Tyler's POV
"What took you so long?" My grandmother's voice echoed through the living room from the moment I entered the house.
"I have told you that I was going out today, remember Grandmother Hedi?" I said, not wanting to expose the full details to my grandmother.
Out of the many people in the household, she should and needs to be the last to know, especially when I went out with Elise instead of Abigail (Queen Bee).
And worse still, we even encountered a suspected murder case in the escape room.
"With who? Abigail?"
"Mom, give my son a break, would you? He just came back and he looked tired." Mom stepped into the conversation and I could not be more grateful for that.
"Tyler, head back to your room. I will handle this with your grandmother." Mom continued, giving me a reassuring nod.
"Well, look at you speaking to your mother like that. No wonder your son takes after you. So disrespectful towards his elders, especially his grandmother." Grandmother Hedi's voice echoed while I climbed up the stairs.
"You mean, I took after you, and that is why my son takes after me?" Mom argued back, which I supposed that it might have caused my grandmother to shake her head disapprovingly at my mother.
"Mom, Tyler has already done what you and Aunt Gigi had requested, or perhaps forced them into getting together, in order to expand the business. Spare him a little with your probe. Besides, he is not a young child." Mom pleaded with Grandmother Hedi.
"Since when have we forced them? I cannot believe that such nonsense was coming from your mouth. Mind you, both are willing parties." Grandmother Hedi argued back, as an attempt to cover up.
But all of us knew that we were, in fact, being forced into being in a relationship with one another.
However, my circumstance was not that bad compared to Abigail's.
When we first cried out that we were not romantically interested in each other, my whole family, except my grandmother, strongly believed in us. Whereas for Abigail, it was only her dad.
That was one of the darkest moments in my entire life, because I have not only witnessed the power of money to bewitch others, but also the power of money to destroy others.
Despite our cries and protests, we were still forced into a relationship overnight, with various influential company representatives present at my grandmother's 70th grand birthday party.
I could never forget that moment.
That particular scene kept replaying in my head up till this day. It not only destroyed both Ariella and I, but also Abigail.
Since then, both Abigail and I have unfortunately become our grandmothers' puppets, where they were the ones pulling the strings attached to us.
Going on dates, taking cute couple photos and posting on social media platforms. You named it and we were forced into doing those.
However, all of this is incomparable to Ariella's hurtful expression when she noticed the difference in the way I treated her.
In fact, Ariella was and will be the only person that I wanted to be with.
I cannot believe that I almost blurted out the reason for my relationship with Abigail when it was meant to be a secret, or probably a business contract between the two families.
But I really could not take it anymore. I swore that my heart almost fell out from my chest when I saw Ariella looking so helpless after suffering a fright from the decapitated figure.
I would gladly exchange my everything for her happiness.
But, it seems like I might be too late for that to happen isn't it?
Only time and our true feelings will tell and I am seriously praying that our feelings for each other will remain steadfast till the end of time.
Please continue to be secretly and madly in love with me, Ariella Elise Hudson.
Because, I am very much madly and crazily in love with you.
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A/N: Hello Everyone! Finally another update after disappearing for quite some time (APPLAUSE) since I have been taking a much needed break (FINALLY IM BACK)!
Thank you all for your patience as you waited upon another chapter update! :)
Hope this update does give you a glimpse of what was the root cause for the breakup between Ariella and Tyler-- definitely more to come and I hope you guys are excited as I am as I take the time to ponder through on the story's plot and its development.
*Definitely finger crossing for the above mentioned since I would be busy soon*
Have a beautiful day!
Love, J.