Love Contract

Chapter 39 The Surprise

"No, I don't," Mary said. She was scared, shaking her head like a rattle.

"You hear that?" William glanced at Victor defiantly.

Victor squinted his eyes and said nothing.

Mary wondered what was going on. The conflict between the two had escalated to a new level. Should she get involved?

"Victor," Mary hurried to say. "Go and change clothes. I'll change later. Hurry up."

As Mary spoke, she gave Victor a knowing wink.

"Mary, you have something in your eye?" William exposed her little trick rudely.

"Ha ha... Well..." Mary stopped trying to defend herself. She looked embarrassed.

"Victor, are we still doing this?" It was the dresser who called out to him.

"Yeah. I'm coming, I'm coming," replied Victor. He took a look at William, and slowly released Mary. "I'll be back," he said flatly.

"Okay." Mary nodded repeatedly as if she were relieved. As soon as Victor headed off, William removed his hand from Mary as well. "You are not allowed to come here again."

"Ok." Mary nodded. It was the last day anyway. Besides, the site was far from comfortable. And boring. She preferred the office.

"Oh, my God!" The director came back after he finished his work. "Mr. Lan, you don't know how beautiful Mary looks on camera."

"Oh? Really?" Looking at Mary, William wore a faint smile.

"Oh yeah." The director seemed to be unaware of what was going on between them, and continued to praise Mary. "There are professional actresses who aren't that photogenic. The camera—"

"Can I have a look?" asked William.

"No problem," the director said with a smile. "Come here, boss."

"Okay." William put his hands in his pockets. He finally turned to Mary, who was still trying to take all of this in. "Grab the photo album from my car, please. Here you go."

Then he handed the key to her. Property © of NôvelDrama.Org.

"Okay, fine." Mary nodded and ran off to find his parking spot.

Standing behind the camera, William watched the scene they had just shot.

"Check this out," the director said. He was quite proud of what he'd done.

"Urn." With a groan, William watched while Victor held Mary in his arms. He tried to be suave and debonair, all the while flirting with William's wife! The words "I can't hold back my feelings for you anymore, and it only becomes stronger and stronger now" were really affectionate.

Who was the scriptwriter? It was unbelievable. How could someone say such sweet words and not mean them?

Mary looked as confused as William felt. She didn't know what was going on, either. How could she film such an intimate scene with another guy? William clenched his fists more and more tightly. "Photo album?" Mary whispered as she walked.

"What is he talking about?

I don't even know what I'm looking for. What kind of photo album is it?"

She had never expected that it would be a book full of wedding photos.

Mary took out the thick album and saw the photo where they were together. She thought of that unexpected kiss again, and William gave no explanation. It was really his style.

If it weren't for that kiss, how could she think she ever had a chance with him?

"Please, William, let me avoid you. It's for the best." Her fingers brushed the photo, brushed over him. Then she tucked the album in her arm and walked back.

"I thought you'd never get here." As soon as Mary walked over, William said sarcastically, "What's the matter? Caught a cat nap?"

"Well." Mary's corners of mouth twitched. "I love your sense of humor. I moved as fast as I could."

"You bring the photo album?" William was direct. He was all business now.

"Yeah." Mary nodded and handed the photo album to him.

"Don't give it to me," said William, shaking his head.

"Go and bring it to the people on set." "What?" Mary's eyes twitched. "Boss, are you kidding me?"

"Kidding?" William laughed cruelly. There was no mirth there. "Do you think I'm kidding?"

When she heard that, Mary shook her head without thinking about it. William, on the other hand, wore a smug smile. Even his teeth were exposed. He acted as if he were talking to a child. "Then go and show it to the people on set, or I'll deduct your bonus, okay?" It was like a wolf telling a rabbit, "Little rabbit. Be good. Wolf is going to eat you. Are you happy?" Mary seemed like a timid little rabbit at this moment.

"Go ahead," he prompted.

Mary was truly cheerless after hearing what he said. On William's orders, she showed the photo album to the people on set as if she was selling it.

"These are my wedding photos. Aren't they beautiful?"

"Ha-ha, I'd like to show you my wedding photos.

"I'm very glad to show you my wedding photos."

After the crew took a look at their wedding photos, the CEO finally allowed Mary to change clothes.

Mary finally felt relieved.

In the lounge, Victor asked, "Why don't you show me the wedding photos?"

"Why?" Pursing her lips, Mary continued, "I don't know what's wrong with him today. Why does he want me to show this to everyone?"

"Maybe he wants to show off."

"That's impossible," said Mary, her face darkened in anger. "I'm taking off now, Victor. If I make him wait too long he'll deduct my bonus.

Hearing this, Victor was confused and said, "You two have a really weird relationship, you know that?"

"You don't know the half of it," Mary replied. Without saying anything more, Mary rushed out with her bag.

Watching her run off, Victor frowned.

When they walked off set, William still acted as a good husband, and he forced her to sit in the passenger seat. Mary had to smile and said, "Honey, you're so good to me."

"My pleasure," said William, "I have a surprise for you when we get home."

Surprise? Mary paused and looked at William in amazement. The icy face that had seemingly never changed for thousands of years finally smiled. And not only that, the double whammy of a surprise for her. 'My God, is this finally the moment I've been waiting for? The big boss has finally seen me for who I really am, and wants to confess his love?'

Suppressing the excitement that was about to burst in her heart, Mary asked softly, "What kind of surprise?"

"You'll find out when we get home."

Excited and nervous, the two of them reached their apartment.

William stood behind Mary and said, "Open the door and have a look."

With her hands trembling, Mary slowly opened the door.

There was no colorful balloons, no romantic candlelight dinner, no new decoration, but only wedding photos scattered all over the room, hanging on the wall and sitting on the table.

Mary thought, 'What? Is this the surprise? You sure you're not trying to make me sick?'

Mary walked in, followed by William.

"How do you like it?" he asked.

"Well, um..." Mary nodded. "It's good." 'But it's a bit much, isn't it? And in really poor taste, ' she thought.

"Mary," he said.

'Okay, so there's more? What's he playing at?' Mary asked herself in the heart. 'Would he confess his love to me? Will he say that a one-year marriage contract is too short, and he wants to extend the contract to a hundred years so I'll never be able to escape?'

"I'm sorry," said William, staring at Mary. "I don't like the idea of you getting a boyfriend as soon as the contract is up." 'This is it. Is he finally going to pop the question?' Mary was overjoyed.

''Why... Why?''

"Because it will cause drama."

"What...? What do you mean?" Mary was confused.

"If you find a boyfriend as soon as we divorce," said William with a smile. "Won't it reflect badly on us? We have an image to maintain. That we're happily married. I can't really allow anything to get in the way of that."

"Splash!"

It was like a dash of cold water in the face. After a long pause, Mary sneered. Sure enough, she wrote way too much into this.

"Okay, it's up to you." Mary nodded automatically.

"Mary, what's wrong with you? What did you think was going to happen?" William frowned.

"I don't know. Your words are the biggest surprise tonight," Mary said, unable to stop herself.

"Are you mad?" William raised his eyebrows.

"No, I'm not supposed to be, am I?" Mary put down her bag. "I'm going to lie down for a bit," she said. "I'll be out to cook later."

Seeing Mary leave and close the door, William let his anger in the heart explode like a bomb. 'How could she do this to me? I worked hard to arrange everything. I asked the staff to hang the photos on the wall and place them on the table so she'd see them. But somehow she's disgusted by this. She didn't like it at all. Do you really want to escape from me, Mary, and find someone else? Is that it? You told me you liked me. Is that just so much bullshit? I need to know!'

William was so angry that he didn't even realize what he was doing. This wasn't how a contractual marriage should be. Why should he care so much about what she thought?

Lying on the bed and listening to the sounds of things being thrown around outside, Mary still didn't care.

'Are all businessmen like this? Is it fun to play tricks like this? A surprise. Was it just to fool everyone? William, you are such an asshole.'

"Du, du, du..."

The phone in his pocket rang. William took it out impatiently and said angrily, "Hello? Who is this?"

"William?"

"Frank?" Hearing that, William frowned, trying to calm down, and asked, "What's wrong?" "I want out. Now."

"What's wrong? What happened?" Hearing Frank's words, William frowned.

"Get me out of here! I hate it here! Can you come pick me up?" Frank was very emotional, and that was obvious over the phone.

"Okay," said William calmly. "Calm down. Tell me what happened."

There was no response from the other end of the line for a long time.

"Frank, are you still there? Frank?"

"I slept with Nancy."

Oh my God! William's hand holding the phone tightened all of a sudden. Sleeping with a woman would hurt Frank more than death!

"Are you at home? I'm coming over," said William firmly.

"Okay."

As soon as Mary got up and opened the door, she saw that William had grabbed his coat and rushed out. Mary heaved a sigh of relief. But at the same time, she also felt sad.

William must have someone other than her. It was late at night, and he had just gotten here. Now he was in a hurry to leave. It was pretty clear what was going on, right? Standing by the window, Mary saw William from a distance. William whipped the car door open and drove away at top speed. He couldn't pretend to be worried. He was really worried.