The CEO's Wildflower Bride

Andrea's eyes darted across the walls of her sterile room, the stark white of the walls a harsh contrast to the chaos she felt within her.

Dante had gone, while she was still asleep, she remembered hearing her aunt's sharp voice in the afternoon , insisting he left as a man was not permitted to be the best friend of a married woman. She had scoffed at her archaic notion but had been too weak to open her eyes nor argue.

As her eyes continued to wander helplessly across the room, Andrea couldn't help but ponder how she might have wronged the universe to be born into such a cruel fate. Lost in her thoughts, she was startled by the sound of the door opening. A young woman walked in, almost Andrea's age, if not older, but with a smaller frame.

"The doctor said that you lost your baby" the girl said to her. Her voice bearing no emotions or pity for what she might be feeling.

They had achieved their aims afterall.

" If I'm to give you an advice, I'll say you divorce Niklas" she continued.

" Did your mother send you to tell that to me?" Andrea asked her, voicing her words out as loud as she could despite the pains that racked her body as she lay on the bed.

"No, why would she. I am just telling you as a caring in-law" she continued but Andrea was no longer interested in what she had to say, her eyes darted to the door, hoping to signal her unwelcomed guest to leave, but the girl seemed bent on delivering her message.

" Look" she said and played a video recording, holding out her phone towards her so she could see it as well.

" While you were at the bathroom struggling, your husband was shopping for baby clothes with Serah!! Doesn't that tell you anything? I heard you called him asking telling him to come to your aid when you fell at the bathroom, but he didn't come. But then, he was at King's Store buying baby items with his ex lover. If I were you, I'd ask for a divorce and leave the marriage" she finished and ended the video she had held out to her to see.

" If I can recall, I called you countlessly as well but you answers none of the calls and did not return any. I think you should stop looking for whom to fool with your fake concerns and focus more on finding yourself a husband, like your mother wants you to" she shot back at the lady, visibly annoyed by her fake displays of concern.

" What?" She muttered, surprised at the sudden tone and choice of words she had spoken to her with.

She had always been quiet and never complained before in the past no matter what had been said nor done to her, but now he seemed almost like a different person.

Her phone began to ring and this distracted her attention, making her leave the room to answer the call.

Andrea seized the moment, stood up from the bed she was and went to the door, locking it as the lady left to answer the call.

Her insides rumbled with hate for her.

Struggling, she walked back to the bed and picked up her buzzing phone.

Dante had sent a message to her. Opening it and seeing the funny stickers he had sent to cheer her up, she couldn't bring herself to laugh at any of them. He was trying his best to cheer her up, even up to the point of sending her the newest designs of his new collections, telling her to pick any for herself, free of charge. But she was not in the mood to reply nor speak with any body.

Going off, her eyes locked with her screen saver. It was the ultrasound picture of her unborn child. The unborn child she had just lost.

Tears began to well up in her eyes.

If only. Why her. What did she do.

Only Dante's missed call was on her notification bar. He wasn't the first person she had called, it had been her husband Niklas.

She had fallen down at the bathroom when she went to take her bath in the morning. It wasn't a serious fall but then she had felt dizzy and tired and couldn't pick herself up, even when she noticed that she had began to bleed. Taking her phone, she had called her husband countless times but he didn't answer any of them. When he eventually did, she begged him to come to her aid. She was at the bathroom and had fallen buy couldn't get up because she felt sharp pains from inside her, but he dismissed her telling her that he was busy and that she should call the father of her unborn child. He was the father but because he always believed whatever he wanted to, he kept on with his notion that he was not the father.

She had called out for help from the nannies as well but it seemed as if all of them were miraculously super busy outside the house that day. Stranded and left with no other option than calling Dante whom she had not wanted to bother with her burden, he had come rushing into her room from his house almost immediately he went off the call.

But her husband's aunt had refused her being taken away from the house. She had been in all along without helping while she screamed for help.

She was already unconscious when the family doctor had come and gone.

But now according to what she had been told by the girl who left her room a while ago, it appeared her so called husband had not been busy all along like he had claimed but had been shopping for baby items with his ex lover who had returned to him not too long ago with a pregnancy she claimed was his.

Her insides burned. How could he. She continued to lament and cry for as long as she could.

The door got forcefully opened by a man who walked in, with a bunch of keys jingling as he walked in.

He looked at her angrily and without turning, she could already tell whom it was.

"Here, take this" she heard him say and she turned to face him, still lying on the bed.

He dropped a piece of paper with a pen on the bed beside her.

"I heard that you lost the baby. There's nothing holding us now. We can finally go out separate ways" he said and touched the baby he had dropped again, shifting it closer to where her hand was.

" Sign the divorce papers when you stand up. I'll pay you whatever amount you wish for after that" he said and that was all, he turned , meaning to leave.

But she knew why he had brought the divorce papers and she wasn't going to give him that.

His ex had returned and if the pregnancy she carried was his, she signing the divorce paper meant giving him the chance to live happily ever after with the woman he had always loved.

She wouldn't be stupid enough to do that and especially not with all the humiliations and mockery she had endured at his hands thinking he would change one day. She had lost their baby and there wasn't any other thing that could bind them, but she would not will him the freedom he wanted desperately at that moment.

"No Niklas, I will sign no divorce papers" she said and he abruptly halted in his steps and turned back.

" Did you say something?" He asked her because the tone she had used was not what he was used to. He knew her as a simple girl who could be made to do anything, especially if she would get paid by doing so but her change of tone had come as a surprise.

"We will remain married" she answered back and he found himself arching his eyebrows at her.

"Only your mother has the right to dissolve our marriage" she finished and looked him in the eyes, caring not about the cold stares he shot at her.

His eyes narrowed as he tried to gauge the sudden change in Andrea. She had always been the compliant one, the one who never questioned him. But now, something had shifted. The realization dawned on him that he might have underestimated her.

But she was ready for whatever would come, she won't be the girl they all knew in the past. If only she had been herself months ago after the wedding, no if only she had been her true self on the morning after the night of their stand........

Was there anything less dignifying than searching for your own underwear?

For Andrea, this morning seemed to be the most embarrassing of her life.

She had woken up with a splitting headache which she felt from the events of the other day. It had to be her worst day because that was what it was.In the morning of it, she had witnessed her step mother vomiting blood. No one had wanted to tell her what was wrong, not even her father but after she had promised her step brother a treat, the chatterbox had gone on to tell her that she was in the third stage of Cervical Cancer. It had advanced to the third stage and she couldn't get treatment, well it was obvious why. They were stark poor and lacked the necessary funding required for treatment, so they had been keeping it from her to make her not worry or take up more part time jobs, to the number of ones she already had.

Then later in the afternoon, still processing the devastating news she had heard in the morning, she had been laid off by the director of the movie she had successfully landed a role in. It still seemed like a surprise to her. It had taken her so long since her graduation from art school to finally land a role in a movie after an audition and finally when she did, she got fired because the director's diamond wrist watch got stolen and as she was the only unknown actress on set, she had been accused for stealing it, without evidence!!! Without evidence!

Thinking her day could not have gotten any worse, she had returned and woke returning she had seen her boyfriend kissing another lady and when she had confronted them, she found out it was her best friend.

"I sent you the breakup message a week ago Andrea. Maybe you should check your messages more often" he had told her with a nonchalant shrug.

Feeling humiliated, she had gone to the neighborhood hotel which was the cheapest and affordable one, to crash the night with a bottle of whiskey. To drink away her sorrows and sleep off there before returning home the next morning so her family do not stress themselves worrying about her.

"Are you looking for this?" The man on the other side of the bed asked her, swinging her red panties with his finger as he glanced at them with weird eyes.

She immediately snatched them away from him, ran to the bathroom with it to wear it as it was the last thing remaining for her to be dressed up.

"Hey look, I apologize. I misread the room number and got in here. I didn't mean to, it wasn't my intention. Whatever happened last night should stay that way, a mistake and end. We both were drunk and were not in our right states of mind" she awkwardly said to the stranger before opening the door and running away.

"Oh Andrea, what else are you going to encounter now. You just broke your virginity with a stranger" she muttered to herself as she hurriedly went out of the room, caring not about the man she had shared a drunken one night stand with not whom he was.

Niklas still laid naked on the bed, covering his self with the blanket on the bed.

His gaze darted across the room. It was rickety and not befitting for a person of his status but he had taken it since he had no other choice than to.

He had come into the Province hoping to propose to Serah, his longtime girlfriend and love of his life.

She might have lived in a neighborhood Province but she was a hardworking woman, a famous sir hostess and he had fallen for her when he saw her during one of his flights.

But then, she had stood him up. Turning down his marriage proposal through a text message. She had travelled back to France, choosing her job over him. He had anticipated it but he didn't give the thoughts of her choosing her job over him much room, he had believed she would choose him because of her love for him but her reply had broken him.

It has begun to rain and he had no where to go as he had planned that after proposing to her, they would return to the capital together. But his disappointment and pain coupled with the rain had made him lodge into the hotel as it was the last one that still had spaces by the time he had come. He had been drunk and the one night stand with the beautiful lady who hurried out of the room had in no way crossed his mind.

Perhaps she knew whom he was and had thrown herself at him, hoping to get a dirt on him that she'd use for her advantage done other time.

"There's a lady going out of my room. Find out whom she is" he called his assistant and instructed and immediately, ended the call.

He had failed now and was only left with one choice, marrying the woman his mother would find for him to get his hands at the CEO position of his father's company.

*******

Walking out of the hotel into the glaring sunlight that had began to fill the sky, Andrea felt the weight of her life pressing down on her. Her mother's illness, her shattered career, her broken relationships, and then coupled with the drunken one night stand with the stranger she'd rather forget-it all seemed insurmountable. As she walked aimlessly through the pavement, her thoughts were interrupted by a commotion ahead.

A man was arguing loudly with a woman next to an expensive car. She had seen him intentionally hit her car with his tricycle and was now accusing her of using her wealth to oppress him because he was poor. Andrea watched as the woman tried to pacify him with money, but he only grew louder and more aggressive, saying that the money was not enough for the damage she had caused him.

The woman had walked back to her car, going to bring out more cash to give to the man. She hated bad publicity and as people were taking pictures and recording videos of what was happening, she was afraid she'd be labeled a bad person if the video got uploaded to the internet.

Without thinking, Andrea stepped forward to where the man was, shouting at him as if he were life that was dealing with her.

"Hey! Leave her alone, "I saw what you did. You hit her car on purpose and now you're trying to scam her. You should be ashamed of yourself. You're the one to pay her for the damage you have caused to her car!!." she said pointing to the woman's car.

"Can you pay for the scratches you have her car? I clearly saw you! you went at her first. Stop playing the pity card!!" She lashed out at the man.

" And who are you? What's your own business? Young girls of nowadays just do not know how to mind their own business"

" Yes I do not know how to mind my own business cos you're wrong. You're trying to scam her. You don't even deserve the money she gave you! should I call the police so they'd get the CCTV footages of the area? What's their number again?" She asked, bringing out her phone and pretending to call the police.

" Oh well, forget it" the man said and rushed back into his tricycle, driving off as fast as he could.

The crowd began to disperse as well.

" Thank you so very much" the woman behind her said and brought her hand to hand the bundles of money she held to her.

Andrea refused." Oh no ma'am, you don't need to bother yourself. Just stay safe and don't fall into the hands of these scammers again" she said.

" But you should collect one, even if it is just a bundle. I'd be really grateful if you did. You just helped me and I don't know how to thank you enough"

" Oh ma'am, don't bother yourself. It is my duty to defend unsuspecting strangers from scams they're not aware of" she said and saluted the woman.

" You know, patriotism to the country" she said as she saluted and the woman couldn't help but laugh at her lively spirit.

The bus arrived and Andrea immediately excused her self and ran to enter before it got filled up.

The woman couldn't help but stare at her, smiling at such a character she had met.

*******

Andrea arrived at her home and found a car parked in front. She was moved by it, especially because it looked like the car of the woman she had seen earlier while coming home. Walking up to the house and wondering whom the owner was and why they had come, she got greeted by her teenage step brother who came out of the house, sensing her arrival.

"Mama's boss is here. Seems like you've landed yourself a big shot. She wants you to marry her son" Fred, her younger brother began.

" You and your gossips, Fred" she muttered as she continued walking up to the door. She knew her brother as a chatterbox, well be was one, talking about whatever he wanted at anytime.

" Wait" he muttered to her and she did .

He ran up to her and began to perm her hair using his hands, trying to make it smoother and arranged, unlike how she left it.

" Oh stop already boy" she said and continued to walk up while he began jumping to reach her head.

She shaked her head at his spirit. He was always happy and made her be so too, regardless of the challenges they enter.

He was her step brother, but one would not believe so because of how close they were.

"Good morning father,good morning mother" she greeted heading over to her room.

" Andrea, come over, we have a visitor here to meet you" her step mother beckoned and she turned back heading to where they were.

" Good day ma'am" she greeted the woman who sat on a chair with a man standing behind her. She had not looked at her face as she was focused on her mother's face, examining it like a doctor as if she would see any slight change of her health state.

"Ohhh. Patriotism, you" the woman excitedly chanted, saluting the way Andrea had saluted earlier.

Turning to see her, she was surprised when she found out the woman she had helped earlier was her mother's employer.

"Ohhhhh goodness Theresa. You raised a very good girl" the woman continued to excitedly proclaim, smiling as she held Andreas hands.

"Ma'am, we should start going now. The Chairman is back home" the man standing behind her said and she rounded up her greetings to Andrea. Smiling so heart fully at her.

" Please consider my proposal" she said to her before she stood up to leave.

Andrea didn't know what proposal she was talking about but seemed to have a knowledge of what it was, the chatterbox of the house had already told her.

"Oh sure ma'am, I will" she said, smiling convincingly back at the woman who was still star struck as if she had seen a celebrity.

As she left, the silence returned back to the household.

"Andrea" her father called her as she turned headed up to her room.

Mrs Eduardo was keen on finding a wife for his son by herself. She had a cheating husband and a rocky marriage, she couldn't let her son have a bad fate in marriage as well and that was why she had gone to her employee. She had heard that she had a daughter and knowing the woman as an honest and upright person, all the years she had worked for her, she had believed she would be the perfect bride for her son. Surprisingly, she had witnessed her act of help towards her few days ago, and this encounter solidified her belief.

She looked up the Five Star restaurant and saw the girl approaching her. She smiled, hoping her smiling at her would make the girl feel welcomed, she was so happy she had accepted her marriage proposal and had agreed to come to the first date with her son. She only hoped Niklas would come early like she had told him to.

Andrea walked up to the woman smiling at her as she saw her approaching. She felt so uneasy, the woman seemed to love her alot, even more than she did love herself.

Fred had been the one who had called her. She gave them a contact card which she had not intended to use but after her younger brother had seen the card and called the number on it fixing a meeting, she had felt obligated and compelled to go, since it would be disrespectful cancelling it after setting it up.

She wasn't interested in the marriage. She was not. A part of her mind told her she'd be like her biological mother, marrying a man because of his wealth because that was what her marriage would mean. She had nothing to offer, no fame or business they'd merge into one, agreeing to the proposal meant she'd be the parasite.

"Andrea, over here" the smiling woman waved at her and she began walking up to where she was.

"Oh my, you're looking so pretty" the woman commented her fit eager to make her feel comfortable.

Perhaps she was talking about her natural beauty. She thought. She was pretty naturally but same may not be said for the clothe she wore.

She had rented it from the store in her Street, she was to return it after the meeting because she couldn't afford paying for such a dress especially in her current financial state. The whole situation had made her feel pressured to do so.

"What would you like to order. You can do so while we wait for my son, he'd be here anytime soon" the woman continued obviously trying to make her not concentrate on the fact that her son was running late.

The waitress came and she ordered for spaghetti, it wouldn't hurt to feed on the delicacy anyway.

It was an opportunity for her to eat away her sorrows while she sat down listening to what she would be told, what she'd be told which she wouldn't be interested in.

" Do you like spaghetti as well? I love it and your mother loves making it for me whenever she comes to work"

" I love it too ma'am" she said shyly.

" A mutual interest then" the lady said and they smiled.

She was perfect, the perfect candidate as a bride for his son.

"Can you cook as well?" She calmly put, wanting to know.

"Of course ma'am, I cook. We're not a weather family having nannies at your beck and call"

" That's perfect. My son will really love you, the way to his heart is through food" she exposed and giggled and she laughed.

The woman seemed keen on getting her to like her son.

" Oh there he comes" she said, signalling to her son.

She wanted to turn her head to look at him but contained her curiosity, not wanting to seem too straightforward.

Niklas walked over to where they were and took the next seat that was close to her.

" Niklas meet Andrea, Andrea meet Niklas"

Andrea raised her head to look at him and immediately choked on the water she drank.

" You?" He said.

"You?" She said too and they said it almost immediately and together.

"Do you two know each other?" The woman asked, oblivious to what was happening before her but delighted they seemed to know each other.

"Of course mother. I've been looking for her. She and I......." He wanted to continue but his voice trailed off when Andrea suddenly interrupted him, fearing that he might expose what had happened between them in the past.

"We met once ma'am. I helped him out with something" she muttered, with her heart in her hands hoping he wouldn't dispute what she had said.

" You're such a good girl Andrea. Even my son was looking for you. You help strangers out alot" the woman said and Andrea smiled awkwardly at her.

Noticing how the man was staring at her, she couldn't help but wonder why he did so.

" Niklas, Andrea was the girl that helped me out then, I told you about it the other time. She helped me out too. What a small world, we all get to meet like this, soon to become one family"

" Soon to be huh" he muttered and faced Andrea

" Do you really want to marry me?"he shot at her and the tone of his voice made Andrea look at him.

She noticed his mother signalling him not to say anything but he did not even look at her.

"If you wanted to marry me, atleast you could have had some respect by not being so desperate about it" he continued, staring angrily at her as if she were the lady that had stood him up the week before.

" What?" She muttered.

"Your dress. Didn't you get it on rent from a store? The tag is still at the bag. Atleast you should have hid it. You just gave out whom you were so cheaply, a gold digger. Your hair isn't properly done either. You want to marry into my family but it seems like you don't even use our products. My company's hair shampoo could have helped you retain the black colour of you hair but like you, it looks so haughty" his melancholic voice said and he took a sip of the wine in his hand, as if nothing has happened.

" Niklas!!!" His mother shouted across to him.

"What? I'm just telling her the truth. I only came here because you asked me to. Atleast she needs to know these things before we get married" he added, hoping that what he had said would make her angry and not want to go through with the marriage.

He wasn't interested anymore, especially because he had found out she were the one. Was that also why she had come to his room and spent a night with him. A social climber and gold digger she was, he thought.

" I'm so sorry" his mom began to say, apologizing to Andrea.

She knew what he had said might have hurt her feelings, especially given the family she came from.

" My son, he is sometimes thoughtless" she continued hoping her words would pacify her.

It couldn't be happening and especially at her presence. If she failed to get them to marry before the month which was remaining a week ran out, the responsibility of finding a wife for him would fall back to her sister in-law whom she loathed so much. She would probably connive with a scheming girl that'd give her son trouble.

Andrea was boiling deep within her. She hadn't thought about accepting the marriage proposal. She had just come because of the impromptu meeting her brother's over zealousness had caused her but now she was facing an epic humiliation of her life. He could have insulted her if he wanted to, but with respect and certainly not in public like he did, in the presence of others who could hear his menacing words.

On a second thought, the marriage wasn't all a bad idea like her step mom had told her. Her boss was a nice woman and she would take care of her. They had the money which needed the money as well as the connections that would salvage her acting career. Her son didn't like her so like most company CEO's she read in novels, the marriage was bound to be one of convenience, especially for him. She was going to do it for her step mom's treatment, for the family's financial burdens. They had been good to her, this was a opportunity for her to offer them a good life as well, even if it would tell on her, it would be for just a few years before the marriage of convenience would end.

"I'm sorry for the embarrassment Andrea. I promise I won't pin it on you nor your mom if you reject my proposal, I'm really sorry" the woman continued apologizing to her, different from her son and obviously sorry for what he had uttered to her.

" It's okay ma'am and as a matter of fact, I'd go through with the proposal" she said. It wouldn't hurt to do so anyway but it would hurt him to wake up and see her face, remembering the fact that she was his wife. That would be enough punishment to him for her feelings which he had hurt.

"You will?" The woman muttered, thinking she had misheard the girl.

"Yes I will. Mother told me you're with the registration form already. Where is it, so I'd sign. You can always communicate with me when you fix a day for the wedding" she said which left the woman stunned.

Niklas could only watch. She was something, something different that he couldn't grasp his hand at.

But he didn't mind. The marriage was one of convenience for him. He could divorce her anytime he wanted. He just had to get wedded so he could lay claim on the CEO position of his father's company.

His father had refused giving it to him because he was single. With their family disease, his parents were scared that he could be affected by it any time, and getting him married was one way they could get him to produce an heir before the disease affects him like it did to his grandparents.

But he was not concerned about all that, he was concerned on owning the company. He wanted to take it away from his father, it was what always have him the morale to cheat on his mother. If he were to lose it, he would become a better husband to her, and she seemed to want her to marry the girl sitting in front of her.

He looked at her and noticed she was already looking at him, oh how his chest burned because of the way she stared at him with daring eyes.