Chapter 1
~ Buzz Buzz ~
Aurora looked at her phone as it started to vibrate all of a sudden , which made her a bit startled . Even when she was well aware of the fact that there was no one in this world who would care for her to give a call at that hour after work , she became curious .
Without wasting time , she lifted up the phone as soon as possible only to see the very name flashing on her screen which she always wanted to avoid .
' CEO Castellanos '
The name on her phone screen made Aurora irritated to some extent that she could not help but furrow her brows together , unconsciously .
" What do you want now ? " She muttered under her breath just before she picked up the call , as she had no other choice . After all , it was a call from the CEO of C&B Enterprises , the company where she works . Of course , she just could not ignore his calls even when she wanted to .
" Good evening , sir . " Aurora , the girl who had never forgotten her limits all her life , formally greeted her superior , even when she knew that he was not at all calling for something which was related to her work .
" Drop the act . Come to the cafe near our company in ten minutes . I will be waiting . So, don't be late or you will surely regret it . " The deep voice which Aurora heard from the other end of the phone call , somehow appeared very rude and threatening to her without any reason . But she was in no situation to say that on his face , no matter how rudely he behaved .
Power is a very interesting thing after all . It never misses any opportunity to belittle the ones who come from a middle or a lower class background . At least , that was what Aurora always learned .
" Okay , Sir . " Aurora replied calmly , even when she knew that it would be really hard to reach the place within just ten minutes from her home , when it usually takes more than twenty minutes on a normal day .
Having no other choice , Aurora hurried to get dressed once again to go out in such cold weather on a December night . And when she was done , she booked a cab fast even when the fair was much more expensive than she could bear those days . Because this was the only way she could reach her destination in time , as the last thing she wanted was to offend the young master of the Castellanos family , who were the founders of C&B Enterprises , one of the world's richest and fastest growing companies .
Belongling to a very mediocre family , Aurora was well aware of her place in such a ruthless society and often experienced times when she had to put aside her pride in order to keep herself away from any kind of trouble . And tonight was no different for her either .
Sitting inside the cab , Aurora tried to fix her gaze outside the window , only to see that the world was moving away from her way faster than she had expected . She watched the streetlamps passing by , and so were the traffic signals . She also watched the moving cars as well as the busy streets , which somehow made her feel excluded tonight .
But was it her fault ?
Anyway ,
Her ride for tonight stopped in front of the cafe at last . Aurora looked at her watch only to figure out that it took exactly nine minutes to reach the destined place , which also meant that she was not late at all . Of course , thanks to her expensive ride too , which made this impossible thing possible tonight .
" Keep the change . " Aurora quickly paid her ride fee as soon as she got out of the car and did not waste one single second to walk inside the cafe . No , she was not in a rush to meet CEO Castellanos , but the harsh wind outside provoked her to go inside right away , only to save herself from getting frozen in the cold . The overcoat which she carefully threw on herself while going out this evening was not just enough to keep her warm , when the universe had already decided to go against her no matter what she did tonight .
~ Cling ~
The bell of the cafe door jingled as soon as Aurora pushed it open to go inside . Unlike other times , Aurora did not fail to notice how crowded the place was due to the weather tonight , which definitely made it quite hard for her to find a vacant seat the moment she entered .
~ buzz buzz ~
While she was about to go to the reception desk to ask the employee for a seat in such a situation , the buzzing sound of her phone stopped her in her tracks all of a sudden . And only when she took it out to check the message , ' CEO Castellanos ' was the name that popped up on her screen once again , which made Aurora a bit panicked for no reason at all .
Because , ' Table number 12 on your left ' was the message that she received a second ago , which was enough for Aurora to realise that the young master of the Castellanos family had arrived even before her , only to turn her life into a hell .
Aurora tried to keep her face as expressionless as possible even when she was annoyed .
Taking in a deep breath , she finally gathered up the courage to look at her left , only to meet those piercing blue eyes which were already staring at her from a distance all this while without much of her awareness . She gulped down her saliva to moisten her already dry throat just before she walked to the table with her careful steps .
Someone like the young master of Castellanos' always seemed to attract the attention of the crowd because of his charming appearance , but for Aurora , it was nothing more than a burden . Because , never in her dreams had Aurora ever expected to be known as one of the CEO Castellanos's acquaintances . She was never greedy , as she knew what kind of price she would have to pay if she ever fell for his charms .
So , reminding herself about her limits once again , Aurora at last came to stand before the young master of Castellanos that evening .
" Have a seat first . " Pointing his finger towards the chair opposite to him , CEO Castellanos asked Aurora to sit down .
And being as obedient as ever , Aurora pulled out the chair and gently settled herself down , just what she was asked to do . While she was busy following orders , she did fail to notice one thing for sure , that those piercing blue eyes had never stopped looking at her even for once and watched her each and every single step very minutely .
Though Aurora was always considered as the real beauty in this fake world of pretense due to her simple looks , she never tried to match herself with the beauty standards of society and stayed true to herself . Her big eyes were never lustrously decorated , neither were her thin lips , but still she looked beautiful . Her glowing skin , her long silky hair , her bright smile , her curved body were what made her attractive to many eyes , as everything about her was pure and natural amidst a world of imitation .
Even the young master Castellanos did not fail to notice that about Aurora .
" What did you want to talk about ? " Aurora asked as soon as she settled herself down . Her head was held high and her back was straight while she looked into those piercing blue eyes once again this evening .
But for some unknown reason , Aurora's words seemed to have made the CEO Castellanos frown for a second , but he was quick enough to come to the point without minding about other things at all .
" About this . "
With just two simple words , he threw a stack of papers in front of Aurora at the very next moment , only to make her stupefied due to utter shock .
Aurora kept reading the front line over and over again but still she could not find any meaning to it , no matter how hard she tried .
Because there was written something which appeared absolutely absurd to her at that moment .
' Contractual marriage '
This was the very word which stopped Aurora from reading the document any further every single time .
And especially the names underneath the document which needed to be signed by party A and party B , which were supposed to be Mr Gabriel Castellanos and Aurora Barrett respectively .