THE CEO'S FAKE WIFE

Morning Attack

It was already 9:30 p.m. when Beatrice and Luke had arrived at the inn that she had rented long ago. That inn was a recommendation from her best friend, Leah.

The inn building looked a bit old-fashioned, but it's still sturdy. The walls looked like they had just been repainted, Beatrice could tell from the distinctive smell of the paint that filled her nostrils. Behind her, Luke stood with a completely unpleasant face.

She pressed the bell on the wall next to the door once, then took a step back waiting for the door to open. Moments later an old woman with slightly gray hair appeared, she tugged her dark brown wool cardigan as the inn door swung wide open.

"Any reservations?" she asked directly without further ado because she was lazy to linger in the open air.

Beatrice hurriedly showed the proof of booking that was saved in the email on her cellphone, then the woman nodded with a smile on her wrinkled face.

"Ahhh, Ms. Miller! Please come in," she said as she opened the door wide.

Beatrice quickly entered the inn while pulling her black suitcase, ignoring Luke who was waiting behind her.

The main room of the inn was very old-fashioned and simple, there were only two sofas with colorful cloth coverings on them and an ancient fireplace that seemed to still function well.

"Come, I'll take you upstairs," said the old woman, pointing to very long stairs in front of them.

Beatrice, who was also surprised, pretended not to see Luke who gave her a protesting gaze.

After they went through a long struggle to lift a suitcase that was quite heavy, they finally arrived on the third floor.

The old woman opened a brown door and pushed it hard and it creaked softly as it opened, indicating that the hinges were worn.

Beatrice almost planned to scold Leah out loud for recommending that inn, but when the bedroom door was fully opened, she gaped.

The room was quite spacious, with one bed for two people, a medium-sized wardrobe, a pair of cushioned chairs facing the window, and an ancient painting depicting the city of Amsterdam in the 1800s, very beautiful.

The paint was dominated by cream and bone white colors. A flower vase with fresh red roses appears to be placed on a table with a chair facing the window.

"The bathroom is over there. I've made sure it's clean. If needed, the kitchen is on the first floor. You can get free drinking water and bread there," said the woman with a very thick Dutch accent, which fortunately was understandable well by Beatrice, who does master several languages including Dutch, while Luke was silent, groping the old woman's intentions.

"So I'll be back downstairs, I'm Elise. You can call me anytime if you need any help, my number is on the card next to the flower vase."

After Beatrice said her thanks, Elise came out and closed the door behind her, leaving two strangers who didn't know each other in the same room with unimaginable awkwardness.

She pushed her suitcase to the front of the closet and started to put her clothes in it.

"You can use this one," she said, pointing to the closet door next to her.

Without answering her, Luke just put his suitcase down carelessly, then with one quick movement, he laid down on the bed that was covered with white linen.

Beatrice glared, "Who said you can sleep there?!" she screamed in annoyance. Luke turned his body to face her, "I paid 50 times and didn't get a bed? Seriously! If you want, you can sleep next to me, if you don't want to, please sleep on a chair or the floor, it's not my business!"

Checkmate! That guy had a point!

With an annoyed face, Beatrice draped a towel around her neck, took a change of clothes, went into the bathroom, and slammed the door behind her loudly, making Luke who was almost closed his eyes immediately fully awake.

She filled the bathtub with warm water and put a lavender-scented bath bomb in it. While waiting for the water to be full she opened her cellphone, telling her best friend Leah that she had arrived safely. She had thought of calling her father too but she canceled it, she was still angry.

Half an hour later she came out of the bathroom and found Luke talking on his cellphone while standing facing the window, his back to her.

"Mom I promise I'll take care of it! What did you say? Seriously! Oh, come on don't cry! Okay okay, I'll get married as soon as I return home, I promise..."

Beatrice, who didn't mean to eavesdrop, could still hear Luke's conversation well because the room wasn't so spacious and his' voice was quite loud.

She pretended to be busy tidying up her suitcase when he turned around and looked at her.

"Are you listening to my conversation?" he accused with a sharp look.

Beatrice pursed her lips,

"What? Why would I?" she replied irritably, she stood up carrying a box of instant spaghetti she had brought from home.

Without any intention of offering the spaghetti to Luke, she went down to the kitchen with a towel still on her head.

The kitchen on the first floor looked old-fashioned but clean. There was a dark brown kitchen set, two stoves, one microwave, one dining table, and one medium-sized refrigerator.

Beatrice put her box of spaghetti in the microwave, then waited for it to cook while flipping through her cellphone. Not long after, the spaghetti bolognese was fully cooked, the aroma filled the entire kitchen area which was deserted at that time.

When she was busy eating her food, suddenly Luke appeared. She rubbed his hungry stomach. Too embarrassed to ask for another box of spaghetti to Beatrice, he chose to look for bread in the drawer.

After opening and closing several drawers, he finally found a drawer with a pile of bread in it. He heated the bread in the microwave and then spread it with the butter.

Beatrice, who was focused on her food, pretended not to notice the presence of Luke, who had been passing by in front of her. At that time she was sitting on a high chair in front of the large marble table in the kitchen.

"What about the room key? You and me we both have our own itinerary," suddenly Luke broke the long silence that had awakened between them.

Beatrice was silent for a moment, she stopped her eating activity, making her fork float in the air.

"I'll bring it with me!" she said bluntly.

Luke walked closer to her, "No you can't! What about me? Wasn't there any key copy?" asked him while putting the last bite of bread into his mouth.

Beatrice just shrugged.

After a long pause,

"So you're looking for a future wife?" she asked casually while glancing at Luke with a curious face.

Luke's eyes immediately narrowed sharply, "You eavesdropper!" he snapped.

Beatrice pounded the table softly,

"No, I'm not! I'm not eavesdropping! You're the one who talked too loud!" she dodged as she got up from her seat and threw away the empty food box in her hand then she walked upstairs while drinking water from the bottle that had been filled earlier, didn't bother to look at Luke at all.

Before Luke got to the room, she had put some of the pillows in the middle of the bed as a boundary. She also put pepper spray under her pillow just in case Luke started being rude and crazy to her.

Sleeping with a complete stranger who'd she only known for a few hours sounded like a very silly thing, but it really happened to her. For the sake of extra pocket money during her solo traveling, she started to feel a bitch!

She pretended to close her eyes when she heard the door open from outside. After a while, she heard footsteps coming inside and getting closer to the bed. Not long after, Luke fell beside the boundary line that she had drawn, making her smile calmly. He knew the rules.

Eight hours later,

she was dreaming of riding a boat in Venice with a handsome man when suddenly someone touched her cheek. With super lightning speed, she took a pepper spray under her pillow and squirted the contents onto someone standing by her bed.

"Nooooooooooooooo!" A scream of pain sounded so loud, making the birds that had perched on the windows fly high to move to another place.

She immediately sat up straight and was really shocked when she found Luke wailing in pain because of the pepper spray that she sprayed on his face earlier.

"I'm so sorry, I was too scared, I forgot that I sleep with you!" squeaked her timidly.

Luke covered his face with both hands as he shouted,

"You're a fucking sociopath!!!"

*****