Sentenced to Marriage by MadlainQ

Talking about love After | had drank three more glasses of wine, | knew a little more about Jack’s and Chris's personal lives, not that | was asking about it though... Nonetheless, | found out that Jack got married to his high school sweetheart, and they happily bechusband and wife as soon as they graduated. He toldhow he decorated a bower that stood at the back of their school with over three hundred red roses just to propose to his girlfriend. It was amazing to discover his romantic soul. He was the guy who had never forgotten his wife's birthday or their anniversaries. | could see the love in his eyes when he talked about his wife...

“But we weren't meant to be together...” He shrugged, ending his fairy-tale love story in a sad tone.

“What do you mean? What happened?” | asked, feeling emotionally engaged in his story. Jack smiled faintly. “She wanted to have a child, but she didn’t want the child's father to have a dangerous job. She tried to forceto change my occupation, but I've always loved my job, and I still do. We got divorced a year ago...” My heart ached as | heard his voice nearly crack at the final note. | could partially understand his wife; she wanted to be sure that her husband would chevery night and that he would be safe. At the stime, Jack seemed like a guy that girls often dream of; someone worth making sadjustments in your values and in the way you want your life to be. It was sad to find out that sometimes love is not enough to make two people stay together.

Listening to Jack, | could say that he was the type of man that had only one true love throughout his life, while Chris was Jack's exact opposite. He fell in love every day, changing his girlfriends faster than he changed socks. | bet that girls were drawn to him like moths to a flame. He was intelligent, handsome, tall, well-built, and he knew how to talk to women. He must have been a charmer, the one who could sweet-talk every ice princess and melt her heart. . “Of course, | got slapped and cursed a lot,” he admitted with a dry smile. “But | didn’t think of myself as a bad guy, and it wasn't always about getting laid, you know? It’s just that my heart opened quickly, but | got bored even more quickly. | guess it was my system tellingthat that girl wasn’t the one | was looking for.” | leaned back on the sofa, amused by his cockiness and smug style. “And have you ever found what you're looking for?” “Yes... and no,” he replied, shootinga crooked grin. “Explain.” “Once | met a beautiful woman, tall and slender, brunette with a perfect body. She was the hottest female I've seen in my life. No offense.” He winked.

I chuckled. “None taken.” “Unfortunately, | met her when | was accompanying Aren at the Expo, and she turned out to be his business competitor, bidding on the sauction... which Aren won, and she got extremely pissed off. | found her afterward drinking alone and decided to join her... We spent a pleasant night together; she gaveher number, and it was the first t| thought that this TERVE might actually work...” He paused and emptied his glass.

“So, what happened next?” | inquired impatiently.

“Aren encouragedto research her before | decided to work on the relationship. | thought that it was stupid at first, but in the end, | checked her right before going on a date... | found out that her whole identity was false and that she was engaged in a few illegal businesses. Even knowing that much, | still decided to go on that date, which ended in her apartment. However, as she took a shower, led by suspicions | decided to get up from the bed and look around her place. | found nothing extraordinary, but as | was getting back to bed, I noticed that she stupidly left her phone by the bed, and someone just texted her asking if the date worked. It could have been her friend, and | wanted to ignore it... but somehow it was drivingcrazy. As soon as she fell asleep, | used her finger to get to her phone and | read her messages...” He took a deep breath and chuckled coldly. “It turned out that she only contactedto get into Lan Diamond Corporation, using my access and steal data.” “Wow...” | gasped, thinking that when it was about relationships, he was as pitiful as Jack. Then | decided that | was drunk enough to get up, cover to their side, and give them both a hug. “I'm sure that both of you will find someone you will love for the rest of your lives, just like I...” | paused. My smile disappeared as | suddenly reminded myself that my marriage was still on two-year contract terms.

“You love Aren, don’t you?” Chris smirked teasingly.

“Well, isn't that obvious?” Jack answered before | could. “I knew that the first t| saw those two together.

Lucky son of a bitch.” Jack drank what was left in his glass and went to Chris's bar to pull out a bottle of whisky.

“On the rocks or straight?” He didn’t bother asking if we wanted to drink something other than wine. He made that decision for us...

“Straight,” Chris said. “Right decision,” Jack approved. “Cora?” “On rocks?” | smiled nervously.

Jack gavethe look, but quickly sighed and pulled out ice cubes from the fridge. | guessed that he had been drinking and hanging around Chris's apartment many times to know exactly where the glasses and everything else were. | had a feeling that contemplating my happy relationship over large amounts of alcohol triggered skind of annoyance in him. | figured that it was tto change the subject... a little. “So... what was Aren like as a student?” | was dying to ask that question from the moment | found out that Chris and my husband were roommates.

Chris thought for a while, scratching his head. “Well... he was secretive and cold, and it tooka year to get to him... which happened only because the girl he slept with tried to commit suicide, and | helped him take care of the situation.” “Wait... W-what?!” That wasn’t the kind of response | expected. | suddenly regretted that | chose to even start that subject.

Chris smiled coldly and leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees. “I know that it wasn’t what you wanted to hear, but from the two of us, | was the good guy.” | exhaled in a rush, feeling a cold chill running down my spine, but since | had asked the question, I should at least hear a full answer. | grabbed the glass of whiskey Jack had just put on the table and drank half of it in big gulps before locking my eyes on Chris. “Telleverything,” | demanded.

“As you wish.” Chris smirked slyly as he watcheddrink and then said, “The Aren Lan | met first was a quiet guy, always studying and staying out of trouble. One day, I think | even saw her coming hfrom a date. He looked like he was in love...” My chest squeezed painfully as | heard the word “love.” | instantly started to wonder if Chris meant the relationship Aren had with Lanfen. “Anyway, | never imagined that he could fight.

Furthermore, he didn’t even look like he could defend himself, but one night he cback to our room very late, and he was bleeding all over. His knuckles were torn, and he had huge stains of blood on his shirt and pants.

When | suggested that | take him to the hospital, he refused. A little after that, | realized why-it wasn't his blood that he had on his clothes. The only injury he had was a little cut on his brow and those torn knuckles.” “So... did he tell you what happened that night?” | asked, my heart thundering. “Not that night, but a few years later, he toldthat it was the night someone tried to assassinate him. There were four against one, but he survived,” Chris explained.

“He killed those assassins...” | muttered breathlessly. Jack walked over to my sofa, sat beside me, and placed his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t judge him too harshly, Cora. It was self-defense.” I smiled nervously and nodded. | felt like an idiot for reacting the way I did. Aren kept tellingabout the assassination attempts and about him getting his hands dirty. | didn’t know what | expected... that he used sleep darts on them? Nonetheless, | had a hard timagining my sexy husband as a ruthless killer. “It must have been the first the had real blood on his hands,” Chris continued. “I know that because he changed after that night. He becthe most merciless and cold-hearted son of a bitch | have ever met. He fucked every pretty girl on the campus and dumped her right after. He also got into fights. One night, | tried to stop him because he kept hitting spiece of shit, and | was afraid that Aren was going to kill him. It was a hard few months for him until he sorted it out with himself and calmed down a bit.” | emptied my glass of whiskey and smiled numbly at Chris and Jack as | had finally put all the pieces together.

“He didn’t change because he killed someone...” “He didn’t?” Jack raised his eyebrows at me. “Then why did he change?” “His heart was brutally broken by his girlfriend, who left him that day. It was also her family that organized the attack on him,” | said, as my heart ached more with every word. “It was all because of his girlfriend, Lanfen, the girl from his past who has been seen recently in New York.”