The Billionaire's Forced Alliance

Chapter Fifteen

For no reason at all, Sarah began to fret uncontrollably. If no reason meant numerous ones. She sat there, looking at all those strangers chatting and laughing together. The only familiar face was of Jean's who seemed to bask in joy whenever Richard turned towards her and smiled down at her. Sarah felt so nice seeing that. At least, Jean was truly happy and in love. That was most important.

Jean was actually madly in love. It could be understood by the lovely gleam in her deep, blue eyes. Sarah comprehended Jean's plan, they would have to tell Alex that she was pregnant. The idea bothered her to her very core. Seeing her so tensed, she felt Jean patting her arm in a friendly way.

"Don't worry, honey, it'll be okay, I promise. Oh, I'm so happy to see you!" Jean shrieked again.

Sarah breathed a huge sigh. "Yeah, yeah, I'm okay. I'm happy to see you too." Though nervousness ate away at her, she still managed to feel that joy jolt through her.

She looked around for a while. The house was elegant. Much more elegant than Ben's condo, to be honest. This was a full-on mansion, with green shaded walls that resembled the open, fresh grass. Something she had never experienced. In  her father's house, she had been restricted to brown, monotonous walls that trapped her very soul, and all she had ever wanted was to escape. But, surprisingly, this four-walled house didn't seem to incarcerate her spirits, instead, it kind of made her feel like she was a normal, a very ordinary woman, sitting in the living room of a very ordinary house. It wasn't a jail.

As she transfixed her eyes more into the surroundings, she saw that the house wasn't that decorated, it was quite decent. It didn't have huge paintings or wall-hangings, it had smaller canvases of flowers and natural sceneries, and the lights that hung above the ceiling was too bright, a lot more glary than the lights in Ben's condo. The sofas seemed comfortable, and she didn't know why but she felt extremely congenial and warm.

The gentleman, opposite to her, called Richard was a very peculiar man. To her, he seemed like a supervillain with smouldering eyes, doubly sharped jawline, razor like smooth cheekbones, and bone structure, and that continuous smug on his face. She especially admired his sense of style, he was dressed in a sort of dark academia casual, and didn't seem so much into his looks, like Ben was. Honestly, she had noticed how he had continuously flicked his messy hair into a neat sweep throughout the car drive. She was unable to grasp the fact that his house was so neat and clean, and his own dressing style was so disorganised and unkempt. As Psychology would suggest, those were the traits of an artist, and she knew that he had to be of that profession.

"Do you, uh, like to paint?" She asked him too suddenly, jeering herself back to reality.

The question seemed to baffle Richard, so she noticed. He immediately sat up straight and looked her in the eye. "How do know that? Is it...is it kind of written on my face?"

"Not really, it's just I deduced it on my own." She gave an acknowledging shrug.

"Woah, that was a damn accurate deduction!" Vivian chirped, clapping his hands in a gesture for extreme enthusiasm.

"She's a psychologist," Ben intervened, looking at them. "a good one."

She was shocked. It wasn't like a little bewilderment, it was a plain feeling of puzzlement. She had never gotten appreciation in her entire life, let alone for her academics. But seeing him praising her so effortlessly and casually made her wanna believe that this was what family was supposed to be like. At the exact moment that thought crossed her mind, she pushed them away. She knew he was serious and wasn't just flattering her to show off. He hadn't looked at her once while blabbering out her achievements, he had just plainly stated his thoughts. And that was a sign that he wasn't faking it. He wasn't that important to her and vice versa, yet it simply boggled her how this man was so unbelievably kind in his judgement.