Love Contract

Chapter 25 Returning Home

Mary checked the entertainment website half an hour later. The scandalous article had been removed.

She nodded in satisfaction. "Well and good," she muttered under her breath. William watched her over the cup of coffee he was sipping. He had actually rushed back that morning to deal with the matter, but had been pleased to find Mary had already done that for him.

Mary snapped the laptop shut, but she still looked worried. "A lot of people already saw the article though. The rumor mill's already in full swing. I better mobilize the Public Relations Department to deal with this," she told William. Mary briskly punched a number in on her phone. Before long, she was already laying out a damage control strategy to someone on the other end of the line. "Is that understood? Let's nip this in the bud. Clean and discreet. Get everyone on it, pronto."

William felt pride and admiration blossom in his heart seeing Mary like that.

Mary hung up and leaned back on her seat with a heavy sigh. As she did, she noticed William looking at her with a faint smile. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked selfconsciously.

William averted his gaze quickly. "Nothing." Then he remembered what he had also wanted to check on that morning. "Was just wondering if your feet are feeling okay?"

Mary blinked. She was surprised he remembered her wound. "It's much better now, yeah. Thanks for asking," she mumbled shyly.

"Great. In that case, want to head back to A City? We've pretty much wrapped up everything here," William said.

Mary nodded. "Yeah, that sounds good. Let me just book the tickets."

William sipped his coffee. "Already did that. We leave this afternoon."

Mary felt a flicker of annoyance. Why must everything always be so sudden with this man? She was starting to feel like a puppet being jerked around. Why couldn't he just tell her important things ahead of time?

Though Mary didn't say anything, William noticed her mood sour. He smiled to himself and turned to pack up.

Mary had just changed into her shoes and was rushing out to grab a quick bite when she opened the door to find Victor out on the hall, apparently also on his way out. 'A coincidence, again, ' she thought to herself. She couldn't help heaving an exasperated sigh out loud.

Victor just grinned at her reaction. "And where are you headed off?" "To get something to eat," Mary answered nonchalantly.

Victor chuckled at that.

Mary felt irritated. "And what's so funny?" she asked defensively.

Victor shrugged, still grinning. "It's just that every time I see you, you seem to be getting something to eat."

Mary's face turned red. "Are you off to a shoot?" she asked, trying to get the subject off of her gluttony.

"Yeah," Victor nodded. "I'll be in Shanghai for a while for filming. How about you guys?"

"We'll be leaving this afternoon."

Victor cocked his head to the side. "Seems a little soon, but I guess if you have no more business here, might as well go back, yeah?"

Mary nodded then felt her tummy grumble. "Well. I'll be going on ahead..."

"Wait." Victor suddenly turned serious.

"The news this morning. Did you see it?" Mary waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, well, you know these paparazzi the most. They'll make anything up for readership."

Victor pursed his lips. "You don't have to hide it from me, you know. I know about it already." Mary was puzzled at his words. What did he know about, exactly?

Victor fixed her a meaningful look.

"If you ever need someone to talk to about it, you can count on me." Mary gave him a confused smile. "About what? I don't understand."

Victor continued to study her face closely, as if looking for some clue. Finally, he seemed to give up. He sighed.

"Guess you really don't want to talk about it. Fine. Forget it. I'm off." Mary could only watch Victor's back in bewilderment as he walked to the elevators and got into a waiting one.

Then her stomach growled again, louder this time. "Right. First thing's first." Thoughts now overtaken by hunger, Mary hurried to catch the next elevator down.

Jorge shook his head as Victor entered the elevator he had been holding for him. He had witnessed his entire encounter with Mary.

"Can't you just leave her alone? We do not want to mess with her."

"I'm not messing with her! I'm trying to help her.

Jorge raised a brow at his charge. "Did she ask for your help? Maybe check yourself first. You have your own problems to attend to." Victor sighed. He shoved his hands into his pockets, leaned back against the elevator walls, and stared up at the ceiling. "Fine," he muttered.

By the time they arrived at the airport that afternoon, Mary already knew Frank will be joining them on the flight back.

Frank met them at the airport. Looking cool in his sunglasses, he waved and walked over as soon as he spotted them. "Hi, Mary! Nice seeing you guys, again," Frank greeted them with a warm smile.

"Hi, Frank. Nice to have you with us," Mary smiled meekly back. She still felt a bit timid around Frank.

"Shall we?" Boarding passes in hand, they started walking to the departure lobby.

Mary fell back alongside Kevin as William walked side by side with Frank. She stared at their broad backs and couldn't help but think how perfectly matched the two men were.

Wait a minute. Perfectly matched? Mary shook her head as she felt herself blush at her thoughts. 'I can't believe even I've been affected by that trashy gossip!' she chided herself.

William's phone rang as they were waiting in the departure lobby.

He looked at the screen and picked up. "Dad? What's up?" William's eyebrows drew together as he listened to Timothy on the other end. "Yes, she's right here." A nervous look flickered across William's face. "No, it won't be a problem. All right. We'll be back at the house by this evening.

William hung up. He turned to look at Mary, who had been trying her best to discreetly listen in on the call. She jumped guiltily as his eyes caught hers. She flashed him a sheepish smile.

"We need to get back to the family house when we arrive," William told her.

Mary bit her lip. "Is it urgent?"

William immediately picked up on her dilemma. "Why? Did you have somewhere else to go?"

Mary nodded slowly. "Yeah. I wanted to visit Mom at the hospital."

Without a moment's pause, William nodded. "Alright. We can do that first. I'll go with you."

A rush of apologies flew out of Mary's mouth. "Oh, no. No need to bother yourself. I can just go by myself..."

"Mary? You worry too much. It's fine by me," William said reassuringly. Hearing his words, all Mary could do was give William a flustered smile of gratitude.

Mary's mind was a jumble of thoughts as she dipped in and out of sleep during the flight. It had only been more than a week since she got married to William, but her life had surely turned upside down.

"You should get some sleep." Mary overheard Frank say in a low voice, sitting on the other side of William.

"I'm okay," William responded.

Mary heard Frank murmur something she couldn't quite make out. All she caught was "... the scandal this morning?"

"Almost settled," William said. Murmurs.

"...I'm so sorry for the trouble..." Murmurs.

"It's fine." Murmurs. Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

The conversation grew more and more distant as drowsiness overtook Mary. She eventually drifted off to sleep, her last thought being: 'Frank talks too much.'

The next thing Mary heard was someone calling her name.

It was William. Mary sat up at once. "What's wrong?"

Frank and Kevin were startled at Mary's reflexes.

William, however, remained unfazed. He was getting used to Mary's violent awakenings.

"I was just waking you up. We're almost there." Mary nodded sleepily, yawning. She was getting used to William becoming her rude wake-up call. She rubbed her eyes. The sweet voice of the airline stewardess sounded in the cabin as the plane descended.

The plane soon swooped down over A City and landed smoothly on the wide tarmac.

Frank bid them goodbye at the airport. Kevin went on ahead shortly after. William and Mary took William's car and headed straight to the hospital.

The car ride from the airport was relatively quiet until William broke the silence.

"If Father asks about today's news..." "Don't worry. I've got your back," Mary answered, without missing a beat.

William felt a rush of appreciation. He turned to Mary, about to thank her, but hesitated at the last second. The business world had made him too proud, and a little too hard. It wasn't easy for him to admit a debt of gratitude.

Noticing his hesitation, Mary reassured him. "You don't have to thank me. Just doing my job."

William relaxed. Work talk, he was comfortable with. He looked back on the road, feeling a little lighter. Out of the blue, he suggested: "Let's take wedding photos tomorrow."

There was a hint of imperious graciousness in his voice, like an emperor surprising his subjects with a treat they couldn't really refuse. Mary froze in her seat. Did she hear that right? Wedding photos? Mary started sputtering.

"Are... are you seriously proposing actual marriage just because I'm doing you a favor? Isn't that too much? You don't need to do that!" William rubbed his temple in exasperation. Why was Mary always prone to misunderstand? "That's not what I mean," he sighed.

Mary turned red. "Oh. Then what?"

"Don't you remember Father asking us to take wedding photos? You know, before the business trip?" William said slowly, giving Mary a pointed look.

Mary tilted her head to the side. Then it hit her. She slapped her forehead. "Oh! Right! The pictures! We've been so busy I totally forgot about it."

William gave her a wry smile. "Well. Welcome back to the same page. We need those photos to convince Dad. And the media." Mary nodded slowly.

As a former manager of the Public Relations Department, she saw the sense in that. Photos were a powerful mind-conditioning tool, after all. As this morning could attest.

"All right. Let's do it." William raised a brow at her. "It doesn't bother you, does it?"

Mary tried to keep a poker face. "No. Why should it?" Mary gave him a tight smile. What Mary didn't want to admit was that she did have some reservations about it. Being a bride should be a special

moment in a woman's life, by the side of someone special. It felt sacrilegious somehow to make it a part of some business transaction.

"Judging from your forced expression," said William, glancing at her, "Maybe you'd rather not do this?" Mary swallowed.

"No, it's no problem," she insisted. "I have you with me." William was about to smile at that, but Mary continued, "Besides, it's what you've paid me to do."

The smile about to lift William's lips dropped in an instant. It was the truth, of course, but somehow, it sounded harsh now. He had bought his "wife" with money. This was just another employer- employee relationship. The thought now left a bitter taste in his mouth.

They spent the rest of the car ride in silence, each lost in their own thoughts.

Before long, they arrived at the hospital.

Mary was broken from her reveries as she realized they were there already. She thanked William profusely and started to unbuckle her seat belt.

William cleared his throat. "About your mom..." He paused, looking awkward. "I'm friends with some great doctors. I could ask them to take on her case." Mary gave him a sad smile. She opened her mouth to tell him not to worry, to thank him for the offer. But before she could even speak, tears started welling in her eyes. She took a deep breath as the tears started falling down her face. Her lips trembled when she spoke, "That's really kind of you. But I'm afraid it's a lost cause."