His Wife (A Contract Marriage Story) by Heer Mangtani

Chapter 40

Lily. Lily Grant.

She stood in front of us, a little shorter to me, curvier, her tan skin making the red gown sparkle on her and her blonde hair flying lose with the wind around us that I hadn’t noticed until now.

She wasn’t the kind of oblivious beauty. She was eye-catching memory-hauntingly pretty

I would’ve been lost in her trance hadn’t my husband cleared his throat, as if he was done processing her unexpected presence. “Lily, this is Sofia. And Sofia, this is Lily

Her eyes turn to me, and she pulls a smile to her lips. It’s nice to meet you, Sofia, I must say, the wedding pictures did not do any justice to you

I smile. “Thank you.” I wish her tone was concealing jealousy or malice or sarcasm or anything to make me feel good about disliking her, but they were just plain kind. I add quickly. “It’s so nice to meet you too.”

Her eyes flicker back to Gabriel, but not in a desperate manner, in a way that said she hadn’t seen him since a long time and she wanted to only see him every second now that he was right here.

Gabriel seemed uncomfortable. “What-What’re you doing here

“Dad was invited.” She replied. “He’s feeling a little under the weather these days, so I came on his behalf.”

“Ah Silence again.

I wanted to disappear. I wanted the ground to open and eat me away, and I must have my discomfort written in my eyes because I felt a hand interlinking through mine, and as much as I wished for it to be Gabriel’s, it wasn’t. It was Anna, who just pressed her eyes in reassurance at me, and I pulled back the smile to my lips, thankful for her kindness.

know you would be here. I wouldn’t have come otherwise. I thought you were out, at Venice I think? And Arthur said today’s gala was going to be the best of the year

We can be at same place, Lily Gabriel was stiff,

The girl nodded. “Geller

see Gabriel’s jaw clench, and if I

pain in my chest

“He’s not as bad as you always make him out

Sofia

she paused, her eyes set on the ring in my finger and my wedding band, the original one that I had made a habit of wearing now after the episode where Gabriel bought me a dozen of new

diamond factory heiress or whatever. I nod, the light green stone overlapped by at bunch

eyes when she

her passing figure, which drops

12

Jun

Chapter 40

SBU

a silence between the four of us as soon as Lily was

first one to speak up. “I’m thirsty.

walked towards the bar leaving the boys back where they were. I explicitly ignored Gabriel’s

asked me as soon as we stopped

I sighed. “Thanks for

two glasses of water by pointing towards the sealed bottles kept aside and then turned back towards me. I would’ve put the

smile. “She didn’t seem like a