Chapter 15
When she woke up the next morning. Alex wasn’t in bed with her, and his side of the bed was cold which meant that he had probably gonen up hours ago She wasn’t spised that she had slept for so long With the crazy day that she had, she expected nothing less than being knocked out coll throughout the night. She got out of bed and put on a role, then stepped out to the adsoming balcony the room bad. The place was huge and it was complete with its own furniture. She quiled as the fresh morning out but her face, and she took a quick sweep of the premises. From the position of Alex’s balcony, she could see most of the entire place, and the greenery was truly breathtaking. It was unfair to just refer to this place as a house. It was a fortress! The only thing that was missing were the elephants and the crocodiles and fishes to truly add that extra level of bougieness to M
She went back into the room, and picked up her phone, eyes bulging from the amount of notifications she had gotten. She clicked on the first one she could see, and it was a text from a reporter, asking if she was willing to speak on the story that had just broken out about her husband. Her eyes widened even more as the mental fog she had gotten from sleeping so long instantly cleared up. She went online and googled “Ales Blackwood and there it was, news articles and blog post after blog post talking about Alex’s hidden identity Another article informed her that Tidal Tech stocks had reached a new high, and she couldn’t help but wonder how these things seemed to happen so fast. She read through the article, and they were calling. Ales a business mastermind, and she was lost in it all that she dish ́’t even realize when she scrolled too far down and reached the comment section. Her first mistake was not leaving the moment she read the first comment. Her second mistake was letting herself get sucked into the vones of online opinions. The first few comments were slightly normal; it was just people marvelling over how start they thought Alex had been to think of hiding his identity solely because of the buzz that it created around his company. And it was stupid of me to have assumed that the rest of the comments would be all butterflies and sunshine too, because they most definitely seere not. People were calling her a golddigger, claning that she had come out of nowhere to marry Alex because she had somehow found out about his secret identity. And the name calling didn’t stop at that. The more she scrolled, the more creative they got. And then it proceeded into something much more serious because they were death threats in the comments too. Who were these people? And why did they care so unach about Alex to want to threaten her life? They barely knew her or him for that mutter, Letting out a shaky breath, she closed the page and decided she wasn’t looking at another one ever again
She fired out a quick text to Alex, her fingers flying rapidly across the screen.
Ruby: Did you see the articles?
His reply came thirty minutes later, when she had brushed her teeth, showered and almost given up on him ever responding to her text.
Alex: I did. It was to be expected. Don’t respond to any reporters and definitely do not read the comments.
I raced for my phone as I heard the ping from his notification and texted him back, chewing on the inside of my checks.
Ruby: It’s a little too late for that.
He called me right after that, and I pressed the phone against my ear, already expecting the scolding that was to come.
“You should know better than to read the comments, Ruby, you grew up in this world, you know how things like this often go. You know just how bad it can get.” he reprimanded, causing me to move the phone away from my ear before the volume of his voice caused my eardrums to explode.
“I know. I’m fine, they’re just opinions from strangers that don’t mean anything.”
“Are you sure?” he asked after a long moment of silence between them, showing her that he didn’t believe a word she was saying.
“Yes”
He ended the call soon after that, saying that he had to get back to work, and she let her mind run free. She had lied to him and she suspected he knew it too. Of course she cared about what the comments said, she wished she didn’t but she just couldn’t help it. She was human after all. And maybe a long time ago, when she was still in the sheltered world that she grew up in, she wouldn’t have cared, but now she did. More than she would have loved to. She felt inferior. And while she could
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Chapter 15
only hope that the rest of the world didn’t know about what was truly going on in the Smith household, she knew that wasn’t the case. Her hallsister jumped at every opportunity to inform people that cared to listen that Ruby was an outcast. And that label had followed her for years, and now all she could think about was the fact that the rest of the world didn’t think that she was good enough for Alex- even if that ‘rest of the world‘ were just Melanie and her clique of friends. And if she was being quite honest, she felt the exact same way. She didn’t think she was good enough.
Her phone rang again with a loud shrill, and thinking that it might be Alex calling her back, she answered the call faster than she could look at it to confirm, and when she did her heart broke into a million pieces. It was Ethan’s name flashing across her screen. She took in a deep breath and swallowed before she spoke. “Hello?” her voice was barely audible, barely hers. She sounded almost unrecognizable.
“Ruby Ethan spoke, sounding way too eager. “Thank goodness I really didn’t think you would answer the phone.”
“Why are you calling me?” she asked in what she hoped was a steady voice.
He was silent for a while before he spoke again. “I missed you.”
Her breath stilled, and she wanted nothing more than to say that she missed him too. Because she did, and hearing his voice made her realize just how much of her feelings she had been bottling up over the past feve days. But she knew it was all lies on his end, she could hear it in his voice. “You miss me? Is this same kind of joke?”
“Ruby, I know that you’re upset, trust me I do. And you have every right to be upset, but if you’d just let me explain-
“Explain what!?” she yelled before she could stop herself. “Explain why I caught you cheating with my sister right under the same roof as I was? When I was right in the next room? Explain how you showed no remorse and then proceeded to embarrass me in front of my entire family?” she was breathing hard now, and she wished he didn’t affect her as much did
“Ruby, she seduced me!” he explained, raising his voice at the end.
She scoffed and shook her head even though he couldn’t see her you really think i’m a fool, don’t you? You really think I’m stupid enough to fall for that.”
“But it’s the truth,” he argued.
“You’re not a child Ethan, you’re not a child that can be lured away with some candy and promises of a good time. If you cared about me…” she
