His Wife (A Contract Marriage Story) by Heer Mangtani

Chapter 104

(ALEX]

“Do you have a family?” She asked, and I’d be lying if I said that the first feeling in me wasn’t suspicion.

But it didn’t look like she put any thought into it, just asked what was on the top of her head.

“I do,” replied.

“What? Really?” Her eyes widened. “I didn’t think you were a family guy.”

“I have a mom. A dad. A twin sister. Younger brother. An uncle and an aunt. The whole package, actually,”

“No way.” Her eyes bulged while she made her way to sit on the wooden steps leading to the garden, her feet still dipped into the grass as if it was something to touch. She wanted to touch grass. Who the f**k touches grass? “Your parents encouraged you to be a part of the…” she hesitated, her voice turning into a whisper, “Mafia?”

I rolled my eyes at how dramatic she was. “Mafia. You can say it.”

She raises her shoulders.

“And no,” I answer her, I don’t know why. “My father wanted to kill me when he found it, but I think a part of him always knew about my knack for destruction- right since I started a fire in my school,”

Now, her eyes looked like they would fall out of their sockets. “You started a fire in your school? How old were you? Sixteen?”

“Twelve,” I smile, reminiscing.

“Why even?”

“I wanted to go watch a football game.”

gapes. “Unbelievable. What did

for the month. Mom didn’t talk

“Aww. Mama’s boy?”

boy. But I wasn’t going to tell

“What happened then?”

a gun

had a family, I would never leave them. I would just stay with them

leaving

days old.” Her voice turns smaller. “I think they gave me up because they didn’t want me, but I still missed them all my life, you know? Like there was this huge mom and dad shaped emptiness inside me growing up and that never went away, no

tt

then?” I enquire, “No friends?

lost them. At some point, it felt

certain heaviness in her voice, and then there was the way she looked straight ahead, as if making a conscious effort to not look at me. As i. she was hiding

I push. “How did you find

under her breath. “You

“really do.” Tinsist.

lied. There

the slight nasal flare from an unsourced anger, her grey eyes turning almost icy when they were set at me, her hair flying due to the wind

gulps. “I thought I was the one getting to know you. Why do you live

you now. The other floors

your floor if you’re the only one?” She retorts. “It must get

I don’t keep empty rooms, where do

eyes widened, something flashing in them. “There have

“Maybe,” I lie.

“Other girls?”

an

scoffs. “Yes, of the fact that they’re not here anymore. Which means they got to

I killed them.” I tell her, and she visibly shudders. I resist a smile. “But you’re right, you don’t get to leave.