First Meeting

“I couldn’t reach your phone. It was never switched on. You’re neither in any of your properties nor in the house that I had gifted you. And you have never been to any of your offices for the past three days,” her husband exclaimed, and Vivian looked away guiltily.

Vivian recalled that she had shut down all her gadgets since she heard the news. She had contacted her workplace that she would be on travel and said that she may not be around for some time.

“We were able to locate you just now when you sent me a message.”

“I didn’t believe what happened to you was an accident so I tried to hide,” she reasoned like it was enough for an explanation.

Zander’s entourage nodded in approval. She was right after all. It was indeed an assassination attempt.

Her husband smiled and sat down on the couch closest to the bed without asking if he could, so Vivian sat down as well.

He also gestured on his men to sit on the couch opposite them. Someone still stood guard by the door and another one by the window.

The others also looked around the room as if checking for any camera and security holes before finally settling down.

“Why are you in this room though? This whole floor was booked under the owner’s name.”

Zander asked Vivian suspiciously, as if he had just caught her cheating and it almost made her laugh. She could feel the gaze of the other people in the room but she pretended not to notice.

‘Did all of them think I was cheating while my husband was missing or had possibly just died? I wasn’t that heartless.’

If she ever cheated, Vivian would have done it in those three years they never met.

Someone went and checked the bathroom without asking her. Thank god it was clean and she had left no underwear there. Her husband seriously needed to learn not to let his people just snoop into a bathroom she had used.

He just said it was a necessity when she complained. But she knew he was suspicious of her activities and so he let his people confirm that she was alone.

“Stop!” Vivian stood up when one went to open the huge wardrobe where her clothes were.

Everyone was suddenly on alert and one checked under the bed. She took a deep breath before glaring at her husband and pointed a finger at his chest.

“Are you just going to let another man see my sleepwear and choice of underwear?!”

“Right. I’ll check that myself,” Zander quickly said, eyes opening wide in realization. Vivian sighed in relief.

“But sir, your safety,” his guard complained.

“Do you want to see my wife’s sleepwear and underwear that much? You should be worried more about your safety,” Zander said with a terrifying glare, and the other man backed off.

Her husband carefully opened the wardrobe so only he could see what was inside. He moved aside the clothes to confirm that nobody was hiding inside it.

“Safe,” he finally said, and the others relaxed. He smirked at her playfully though. Perhaps, due to her choices of sleepwear and underwear. For comfort, she honestly almost always slept naked or in thin, almost transparent silk dresses.

“As if I wouldn’t notice if someone came inside my room. I can’t believe you’re actually suspecting me of cheating,” Vivian grumbled when her husband was finally sitting beside her again.

“Weren’t you? Were you preparing those for your paramour?” he threw a glance at the wardrobe.

“Idiot,” she said, and her husband and all his cohorts jumped in surprise. She covered her mouth.

Of course, they’re not used to her respectable and powerful husband being called an idiot. That was also the first time she called him that. It just came out of her mouth.

“I have been sleepless these past three days, worrying whether my husband is dead or alive. Now that I finally see him, he thinks I’m cheating. What a jerk!” Vivian complained and Zander’s head dipped a bit in guilt as he gazed at her.

“None of those were even sexy. Why would I use it for something like that?” she sighed in exasperation.

“Oh,” her husband looked at her eyes with anticipation. He clearly thought that the underwear there, were sexy.

If those weren’t sexy for her, he clearly thought that he had something to look forward to, and it was evident as a playful smirk crossed his handsome face.

“Right,” he said, as if he had seen her in sexier underwear. Vivian just rolled her eyes in response.

“So why were you in this hotel?” her husband pursued the matter.

“The owner of this hotel, he’s a friend of mine. I asked him to reserve it for me that way, since I can’t use my own name. We knew each other for a long time so he agreed.”

They seemed surprised at Vivian’s reply as they finally returned to the topic at hand.

“So we are the only ones on this floor?” her husband verified and she nodded. He smiled in approval.

“What did you do since you heard the news about the plane crash,” Zander further asked and she narrated for him. His cohorts looked impressed.

“You did well in hiding yourself. We couldn’t find you either. You even changed your hairstyle. I’m really glad you’re the one I married,” her husband said out of the blue and she blushed when she heard him say that.

Vivian felt like he was complimenting her for the evasion she had been doing the past days.

After all, she left her house without using her car. She did not use any of her cards, since she knew it might be used to track her. Thankfully, she had more than enough cash. She also used clothes she had never used before when she went out.

Vivian also chose a mall with a lot of people and changed into another set of clothing and used a wig and eyeglasses she had prepared in advance.

She went to buy the supplies she would need, used another disguise, and changed again before finally checking in that hotel using her friend’s name. Her friend reserved it in his name, saying it was for his personal guests.

On her first day at the hotel, Vivian changed her hair color from its previous light blonde to black. She also straightened it from its former wavy look.

“Humph. I was even planning to cut my hair into a pixie cut in the following days if you still didn’t contact me,” she grumbled.

Her husband’s eyes widened as he looked at her hair that draped down to her hips. Her hair was naturally wavy and making it straight made it seem longer.

“I’m relieved I made it before that. It would be such a waste to cut such beautiful hair.” Zander said as he caressed her hair like he truly was her lover. And Vivian blushed as if she really was his wife.

‘Well, I am his wife, but I’m not his lover. Okay?’

Vivian believed they were putting on a show for her husband’s people. She wondered if she should start crying again, as a wife should when her husband goes missing. But she was done crying. She may not have any more tears to spare.

Zander cupped her face and caressed her cheek with his thumb and looked into her eyes.

“You had been crying weren’t you?” he asked, and Vivian wanted to punch him.

“Of course not! Who would cry for you?” she glared at him.

‘Sure I did, but only thrice, okay? Just thrice.’

First was when she heard the news. Second was when she thought there was no longer any hope he was alive. And finally, a while ago, when she was so relieved that he was still alive. Her husband looked like he was assuming that she had been crying a lot. Like every single night, or every time she watched the news. Well, she didn’t. She felt sad and worried but she didn’t cry that much.

‘Who does he think he is?! We’ve never personally seen each other in three years and he’s acting like we’re really close.’

Her thoughts were stopped as her husband eyed her. She recalled they were putting on a show.

‘That’s right! I have to act like his lover. Damn it.’

Vivian weakly punched him on the chest and said meekly, as if she was on the verge of tears again, “You jerk.”

Then she leaned her forehead on his chest as she hugged him and continued her act.

“I was so worried. I thought I’d never see you again.”

Vivian felt him tense up at what she did. Yet, he then gently caressed her hair as she pretended to sob in his embrace.

“That won’t happen,” her husband said in such a gentle voice like he truly meant it. Vivian almost laughed out loud but continued sobbing on his chest instead.

‘This jerk was so competent. He didn’t want to get defeated in the acting, so I won’t lose either.’

They were broken apart when someone suddenly knocked. It sounded urgent.

Vivian lifted her head to look at the door and her husband looked surprised when he saw her tears.

‘I could win a best actress you know,’ she almost yelled at him.

Noticing that everyone was suddenly on alert, Vivian quickly stood up. She hid behind her husband like a damsel in distress that needed protection. Well, she does need protection. It’s not like she had a bulletproof vest or something like that.

‘How did our first meeting in three years end up like this?’