again. "This hotel is so nice!" She gushed, unintentionally changing the topic. "And so freaking expensive." "Of course it is. And that's why I chose it" I said, smirking with satisfaction. Janet sighed. "Kamila," she turned her head at me. "You said you'd keep spending your husband's money cause he wanted you to, but then again, I think you should go a little slow." "Go slow?" I laughed. Did he go slow when he was punishing me with his stupid silence? "He wanted me to spend his money, and that's what I'm doing. I mean he's so rich he won't even notice" I meant that. Bryan Preston wanted his money spent, I was doing that, and I was still not doing much. "Your husband is a nice man" I wanna throw up now. I reallllyyyy wanna throw up. "And you, Kamila, are so evil" she added in a mumble. I thought about what she said and shook my head slowly. "I'm not that evil, Janet" I disagreed with her. "At least not when my dearest husband is involved" I whispered under my breath. I think Janet didn't hear that part, but I think the man in question did hear me cause tell me why the elevator door would open and he would be the one stepping in. I swear, for one freaking second, I almost stopped breathing. Like totally. He came in with a man, who I recognize as his assistant but after a glance at the other guy, I returned my focus to the son of a bitch who has not ceased to piss me off with his stupid arrogant appearance. Urghhhh!!! I adjusted the dark shades I was wearing and was thankful that I was unseen, so unrecognizable in them. Bryan had not spared me a single peek, he had just walked into the elevator, taking the whole damn space like he owned it. What the fuck? I looked at the back of his head and just had to suppress the urge to hit his empty brain with my angry fist. I looked away and saw Janet, her huge eyes were widened. Great. She recognized Bryan but he doesn't even see us. He is that haughty. Janet looked at me, then back at him again before clearing her throat. I expected Bryan to say something, but he didn't even give me a glance which could mean that he still hadn't noticed it was me and my cousin standing behind him, and that could also mean that my dark shades was still doing a very good job in hiding my face. Janet tapped me with her fist insistently and I tapped her back. "Isn't that your husband?" She whispered urgently. "I think so" I murmured and she gave me another wide look with arched brows. I ignored that and looked at the man in front of me. His posture was straight, confident and so fucking arrogant it was taking everything in me not to push him over the ground. I saw the length of his hair, I saw it had grown longer, fuller and a little darker in colour. What the hell is he even doing here? It's not possible he's here to take me home, right? I mean, yeah, it's been six months already since I walked out of that mansion I called my matrimonial home, and just like we agreed on, I've been exploring the whole damn world....okay I only explored few places, not the whole damn world, but I tried my best. I still gotta get me an award for what I did there. "Do you think my money is being reduced again?" I heard Bryan asking his assistant in a deep raspy voice. I snorted. The younger guy shook his head. "I really don't know, but if anything happens to your money, everyone knows it's your wife spending as she should." I smirked. Bryan gave his assistant a dirty look. "Connor, you were the one screaming with your eyes bulging out when you learnt that she spent one million dollars in less than twelve hours." Connor went silent while Janet coughed aloud in shock. Bryan did not flinch or turn. "One million?" Janet whispered sharply. "The shopping we went for was one million dollars?" I lifted one shoulder. "Well..." Janet's jaw dropped. "You lied to me! You said it was five hundred thousand." "I didn't lie, I only said half of the amount spent" I defended, my voice still in a whisper. "And keep your voice down." Janet shook her head, now smiling. "So you'll really be going home today?" She whispered to me, bending a little. I eyed the man annoyingly still taking up the whole space in this elevator and sneered. "No. I'll go next week." "I thought you said you might go today?" Janet whispered again. I ran my eyes over my tall, masculine husband, scowling at his intimidating, sturdy back. "I changed my mind. I'm not going home today." "You will do no such thing, Mrs Preston" Bryan ordered, his back still facing me as he arrogantly put his hands into the pockets of his pants. Wait is he talking to me? "And besides, you still owe me a kiss....wifey." This pompous little prick. He knew I was in the elevator this whole time?