His Purchased Wife

"You have no idea how much I love you, my soul. You don't know the pain I went through in your absence. As if I was in any better condition, my darling. I missed the warmth of your arms every day. The memories of the time we spent together in each other's arms were the only thing which kept me alive in those long winter nights."

Aurora looked at the person sitting beside her and stood up with lightning speed.

"Eww! I am not going to mimic their sex scene with you, Em!"

She scrunched her lips to one side and glanced at Aurora's body. "If only you had been a man. Lucky you, I am straight," Emily said, waving her hand evasively and switching the television off with the remote.

"And who said I would have been interested in you if I were a man?" Aurora asked. Emily gave her an unimpressed look.

"Fudge you!" Emily said as nowadays she was trying not to use curse words because when she went to meet her parents in the town her mother hated her colourful language.

"Not interested!" Aurora sang and licked her blueberry ice cream from the spoon.

"This is the second tub of ice cream you finished, Aurora. I don't understand how you could still have this model-like figure after eating like this? I feel ashamed of taking all those aerobics classes to look like you."

Aurora licked the ice cream spoon one last time before raising her brows to her friend. She eyed Emily's alluring body and rolled her eyes.

"Really, girl! You look like a model, yourself but of course, I know how hot I am, so thank you," Aurora said with a smirk. Emily poked her tongue out and gave her a middle finger and both friends burst out laughing together.

Aurora king was the perfect beauty with her blonde hair, blue eyes and sharp facial features. She was not less than a goddess and not to mention the perfect height and figure even being a foodie.

"Girl, I was thinking about trying that new Italian restaurant you ordered the take out last week," Emily suggested and Aurora's mouth watered at the mention.

"That was…" she moaned, rubbing her hands together in response and agreeing to check out the restaurant again.

"Let's call miss etiquette and then off to that restaurant," Emily said but not before rolling her eyes. Both Susan and Emily are friends with Aurora. They both live in Aurora's house and love her but when it comes to them both personally, they loved each other just like fire and water!

"Wait, let me call her," Aurora said.

"Hey, Susan, Let's go to that Italian restaurant, I'm craving some Italian food."

Aurora could still taste the deliciousness of the risotto she tasted. It blasted all her taste buds and left an ecstasy in her mouth.

Exactly after twenty minutes, Susan was still in her room while both Aurora and Emily were waiting for her.

"Are we stupid waiting for her for twenty minutes? What the hell is she still doing upstairs?" Emily barked.

'Susan!'' she yelled her name in the thigh octave voice that Aurora closed her eyes.

"You will make me deaf with your shriek, Em!"

"I want her to become deaf instead of you but nothing works on her."

Aurora kept her mouth shut after that, she didn't want to be involved in world war three.

Been there, done that.

And after that one experience, she promised herself not to get involved in their fights anymore.

"Stop screaming will you. Unlike you, I was working." She snapped at Emily who looked on the verge of attacking her.

"Oh yeah! Working with your ONS. How was work, Susan? Have you met our dream man, finally? Emily mocked and in return received a death glare from Susan.

Aurora could hear the dramatic music in the background while they both started their unending arguments.

"Alright, no need to start your fights again. I am hungry and want to eat. So shall we leave?" Aurora tried to be the peacemaker again because if she had not done that, their argument would have hit the roof.

I can't have a day of peace without their fights.

"Drive," Susan ordered Emily, who snatched the keys from her without a word.

"Wait, I should be the one driving," Aurora said and both her friends glared at her as if she had grown two heads.

Aurora gulped, her cheeks turned red remembering the dramatic incident that happened two months ago when they were coming back from the pub night.

"I was drunk!" She tried to reason with them and they both raised their brows, reminding her about the mess which followed the incident.

"And I ended up hitting the traffic officer. That fudger! Still, gave me a ticket." Emily seethed, thumping her foot on the road in anger like a teenager.

"You tried hitting on him with his wife present there, we got lucky that Ethan saved us that day or we would be facing a trial in the court." Susan reminded Emily who pinched her lips in a thin line.

"I tried to help at least."

Aurora shook her head in shame. She still recalled how angry her father was with her the next day. She was the daughter of Ethan King, a billionaire and philanthropist who was helping people around the world and here, his daughter was drunk driving and banged the traffic officer's car.

Just the thought of spending her time in a jail cell gave her goosebumps. Aurora King could live without anything except for her dad, good food. Someone to talk with because she was a chatterbox. Not to mention these two girls who both had made her life colourful with their presence.

"Alright, let's go already, I am hungry."

"You are always hungry, Aurora!" They both said at the same time and then gave each other an unimpressed look before settling inside the car.

Aurora knew should keep herself out of reach for these high-calorie foods but she was lucky to have a body that never gained weight no matter how much she ate. She was not size zero exactly, her body had curves in the right places which made her look sexy. Most importantly, She was confident about her body.

"Girls, I have to share something with you both," Susan said while Emily was driving. "I think I found someone who can represent our brand."

"Who?" Aurora asked as the atmosphere inside the car changed from jovial to serious.

"Kevin Rawls, that designer of the year. We need to contact him and ask him to join our brand."

"Hm, I can see what I can do, after all, I am famous on social media so it won't be difficult for me to be in contact with him," Aurora told them. Being Ethan King's daughter came with a lot of perks and one of them was her followers on social media.

Both her friends nodded and the rest of the drive ended up in silence.

Opening a Jewelry business was the dream of Aurora and her friends. All of them were trying hard to achieve that goal. It was not difficult for Aurora to open a brand with her father's money and power; she could have done that easily. But it was not only her in the team, Emily might be Aurora's friend and she would have done anything to help her but Emily was prideful.

She joined their team on the condition that they would not take any help from Aurora or Susan's father. Susan agreed immediately because she would rather eat poison than take help from her father. They are not on good terms due to some reasons. And Emily, unlike Aurora and Susan, didn't come from a rich background. Her parents owned a little farm in a village and they loved their farm life. Emily on the other hand had big dreams so she came to the big city of Churchill.

Once they reached, Aurora eyed the beautiful entrance of that restaurant. She didn't know why but this place gives her a kind of solace. The beautiful wooden furniture on the top of the roof with exotic plants and the cool breeze of air that passes through her hair.

She felt like her mother was caressing her hair. Alas! The beautiful memories of her mother. She used to be the centre of her universe but after her death, it was just her father and her. Shaking her head to clear the memories away she looked around for the place to sit but luck was not on her side.

There is no place to sit inside. That's the problem with those small and famous restaurants. They pack up immediately after opening up. "Here goes our lunch plan!" Aurora said, her stomach crumbled in hunger.

"Are we going to eat lunch standing on our legs, Aurora?" Susan asked in her high octave voice, raising her brows dramatically.

Aurora rolled her eyes. "No. A server will come here to invite us inside and give us the best table here," she imitated her but as if God just granted her a moment of luck. A man did come to them and invited them inside.

"Wow! That was quick," Emily perked.

The delicious aroma of Italian food, the smell of garlic and herbs made Aurora's mouth drool over the food.

The man took them to a small table for three in the corner. It was a little away from the other tables and near the manager's office.

"Here is the menu madam," the server said, handing them the menu card.

Unlike the five star restaurants, Aurora usually goes with her father, the menu there was not fixed on the leather cover.

It was a thick red and green paper which was laminated to protect it from getting damaged with continuous touching from numerous people.

"The place is small but the aroma of food is mouth-watering," Susan whispered. The man left, leaving them to decide their order.

Emily opened it and started reading it:

"Caprese Salad with Pesto Sauce.

Panzanella.

Bruschetta.

Focaccia Bread.

Pasta Carbonara.

Margherita Pizza.

Mushroom Risotto.

Pasta Con Pomodoro E Basilico. Blah! Blah!Blah!"

"There is a lot to decide, Aurora. Hmm! I am confused?" Emily said, reading the menu.

"Try Mushroom Risotto. It's delicious," she told her, deciding she would be having the same with Focaccia Bread and Pasta Carbonara.

"Drinks?" Susan asked again. "You know what, let's order the classic Italian red wine for us. Aurora will be having a lemonade," she said, deciding for her which Aurora didn't like but one glare from her was enough for her to know her 'I can make my own decisions' slang was not going to work here.

In Susan's words, Aurora should wear a signboard saying, 'Don't give me liquor. I am Alcohol sensitive.' A single glass of liquor was enough for her to lose her mind.

Almost twenty minutes passed but no one came to take their order. They looked for the server but as if he had disappeared in the air.

"Let me find a server, I can't wait for anyone to notice us and come to take our order," Aurora told her friends and stood up to find a server. She was about to walk over to a waiter she saw taking orders from an old couple but suddenly a man bumped into her and she gasped in pain.

"Can't you see?" she complained, rubbing her hand to soothe the pain.

"I apologize, but it was you who bumped into me." He said and that made Aurora raise her head to see the man who dared to blame her for his mistake.

"Excuse me!" she snapped at him but when she saw his face she was lost.

The man standing in front of her was handsome, she had never seen someone like him. Aurora King was dumbstruck!

She kept staring at him. Brown hair, blue eyes, Sharp cheekbones. He was in her late twenties or early thirties. His height was a perfect six inches. Aurora felt something fluttering in her belly. The man was too beautiful to look at.

Am I having a crush moment? The man looked delicious...

But then she came out of her dreamland when she heard his sharp voice. "Yes, it was your mistake…" he said as if he owned the world.

My mistake, That hypocrite! To hell with him being Mr Too beautiful to look at! If he can be rude so can I. He didn't know who Aurora King was. Only a nice face, not nice manners. Bloody arrogant!!

"Look, Mister…"

"Gabriel," the man told Aurora his name like he was the king of the world and she was one of his subjects.

"Ya! Mr Gabriel. It was you who bumped into me…" she told him.

He sighed, scratched the side of his head with his forefinger. "Alright, it was my mistake. I accept it."

Aurora smirked. "I know it was your mistake. You should stop behaving like some demi-god and accept your mistake…" she was telling him about his attitude when he cut her off.

"Look, miss, I apologized to you not because it was my mistake but because there are people around us who are watching us and I don't want any kind of unwanted attention and second, my uncle once told me to avoid fools because there is no good in talking to them," he told her and simply walked away.

It took her a moment to understand that he just called her a fool. Aurora's mouth hung open. "Did he just call me a fool?" she whispered to herself.

"Arh!" she screeched in anger and looked around to find that man but he was nowhere to be found and that made Aurora even more aggravated.

Now she craves to teach that man the lesson he would never forget.

Aurora sat on the chair with a thump in anger. Her friends glanced her way, both stopped their chatting or whatever they were doing on their phones.

"What got into your pants? Why this red face? Did you just have a quickie into the corner with some hot man?" Emily asked, whistling.

Aurora glared at her in anger. "No, A man just called me a fool."

She gasped, her eyes as wide as saucers. "Wait what? Right! Did I hear you, right girl?" Emily mocked Aurora in her thick voice and then let out a sharp laugh that screeched her ears.

"If you don't stop laughing I promise I will kill you with this...this," Aurora tried searching for something to scare her off and found nothing but a plastic fork and knife.

Aurora picked the knife in her hand and pointed it at Emily, "With this knife."

Emily roared in laughter. "You… and kill someone, Aurora," she shook her head laughing. "Give me a break! You can't even kill a fly let alone me. So cut the crap and put this deadly weapon down." She mocked, raising her hands in a surrendering gesture still laughing like a maniac.

"It's a plastic knife, no one can be killed with it," Susan pointed out.

Aurora put that plastic knife on the table. Her hunger died meeting that arrogant, abhorrent man. "I don't want to eat here anymore. Let's go somewhere else."

"No way. I am hungry and I want to try whatever this dish is called. I told the manager to send a waiter here. He would be here anytime so chill," Emily said.

Aurora huffed. "Alright let's wait for the server."

"What would you like to order, Madam?"

Aurora heard the same voice again, her head jerked up from the phone and stared at the man in front of her with wide eyes.

The same arrogant, abhorrent man who called her a fool was standing in front of her. He was the server, she thought.

"Yes, two Mushroom Risotto, Focaccia Bread and two Pasta Carbonara with a glass of sparkling water and two glasses of red wine," Susan ordered.

"Anything else madams?" He asked as if Aurora was not sitting there and he had not insulted her five minutes ago.

"No. It's just enough and we would be happy if you could make it on time. Your service here is ridiculous and you guys need to learn hospitality manners," Aurora snapped before Susan could speak.

He merely nodded as if he understood what Aurora said and left. This irritated Aurora, even more, she wanted him to argue with her but he just left.

"Girls! Listen to me." she whispered, bending on the table.

"What?" they whispered.

"That man, he was the one who called me a fool," Aurora told her.

Susan's brows pulled together, she glanced towards the kitchen. "The waiter?"

But Emily started laughing again. "This is truly an interesting day today, Aurora. You got insulted by a waiter. I mean just imagine, A server of some local restaurant called Aurora King, daughter of Canada's top businessman, A fool!" She said in between laughing.

Aurora hit her under the table. "Ow!"

"Yes, Ow! You are horrible, Emily."

"I am sorry but this is unbelievable…" she started but stopped when that idiot Gabriel came with their food.

He placed the plates of food on the table. The aroma of the spices was amazing. Emily moaned sniffing the food. Aurora, who was angry at the server, couldn't stop drooling over the food.

Gabriel smiled at them and placed the wine in front of Emily and Susan but when he was placing the glass of lemonade in front of Aurora the glass fell splashing the water all over her dress.

"Ha!" Aurora gasped and stood up as soon as possible. Her friends stood to help her clean the dress as well.

"I apologize, madam. It was unintentional…"

" Unintentional!" Aurora snapped at him, picking the tissues from the table and cleaning her dress but of course, the ship had already sailed the sea. Her dress was already ruined by that man.

"You did it intentionally. It was one of my favourite dresses. You are useless as a server. Who took you in for the job when you don't even know how to talk with your customers? You walk around this place as if you own it. You insulted me five minutes ago when it was you who bumped into me but that was not enough for you. Right? So you intentionally splashed lemonade on me."

"It's not what you are thinking madam." He tried to say but Aurora didn't let him finish this time.

"It is exactly what I am thinking. You know what, call your manager here. I want you out of this place. You are not fit to be a server, mister," she yelled at him.

"Aurora...people are watching us," Susan said, jerking her hand. Aurora snatched it away from her, "let people see for all I care," she said in anger.

"Look miss, I can pay you for your dress." He said calmly.

Aurora was enraged seeing him calm and composed as if he had not just ruined her dress and instead of asking for an apology he was showing her money.

"Really? Instead of apologizing to me, you are showing off your money!! Don't show off, you don't know me Mr."

With all the sound a man wearing a black suit came out. He frowned when he saw us and ran to us. "Is there any issue, Miss?" he asked.

"No, there is no issue…" Gabriel said but Aurora cut him off.

"Yes, there is. You need to fire this man right now. He ruined my dress and insulted me. If you don't want me to sue your restaurant then fire him," she told the manager, crossing her hands to her chest.

"Madam…" the manager stuttered.

"Look Mr," she glanced at the batch on his coat. "Yes, Mr Cameron. If you don't want me to call the owner of this place and order him to fire you both then fire this man right now."

"Enough! Go and call the owner of this place, Miss…" Gabriel said without any hint of fear of losing his job.

"Aurora calm down!" Susan tried to speak but Aurora raised her hand to stop her.

"I am handling it, Susie," then she turned to Gabriel once again. "Yes, I will do the same. And your boss will fire you both," she told him and asked the manager to call the owner there.

"Madam, he is the owner of this restaurant," the manager said, pointing at Gabriel. Aurora gasped, smacking her hands to her lips.

What the f**k!!! That server was the owner.

She looked at the server, flabbergasted. "I…I didn't know that you are the owner of this place…"

He arched his brows. "And what difference does it make, Miss? Would you have treated me differently if I had told you about my identity here? If yes, then I am glad I didn't tell you about myself at least I came to know what kind of person you are!"

Her eyes widened at his words. "Excuse me but now you are being rude. How dare you talk to me in this manner!!"

"Miss, that's how you have been talking to me all this time, do you see how rude you were to me? And why because I was just a mere server and now when you come to know about my real identity you changed your tone. This shows how low you think of people around you," He snapped. "You are nothing but a rich snob."

He scolded Aurora who stood there like a statue. Her throat felt heavy at his words. Never in her life had she felt this humiliated.

When Susan saw Aurora's face she knew Aurora was about to cry. She couldn't tolerate his lecture anymore.

"Look Mr, it was you who called my friend a fool first, so stop preaching to us."

Gabriel sighed, "I think when that happened you were not present there to verdict my actions miss. But if I hurt you with my words, I apologize again, enjoy your food."

He turned to his manager who was standing there. "Serve them whatever else they want but don't charge them anything." He looked at Aurora then, "I hope it will compensate for your dress and if it still doesn't do that then my manager is here, ask him whatever amount for this dress. He will pay you," Saying that he walked away to his office.

"Madam, do you need anything else?" the manager asked Aurora.

Tears pooled in Aurora's eyes. "No!" she whispered.

"Your bill is around a hundred dollars. Is it enough for the compensation of your dress or do I need to pay you more?" He asked.

Aurora didn't bother with a reply. Emily touched her back in a comforting manner.

"We don't need any money from you." Susan snapped at the manager and took both their handbags from the table.

Aurora gulped. Susan held her hand and started walking outside. She opened the door of their car and helped Aurora inside and started the engine.

Aurora couldn't get his words out of her mind.

Was I rude to him? No one had ever talked to me in this manner let alone scolded me.

"Aurora?" She heard Susan calling her name, Aurora didn't say anything. Her mind was fixed on Gabriel's words.

Do I really think so low of people around me? Was I one of those rich snobs who think so low of less rich people?

"Aurora? Are you alright?" This time Emily asked worriedly.

Aurora wiped her tears. "Holy F**k! Aurora King, are you crying?" Susan asked bewildered and stopped the car unexpectedly. People cursed her, horns sounded wildly around them.

"Hey! Don't you know how to drive??" a man barked from his car window.

Susan gave him a middle finger.

"Susan…" Aurora jerked her hand inside the car and apologized to the man.

"Stop it! Why the hell are you apologizing to him, he was the rat!!"

The man drove away and Susan started her car well. "Got lucky we didn't get a ticket again, Susan!" Aurora chuckled.

She rolled her eyes. "I am up to a thousand tickets if it gets you out of this sad mood. Chill girl! And just forget about that Restaurant owner."

Her shoulders slumped again at the mention of Gabriel. "Susan, was I rude back there?"

Susan sighed, her brows arched upwards. "Well! I won't say rude but you were kind of mean to him. I mean it was just a little water and you threw a big tantrum there. You created a scene in front of all his customers there, Aurora," she replied, parking the car in the garage and getting out of it with Emily and Aurora.

Aurora pinched her lips in a thin line. "What about him? Was there no mistake of his? He could have told me that he was not a server…"

"Well...what difference does it make? It was clear from the way you reacted that you were some rich snoot who was behaving irrationally. Now forget that I didn't even eat anything. Let's make some Ramen noodles. The rats in my stomach are fighting a wrestling match."

"No, I will cook something as punishment for laughing one you today. You both go get a show or something," Emily said walking to the kitchen.

"Ya! Well, I am calling Dad, you go ahead and start cooking." Aurora told her who gave her a thumbs up. "Cool!"

Aurora went to her room and dialled her father's number. It kept ringing but he didn't accept the call. Aurora was worried for her father, after her mother's death he was the only family she had left and he never took care of his health.

She sighed and left a voice message. "Hey Dad, Umm! When will you be home? I was thinking about having dinner with you tonight. Do call me when you get free, bye! Love you."

On the other hand, Ethan heard the voice message of his daughter and handed the phone back to his right-hand man cum friend, Thomas.

Ethan stared at the man sitting in front of him, tied to the chair, screaming in painful agony.

"Has he said anything yet?" Ethan asked Thomas. The man spat on Ethan's shoes and earned a painful punch in his face.

"No, a loyal dog!"

Ethan nodded, punching again just to hear him cry and then without wasting a single second more he shot the man right between the eyes. "Send the body to Juan with a message that it will be him soon."

Thomas eyes the dead man and gives Ethan a curt nod. Once they were back in his office, Thomas handed Ethan a glass of his favourite whiskey.

"Your friend from Vancouver called," Ethan frowned hearing him.

"His son will be taking over the chair of Don soon. He had this strange proposition for you," Thomas searched Ethan's eyes before speaking the next words.

"What proposition?" he asked, taking a sip from his glass.

"Ryan hinted about a new bond between the two of us. "

Ethan raised his eyes and pinned them on Thomas. "What new bond?"

"It was clear from his talk that he was hinting at a marriage proposition between Aurora and Liam."

"His son and my Aurora?"

Thomas nodded. "I don't think it's a bad idea…"

Ethan raised a finger to stop him. "My daughter deserves the best in everything. Let the boy prove himself in our world-first then I will think…"

Thomas shook his head. "Ethan, we both know that Aurora has to marry a man from our world and I think Liam is a good choice."

"You don't have to remind me of that. But my daughter deserves a man who is worthy of her and this young boy, I want to make sure he can take care of my daughter. He asked for permission in my territory again, right?"

Thomas nodded. "Deny it, just like last two times. I want to see how he reacts? He might be my friend's son but I will judge him like I judge everyone else. Let's see if he could be a friend like his father or another addition to my list of foes?

Thomas sighed, he knew this won't end well. He heard about the man Ethan wanted to test.

Ryan's son was not the man to be tested like that, Thomas just prayed that he didn't get angered by it because Ryan's son's reputation preceded him everywhere he goes.

A monster who should not be poked! And Ethan just did that, now the question arises what would the monster do?