Love Contract

Mary's fists were clenched so tightly that her palms stung from the bite of her fingernails as they attempted to pierce through her skin. She so desperately wanted to grab ahold of something, if only to help ground herself.

A mix of negative emotions were swirling around inside her making her feel weak. She felt lonely, helpless, and hateful and it just made her so tired.

"Come one Mary, you're the only person I have left to turn to!" The voice was whiney and unpleasant. "I don't have any money or power," Jay continued. "Do you really want to see your brother dead when he's only one year old?"

The words shocked her enough that she stood frozen. "Brother?!" Mary spun around to glare at Jay, her vision going red out of anger. "I don't have a brother!" Her voice wavered slightly. "That is your son! Not my brother! And now you think you can come and beg me for help? Did you forget how determined you were when you left home all that time ago?! Where is that determination now?!"

Standing at Mary's side, William could feel her trembling, and see the tears glistening in her eyes as she tried to hold them back. "You put yourself in this situation! You deserve it." Mary clenched her teeth, her molars grinding harshly together. "You deserve to know loneliness. And you deserve to be helpless."

The words flowed out of her without stopping, leaving her breathless and panting. They seemed to irritate Jay as he puffed up his chest in anger, and stalked towards Mary with a menacing snarl. William scowled, shifting as if he were going to move forward and block her father's path, but the small hand on his arm stopped him.

He glanced down at her in question, wondering what she was thinking.

There was a sudden, sharp sound of flesh on flesh that echoed around them.

Everyone seemed to freeze as the sound slowly died off. Even the air was stiff and unmoving.

Mary made no sound as her tongue flicked out to lick the blood from the corner of her lip. At the taste of the coppery fluid, she sneered. The smack across the face had not surprised her one bit. Jay's hand was still raised as he trembled with anger. "I should have known I couldn't rely on my own daughter, married or not. It was a mistake coming here today. Once I leave, you will never have need to cal me father again!'

With one final glare, he turned on his heel and marched away.

Mary chuckled humorlessly. "I've stopped calling you father since two years ago. You don't deserve the title."

Her voice was neither loud nor low, but just loud enough that her father, who had taken several steps, could still hear it.

He paused, his frame shaking in anger, as he considered turning back around and teaching her a lesson. However, he bottled up the anger and stomped away.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

She received no answer, only silence so she raised her head to meet William's eyes. "I'm sorry," she repeated. "No one should have witnessed that. If any consequences come from it, I will take full responsibility."

"Mary..." William's voice was hoarse, his throat tight. He looked at the one side of Mary's face. It was swollen and red, and the corner of her mouth was stained with blood. His heart squeezed at the sight, and he whispered to her, "Let it out, Mary. Cry."

"I..." Mary's face was blank in confusion.

"No one will say a word about it. No one will laugh." As he finished speaking, William gently tugged Mary into his arms, careful to avoid touching her face so he didn't hurt her. Mary stilled in his arms and remained quiet. He frowned and glanced down at the top of her head, trying to determine if she was still trying to hold back. As he opened his mouth to say something, she began to shake in his hold.

Her shoulders shook with the force of her cries, the sounds getting louder and louder.

She buried her face into William's chest, her tears soaking into his shirt.

"Why..." she sobbed. "Why is he like this?

Why did he have to come to me?" Now that she had started talking, she couldn't seem to stop.

"Brother? Ha! Ridiculous. As if I would care about such a stranger."

She hiccupped and continued to cry.

"He's such a selfish man. He took everything from us.

At our worst, we had spent days without food...

I hate him. So much..."

The tears were trickling from her eyes with seemingly no end. Her voice was muffled by William's shirt but he could understand her well enough.

At the time when he'd decided to marry the woman in his arms, he took the liberty to research her history and learn all he could. But now that he heard the same words he'd read about, the feelings they caused were different. More severe.

She had hidden away so much pain and anger that it was hard to believe she could laugh or smile.

The two of them stood in each other's arms, focused only on themselves and no one else who might be in the hall with them. The man listened and provided silent support, while the other cried out all their grie and pain.

No one was in the hall with them though, not that they bothered to realize it. Guards had taken position at the entrance of the hall, making sure that no one was able to enter or leave.

After a seemingly endless moment, Mary's crying had died into sniffles and then stopped altogether. "Wi-William... ?"

"Hmm?" William pulled away from her to look down into her red, puffy eyes that matched the injured side of her face rather well. The injuries made her look rather ugly, and he couldn't help but feel sorry for her as well as angry on her behalf.

"Does this mean our stand-off is over?" Her voice was barely more than a whisper.

"You can't just skip to another topic," he said softly, his lips curling into a soft smile.

She blinked up at him and then down at his shirt. Mary sniffed, "It seems I stained both you and your shirt with my snot..."

"I suppose you'll just have to wash it for me as punishment, then," he said as he dragged her back to the office.

Mary couldn't help but gape at him in shock. His change in behavior had been confusing her more and more. His temper had seemed to mellow out and he wasn't so uptight anymore. And did he somehow magically cure his mysophobia?

"Mary, what seems to be the matter?!" The voice had come from the elevator, and the two of them looked to see Jane coming towards them.

Jane couldn't hide her shock at the sight of Mary's face. She'd attempted to follow the CEO downstairs and into the hall, but guards had quickly stopped her and driven her away. She wanted to desperately know what had happened.

"Nothing."

Mary's voice was clipped, but she felt the urge to laugh for some reason. When her lips twitched though she hissed out in pain, raising a hand to clutch her battered face.

"Jane," William said, easily grabbing her attention. "Go find some ice cubes and pain reliever."

"Yes, of course," she muttered, scurrying off to do as she was told.

"Kevin!" William called. "No one will speak a word of what occurred in the hall today. Understood?" "Yes, sir," Kevin immediately agreed with a nod of his head.

"Giving orders like a true CEO," Mary said with a giggle and as much of a smile as she could muster.

"Mary! Mary! Here's some medicine to help," Jane called as she rushed over with ice wrapped in a towel and a bottle of medicine.

"Hand them to me." William held out his hands for the items and shooed Jane back into the hallway before he shut his office door.

Jane cooed softly at the couple. She looked at them for a moment before shaking her head slowly. "They're so affectionate."

"So, when do I not look like a CEO who can give orders to his employees?" William raised his eyebrows at her after his question, gesturing for Mary to sit down at the same time. Mary sat down on the black leather sofa gingerly.

"My face feels like a bloated pig's head," grumbled Mary. William said nothing as he gently pressed the ice to her cheek.

Mary sucked in a sharp breath, closing her eyes against the pain. "I can do it myself..." Mary breathed. Ignoring her, William continued to press the ice to her face.

Mary tried to look at anywhere other than his face which was only inches from her own.

His tender care was making her feel more than uneasy. She wasn't sure what to really think about. She realized his face was so close to hers that she thought she might be able to count his eyelashes. Slowly, Mary allowed her eyes to peruse his face, committing the image to memory.

Her thoughts stuttered than paused as a brief memory flashed through her mind. He was crouched with the same posture, and his face was just as close as it was in the memory...

"If only I were the one you liked."

Mary suddenly realized that was the night she had gotten drunk.

Though horrified at the memory, Mary tried to keep her facial expression calm and collected. How could she have said those words?! Especially to William. All sorts of odd feelings swelled in her chest making her uncomfortable.

"What are you thinking about, Mary?"

The question startled her from her panicked thoughts. "I'm sorry," Mary said when she came back to the present. "What did you say?"

"Well," William said, biting his lower lip, "You really... You really don't care about your father?"

"Oh! Of course I do." Mary smiled, although it was bitter and small. "I will send him money when he's sick and can't get out of bed. He'll have no reason to sue me then."

"Don't play dumb, Mary!" William snapped but his tone had no bite to it.

"I'm not," she said with a shrug. "It's what I actually think."

"He said..."

"Well, I will not be giving him a single cent." Mary grew stiff and turned her eyes away.

"That's fine." William nodded. He'd rather not get involved in such family matters as that.

"It's ridiculous though, isn't it?" Mary said softly, her voice toneless. "Him asking for money to save my brother? So he remarried and had another child." But that child was not her brother. What gave that man the right to be so selfish? "I don't want that man as a father, and I certainly don't want a brother," she snarled.

"We are alike," William said quietly as he dabbed some medicine on her face.

"What do you mean?" Mary asked confused.

"We're both such cold people." William stood and stepped away from her. "Only those who have felt helplessness and despair can see through any kind of front you put on. You're a heartless woman, Mary. Cold and unfeeling on the inside. You may present a warm, soft facade, but I can see through it. You might seem harmless enough, but the moment you're threatened, you make sure they suffer for it. Right?" William might have posed it as a question, but it didn't seem like he was truly asking.

A soft, warm exterior, and a cold hard interior?

She had to hand it to him. William had a good eye for people. She found she couldn't help but admire him for it.

Mary gave a coy smile, meeting his eyes once more. "What does that make you, then? Hard and cold through and through?"

William only looked at her for a long moment, saying nothing. The couple then looked out the window, becoming lost in their own thoughts.

Mary's thoughts seemed to run away from her as time pressed on. People like William, cold through and through, treated others well only when they pitied them. Frank must feel incredibly lucky to have William's heart. Was it actually warm?

The situation that had occurred in the AJ Group hall quickly disappeared from the memories of anyone who had witnessed it. No one recalled a man who called himself Mary's father ever showing up. Mary had expected for everyone to forget about it, but expectations were usually meant to be exceeded...

She found she couldn't forget that the blood coursing through her veins was that of her father's. Her stubbornness had definitely been inherited from him.

The previous weekend had come and gone, and the next seemed so far away.

A headline had found its way onto the internet that forced the memory of what had happened in AJ Group hall to the forefront of everyone's mind.

Some of the discussions and headlines stated, 'The wife of AJ Group CEO has refused to support her father.'

One of the worst ones read, 'Despite becoming really wealthy, the wife of CEO refuses to save her sick brother'.

Mary went on to read how she had no decency, and was indifferent when it came to her family. That it went against human nature to not assist your family when they were in need. The last comment, 'How could the wife of AJ Group CEO do this?', had her seething.

Mary's teeth ground together and her muscles grew tight in agitation.

Loud, hollow bangs echoed all around her. Mary cursed Jay Lu as she pounded the table.

'What does he think he'll achieve by running to reporters and crying? Does he believe it will ruin my reputation? Make me give in to his demands?' She hadn't seen him for two years! And he was still the same, heartless bastard he had always been.

She felt no pity for him, only hatred. There was no kindness for him left in her.

Candy GSmgB