His Wife (A Contract Marriage Story) by Heer Mangtani

Chapter 123
[MIA]
Even if I would hate to admit it out loud, I loved the ring Alex had bought me. I could stare at it forever, and I kept stealing
glances at it all the time.
It wasn’t a traditional engagement, but it was still an engagement per se. That didn’t change the fact that i was mad at him. He
lied about being engaged to Hannah while I was stupidly falling for him, and then he threatened Jenny’s life to get his way.
It’s always that with him. His way or the highway.
“If you take your eyes off your ring, nobody is going to steal it.” Alex deadpanned, and I squirm, looking away instantly.
I glared at him. It may not be as cold or scary as his, but it was an effort nonetheless.
“Oh. I’m scared.” He joked, dipping his head back into his stupid iPad. God knew what he read there all day long.
My glare only hardened, but when he didn’t look up to entertain me, I continued stirring the batter in my hands. I was angry
baking, and he was sitting at the counter. Uninvited.
Just then, his phone buzzes. Alex’s eyes flickers to him and he winced for a fraction of a second before his face fell back to the
forever poker one.
He picks his phone and leaves the space, and even though I kept telling myself that I hated that he was making an effort to stay
around me even if silently since the Jenny incident yesterday, I missed
his
presence almost immediately.
Oh God, if this goes on, I would be in so much trouble.
When Alex returns after a few minutes, his lips are turned into a thin line and his facial features are hardened as if he was a
prisoner of his own mind, a million things running through them. Even though he looked at me, he wasn’t really looking at me.
My heart thumps louder and I leave the batter on the counter. “What’s wrong?”

“We’re going to get married,” Alex announces like he was telling the weather, and not a life–changing
event.
1/4
25%
Chhatten 22t
“You made that pretty clear yesterday when you threatened Jenny’s life.” I blink, still sour about it.
“No,” he pauses, inhales. “We’re going to get married tomorrow.”
“What?” My jaw drops. “Tomorrow?!”
He nods.
“No!” I protest, walking across the counter and towards him. “You- You said I get to choose the colour scheme and the flowers
and my dress. That can’t happen tomorrow.”
“Mia.” Alex’s voice was cold, distant, and unreadable. “Tomorrow.”
And then he leaves as if he hadn’t just made a decision that would change us for the rest of our lives.
I don’t get any sleep that night. I was going to have dark circles on my wedding day.
Great.
In the morning, I was already awake and showered by the time Lana comes to my room, and I wish I could say that was because
of excitement.
She ushers me downstairs where I assumed Alex would be there, but he wasn’t. Instead, Dom waited in front of Alex’s black
Mercedes.
“I’m going to drive you to the church.” He tells me with no emotions whatsoever, and my eyes widened a considerate amount.
I was in a baby blue dress that fell below my knees, but it looked like a sundress at best. It was nowhere near a wedding dress.

I’m going to get married in this?
“You’re not,” Lana tells me, getting in the car beside me, “You’re not going to get married in this.”
“Did I say that out loud?”
“N
she offers me a small smile. “But it wasn’t hard to guess what went through your mind.”
I nod feebly, and stare out of the window for the rest of the ride, my breakfast threatening to make a
17:51 Tue, 9 Jul Ge
Chapter 123
25%
+5
reappearance. When the car stops, Lana guides me up to a Ritz hotel with no public except its limited staff inside, and then a
room.
A white wedding dress awaits me. It was off shoulder with intricate flower designs woven through the length, a sweetheart
neckline, fitted to my chest and flowing freely after that. A matching veil was paired with it, flowing longer than the tail of the
dress, and two translucent gloves.
Igulped. This was my dream dress.
“How?” I gaped, confused eyes staring at Lana. “How?”
She smiled. “There was a scrapbook in your apartment.”
My cheeks heated. It was the one I had made when I was sixteen, printing out my dream wedding aesthetic from Pinterest and
pasting it on a blank book. Someday, I had hoped. “Alex,” I cleared my throat, “He went through my apartment?”
“Eh.” She shrugs like it was no big deal. “Now, let’s doll you up.”

I had never seen Lana smiling before. It was freaky at best, scary at worst, but she got the job done. I wore white and blue
lingerie- my something blue, the wedding dress- my something new, and then she did my make–up and hair, tying my hair into a
crown braid before attaching the veil.
When she was done, I looked like a prettier, more sophisticated version of myself.
“I don’t have something old,” I tell her when we were all done, almost panicked.
For how much I pretended to not care about the wedding or the marriage, I was scared skipping this little thing would doom us
before it even begins.
“You do.” She picks up a box and hands it to me, and I open the red velvet to find a bracelet. It was a band of diamonds,
sparkling like it cost a million.
“Alex’s father bought his mother thirty rings when they were married. The diamonds from one of them were used to make this for
you.” She tells me. “This is your something old. Wear it in your other
hand.”
I nod with tear filled eyes and she helps me slip it onto my wrist before I take a deep breath, pulling a smile on my face and
leaving the room, back to the car downstairs that would take me to the church where Alex was waiting for me at the end of the
altar.
Chapter 123
At the end of my altar. I was really going to be his wife, and there was no turning back.