Bargain Bride: The Billionaire’s Forced Wife

IT TOOK ONLY an hour for Chiara’s father, Fabio, to wake up from being unconscious. The first thing he did is to look around, probably looking for something, until his eyes landed on Celine, his wife.

“Bella,” Fabio called his wife in his endearment. His voice is somehow raspy and it sounds like he used a lot of energy to talk.

Celine and Chiara hurriedly went near to him. Worries filled their because of the sound Fabio made.

“Cuore mio,” Celine called her husband and gently tapped his cheek. “How do you feel? Does something hurt?”

Fabio just closed his eyes, feeling the warmth of his wife’s palm. On the other hand, Celine looked at her daughter and mouthed something.

Chiara nodded before leaving the room. She walked towards the station where most nurse and doctors are located.

“Hello,” she said to one of the nurses she recognized. “My father in 411 is now awake.”

The nurse nodded before getting some things and following her. Before they could reach the room, they stopped on one of the office and the nurse called a doctor.

“Mommy,” Chiara called her mother who immediately turned to her. “The doctor and nurse are here.”

The nurse proceeded on getting the vitals of the patient before telling something to the doctor. The doctor flipped some pages on his board.

“The patient had an atonic seizure. It is usually genetic. May I ask if you experienced something like this before, sir?” the doctor asked.

Chiara’s father nodded. “I usually had seizures when I was a child, doc. It just stopped when I hit puberty ”

The doctor slightly nodded and wrote something on the paper. “I see. We scanned your body and thankfully, there are no injuries. There is also no infection. The only cause of your seizure is purely genetics,” he handed us a paper. “The patient’s vital are all stable. In case something like this happened again, rush him again here and call me.”

He take his leave after saying that Fabio can be discharged within the day. The family let out a sigh of relief.

“Cuore mio, do you prefer to be discharged now?” Celine asked her husband while brushing his hair very gently, as if she’s after to break his skull.

Fabio nodded. “I want to go home. I’m getting bored here.”

Celine chuckled at her husband. She kissed his forehead. “You got me really worried there. I thought I’m gonna lose you.”

“Sorry for worrying you, bella,” Fabio responded. “Don’t worry, I’m a strong man. I won’t die easily. I told you we’re gonna make a new child, right? A boy this time,” he added before winking at his wife.

Celine playfully hit his arms. “Silly. You know we’re already old. I’m near to menopause.”

“Just near, but not yet menopause. We can still make another one,” Fabio didn’t really give up.

Chiara scoffed at her parents. “You should’ve thought about that when I’m still young,” she said jokingly. “My younger brother will look like my child if that will happen.”

Her parents just laughed at her before continuing on flirting with each other. The more they flirt, the more Chiara gets jealous.

She also wants to do that, but her husband is away from her.

“Mommy, Daddy, I’ll take care of the bills,” Chiara said to her parents.

Both of them nodded. “I’ll get your father ready for discharge while we wait,” Celine said before asking assistance from the nurse.

Chiara left the room again and proceed to the cashier. While walking slowly, she’s typing on her phone.

Chiara: Hi, Ezio. Father’s already doing well. He will be discharged later. Call me when you land on Dubai. Take care.

After hitting the button for ‘sent’, she paced up her walk towards the cashier. It didn’t take her long to finish the payments.

She kept on looking on her phone, waiting for Ezio’s reply. However, she suddenly felt stupid because the travel time is around six hours, and it’s only been almost two hours since he left.

Chiara sighed while scrolling at her gallery, looking at the photos of her and her husband. She can’t stop the corner of her lips from moving. Those photos are proofs of their good life, and it made her reminisce their dates.

“I miss him,” she whispered on her mind.Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

She was too busy sliding the pictures while walking when a familiar voice called her name.

“Chiara!”

Chiara looked around to see where the voice is coming from. She is sure that the voice came from that man.

When turned to her left, she saw a man waving at her, with a woman standing beside him.

“Simone?” she asked, checking if it is really him.

The two walked towards her. “Chiara, it’s been years since I saw you. My last update is you marrying Ezio Vitali.”

Simone smiled at her, showing his perfect teeth. Before, Chiara’s knees would melt by just seeing his smile. But now, she doesn’t feel anytime.

“Yeah,” she responded. “It’s been so long. How are you?”

“Doing fine,” Simone replied before putting his hand on the shoulder of the woman beside him. “I’m married to Alessandra now. You remember her, right?”

Chiara’s eyes landed on Alessandra. She was about to smile at her when Alessandra rolled her eyes before giving her a side-eye.

“She’s still a bitch,” Chiara thought to herself. Since they were studying, Alessandra has a habit of rolling her eyes to other women. Chiara can still remember that Simone said to her that he wouldn’t like Alessandra because of her bad attitude.

But look at them now.

“Yup, I remember her,” Chiara answered to his question. “Mazzini also told me about your wedding. Congratulations!”

Simone just nodded at her before looking somewhere at her back. “Is your husband not with you?”

Chiara shook her head. “He’s on his way to Dubai. Gotta fix some problem on his business.

She might have seen it wrong, but Chiara saw how Simone’s pupils increased their size after she said that. It looked like he’s interested on what she said.

“Oh, really?” he said. “How about his businesses here? Who would manage them?”

“He’ll be away for only a few days. I’m sure his businesses can survive without him on those days,” Chiara responded. “What brings you here, by the way?”

Simone’s smile grew wider, but Chiara can see that it was a fake smile. “For a check-up. Alessandra’s pregnant.”

Chiara’s eyes widened and her mouth gasped. She looked at Alessandra’s tummy that was covered by her arms.

“Oh, my god,” she reacted. “Congratulations!”

She was indeed shocked by what she heard. They have been married for just a month and Alessandra is already pregnant.

A part of her says that both of them must be really healthy, or they put a lot of effort to succeed in pregnancy as much as possible. Simone’s not getting younger anyway.

However, a part of her also says that maybe, Alessandra is already pregnant before they even got married. From the looks of it, she must be three months pregnant. Her bump’s very visible – she just didn’t notice it earlier.

“Thanks,” Simone responded. “How about you and Signor Ezio?”

Chiara was taken aback by that question. She didn’t expect that Simone would ask something like that.

She and Ezio is already three years married, but nothing happened between them. She realized that Ezio never demanded her to fulfill wife’s duties like intimacy.

Ezio never tried to touched her, especially when she doesn’t want to. He never forced her to do anything.

Suddenly, a mix of appreciation and sadness filled her heart. Appreciation, because Ezio is such a good husband. Sadness, because they haven’t even consummated their marriage yet. They don’t have a child yet.

She just gave a smile to the two after she gathered her thoughts. “We’re trying. It’s just we’re both busy in our own work. We’re still having our alone time.”

Alessandra suddenly whispered, but it didn’t escape Chiara’s ears. “Maybe you’re infertile.”

Chiara didn’t remove her smile even if she’s already annoyed at Alessandra’s action. “My husband and I are both healthy. We just don’t want to rush things up. Having a child is a huge responsibility after all.”

Simone tapped his wife’s shoulders. “Yeah. I’m sure you’ll have your own children in the future. Besides, it’s hard to have your alone time with spouse when you already have children.”

They chuckled at what he said. The two both know it’s true. When they’re still young, their parents will ask them to play outside so that they can have their alone time. They don’t know what they mean at first, but as they grow older, they started to unfold it.

Alessandra felt irritated because her husband is having a good time with another girl. Not just a normal girl, but his ex-girlfriend. So, she tugged his shirt before speaking.

“I’m tired, babe. I want to go home.”

Simone just nodded before looking at Chiara again. “We’ll take our leave now. Let’s just catch up some other time.”

They bid goodbyes to each other. Alessandra’s sharp glare to Chiara didn’t escape from her sight. Chiara just raised her left eyebrow.

“This bitch’s jealous. She thinks I will snatch her husband,” Chiara thought to her mind. “I have my Ezio. He’s way, way, way better.”

She was rejoicing in her mind when she suddenly realized something.

She’s now certain that she has already moved on from Simone. She doesn’t have any bit of feelings for him anymore. She didn’t feel any jealousy towards Alessandra.

During their conversation, her mind is filled of what if’s – what if Ezio is with her? What if Ezio and her already has a child?

The thought of her and Ezio having their own child makes her feel butterflies in her stomach. She started to imagine how they will look like, how many children will they have, what names would they give.

Before she could drown from her imaginary world, she take a look at the two walking away.

The last thing she saw before turning around is Simone getting his phone, probably calling someone.