Chapter 3 A Shotgun Marriage

Melody and Ryan sat at the unusually large dinner table. She looked at the neatly arranged rows and rows of Korean delicacies, and turned to the servants, who stood behind, watching them. Seeing them, she hesitated to pick up the chopsticks. Sensing her nervousness, Ryan signaled for them to leave and ordered, "You may all go now."

"Yes, Mr. Yan!" the servants uttered in unison as they walked out of the dining room in an orderly fashion.

Melody took a deep breath and wiped the sweat off her forehead. Although, as a famous star, she was always surrounded by people, she felt uncomfortable eating when the servants were watching her. She felt like she was being monitored.

Buzz... The sudden vibration from her cellphone caught their attention.

It was a call from Dale Dao. He was a good-looking, popular star, who had just started his acting career. Melody had collaborated with him in the past, and now, he was the supporting actor in the movie she was shooting. However, Melody and Dale Dao never contacted each other outside of work.

Could it be that he was he calling about work? With that thought, Melody picked up the phone. "Hi, Melody, am I disturbing you?" Dale Dao's attractive voice came from the other side.

Melody shook her head and replied, "No, what is it?"

After some hesitation, he said, "Well, here is the thing. Melody, are you really married?"

Upon hearing that, Melody became nervous and didn't know what to say. She looked at Ryan, who pushed his chair aside and walked up to her. "Honey, your food is getting cold," he said coldly. He grabbed her phone from her hand and disconnected the call abruptly.

"Hey! What the hell?" Melody yelled as she snatched her phone back from Ryan, only to find that it was shutting down. "Don't I have the right to answer my calls?"

"There's no need for you to answer such useless calls. You will only be answering calls from your agent from now on," Ryan said. He then sat down and ate his lavish meal.

'I've had enough!' Melody thought to herself. She stood up, walked to him and snatched his chopsticks away. "I'm a person, not your toy. I know I signed the contract, but I still want to be free!"

"You have to listen to me for one year." Ryan wiped his hands on the napkin and took a sip of the cold water.

Melody looked into his eyes and protested, "Why should I? Ryan, let me make this clear for you. I haven't sold myself to you; we're just pretending like we're married for one year. Don't think otherwise."

"Are you serious? We're just pretending? Are you sure that we are just putting on an act?" Ryan asked with a scoff. An evil smile appeared on his lips.

"More sure than I'll ever be. Besides, I'm also very certain that you're the devil incarnate!" Melody hissed.

When Ryan heard her referring to him as "the devil incarnate," he became furious. Slowly, he got up and walked to her, forcing her into a corner. He slightly tilted his head while still maintaining eye contact with her, and said seductively, "Since you think I'm the devil incarnate, maybe I should do something unspeakable to you."

Trapped, Melody was at a loss for words. "Let me go! Somebody, please help!" she screamed.

"Don't underestimate the sound insulation here. No matter how loud you shout, no one will come in to save you." He stroked her face, gripped her jaw and forcefully kissed her.

Although there was a surveillance camera right above their heads, Ryan didn't care. He kissed her passionately, sucking on her lips as though they were made of candy.

Melody bit his lip hard, pushed him away and hissed, "You monster!" She turned around and tried to run away.

However, Ryan grabbed her wrist tightly, which made her squirm. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked.

"Why do you care?" Melody retorted. Although she wanted to break free, she couldn't because she didn't have energy left in her body.

There was a trace of coldness in his voice as he said, "You can't leave the house without asking for my permission first. You'd better give up resisting me and start behaving like a good wife."

"I'm not your wife!" Melody argued, gritting her teeth.

Ryan sneered and said, "Don't try to convince yourself otherwise. Everyone understands that we're married, except for you." He eased his grip on her arm.

Tears shone in Melody's eyes as she felt powerless. She couldn't help but run back to her room.

As per Ryan's plan, they both attended the press conference on the following day. The conference was to be held in a very posh-looking room on the first floor of YN Entertainment's office building. The entire building was filled with reporters. Some of them waited near the entrance, hoping to interview Ryan as he entered the building.

At around nine o'clock in the morning, Ryan's car stopped at the back entrance of the building. Melody sulked as she got out of the car, wearing black high-heeled shoes. Ryan looked at her and said, "You are an actress, you should know what to do."

Upon hearing that, Melody lifted her head, took a deep breath, and followed him into the conference room.

As they made their grand entrance, countless microphones were turned on and many cameras started taking photos. The second they both stepped in, the reported started bombarding them with questions.

"Ms. Si, was it Mr. Yan who you said you were in love with?"

"Yes," Melody replied with a bright smile.

"Mr. Yan, some of the reporters are claiming that yours is a shotgun marriage, is that true?"

"If that were true, I would be announcing it happily now. I would have asked my lovely wife to stay home and rest." With those words, Ryan grabbed Melody's hand, which made all the photographers click their photos immediately.

"Ms. Si, when did you two meet?"

Melody tried to wiggle out of Ryan's grip, but he held her tightly as she answered, "We met three years ago."

She was answering truthfully. Three years ago, a casting director had selected Melody to sign up with their entertainment company. As Melody waited in the hallway that day, she had seen Ryan. He had always been a cold man, which made girls fall for him. However, she didn't know that it was her glance that melted his heart.

That was the reason behind Ryan's concern for her. During the past three years, he had meticulously watched over her, protecting her and guarding her from all the troubles she might have faced. He had had sleepless nights thinking about her, forgotten to eat because of her, and had even felt happy for her whenever she achieved something. However, he had never shown his feelings to anyone, so no one knew that he loved her.

"Mr. Yan, what do you have to say about Ms. Si being pursued by Mr. Nie?"

Ryan maintained his calm expression and replied, "My wife is an exceptionally talented and beautiful woman, so it's no surprise that many men want to pursue her. Mr. Nie is one of them."

"Will it pose a threat to your marriage?"

Ryan shrugged and replied, "Of course not!"

"Mr. Yan, when did you know you were in love with Ms. Si, and how did you propose to her?" The room suddenly became dead silent as they waited for Ryan's reply.

After a few moments, Ryan answered politely, "That is a secret between me and my wife, right, honey?"

Melody nodded and smiled shyly.

Meanwhile, Adrian was in his office, looking angry. He had just come to the office hoping to deal with some matters at work, when, suddenly, a group of reporters came.

There was only a knock on the door before a male reporter stormed in and asked,

"Mr. Nie, we only have one question for you, and we hope you'll give us an answer. Now that Ms. Si is married, will you still continue to pursue her?"

Adrian stared at him coldly and replied, "I won't comment on that."

"Mr. Nie! Mr. Nie!"

Ignoring the reporters' cries, Adrian walked out of the room without looking back.