Married To My Billionaire Bestfriend

Bonus Chapter 2 - How We Connected

Bonus Chapter 2 - How We Connected

Ace

I had to leave the camp as soon as possible.

The cloudy skies had turned into a heavy storm. It was as if they were crying on behalf of me as I couldn't yet cry. I couldn't grieve because I knew what was awaiting me at home.

After losing my elder sister last year, my dad's death was going to wreak emotional havoc at home. I had to console everyone. I had to be strong for my mom, younger sister, grandma, and grandpa.

I just couldn't believe that I talked to Dad only an hour ago, and now he was... gone.

I had to head back home and find out how it all actually happened. This death couldn't be normal. It was too much of a coincidence. Or even if it was just an accident, I had to go home and do the things necessary for a son. I didn't have the luxury to sit down and mourn freely.

I couldn't think about anything else as I took my backpack and started walking to the car my grandpa sent for me. A guard was holding an umbrella for me, but I was in a hurry, so I tried to rush to the car avoiding the umbrella protection.

"Wait!" I heard a familiar voice.

Immediately, I turned around, only to find that cute girl running toward me. Her hair was fully wet and the way she was panting seemed like she ran all the way here from the girls' camp.

I stayed quiet and waited for her to continue speaking.

Sucking in a deep breath, Ava said, "Take this." She handed me a piece of paper that was nicely wrapped with a raincoat. Did she tear a side of her raincoat so that the paper wouldn't get wet? "I hope you take this."

Still stunned by her action, I silently took the paper.

"Don't open it yet, Ace." The way she called my name—it had so many different emotions in it. "I know I annoyed you a lot during this whole week. I even planned to do so for the remaining of the camp, but since you are leaving early, here's my number and social handles. If you feel like it, you can contact me anytime you want. I would love to have you as my friend. However, it will be up to you if you want me in your life."

Why did she want to be my friend so badly? Did she feel it was so important to be friends with me that she ran in this heavy rain just to give me her number?

"However," she started when she noticed I didn't say anything, "you have the choice to not accept my request to be my friend. No harsh feelings. Goodbye, Ace. Take care and have a nice life." She had a smile on her smile. Anybody could say it was a genuine smile, yet I could see the sadness in it.

I gave her a curt nod and looked at the guard, who was holding an umbrella for me. He could understand immediately what I wanted to say.

The guard held the umbrella over Ava as I opened the car door and got inside. I looked at the paper in my hand and then back at Ava through the windshield.

"Shall we go, sir?" my driver asked.

I kept looking at her smiling face while I hummed in response.

###

My home environment was worse than I had imagined.

I hadn't rested for a single second since getting home. I was too busy consoling my mom who had gone absolutely crazy. When I wasn't looking at her, I had to look after my little sister, Emma. She was only six-year-old. I felt really bad for her because she wouldn't be able to get the love Dad would have given her. She really missed the chance at having the best sister and best dad in the world.

But I promised myself that I would make up for both. I would give her so much love that she would never feel any lacking. I would protect her at all costs and never let anything like what happened to our big sister happen to her.

I had finally managed to put Mom and Emma to bed. I checked up on Grandma, who was just as disoriented as Mom for having lost her son. But thankfully, Grandpa was taking care of her. But I could tell that was starting to take a toll on Grandpa's health.

"Grandpa, did you take your medicines?" I asked, and he stayed quiet. I sighed and walked over to the drawers where he kept his medicines in. "Here, take them. You know, you need to take care of your health. If you are not well, who's going to look after Grandma, huh?"

Grandpa smiled at me sadly and said, "And who's going to look after you, Ace?"

I was stunned at his question, but I pulled up a smile and replied, "I don't need anyone, Grandpa. I'm going to be fine on my own. In fact, I'm fine right now."

"Everyone needs a pillar, honey. Even you. I know you are mature for your age, but you need to let out your emotions too. You need to be able to grieve before you can actually be fine."

But to whom? To whom should I pour out my emotions to? My mom wasn't in a condition to talk to anyone. Emma was too young. Grandma and Grandpa both were heartbroken, even if Grandpa was hiding it well. Aunt Chloe wasn't stable, either.

"Grandpa, it's getting late. You should go to bed." With that, I rushed to my room, passing by Ella's room. If only Ella was here today, I could have someone to talk to, someone to console me when I cry.

As my eyes started to sting with tears for the umpteenth time today, I desperately looked through the backpack I brought from the camp and dug out the paper wrapped in the raincoat. I don't know what made me do it, but I just did.

I dialed the number of that stranger—a girl who I had only known for a week.

When she picked up, her groggy voice came out, "Hello? Who is it? Do you have any idea what time is it? If you didn't know, it's almost three—"

"Hi, I'm Ace."

I heard some shuffling before her voice came out clearer, "Yeah, hi. What's happened?" The way she asked, as if she knew there was something wrong, made the tears I had been holding back all day come out.

"My dad... he died," I managed to say after a minute.

There was a long silence after that, so I thought maybe it wasn't right of me.

"You know what? I'm sorry for calling so late. I know my dad's death is none of your business. I just needed someone to talk to, and you are the first person who came to my mind. It was a stupid, rash decision. I will hang up—"

"No, wait!" she called out. "Don't hang up. I'm sorry for staying silent. I just didn't know what to reply to that. I mean, of course, I'm sorry to hear that, but nothing I say could possibly ease your pain, but if you need to talk, I'm more than willing to listen. Anything you want to say, you can say. I promise I will listen."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

"I'm just a stranger, though."

"Says who? We are friends."

"Since when?"

"Since now. Friends share stuff with each other, don't they? Just like that, I will share your pain or anything else you want to dump on me. I'm ready for that. Whenever and wherever you want to talk, we can."

"Okay, thank you."

"So now, what do you have to say? I'm all ears."

The way she was so willing to help made my heart warm a little bit. She was so strange and weird. Little did I know back then that this girl would become my best friend with whom I would fall in love and get married.

A/N: If you are loving my novel so far, please follow me, trimagical_, and stay tuned for more updates! Have a nice day! So I decided to write two bonus chapters on how Ava and Ace met and started their friendship. I hope you enjoyed this surprise, cause I did while writing this!

Have a nice day! Also, don't forget to comment on how the bonus chapters were. Love y'all! ❤️