His Wife (A Contract Marriage Story) by Heer Mangtani

Chapter 3

Before the wedding. I had put a lot of thought into how my wedding night would be. I wondered if I would have to have sex with a man I hadn’t known before that day, and in all the fear of that, I had forgotten staying alone in a huge room with nothing to do and no one to talk to as a possibility.

1 tossed and turned all night, barely getting any sleep.

The next morning, I wore one of the outfits that someone had stocked in the wardrobe for me to use. Growing up poor, I never got to splurge on myself. Any money I could save would only go into covering my grandpa’s treatments, and we still fell short most times.

Wandering alone in that big house, I wished I could confide in ber about the fake marriage I was stuck in.

But there I was, eating breakfast meant to feed twenty alone in the dining room.

I una stared at me.

“Have you eaten?” Lasked her.

“After you, Mrs. Whitlock.”

“Please call me Ms. Baker.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Mrs. Whitlock. Sir wouldn’t like it.”

“I don’t think Sir would know.” I tell her, looking around. The house was huge, and the chances of running into the man that

I wanted to actively try to avoid for the next six months was less. “Where even is he?”

“He left home last night after talking to you, and he hasn’t returned since.

I knew our marriage was l

sake of it, but I didn’t expect him to sleep with another

overnight all the time,” Luna quickly added. He has a lot of meetings with clients who live abroad and he functions

“Luna, it’s okay.”

“Im sorry, Mrs. Whitlock.”

Baker,” I

Baker.” She nodded. “A parcel came for you earlier

knit my eyebrows, leaving the food I did not have the appetite to eat as she disappeared for a moment to return with a box that I opened quickly to reveal a new phone inside. The latest model in my hand was a far stretch from the half broken

Until now, apparently.

see that there was no contact in

“Gabriel Whitlock.

1/3

TIL

Chapter 3

drafted agreement like he’d said yesterday. I’d gone over it for

was tempted not to, but also afraid of how low Gabriel’s

grandfather who insisted he

around me. I needed to get a new job since I left my old one when I moved three hours away to marry an imperious man, but I was

when Gabriel’s grandparents, who happened to be my grandpa’s friends from school got in touch with him and agon and offered to pay out his entire treatment with one simple condition: I had to marry their grandson. I was still convinced I could manage by myself and marrying a complete stranger was off the table but when my grandpa had to come

to marry a nobody like me or why he agreed, but by his anger towards me, I could guess he was forced

of the hottest bachelor in front of the world. But at the same time, I knew he was no saint. He was an arrogant man, self-centred, and

ate dinner by myself while the housemaids,

I spent my time getting pally with Lunat and the others, learning how to

the fourth night, I checked my mails. I’d heard back from three

days later, but didn’t send in my confirmation yet. Even though there wasn’t a formal clause in

Probably not.

number remained in my cell, and I went back and forth on the idea of calling him. But it was a quarter past twelve, and I hadn’t seen him in the house for days. A part of my heart felt tighter wondering if he was staying with someone else.. another

night, and I woke up early by myself the next morning, eating breakfast in haste. It was around nine- thirty in the morning when I sat alone in my

the

“Hello!”