Such a Rude and Noisy Woman

Hiram raised his arm and glanced at his watch as Rachel walked towards him. "You're twenty minutes late. Where were you doing? Explain," Hiram said sternly.

Rachel hadn't wanted to keep Hiram waiting. She was afraid that he would be worried about her, so she had run up to him in a hurry. After coming to a stop and taking a deep breath, she pointed to the swimming pool on the right. She stood up straight and was just about to tell him what had happened, but she stopped when she saw the impatience on his face. Instead, she said, "Why should I explain myself to you? I only made you wait for twenty minutes, while you made me wait here for two whole hours. I don't think there's any problem, do you?"

"Well then," Hiram said with a laugh. Standing up from the couch, he fixed his suit gracefully and continued in a low voice, "Yes, you're right. It's none of my concern. Go and pick up your things from my car and take a taxi back."

He strode towards the door, leaving Rachel behind.

"Hey! That's not right!" Rachel stamped her feet and hurriedly followed him.

Hiram had gotten into his car and was just about to press the button to open the trunk when Rachel slipped into the seat next to him and reached out to stop him. She managed to put a smile on her face. "Okay, okay. Please don't. Whatever you want to know, I'll tell you, all of it. I've put so many things in your trunk. It will take me forever to unload them all. Your time is very very precious, you shouldn't waste it on me," she said sweetly.

Hiram glanced at his wrist, which Rachel was still holding. A faint smile played at his lips as he replied, "I don't want to know anymore."

"What?"

"You were right. Why do you need to explain yourself to me? We've signed a marriage agreement. Our marriage is merely pieces of paper. We haven't even slept together. A month later, you'll be a total stranger to me. You're right. I don't need any explanation about that."

Shocked, Rachel let go of his hand without even realizing it. It's like he was implying that she had done something wrong behind his back.

Since she hadn't, Rachel felt an obligation to tell him what had really happened.

She remembered the terms in the agreement she had drawn up. One of them clearly said that Hiram shouldn't get too close to any woman during their marriage. Now he might think she was the one breaking the agreement.

"A girl had fallen into the swimming pool. I went there to save her, but a young man arrived before me. After he got the girl out of the pool, I accidentally fell into the water with my phone in my pocket, and it got wet. Since it wasn't working, the young man offered his help to dry it while I went to dry my clothes and get changed. That's when you called and the young man answered my phone for me. That's it."

Rachel had tried to keep the story short. Personally, she thought that she had good communication skills. She'd been brief and to the point.

Hiram had begun driving while she spoke. He glanced at her without saying a word.

"I'm telling you the truth. You can check the CCTV footage if you want!" Hiram's silence bothered her; it was making her feel like he didn't believe her, so she emphasized what she had said was true. After a good long while, Hiram said coolly, "I said I don't need your explanation. Buckle up your seat belt."

Only then did Rachel realize that she hadn't fastened her seat belt yet. She'd been too busy telling Hiram the whole story. A thought struck her. "Hiram, how come you have my number?" "Shouldn't I?"

Hiram asked in reply. His eyes were fixed on the road.

"So why didn't you tell me your number?" If he hadn't called her this time, she would've never known his number.

"Because only a few people have it. And anyway, what would you need it for? I don't think that you'll ever have something so important that you need to call me," said Hiram, glancing at Rachel with his black diamond-like eyes.

Hiram really couldn't think of any reason why Rachel would need to call him. That's why he'd instructed his mother to give Fannie his secretary's number instead of his.

He didn't want Rachel to bug him over small things.

But Rachel found Hiram's excuses hard to swallow. In fact, she was so furious that her heart seemed to miss a beat. Hiram was like a cold-hearted wolf, a shameless one. "You're pure evil. Even if I waited for you the whole night at the gate, it would still be a mere trifle to you, right?"

"Don't you have my number now?" Hiram replied skillfully.

Rachel turned her head to the window. She didn't want to say anything further.

"But please don't call me if you don't have something really important to say," Hiram added. Then, he pressed the button to pick up a phone call with his Bluetooth earphones.

"Hiram, you don't need to go to work today, right? If you have nothing special to do tonight, you should bring Rachel to have dinner with us and introduce her to your father." On the other line was Joanna. Glancing at the woman sitting in silence beside him, he answered, "Mom, I have a business dinner tonight." Hiram noticed that Rachel was mad at him.

"No business dinner is as important as a family dinner with our daughter-in-law. Cancel it. We need to learn more about Rachel," Joanna insisted. "It's a rare chance, your father has been so busy. You have to bring Rachel. And buy her some nice clothes first before coming back home for dinner. Do you understand?"

"Okay," answered Hiram. He hung up and told Rachel, "Apparently, my father is free tonight. My mother said that we should have a family dinner together."

Rachel immediately assumed that he was just telling her that he would have to go and have dinner with his parents that night, so she replied, "Okay. I'll stay at your house by myself."

"She meant that you should have a family dinner with us,"

Hiram repeated.

"I don't think so. Your mother wants to have dinner with her real daughter-in-law, which isn't me. We're going to get a divorce very soon. And since I'm not really your wife, I don't think I should go," Rachel said. She abruptly took out her earphones and put them on before opening the music player on her phone.

"Why did you stop here?" Looking out of the car window, she noticed that Hiram had parked his car in front of several shops. She stared at Hiram quizzically.

"To buy you some clothes," Hiram said in a matter-of-fact tone. He'd loosened his seat belt and was about to get out the car when Rachel reached out and held him back. "I've bought several outfits today. They're in your trunk. I have enough clothes for now."

Hiram looked at her pointedly. "My father is going to have dinner with us tonight, and he's meeting you for the first time. He thinks that people's appearance and manner reflect their inner heart, so he cares about such things a lot. I want him to have a good impression of you, so I need to find something special for you to wear tonight."

Rachel wordlessly wondered about what Hiram meant by "special."

Hiram got out the car and knocked at her window, urging her to follow.

There were several shops along the street. Each one of them was selling a different style of clothing.

The clothes here were different from the kind she usually bought at the mall. Most of them were casual but original and unique. Some of the styles were even alternative.

Rachel couldn't understand what Hiram meant by "special" until she followed him into one of the shops.

She was about to meet his parents. She should be wearing something graceful and conservative to leave a good impression on them.

But...

"Try these two on." There was a great variety of clothes in the shop. Hiram picked out two outfits from the clothes stand and handed them to Rachel.

She was confused when she glanced at the clothes. One was a low-cut dress and the other one was backless. What was he thinking?

"Hiram, do you really think that I should wear something like this? I have a bad figure," Rachel said.

Hiram stared at her nonchalantly and rushed her to try them on. "Hurry up! Cut out all the nonsense!"

Rachel muttered darkly under her breath and grabbed the clothes from Hiram. She was dissatisfied with his attitude towards her, but she had no choice but to go to the fitting room to try them on. In the fitting room...

The dress Rachel was trying on was very tight and revealing. She'd never worn this kind of a dress before. She'd always thought that she had a bad figure and that she should stay away from dresses like these, but it seemed that she was wrong. The dress was really flattering; she had a good figure after all.

"Hurry up! You've been in there for over ten minutes. Should I come inside and help you with it?" Hiram asked irritably. Outside the fitting room, Hiram was waiting impatiently with his arms crossed. Even if the dress made her look good, she was still shy about wearing it, so she let her hair down to cover her chest. Then she took a deep breath and opened the door.

Hiram was leaning against the other fitting room's door and waiting when a beautiful figure came into view. The red chiffon dress he'd picked out fluttered as Rachel walked.

If it weren't for her hair, Rachel's whole back would be exposed, but now her snow-white skin was only partly visible. She looked breathtaking.

Hiram frowned.

The back of the dress was still too sexy. He was starting to regret forcing her to try it on. ☐☐☐☐☐☐