Love Contract

Chapter 7 Making The Fake Marriage Public

"Hold on." Just as they were about to enter the conference, William stopped Mary. When she turned to glance at him, he presented her with a small delicate box and said, "Please put this on before we go."

Mary switched her gaze from William to the small box before she opened it to reveal what was inside. She was greeted with the sight of an elegant yet simple wedding ring inside of it. William was already wearing the counterpart of her ring on his ring finger. Mary remained stunned for a while, soaking in the overwhelming beauty that simple ring possessed. She eventually put the ring on her ring finger without protest and sighed to herself.

'I must be the only one in this entire world who wears a wedding ring by herself...'

After being lost in thought for a while, Mary shook her head and fixed her tensed expression. She prepared herself to face everyone as she put on a fake smile before entering the conference.

William took his seat in the middle with Mary on his left side and Victor on the right.

Soon as they settled down, a wide variety of cameras flashed before their eyes frantically and caused strain to Mary's eyes as she struggled to keep eye contact.

"First of all, I would like to welcome all the media journalists. Thank you for clearing your schedules and taking out your time to come here today." William continued to speak in a low monotonous voice, "As you all know, today is the press conference of the Past of the Republic of China. I would also like to take the opportunity of this auspicious occasion to announce my marriage."

William paused to hold Mary's hand and raised it up towards the cameras to flaunt her wedding ring. "I would like to introduce you all to my wife, Mary. Please offer us your humble blessings for our marriage."

"Splash! Splash" All of a sudden, the serious atmosphere of the room switched as the crowd erupted into thunderous applause that filled the lingering silence and drowned out the noise of the cameras flashing violently at his confession.

"This time around, we, the AJ Group, proudly invested in the shooting of the Past of the Republic of China. The news caused an uproar, and we have since gathered the most popular stars of our company to breathe life into our idea. The script gives justice to the history involved and leaves nothing out of it. I hope it brings you the same joy in watching it as we experienced while making it."

With a bright smile painted across his face, William maintained his calm composure as he faced the cameras with unwavering confidence. Mary stared at William's profile with a blank expression on her face. Although he had a bad temper behind closed doors, watching him act professionally in front of a wide selection of people made him seem like a charming man.

"Now, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask."

Upon getting the green signal from William, the reporters readied themselves to bombard him with questions they had prepared for him.

"Mr. Lan, why did you suddenly choose to announce your marriage now?"

"When I saw it fit, I decided to get married and announce it to the world. Today just seemed like the perfect opportunity to let everyone know. Besides, after this event, I wouldn't have to face the questions of countless reporters over the years any more." Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

"Mr. Lan, did you only get married because you got her pregnant?"

"We're newly wedded. Why would we allow a third person to ruin our world of two?" The quick - witted replies of William seemed to shut down the aggressive reporters temporarily and forced them to calm down.

"My next question is directed to Victor. Please tell us if the gossip that made rounds a few days ago was true?"

"It's true," Victor replied with a smile. Hearing these words come out so casually from Victor's mouth, stunned Mary as she froze in place. She felt the grip of William's hand tighten around hers as he squeezed it tightly.

His statement had allowed the reporters to bash them with a series of intrusive questions.

"Does that mean that the young model wants to take this opportunity to get promoted?"

"Are you in a physical relationship with her?"

"Victor, are you trying to divert our attention towards the TV play?"

"I mean," Victor cut their questions short by retorting indifferently. The reporters were forced to remain quiet to hear him out completely. "It's true that it is just gossip and nothing more."

As soon as they heard this, the reporters were rendered speechless.

"The real truth is that I was having a professional conversation about work with the woman in the photo." Victor then flashed them his signature charming smile and continued to explain, "She and I will be appearing together in the TV play. And..."

Victor's voice suddenly switched to a husky tone to captivate the listeners as he gave them a sultry wink. "I have found a woman I am currently interested in, but she's not the one in the photo." At that moment, Mary noticed that Victor looked in her direction for a split second as he made that statement. She suddenly tensed up at his confession and began to question whether she had just imagined the glance he gave her. Was it an illusion? It must have been an illusion, it only made more sense that way.

As soon as Victor made his feelings public, it caused another uproar among the reporters present at the conference.

"Victor, will you please reveal the identity of this woman you're interested in? Are you comfortable in disclosing her name to us?"

"Is she Elva? The woman who has been involved in another gossip related to you in the past?"

"Or is it Summer Zhao who's playing the TV play with you this time?"

The heroine Summer Zhao, who also sat elegantly in the room, suddenly let out a light chuckle at the ridiculous assumptions of the reporters. "You must be joking. Victor and I haven't cooperated with each other yet. How did we get involved in gossip already?"

"Exactly," Victor shook his head and smiled slyly. "You should say stuff like that only after our cooperation. It'll make more sense that way.

Victor's charming personality managed to liven up the atmosphere in the room. The next half of the conference concluded with the reporters cross-questioning the hero and heroine about their work.

When the situation was handled without causing a scene, Mary heaved a sigh of relief.

As William heard that, his expression relaxed as though a huge burden had been lifted off his shoulders.

At least the conversation shifted towards the topic of interest without Victor causing them any unnecessary trouble.

After the press conference was concluded successfully, William and Mary left the scene directly in their car. William didn't even find it important to give Victor a second glance, let alone bid him goodbye. It was like he purposely seized every opportunity he could to avoid Victor entirely.

'I've never seen such strong mutual resentment between the boss and employee before, ' Mary thought to herself.

"By the way." Mary fiddled with the ring on her finger and took it off before staring at it one last time and presented it to William in her palm. "Here, you can take it back now."

William gave the ring a side glance before he pushed her hand back gently. "Just keep it. We'll have to rely on it on many occasions in the future. It's best if you hold on to it."

Mary frowned as she looked at the ring and asked, "This ring... Who bought it?"

"Kevin did. Why do you ask?" William replied curtly.

"Oh. Nothing, it's just... I think it's pretty," said Mary earnestly as she smiled subconsciously to herself.

Mary was a product of conflicting emotions welling up inside of her as she both laughed and scolded herself for allowing her feelings to take control of her. She even secretly assumed that the ring was bought by William, and it was his selection entirely. 'What's gotten into you, Mary. Pull yourself together!' she thought.

"Kevin, pull over at the Kylin International and drop her off from there. I have some errands that I need to attend to. You can take a taxi home."

"Yes, sir." Kevin, who sat in the front seat, nodded obediently at William's orders.

"I won't be going home tonight."

"Okay, I know." Mary nodded to him.

The car soon arrived at the drop off point. As planned, Mary and Kevin got out of the car and watched William race the car away.

"Kevin, you should go home now. I'll be okay on my own," Mary gave him a big smile as she stood by the road and said with her hands clasped behind her back. "Mr. Lan gave me a clear order. I must see to it that you reach home safely." Kevin returned her smile and said softly, "It's only a short distance. It won't be a problem."

"Alright... If you insist." Mary nodded, giving in to his persistence.

As the two walked side by side, Mary suddenly popped a serious question. "Kevin, do you know the reason why the CEO wants to fake a marriage with me?"

Kevin stood by William's side in every crisis he was confronted with, so it was only natural that he was involved in this ruse as well.

"I guess it's only because of the overwhelming pressure he has been exposed to lately from his family," Kevin guessed as he rubbed his finger over his chin. "The past few years, his father has been urging him to get married. After all, his father is getting old. You know, once a person reaches a certain age, they fantasize about their children getting married. So it's only natural that Mr. Lan would feel pressured by him."

"Then why did he feel the need to stage a fake marriage? Why couldn't he have a real one?"

"Maybe he hasn't met the right person yet? Mr. Lan has been around countless women. But none have managed to attract his attention."

"He hasn't met the right person yet, huh..."

Even though Mary had been home for hours, Kevin's words refused to leave her mind as they wrung through her head over and over.

'How hard could it be to find the right person? Maybe it is more complicated for someone like William. Even if he met someone he likes, he might not be able to tell whether she likes him for the person he is or his money...

But he's such a handsome man, it shouldn't be hard for him to make others fall in love with him.'

Ah! Damn it! Damn it!

Mary struck her head with her own palm and thought, 'Why am I thinking about William like that!? I should stay focused on the task at hand. Nothing else matters.'

She glanced at the clock that ticked away time on the wall. It was already eight o'clock, it was time for her to go to work.