Chapter Thirty

I sat up on my bed and looked around the room. His side of the bed was untouched. There was hardly any sign of him being present all through the night.

I wondered if he had slept in his study or some other bedroom. I even imagined him going to sleep in Aleena's room in the West Wing of the mansion but I discarded the thought, Damien never went in there, I had never seen him over there. I shrugged off whatever thoughts I had of him, it was way too early to be thinking of him, especially because he was not a good person.

I slowly slid out of the bed and trudged into the bathroom to ease myself. After that, I brushed my teeth and washed my face. I was just coming out of the bathroom when a knock came through the door.

"Come in." I said aloud and watched in silence as the person turned the knob on the door and walked in.

"Good morning Mr Walter." I said with a soft smile, the old man returned it. His eyes crinkled at the sides as he smiled.

"Good morning Mrs Kingston." He said. I had to fight the urge to cringe at the surname.

"Don't be so formal, just call me Ariana." I corrected.

"But..." He tried protesting.

"Please, I insist." I said. His shoulders slumped in exaggerated surrender.

"Oh alright." He sighed and rolled his eyes playfully, I chuckled at how funny he looked.

"So, what do I owe this visit so early in the morning?" I asked curiously.

"Ah yes, Rosa sent me up here to give you some tea, if I didn't, she would not serve me breakfast." He said with a shake of his head as he handed the tray over to me. I laughed softly at what he had said, those two were always bickering but one could tell it was their own way of showing how in love they were.

"Aw, thank you. Ma Rosa is so sweet, let her know I'm grateful." I said with a pout.

"Sure thing." He nodded but looked like he had something more to say.

"Anything else?" I asked.

"Damien said to inform you that he's going to be out of the country for a while." He said with a worried look on his face as he stared at me.

"Where is he now?" I asked, gripping tightly on to the tray in my hands.

"Italy. He's gone there for some business." Walter informed. I nodded.

I was astonished, but not at all pleasantly surprised.

"Did he tell you how long he'll be away for?" I sounded ridiculous. Imagine learning about your supposed husband's travel plans from his butler.

"Not at all." He replied. I nodded slowly.

"Thank you." I said softly.

"Ariana?" He called and I looked up at him as he did.

"Don't give up on Damien just yet. Things are going to get better." He advised. I gave him a tight lipped smile and thanked him before he left the room.

I shook my head as soon as he left. It was never meant to be, these people should just stop hoping that things would work out between Damien and I. He was arrogant, not at all remorseful for all the bullshit he had put me through. What was I thinking? That a man who could tie me up in a marriage with threats of jail term for my father, would actually treat me nice? I was sure deluding myself. He would never be good for me, I knew it from the onset.

A part of me rejoiced, for the fact that I would not have to see him for a while. That was a welcome relief, although, momentary. Then another part of me wondered how I was going to keep up our act with his family while he was not present. I shook it off, if I could do it while he was away at work, what was a few days with him in Italy, that I could not do without.

I sipped my tea slowly, while I was seated at the balcony, my favorite spot. The morning was so calm and peaceful even though the sun was barely up. I enjoyed the silence. But something, rather, someone was about to disrupt the peace and solitude I was enjoying.

I heard the bedroom door come open without a knock, I came out to see who it was because I was well aware that it could not be Damien.

"Who is it?" I asked, getting up from my seat.

"Oh hi Ariana, where's Damien?"

It was Aleena and she was looking around the room in search of him.

"Aleena you didn't knock." I pointed out. It was so rude of her not to.

She paused and stared at me for a second.

"Oops my bad, I never knock when it comes to Damien, that's how close we are. I guess I keep forgetting that he's married now. Where is he by the way?" She rambled on like she wanted to rub it in my face that she knew Damien better than I did. She did not sound the least bit apologetic, she most probably thought she was right in her actions. Barging into a married couple's bedroom just because the husband is your supposed childhood best friend was utterly disrespectful. I ignored her words and told her straight up that he was out of town.

"He's away on a business trip." I said flatly. She gasped dramatically.

"He didn't tell me he was leaving." She complained with a frown.

I quirked my brow in question, where was this entitlement coming from? It made me conclude that they were more than just friends because it was just hilarious how she thought Damien would tell her if he was leaving when he never did that with anyone as far as I knew.

"When is he coming back?" She questioned with hopefilled eyes.

"No idea but from the looks of it, he's going to be away for a pretty long time. He has a lot to do over there and it has been demanding his attention for a long time." I lied smoothly, feigning a sad face while at it. She mirrored my expression for a second before brightening up again.

"Oh well, I'll just call him to ask." She said with a flip of her hair as she sashayed out of the room. I watched her retreating back with a small displeased frown on my face. This girl was doing the most, really. I decided it was best to not think too much about it, it was not worth it.

I shook my head as I stripped and headed into the bathroom for a long soak in the bathtub. I stayed in there for quite a while, doing nothing in particular, just enjoying the soak.

I reached for my towel soon after and got into out of the tub slowly. I rinsed myself of all the lather underneath the shower and made sure the water from the tub had gone down the drain before exiting the bathroom.

I got into the closet, picked up my lotion bottle and poured some of its contents on my left palm before applying it thoroughly on my body. I stared at myself in the mirror, my skin seemed to be glowing brighter. It was probably because of the fact that I had been indoors and had been pampered for the most part of the previous month. There was an obvious change in how I looked because I was not working as hard as I used to. I was beginning to add on some weight, it looked good on me but I did not want it to get out of hand so I promised myself that I would visit the gym more often to keep myself in shape.

I picked up a pair of denim pants from my side of the closet and paired it with a bright yellow cotton top, it had one long sleeve on the right while the other was sleeveless and was form hugging. I paired my look with a pair of matching fancy yellow flip flops because as far as I knew, I was going to be indoors all day. I let my hair down and gave it a center parting as I combed it out.

I went out of the room shutting the door behind me as I slowly went to the living room. It was empty, seemed like everyone had made it to the dining room already. I slowly walked into the dining room, exchanging pleasantries with everyone.

"Oooh you look so good." Mum said hugging me close as usual.

Everyone else seemed to concur and I blushed. I thanked them for their compliments.

"Where's Damien? I haven't seen him since yesterday." Mom asked me, emphasis on me.

"He's-"Aleena was saying, like she was the one who was asked but I was not having it.

"He's out of the country for a business trip." I said with a plastered smile on my face.

"Oh goodness! Honey, are you okay with it?" Mom asked concernedly. I nodded quickly but then it seemed like I was too ecstatic about his absence so I feigned a sad expression without delay.

"I just miss him so bad." I pouted.

"Aw, sweetie, I'm sure he'll be back in no time." She assured me lovingly. I nodded.

If only she knew I wanted him to stay as long as he possibly could maybe until I found a loophole in the contract we signed. I just wanted to get out of this unscathed.

I excused myself and headed into the kitchen to meet Ma Rosa, she was busy urging the maids on to hurry up with serving the meals. The chef was done with preparing breakfast from what I saw. He was really good at what he did, I got to talk to him the first time I got into the kitchen and he reminded me so much of Nolan. Lorenzo was Italian and actually a very funny dude.

"Good morning Ma Rosa." I went over and hugged her.

"Good morning, did you sleep well?" She asked warmly. I nodded.

"I just wanted to say thank you for the tea you sent to me this morning." I said.

"You're welcome. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

These people had a way of making me feel loved despite the fact that my husband was a jerk. It made me fuzzy on the inside.

"I'm good, thank you." I said with a small smile.

"Hi Lorenzo!" I waved at him, he looked up from the oven, he looked all sweaty and really focused on what he was doing.

"Good morning Mrs Kingston." He bade flashing his perfect dentition as he did so. I grinned back and left them to their work.

I soon found myself seated at the dining table, waiting for breakfast when Miguel came in holding two shiny gift boxes, a big and small one.

"Miguel!" I exclaimed cheerfully.

"Good morning ma'am." He said with a small smile. I responded before going on to ask about his well-being as well as his family. He answered positively and I smiled.

He soon placed the two boxes in front of me while I gave him a confused glance.

"Sir, said to give these to you." He said and excused himself before walking out briefly.

I looked around the room and found that all eyes including that of the workers serving breakfast were on me.

"Open it." Aleena and Fiona spoke up at the same time.

Slowly I undid the ribbon of the big box and removed the cover. I gasped. It was a brand new Apple Mac book, I brought the package out and placed it on the table. I did the same thing with the small box and found a brand new iPhone 13 pro max. I had no words, I did not see it coming.

"Awwww." Everyone in the room cooed.

"Damien is so romantic." Fiona said in a babylike tone.

They obviously weren't cooing over the gifts because they all had these latest gadgets and even more. They just thought that it was really sweet of Damien to give me these gifts in such a sweet way.

Another publicity stunt, I believed. I almost scoffed. At least I got a new phone and laptop so it was not so bad at least for me.