A girl in a gray office suit was wailing in the corner of a small bar. Some heads turned to her in confusion and second-hand embarrassment. The lady owner of the bar couldn't stand the disappointed faces of her other customers. She made her way to the girl's table.
"Bella, could you please shut up! I still got customers. Finish your drama at the apartment," the lady owner scolded.
Bella looked at her bestfriend, Diane, who was now sitting across from her, arms crossed. She sat up straight, wiped her swollen eyes under her eyeglasses, and fixed her shoulder-length black hair. "My life is ruined," she stated sadly while staring blankly.
"Life does not end in marriage," Diane said while picking up a few bottles of liquor under the table.
"But...but I didn't even know I was married," Bella explained while silently sobbing. "Now, I am officially jobless! I could never pay off the loans that my sister left me. I could be homeless and broke. All those years of sacrifices just went down the drain."
"You're overreacting. You could file for nullity of marriage at the registry," Diane calmly explained.
"I can't. The marriage certificate is as good as the constitution, and the company just gave me a week to fix this," Bella says, hopeless.
"Well, just find the guy and divorce him! Or you could talk to him and tell them it was all a mistake," Diane said as-a-matter-of-fact.
Bella started crying again. "Oh, how I wish it was that easy! I was apparently married to the company's president."
Diane dropped the bottles from her hands in surprise. "What the eff? The company's president? How the hell did that happen? Wait, are you sure you didn't keep it as secret from me?"
"Of course not! I was in the hospital five years ago," Bella said defensively.
"Yeah, right. So what now? I mean, if that's the case, you don't need the job. You could be rich as hell right now!" Diane exclaimed excitedly.
"I don't even know the guy. If I was really married, I shouldn't be here. I could've been at our home cooking him dinner or something. And to think, after all those years, nobody claimed me as their wife!"
"You know what, you're drunk. Let me get you a cab. You sleep it off, and will think in the morning of what we should do next," Diane comforted.
Bella was drooling in the cab when it suddenly halted. She hit her head against somethings sharp behind the driver's seat. She was now alert as day. She moved back to her seat, but something was pooling down her face. When she touched it, it was blood and now her head was throbbing in pain. She was alarmed. She looked for the driver, but he was now outside his cab, hands up in the air. She suddenly got nervous and looked around the cab. There were men in black suits surrounding the cab.
Oh my god. Did we just get hijack? Can this day get any worse? She was panicking inside.
In a second, a man in a suit opened the door beside her. "Step out of the car, Miss," he ordered in his deep, unbothered voice.
Bella stepped out of the car slowly with her hands in the air. "Please don't hurt me!" Bella pleads.
Suddenly, a luxurious black car arrived on the scene. Its headlights blinded her. A tall man emerged from the passenger's seat and walked towards her. Blinded by the lights, all Bella could see was his dark silhouette.
"Sir, we found her," reported one of the men.
"Are you sure this is her?" asked the tall man who was standing five feet away from her.
"Yes, sir," the other men replied confidently.
Bella was shielding her eyes with her hands against the blinding headlight when the newly-arrived man took another step towards her. "Please do not hurt me. I've got nothing. I don't know who you're looking for, but I know it isn't me."
"Well, are you Mirabella Smith?" asked the man.
Bella was terrified. She kept looking for reasons in her mind why people like them would look for her.
"Answer me!" the man demanded.
A startled Bella jumped back from where she stood. "Ye--yes."
"So, you must've remembered me!" the man suddenly shouted furiously.
"I don't even know you!" Bella shouted back.
The man pulled Bella's arm forcefully and closed the distance between them. Bella could feel his dominant masculine presence over her. He towered over her like a giant. Bella could somehow feel his perfectly toned body against hers. Bella didn't know what to feel, fear or attraction.
The man lowered his lips to her ear and whispered, "Does Josef Harlington ring a bell to you, my dear wife?"
Hearing those words spooked Bella to her core, as if the skies fell before her. Trembling, she mustered all her strength and pushed him away.
Is this the man that she supposedly 'married' five years ago?Wife?
Still shaking, she slowly held her chin up. "I don't think so, Sir. Apparently, you got the wrong wife!"