Breaking Free, Loving Again -The Flash Marriage with Mr. CEO

Aiden stared at her for a long moment as if he didn't understand what she meant, but he smirked. "You want me to explain it?" he asked as he walked further in, going to her side.

She narrowed her eyes a little at him, but the softness on his expression didn't falter. He gently took the towel she held in her hand and reached up to dry her hair.

She didn't step away. She simply stood and let him do it.

"You were enjoying the show pretty well, it seems," she commented when Aiden walked behind her, his fingers moving carefully untangling her hair and smoothing it out throughout. "Won't you tease me now for acting jealous like that?"

"You want me to tease you?" he asked again, and his words framed in a tone of question only made her turn and look at him, sending daggers in response.

He chuckled softly and put away the towel before making her sit on the chair in front of the dresser.

"Although seeing a woman claiming their man as hers in front of all is a moment of pride for him, we don't really like seeing them getting jealous," he said slowly, taking his time getting the hair dryer.

"It makes us feel that we haven't done a good job in making them feel secure enough. So, …" he turned to stare at her in the mirror. "I liked it when you marked me as your territory. But if you ask me if I enjoyed seeing you getting sour because of some other woman, then no —I didn't."

Arwen felt wordless. Earlier, she thought she had a lot of complaints. But now, when he put it like that, none of those complaints felt worthy of even mentioning.

"You … you can't simply say that and shrug the topic off," she pulled away from him and said. His hand was still mid-air as her hair slipped off it. "Explain to me why she is the," she quoted, raising her hand up, "only girl.friend in your life."

"Because I don't know many women in the world," he simply answered and the clarity he held in his gaze when he said that didn't make it look like he was didn't an understatement.

But then, how could it be so simple?

Doesn't know many women? Was that even possible? She hadn't seen many around him —true, but he was the tycoon with billions of assets, properties and companies in his name. How could he not know a few women here and there?

While she was thinking all that, she didn't realize that he had long taken her hair back in his hand and was now blow-drying it. The realization only dawned upon her when she glanced at him in the mirror.

"It doesn't seem that simple," she said, before continuing, "The way Ms. Martin put it, it clearly meant that she doesn't hold a simple identity around you. She is someone really important to you"

"You are more important," he said, without hesitation. And that explained a lot.

She didn't speak immediately. Instead, she simply watched him through the mirror. His little gestures towards her were enough to say. He didn't just say it for the sake of saying it. He meant it —and she knew it.

"So, she is someone important to you?" she asked, after several beats. "I saw one picture of you and a young girl in your old study. Was that her?"

She saw his brows knit a little before he nodded.

And she knew she hadn't wrongly assumed it.

Aiden stiffened for a second before nodding. "She is important because I owe her. But because I owe her doesn't mean you owe her too."

"Wait," She raised a finger up to interrupt him. Then, standing up, she turned to look at him, face to face. "Are you giving me the authority to act against her if I want to?" She didn't want to misinterpret it.

Aiden kept the blow dryer away before glancing back at her. Reaching out, he brushed away a stray strand of her hair behind her ears before brushing his knuckles against her jawline.

He shook his head; his lips curled in a faint smile. "I am not giving you any authority," he said, adding, "I don't need to because you always had it all. I am just reminding you that you don't have to put up with anyone. Not her, not anyone."

Arwen watched him for a long moment as if she were trying to process his words. Then she chuckled in disbelief. "Mr. Winslow, how could you say that? You know if anyone heard you saying this, they would have called you ungrateful."

She then paused and walked past him. "On one hand, you say you owe her. It could be a life-saving grace, given how easily you accepted it. But then, in the next second, you are ready to defy that life-saving grace without any care, giving me all the freedom in dealing with her."

She turned around to look back at him. "People usually don't treat their saviours like this. Instead, they go to extreme lengths just to satisfy them."

She had seen Ryan treating Delyth, not caring about anyone but her. It might not be for a life-saving grace but a promise. But she believed it was pretty the same.

If Aiden owed Selene, then shouldn't he also treat her like that? Above everything and everyone.

Why was he going off the script?

"I am not a saint to follow the standards set by others," Aiden replied, his tone serious. "Nor do I care how people see me. If giving the freedom to my wife to act the way she likes makes me ungrateful, then I am willing to wear that badge with pride."

Arwen paused at his words. If she hadn't had fallen in love with him already, she would have fallen for him at this moment —all over again.

She cleared her throat and nodded. "Since you said so, don't regret it later. Because I really didn't like your 'girl.friend'. And I might offend her sooner or later —in a way that might piss her off. She better not test my patience around you."

As she said that, she crossed her arms and took a deep breath. She wasn't very sure what was coming, but she knew something was coming for sure.