Dangerous Desire The CEO’s Hidden Woman

Scarlett took a deep breath and said, “I’m calling to ask you if you know…if you know Jeff is about to get married?”

“Yes, of course. He sent me a wedding invitation.” Sophie sounded calm.

“Sophie, are you okay?” Scarlett felt sorry for her. She had always been there for Sophie for the past three years, and she had witnessed the ups and downs of their relationship; she knew how crazily Sophie had been in love with Jeff.

“Come on, I broke up with him peacefully. He didn’t cheat on me.” Sophie took a deep breath and put on a smile, “Scarlett, I am alright. Gotta hang up, I’ve still got a bunch of work to do.”

Scarlett stared at the phone screen, lost in thought. She knew Sophie was not really as calm as she was behaving right now, but her hands were tied in such a situation.

“Your friend had once been with Jeff?” Francis interrupted her thought.

“Well, yes. She’s my senior, and we used to do some part-time gigs together. She’d been dating Jeff for about two years, and it was Sophie who had taken me to Jeff’s friend’s gathering where I met Chuck… and then you…”

“You did a lot of part-time jobs in university? You really needed money, huh?” Francis looked away and said.

Scarlett couldn’t tell what he meant by his words, but she tried not to assume the worst.

She nodded and said, “I need money for me and Skyler’s tuition and living expenses. Nobody supports us.”

“Now you’re with me, and you don’t have to worry about money.” Francis turned to her and said.

“Hey, I’m not…”

“You’re not gonna marry me even if I have a large sum of money for you, right?” Francis interrupted her and stared at her. His face was calm and cold.

“What are you talking about?” Scarlett approached him and said.

“Scarlett, do you know that you’re a terrible liar? Especially when it comes to lying to me.” Francis pushed her away, his eyes filled with some emotion that Scarlett couldn’t understand yet.

He took a piece of paper out from his pocket. “I think you dropped this.”

Scarlett took the application form that had slipped out of her bag from Francis’s hand.

“Scarlett, I’m sad because it seems like your desire to leave me never went away.”

Scarlett held the paper in her hand and looked pale. Words failed her.

***Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“Do you think he’ll decide to break up with me if I insist on going to Saudi Arabia?” Scarlett stood in front of Chuck, looking nervous. Instinctively, she started rubbing her palms together, appearing deeply unsettled.

“What? We don’t have time to talk about that right now. Just tell me why you think it would be a good idea to take that project on, to begin with…” Chuck thought the whole thing was just inexplicable.

The day after Scarlett learned about Jeff and Stella’s engagement, she felt anxious about Sophie and had decided to go to campus to find her and check up on her.

When Scarlett arrived, Sophie was in the auditorium; she was decorating the stage for a party later in the evening. She spotted Scarlett and waved to her enthusiastically. “Hey, come and help me out here. Can’t you see I’m busy and could use a hand?”

Scarlett stepped forward with a handful of balloons and colored ribbons. Sophie climbed up the ladder and hung up a bunch of decorations.

“What do you think? Does it look good? Sophie asked. She was moving around and adjusting the colorful ornaments, trying to get the balance just right.

“Hmm… maybe shift the red one a little further to the left, what do you think?” Scarlett suggested.

After three rounds of climbing up and down the ladder, Sophie finally finished with the decorations. She smiled and thanked Scarlett for her contributions.

“So, how come you’re here on campus today? No part-time gigs this fine afternoon?”

Scarlett’s face reddened with embarrassment. She couldn’t tell Sophie that she had quit doing part-time gigs altogether since she had started dating Francis. She didn’t have to do them anymore.

“Yep, I’m off-duty today. Hey, you’re finished in here, right? Or is there some more stuff to do? Let’s go have a drink! What do you think?”

Scarlett knew very well how alcohol could numb one’s nerves and cause hidden emotions to leak out freely. Sophie leaned on Scarlett’s shoulder; she was holding a half-empty bottle of beer.

“Motherfucker, it’s barely possible for me even to get drunk now!”

“You’ve been drinking a lot these days, eh?” Scarlett caressed her back.

Sophie waved her hands and said nothing.

“I think I should just get straight to the point…” Scarlett held Sophie’s shoulders, and her face was a little red.

“I know why you’re back at school today! Don’t worry about me! I’m alright. I don’t care about him anymore. See? I’m just fine.” She said with a fake smile on her face.

Scarlett just stared at her. She couldn’t find the right words to say to her.

“Come on, don’t feel sad for me, Scarlett. I’m going to be fine. There’s so much in this world more important than silly men! Save your tears, sappy girl! I’m moving on. You can stop worrying about me.”

“I’m happy to hear that from you, Sophie. I wanna let you know that I’m here for you always. I hope you won’t be hurting for much longer. But how did it happen?”

“It was one night about two months ago… When he told me he’s getting married, I thought he was joking! I waited for half an hour; I waited for him to laugh out loud and tell me it was all a joke, but… that’s not what happened, obviously. His parents arranged the marriage for him; I don’t know, probably something to do with business interests. It just fucking sucks. I cried and, like, broke shit. But it’s not like that would change anything. It did not change the fact that he didn’t even make an effort to defend our love. He used to say that it was us against the world, but it was all just a lie. That’s when I decided that his getting married was actually for the better. That we were done… For good, you know?”