By the following morning, Ruby awoke to a head-splitting migraine and an unfamiliar ache between her thighs.
She fluttered her eyes severely, trying to figure out where she was.
Then she felt a strong arm resting lazily but possessively around her waist. She turned her head slowly and came face to face with a godlike beauty sculpted in human form.
It was the annoying man from the previous night. He was sound asleep and half of his handsome face was buried inside the soft pillow.
"Oh God..." Ruby gently lifted the duvet and realized they were both naked. "...what have you done?"
She took in a deep breath and quietly slipped out of the bed without waking him up.
Picking up her dress from the floor, she quickly slipped into it.
Then she picked up all her belongings and quietly slipped out of the room without making a sound.
She kept her head lowered in shame as she hurriedly left the five-star hotel where she had spent the night.
Outside, she hailed a taxi and gave him the address to a motel in the suburbs of town.
Behind closed doors, she finally allowed herself to cry out her heart.
After a few minutes of self-admonishment, she thoroughly cleaned herself up and decided to carry on with her life like nothing happened.
*****
Five weeks later...
Ruby stared, wide-eyed at the double pink lines on the pregnancy test strip in her trembling hand.
"I'm pregnant?!"
"No...no....no..." She cupped her mouth, guilt washing over her as it suddenly dawned on her that she was pregnant with a complete stranger's child.
A gentle knock on the door made Ruby flinch, her panicked eyes darting to the door.
"Ruby..." Came Elena's voice.
"I'm coming out." Ruby.quickly tossed the pregnancy strip into the toilet and flushed it down the drain before stepping out. "Sorry I took a so long. Let's get this over with." She flashed Elena a feverish smile.
"Okay...." Elena eyed Ruby suspiciously as she took her seat in front of the mirror. But she kept her opinions to her self.
In less than an hour minutes, Ruby was transformed into the perfect bride who left everyone gushing.
Just then, the door to the room opened and Derek walked in, looking equally stunning in his custom-made white tuxedo, which hugged his body perfectly.
"Derek!" Ruby's expression turned sour. But thankfully, her veil was covering her face, and no one noticed the cold look in her eyes.
"Son, you shouldn't be here." Donna shot him a disapproving stare. "Don't you know it's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding?"
"I don't believe in such superstition, Mom. I just wanted to talk to my beautiful bride before we take our vows." Derek's disarming smile left his mother weakened and beaming proudly.
"Listen to your mother Derek." Ruby scolded in a slightly trembling voice, afraid that she might call off the wedding with the slightest mistake from his end. "Whatever you want to say can wait till after the wedding."
"No it can't." Derek insisted, taking her trembling hands. "I just wanted to tell you how much I love you with every bit of my heart," He said smoothly.
"Aww!"
Everyone in the room gushed at the beautiful couple while Ruby held her breath as her stomach twisted in disgust.
"Derek, you should go. We are already running late," Ruby managed to say, forcing a smile.
"I can't wait to tell the whole world that you are the only woman in my life." Derek brought her hand to his lips to kiss it but Ruby pulled it away.
"Derek!" She snapped.
"Son, a good husband listens to his wife. Go." Donna stepped in and Derek immediately left after blowing kisses to Ruby.
-
-
Thirty minutes later, Ruby was standing inside the holy cathedral before Derek and in the presence of both their families and friends–listening to the priest ask that terrifying but necessary question.
"If there is anyone who thinks this couple cannot be joined together in holy matrimony, please speak now or forever hold your peace."
Ruby's heart started pounding even louder. Every bit of her objected to this marriage.
But her loyalty to her family and her love for Derek's parents stopped her from saying anything.
Looking away from her cheating husband, her horrid gaze swept across the crowd of beaming faces, hoping someone would save her from making the biggest mistake of her life. It narrowed on Bailey, who was too busy scowling at Derek to care.
But then, something...rather, someone caught Ruby's attention.
'Is that....' She froze as she recognized the stranger from her night of sin.
He was looking like a dangerously handsome medieval prince in his charcoal black suit and smiling... no smirking devilishly at her.
"What the hell is he doing here?" Ruby muttered under her breath.
-------
For the past four weeks, Kai had been secretly searching all over the city for the drunken red-haired beauty who stole from him.
He hadn't been able to let go of her intoxicating scent or her passionate cry after that reckless, unforgettable night with her.
She had come out of the blue, like a beautiful mist, sweeping across his stormy ocean and taking his breath away.
Sadly, before the sun rose, she was gone, leaving behind nothing but her sweet scent and a mark of her innocence.
And to make things more complicated, he never got to know her name or find out the real reason behind her tears.
But he knew it was because of a man, because she never stopped shredding the entire male species–the main reason she had caught his attention in the first place.
After more than a month of searching in vain, Kai was in the process of giving up when his twin brother, Kaleb, came up with a post about a rising fashion brand that was taking the market by storm. And at the bottom of the post was the brand co-owner, Ruby Angelo–the beautiful red-haired lady–smiling to the camera.
Without a moment to spare, Kai dug out every information there was to know about her. And to his shock, he realised that she was about to tie the knot with her co-brand owner, in a traditional countryside wedding that same day.
Taking his fastest sports car, he drove for hours until he finally arrived at the peaceful countryside of Rollington County, where the wedding was set to take place in the evening.
His plan was very simple, stop that wedding from happening and steal the bride from her jerk of a husband..
What he didn't anticipate was that someone else had an almost identical agenda up their sleeve.
-----
Ruby was still lost in her thoughts, staring at her one-night stand, when a sharp voice cut through the deafening silence, snapping everyone's attention.
"I object to this union."