The Billionaire's Contract Wife [COMPLETED]

Sixty: Saving Us

I felt someone's presence beside me. That pulled me back into reality from my deep sleep.

I opened my still heavy eyelids and was welcomed by Louie's face just a few inches above my own face. He wasn't looking at me, though. He was preoccupied as he tried to carefully lay my head down the pillow, trying his best not to wake me up.

Nakatulog kasi ako habang nakasandig sa headboard ng kama, with my laptop on my lap.

"Did I wake you up? I'm so sorry," he murmured in his deep voice when he realized that I was looking at him.

He looked tired. The bags under his eyes were prominent.

Ilang araw ko din ba syang hindi nakita? Five? Six? Seven?

Honestly, I've lost count already. I haven't seen him since that dreadful news about the 'Love Bond' app broke out. He was soooo busy.

"You're home?" I almost didn't recognize my own voice. It sounded dreamy.

At this point, I don't even know if Louie is real or just a dream.

"Yup, baby. I'm home. Sorry for waking you up." He was carefully tucking me under the sheets.

That's when I realized that my laptop, and all the printouts that I've been working with earlier, were no longer on my bed. Nagpalinga-linga ako.

"I put your laptop aside," he said, giving an answer to the question I didn't even verbally ask.

"Ohhhh." But I didn't want him to see what I was working on. Pero mukhang huli na, he must've seen ut already.

I saw him heave a deep sigh, somehow confirming my hunch. He saw what I was working on.

"It's late. You go back to sleep. I'm so sorry for waking you up. I just wanted to check on you but you were sleeping in such an uncomfortable position so I had to move you."

"I don't wanna give up on 'Love Bond' yet," I said, almost in a whisper.

There's no point in keeping it a secret from him. He's seen it already. At bakas sa mukha nito ang disapproval.

I saw him tense. Nagsigalawan ang mga panga nito.

"Let's talk about this some other time, Aera," he said, dismissing me.

"I am finding ways on how we can improvise the app," I insisted as if I didn't hear what he just said. "Make a better version of it. Offer something the stolen app can't do. Come up with something far better than what we had ---"

"Aera," he said, cutting me off. "I don't want you to stress yourself over the project anymore. We had agreed to let it go, right?"

Nope, we didn't. Ikaw lang, hindi ako nag-agree, I almost said.

I scuffled to find something in the drawer of my nightstand. I took out two boxes.

I saw Louie's face tensed up when he saw what it was. It was the final version of the 'Love Bond' bracelets.

The stocks just came to the office the other day - earlier than the schedule because, well, the project was put into a halt already. And the realization that nobody can use it anymore brought me a different kind of pain.

Iba pala 'pag nakita mo na. Parang mas lalong nagsi-sink in sa utak ko 'yong mga nangyayari.

I took two and brought it home.

"I don't know if you've seen them already but yes, the bracelets are here. I mean, not here but in the office," sabi ko. "And it pains me to see the look on everyone's face when they saw it."