Chapter 12: Sexy

I heard a soft laugh from behind me, and that was Jessica. That arrogant jerk couldn't leave a chance to insult me.

Jessica reached out to me and placed her hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay, Alice?"

"Yeah. I've got used to it." I forced a smile and sank into the chair.

"He is rude, but we can't deny the fact that he also has a good side. He takes care of everyone, even his servants. You witnessed how worried he was for me and my mother." She sighed and took a seat next to me. "He is like a coconut, harsh from outside and soft from the inside."

I smiled at her and said nothing because I didn't know what to say about my husband.

"You know, he doesn't speak politely to anyone else except his father and his girlfriend Ava."

I frowned.

She cleared her throat, embarrassing. "I'm sorry. I mean his ex-girlfriend."

"What do you know about their relationship?" I asked, wondering. I knew it would hurt me, but I asked anyway, "can you tell me about them?"

"They were like a golden couple. Everyone is envious of them. They were very close to each other. Everyone thought they would get married. They lived together, partied together, and they didn't even eat food without each other. I still remember how much Ava loved Henry. She skipped her classes so that she could spend time with him. She was madly in love with him, silly girl." She smiled at those memories. "But after that accident, Henry went back to his old form."

Guilt flooded my chest. They were in deep love. They used to care for each other, trust each other, and live with each other. It appeared natural they were a real couple. I didn't understand what was going on with me, but it made me unhappy. I was the reason that they separated from each other.

"It all happened because of me," I mumbled.

"No, Alice, it was just an accident. You didn't do this knowingly, did you?" She hugged my hand gently and gave me a cheerful smile. "Everything is going to be alright. Don't worry."

I was wondering what would happen when Henry's father came to know the truth. I was feeling really bad for him. He loved me like his own daughter, and it would break my heart when he faced the truth.

"Alice, you want me to teach you the uses of a few appliances, right?" Jessica asked.

"Yeah. There are a lot of things I wanted to learn from you." I smiled. "But first, I want to know more about you."

After that, we talked about other things like her family. She had been working for Robinson's for three years. When she told me about her mother's health condition, it wrenched my heart. It surprised me to find that she shifted from England to New York twenty years ago. After hours of chats, she taught me the uses of several modern kitchen appliances and a few recipes. Jessica was smooth-talking and easy to understand. She knew how to please and value the person in front of her. I found her alluring.

"Please, take care of yourself," Jessica said and grabbed her handbag, and headed out of the house, leaving me alone.

I just hated this emptiness in my life.

*****

It had been two days since Henry and Jessica left the house. I was feeling too lonely in that huge house. I tried to call Sarah, but she was busy with the office work. But she told me she would stop by on the way home.

I jumped in excitement when the doorbell rang. It must be Sarah. Abandoning everything, I headed straight towards the door. I answered the door with a huge smile, but my smile fell once I found Mrs. Clifton standing across the threshold.

"Hi, Alice. How are you?"

"Hey, Clara." I plastered a smile and welcomed her inside. "I'm fine, and how about you?"

"Good…" She walked up to the living room and plopped onto the couch.

"What would you like to take, tea or coffee?"

She waved her hand dismissively. "I've come here to take you somewhere."

"Where?" My eyes widened in surprise.

She pushed her silky hair behind her shoulder before giving me her professional smile. "Of course, for shopping."

"Shopping?" I blurted, and my brows snapped together. I quickly closed my mouth, realizing her eyes on me. Shit! How could I go shopping? I didn't have enough money!

"Yes, we're going shopping, in case you heard me wrong," she repeated after examining my surprised expression.

"But…" I swallowed. But I don't have money. I wanted to let it out but was too embarrassed to say this.

"You have five minutes, get ready," she ordered me like Henry.

"But…"

"No buts…go…!" She clipped.

Without another thought, I walked upstairs and went into my room. Pouting, I sank into my bed, thinking about money. After a few minutes, I dragged myself to the wardrobe and removed a pair of clothes.

I put on a flared long skirt with a white blouse and made my hair into a messy bun. I applied some natural makeup and lip gloss. Before walking out, I glanced at my appearance in the mirror one last time. I was looking pretty in this dress. After grabbing my empty handbag, I headed downstairs.

Clara studied my appearance before giving an appreciating smile. "You look so pretty."

"Thank you." I blushed, tucking my hair behind my ear.

"Let's go then…"

After a while, Clara pulled the car into the parking lot of the mall and killed the engine. We climbed off, fixing our hair and dresses.

"Ah, Alice, Sarah is going to join us. She informed me earlier. She will head straight to the mall as soon as she finishes her work."

I gave her a nod, and we headed to the entrance of the mall.

"Hey there…!" We heard a familiar voice and it didn't take me a second to recognize Sarah's voice. I turned around to find her rushing towards us. "You both are deaf!" she chided, gasping for air. It looked like she was running a marathon.

"Excuse me?" Clara said. "I feel you're blind. Can't you see how crowded this place is! How are we supposed to hear your tiny voice!"

"Oh, don't start it over again…" Sarah rolled her eyes. "I'm not in the mood."

Clara crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at Sarah coldly. "What do you mean by that?"

They were going to fight at any moment if I didn't stop them on time. "Shall we go?" I interrupted and both heads snapped at me.

After a moment of silence. "Yeah!" Sarah sighed, and Clara nodded.

First, we went to a restaurant to grab some food. We ordered simple veg, cheese pizza with coffee, and espresso for Clara. When the server put the tray of food on the table, Sarah quickly lunged for pizza like a two-year-old baby.

"Oh god, it's delicious!" She took a big bite and moaned.

Her aunt raised her brows, scowling at her. "Sarah, don't be childish. You are eating like a pig."

Sarah completely ignored her words and kept eating. "You know Alice, because of starving my stomach was growling like a washing machine." We both broke into a laugh and Clara looked at both of us with another scowl.

Obviously, she didn't find it funny.

"Do you think it was funny?" she said with a sneer in her voice.

I straightened myself. "Not funny but not bad either." I wink at Sarah, and she grinned.

After eating together, we headed to the boutique. "This is one of the boutiques owned by Henry," Sarah said. We stepped inside and it was stunningly beautiful; huge, clean, and comfortable. There was a woman who welcomed us with a warm smile on her face. She was in a blue and pink dress that seemed like a uniform.

"Come here, Alice," Sarah said and grabbed my hand, dragging me to a room where I could see nothing but designer dresses and accessories. There were varieties of gowns, skirts, blouses, and footwear.

She threw me a white floral maxi on my face. "Try it."

I gave her a confused look. "What?"

"Try it, darling."

Groaning in frustration, I pushed myself to the changing room and put on that white floral dress. It looked good, but I didn't like its deep neck that was showing half of my breasts. I couldn't wear a dress that shows my cleavage. I walked out and said, "I don't think this dress looks good on me."

Sarah crossed her arms over her chest and studied me for a while before remarking, "Not bad."

"It's too loose," Clara said while scanning me from head to toe.

"Try this one." Sarah gave me another dress.

I tried It. It hugged my body perfectly; it was not too tight and too loose, and it was perfect for me.

"Um, that one is perfect," Clara said when I stepped out of the changing room.

"Mmm…beautiful…" Sarah said with an appreciating smile.

An hour and twenty dresses. I tried on twenty dresses. It bored me to death putting and taking dresses off. Sarah was driving me up to the wall. She was very selective and kept forcing me to try the entire boutique. Clara had already left to pick up her kids from school.

"The last one," Sarah said and handed me a golden dress. It was too short and bright.

"I will not wear this." I snorted.

"Why not Alice? You have a perfect body and complexion. I bet this dress is going to be one hell of the best dress."

"Have mercy."

"Ok, we won't buy it, but for the sake of me, can you wear it at once," she pleaded and made my heart swell for her.

"Okay!" I sighed and grasped the dress and stepped into the changing room.

I put on that golden dress. It was too tight and too short and barely reached my thighs. It was also showing my cleavage as it had a deep neck even deeper than that white maxi. "No! This dress is awful!" I mumbled and was about to take it off but.

Suddenly, something exploded outside the room and made me jump in fright. When another explosion erupted, I recognized the gunshots. They were gunshots. But how could it be possible? I might be wrong. I nearly had a heart attack when a muscular man barged into the changing room.

That familiar scent, sea-blue eyes, brown shoulder-length hair, and had a tattoo on his arms. He had a gun in his hand. I could see the fresh bruises on his face, the corner of his lips was bleeding.

Vivian!

"What are you doing here," I growled and was about to shove him out of the changing room.

"Shh…don't shout," he warned. Again, I heard gunshots and screams of people.

And suddenly the thought of Sarah popped into my mind. Oh no! She was in danger! Without a second thought, I rushed to the door, but he grasped my arm.

"Where are you going?" He asked angrily.

"None of your business!" I snapped and snatched my hand from his grasp.

"Who do you think you are?" He snarled and jerked me back and slammed me against the wooden wall. I could smell his scent, the mixture of cologne, alcohol, and blood. He stared into my eyes. "Do you have any fucking idea what is going on outside this fucking room?"

"And who do you think you are to stop me?" I gritted out and tried to free myself from his grasp.

The next moment a gun pointed in my forehead and knocked the breath out of me. "Do you wish to die? I will…" he pressed his pistol. "I won't think twice before ripping your fucking brain off!" My chest tightened with fear as I looked into his eyes.

He released me from his gunpoint. But it couldn't ease my tension. Still, my heart was hammering in my chest.

"By the way, you're looking sexy." His eyes trailed down to my face, then to my breasts, and then my legs. I folded my arms over my chest as a blush crept into my cheeks. "I'm not going to suck them." He smirked and averted his gaze.

My jaw dropped as I felt my cheeks go tomato red. He was the dirtiest man I had ever seen in my life.

Disgusting bastard.

"You are a pervert," I snapped.

"Do you want me to prove it, darling?"

I opened my mouth to say something, but someone banged the door hard, startling us. "Shh, don't…" he mouthed and turned around to face the door. A crack appeared on the door due to force. "Alice, don't move until I tell you to." His voice was gentle.

Suddenly, the door slammed open, and a couple of men in black clothes, carrying heavy guns and masks on their faces, appeared in front of us.

"Mr. Vivian Miller," one man who looked different from the rest said.

Vivian stood with his back in front of me as he pressed me against his back. I felt like he wanted to protect me. I swallowed the lump in my throat, peeking at those scary men who were waiting for our blood. I was worried about Sarah.