Too Late For Regrets

Part 13

There was one thing I didn't take into consideration when I boarded the yacht. That was our sleeping arrangement. We had one cabin, so it meant we had to sleep together. Again.

As soon as I saw that there was only one bed in the cabin, I turned to my husband and told him, "Keep your hands to yourself. I do not want to be cuddled."

"I'll try," he smiled teasingly.

"I'm serious. I don't enjoy being crushed by heavy arms."

"Okay, okay, I will try my best to not accidentally cuddle you in my sleep."

"I hope you will, or it won't end well."

"I really have no luck when it comes to women..." he sighed in mock sadness. "First my fiancé ditches me the day of the wedding, then my wife stops me from cuddling her at night..."

"It's not funny," I deadpanned.

"Isn't it? I think it's hilarious," he scoffed. "Your sister kept deceiving me throughout our whole relationship, your parents saw my family only as a source of money then pretty much sold you for some petty change without even trying to fix their situation first. And then, on the day of the wedding, I saw that my bride was not the woman I'd been dating for nearly two years but her sister, who I had no idea even existed. Tell me that it's not funny," he said with a bitter smile as we sat on the deck and drank wine. After a short tour around the yacht, we went to the deck and decided to spend the day there.

"From your point of view, it may be, but I don't find it amusing at all," I retorted with a heavy sigh. "After six years of having no contact with my family, I was suddenly visited by their lawyer and a bunch of cops ready to arrest me. The lawyer told me that I was going to get married in my sister's place or I'd get arrested for embezzlement. He presented me with a bunch of forged papers that would prove I was mismanaging the company's funds while I was working there. I was blackmailed into getting married because my parents wanted money to save the company they almost ruined. When I reached the chapel, I found out that my soon-to-be husband wanted me to sign a prenuptial agreement and that I was to be married to him for two years. And then, as I walked down the aisle, I saw him look at me with pure contempt and disgust. Do you still find it funny?"

My husband stayed quiet for a while, staring at me with a regretful frown before he apologized quietly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that... I was just..."

"Forget it. It's not like my complaining will change the past. What happened, happened," I shrugged. It wasn't like I could change anything even if I wanted to. I could only learn to accept my fate.

"I still feel bad. I shouldn't have joked about it. You told me what happened yet I still..."

"I said, forget it. I admit that I was mad at you for not calling that whole thing off, but I realized that it really wasn't your fault. You're not the one to blame, my parents are," I told him with a small sincere smile. At first, I was mad beyond reason that I was in such situation, but during the week I spent alone, I had the chance to think about everything and I concluded that constantly blaming and antagonizing my husband was unfair. It would only worsen our nonexistent relationship and make it more difficult to coexist. Besides, waging a meaningless war was not only pointless but also exhausting.

"It may sound a little cheesy, but I'm glad to hear it."

"You're right. It sounds cheesy," I chuckled.

"If I may ask, what made you change your mind about me? Did the flowers work their magic?" he asked with an amused smile.

"They did, yeah," I laughed then sighed quietly. "I've been thinking about it after our argument... Antagonizing you because of something you had almost no control over is simply unfair to you, so I decided to not hold this whole thing against you. You're not the enemy, my parents and sister are. They're the ones who put me in this situation, so they're the ones that need to be punished for it."

"Punished? How?"

"They sold me to your family so they could save their company. But I know them well. Instead of using the money you gave them to improve the company's situation, they will spend it on useless shit and once they've spent it all, they'll come asking for more. My father is an idiot, my mother is a bitch addicted to luxury and my sister is a spoiled brat that thinks the world revolves around her. It's only a matter of time before they try to use our marriage to extort more money from you. And I won't let them do that."

"That doesn't really answer my question," my husband frowned in confusion, pouring me another glass of wine. "What do you mean by punishing them?"

"They're using their company's situation as an excuse to extort money from your family. But what if they no longer had their company?" I smirked evilly, getting a shocked gasp from my husband. He looked absolutely dumfounded.

"You're joking..."

"I'm not."

"And how do you plan to do that? Destroying someone's business is not as easy as you think," he told me with a worried frown. Did he really think I was naive enough to believe it would be easy? I wasn't. I knew exactly what I was doing. But I understood his concern. He had no idea I was one of the most powerful people in the country. He didn't know what I was capable of.

"We agreed to stay out of each other's business, so I won't tell you anything and I ask you to not meddle in this. This is my problem, and I will deal with it myself."

"Fine, but if you have any troubles, you can always come to me. I'm your husband, and I'm on your side," he smiled reassuringly. I was slightly surprised to hear it. I didn't expect him to say something like that.

I didn't know how to respond to that, so I settled for a grateful smile.

He was on my side? That was hard to believe. I was reluctant to trust him, but I was still grateful to know I didn't have to fight a two-front war. I thought it would be nice to have an ally instead of an enemy.

After we talked it out, the atmosphere got much better. We knew exactly where we stood and what we could expect from one another. Maybe in time I would learn to trust my husband, but at that time I was still a little hesitant. We were only married for two weeks, and we hadn't even known each other before that, so it would be irrational to blindly trust him. I was willing to try, but it would take time. I was sure that my husband was aware of that as well.

We spent the whole day on the deck and only retired to our cabin after sunset. I still didn't like the idea of sharing a bed with my husband, especially since he had the tendency to move in his sleep and not even a bunch of pillows could stop him from putting his arms around me, but I decided to give him a chance to redeem himself. I warned him that he would pay for it if he cuddled me again, so I hoped he wouldn't try anything funny.

"Again, really?" my husband laughed when he saw the makeshift wall in the middle of the bed. He let me get ready for bed first, so I had enough time to build the barricade that was supposed to keep him away.

"Again. Really," I mocked and got in bed, not waiting for him to join me. I heard him sigh heavily before the other side of the bed dipped slightly as he got in, chuckling quietly to himself. He kept muttering something about me being mean for putting up a pillow barricade to stop him from cuddling. He also said that he couldn't believe that I didn't like being cuddled. It was really hard to stop myself from laughing when I heard him mumble sulkily to himself. I found his petulant behavior adorable.

I didn't know if it was because of how cool the cabin was or because I hadn't been with a guy for almost a month, but I found myself removing the pillow barricade with my own hands. I tossed all of the pillows to the floor then lay back down with my back facing my husband.

The last thing I heard before I fell asleep was his laugh.