King of My Heart

5. "Can you imagine how perturbed I was?"

(1214 words)

"I'm glad you decided to stop by." I said to Ariana as I placed a tray containing cookie batter into the oven and set the temperature and time.

"Yeah. It's refreshing to see you bake." She giggled.

I laughed. "Yeah well turns out I'm actually a good cook and baking is fun. Ethan doesn't like it when I do household chores though. He says I'm a queen."

"He's exactly the kind of husband you always dreamed about." Ariana said with a grin, her eyes gleaming.

A big smile stretched across my face as well. "Yes, that's true."

"Ethan is lucky to have you too."

My smile faded. "No. No he's not." My voice came out gloomy.

"What do you mean?" She frowned.

"I have brought nothing but trouble into his life."

"Hey, that's not true!" She chastised.

"Aaron caused me misery when I was with him and he is still continuing to torture me, if not physically and verbally, then mentally at this point. There is so much unrest in mine and Ethan's married life. He's not at peace because of me!" I ranted emotionally.

"Anastasia Kaden, maybe you're forgetting about Adeline. What she did was not because of you. You are not the cause of the damage she caused. Aaron isn't the only problem." My cousin said sternly.

"I was the cause of the damage caused by Adeline too! If I hadn't walked into Ethan's life, none of that would have happened. I'm a nuisance."

Ariana's face scrunched up in exasperation. "You are being so unreasonable and idiotic right now. Are you regretting marrying Ethan?"

"Of course not! I am utterly grateful that I got to marry such an incredible guy. He is literally every girl's dream," I said, pacing out of the kitchen and into the living room, Ari following suit. "I love him. I just don't want our lives to be like this. I want us to live a happy and peaceful life."

"You do know life isn't always sunshine and rainbows, right?" She reminded me.

"Yes, but how many people face the kind of stuff we do?" I questioned.

She sighed. "Not everyone experiences the same things. Everyone has something going on in their lives. Life is full of ups and downs. It can't be like a fairytale, with everything running smoothly all the time."

I nodded slowly, processing her words. "I guess you're—"

"Hey, who are you?!" She suddenly exclaimed, her eyes wide as she looked at something behind me.

———

*ETHAN's POV*

"I want that presentation ready by 10 am tomorrow." I said into the intercom.

"Yes, sir."

I turned the intercom off, opening a file that required my attention when my cellphone rang. The screen flashed Ariana's name.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked.

"Ethan!" Her voice was frantic and panicked, her breathing uneven.

My eyebrows scrunched up. "Ariana, what's wrong?"

"Ethan, Ana.. she's hurt. Someone broke in." Her words came out shaky.

"What do you mean? What happened to her?" I demanded, rising from my chair.

"Someone broke in! She's not okay... she's... you need to come home." She cried.

I could hear my heart in my ears, my blood pressure was dropping and I felt I might drop to the ground as well. But I had to remain strong. My Anastasia needed me.

———

"Drive faster, Brandon!" I exclaimed frantically.

When would our troubles end? Who could have broken in and harmed my wife? Could it have been Ares again despite the increased security? What would it take for me to ensure complete safety of the girl I loved?

I bolted out of the car before it even stopped properly, ran to the elevator and as soon as it opened, I stepped into darkness. Confusion overtook me. Why is it so dark?

"SURPRISE." The lights came on. I just stood there baffled, unable to process what was going on.

There stood my parents, Anastasia's parents, Zayn, Ahira, Armeena, Ariana and ANASTASIA. She was right there in front of me and she was fine! They all had excited grins on their faces.

Balloons adorned the entire living room; a giant happy birthday poster in the middle. A big, blue cake with my photo on it lay in the centre of the table around which everybody stood, along with a tray of cookies and cupcakes.

"What the hell?" I finally uttered.

"Happy birthday, Ethan!" Anastasia exclaimed, her beautiful and innocent eyes gazing into mine, just before someone blasted confetti all over me.

It then dawned on me. It was my birthday and I had completely forgotten.

"And that call?!" I snapped my head toward Ariana.

She shrugged innocently. "We wanted to surprise you."

"You scared me! I was so worrie—"

"Okay, hold on, drama queen. We planned this surprise for you and you are giving us attitude when you should be showing us gratitude." Ahira cut me off, making everyone laugh.

"It's not funny. I could've had a heart attack." I retorted. Who the hell plays a joke like that on you?

"Yeah but you didn't. You're alive and well. Cut the drama and cut the cake, mister! You have no idea how much I have controlled myself from digging into it. Just cut it already, so I can have some!" Ahira babbled. My sister really talks a lot...

So, I cut the cake and Anastasia, being my wife, got to have the first bite.

"You are such a good actress." Anastasia said to Ariana after the cake had been cut, the candles blown and everyone had been served with some. Both of them giggled. I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

"I truly deserve an Oscar." Ariana commended herself before going to give Zayn company, leaving me and Anastasia alone.

I gazed at her silently and she nervously gazed back at me, biting her lip. It was hard to even pretend to be angry when she looked that cute.

"I'm sorry." She muttered.

"Can you imagine how perturbed I was?" I demanded in a low tone, glancing around to see if anyone was close by. Luckily, everyone was in the other corner of our lounge, all busy in chit-chat.

"I can but I baked you your favourite cookies, so I hope that makes up for it." She said, once again biting her lip and putting her hand on my chest, sounding and looking ever so innocent.

My heart skipped a beat.

I grabbed her adorable face with a single hand and forced her to look up at me. "No more jokes like this ever again." I affirmed sternly.

"Okay." She whispered.

"That's a good girl." I said, kissing her forehead. She grabbed my face and stood on her tip-toes, reaching in to kiss me. I lowered my neck to make it easy for her.

Our lips joined and our tongues explored each other's mouths. Her hands raked through my hair and my hands rested at the back of her head, pulling her closer to me.

"Anastasia, lets go to our bedroom." I whispered huskily in her ear as her uneven breathing and the sight of her swollen lips turned me on more. I wanted nothing more than to kiss every inch of her beautiful body.

"Can't say no to the birthday boy." She whispered back seductively.