{Quick A/N: Hi, everyone. There'd be a story about Lila and Nikita in this story because they won the voting section, of the secondary characters' story to talk about, in my F'B group: Author Gift Odulesi (Gift's readers) }

~ LILA ~

"Bye, Mom." I gave her a hug. 

"Bye, have a nice day." Mom beamed.

"Hey, you'll drive me to work, I'm too tired to drive." Nikita said. 

"Sure, whatever." I shrugged. 

Oh, if you're wondering: yes, Nikita slept over at Mom's house too, again. 

It was kinda strange that we were finally getting along after so many years, all thanks to Mom though.

I didn't know whether or not to be scared; was it a good idea to finally be friends with her too? She wasn't such a bad person that much but it was still scary. 

We left for my car that was sitting outside of Mom's building and got into it. 

"Getting along with you isn't so bad." She said after I started the car. 

"Same here."

"I can make you a big badass too." I noticed her wiggle her eyebrows through my sideways glance. 

"No, thank you. You've been enough bad influence on Imogen." I frowned while she burst into laughter. 

"Jeez, I was just kidding, Jesus' sister." 

I rolled my eyes at her. "You could be such a pain in the ass, you know."

"Aw, thank you. Anyway, speaking of Imogen, we haven't had a group call in quite a while. That lucky thing with such a hot husband. Man, I hope I have that kind of luck someday."

"You might, if you choose to and not just jump from one man to the other." I said jokingly, not wanting to yield to an angry Nikita. 

She chuckled. "You don't understand my way of life, babe. Imogen does anyway."

***

"You understand it all, right?" Kade, like he preferred all his employees to call him, asked me. 

"Yes, sir." I nodded. 

"Fine then, you can leave." Jovi said rudely, glaring at me. 

Jeez, this woman was so problematic. She acted like the actual boss around here rather than Kade. 

I turned around. 

"Will you stop staring at her already? Gosh, she's leaving." She complained. 

"Jovi, Jovi." He chuckled. 

How on Earth was he living peacefully with her as his girlfriend?

"I know you kinda have feelings for…" I couldn't hear what she said after that because I slammed the door.

On my way back to my office, I bumped into a hard figure and the files on my hand scattered to the floor. 

"I'm so sorry." That was the irritating voice of Briggs. 

"Oh, you." My voice made it clear that I didn't like his presence at all. 

He crouched and gathered all the files into one again, rose to his feet then handed it to me. 

"Thank you," I replied grouchily. 

"So… can you—"

I walked away from him to avoid his annoying anthem to me. He just ruined my mood once again. How could someone be so crazily obsessed with me? I was trying my best to avoid him but as long as we were both working in this company, it wasn't so possible. 

I returned to my office and dropped the files on the table. My phone chimed, indicating that I had a new message. 

Still feeling grouchy from seeing Briggs, I picked the phone. 

**I'm really looking forward to our date tonight.** 

My entire body swam in happiness after reading the message from Dash Ronan. 

**Me too.** I replied and could feel myself blushing. This man definitely made me feel excited in ways I had never felt. 

***

~ IMOGEN ~

My phone began to ring, disturbing my eardrums. 

"Hey," I answered the call from Nikita. 

"Hey, babe. I just called to say 'hi'." Her voice sounded cheerful. 

"Hi to you too."

"What are you doing now?" 

"Absolutely nothing. I'm so bored right now."

"Why? Where's Hames?" 

"He's helping Kade out with his work here in Paris but he promised to be back," I checked the time on the wall clock, "in about five minutes." I pouted.

"Aw, wifey missed her sweet husband." She teased. 

"Shut up." It wasn't a lie though, I actually missed Hames' presence and touch. I was feeling out of breath and damn bored from the fact that he wasn't here and constantly reminding me of how much he loves me.

"Such a lucky thing. I'll also have a man as sweet as Hames too."

"I thought you already had one. This dude that makes you blush… uh…" I tapped my knee repeatedly, trying to remember the name of the dude. 

"Dash?" I heard her chuckle.

"Yeah, Dash Ronan."

"He's fine. We clearly both have great feelings for each other. I guess we're taking things slowly. I'm saving the best part of me for him though. Till then, I'll still hook up with other hot pieces of fire." 

"Jeez, when will you ever stop your horrible ways?" I laughed and she joined me. 

"Never!"

The door opened and Hames strolled in, looking tired but still had a bright smile on. 

I automatically returned his smile, every form of boredom disappeared by his presence and I internally danced in joy to see him again. 

"I have to attend to a customer, bye." She said.

"Bye."

"Wait! I miss your cooking so bad so please promise me you'll cook one of those delicious meals with your magical hands."

"Nah, no promises." 

"That's unfair!"

I got distracted from the call when Hames wrapped his arms around me from behind, planting soft kisses on my arm. "Sorry for taking so long," he whispered into my ear. 

"Imogen? Please promise me."

"Uh… I— I—" I didn't know what to say to her, I was focusing my attention on the wonderful feeling of Hames' gentle kisses. "Why?" 

"Why? I already stated why. Promise me now,"

Hames let go of me and started taking off his shoes then his shirt, distracting me completely. Why on Earth couldn't I stop admiring his body every time?

"Imogen!" Nikita snapped.

I flinched and almost dropped my phone. "What—what?"

Hames chuckled at me. "Distracted by me." He flexed his arms. 

"Promise me."

"Fine, I promise."

"Great! Thanks, love you!" 

"Bye." I ended the call and dropped my phone on the couch. 

"I was going to plan a surprise for you but I got scared of you not liking it." 

I frowned. "Why?"

"I don't know. You seem to have different sides of you everyday. Today, you might be sweet, the next day, scary."

"Scary?"

"Yeah, like being so unpredictable. Then you can be angry, jealous… you're just so unpredictable."

I walked closer to him. "I'd like every surprise from you, as long as it's good." 

He remained silent, glancing at me from head to toe multiple times till his face contorted in a very strange way. "Imogen, touch me." 

"Uh?" That was so unexpected. 

"Touch me," This really felt weird.

"Touch you? How?" I lifted my eyebrow in confusion. 

He pulled me to sit on his lap and made me hold his shoulders. His eyes were filled with an emotion I was unable to describe. 

"What's wrong with you?" He frowned, increasing the level of my perplexity. 

"I… don't understand you."

"Why won't you love me back? Please tell me what I need to do to make you love me back. I feel like I'm going crazy without hearing those three words from you. I'll do anything for you, I can die for you, sweetheart. Is that really what you want?" He was speaking with aggressiveness. 

"I make you go crazy?" I smirked. "You don't have to die for me," 

He looked frustrated and confused, an expression that made me smile. 

"Then what should I do? I've expressed my love for you multiple times but you're not giving me enough positive response yet." His worry amazed me. I watched his lips interestly, wishing I could give it a peck. What was wrong with me? "I'm going—" 

I cut him off by smacking my lips against his.

He looked surprised at first but kissed me back, sucking on my bottom lip hungrily. He parted my lips with his tongue and slid it inside my mouth, exploring every inch of my mouth. 

I shut my eyes, feeling my internals swimming in excitement. It was so annoying that his kiss was making my heart throb faster and causing a tingling sensation to occur in me. 

His kiss was becoming hungrier at every second but I broke it to avoid it leading to something else, and to catch my breath. 

He threw his head back, panting to catch too. "Okay. What was that for? You start the kiss then cut it off when it gets so interesting?" He locked his eyes with mine. 

"You don't have to die for me." I answered his question before the kiss. "Of course I can't say I love you yet," I said and he frowned with disappointment plastered on his face, "but I like you now. I don't hate you like I used you, I agree you have your good side, you're a good husband I don't wish to lose. You have the qualities in a man I like, and we're both stuck in this marriage. That means I'll have no other option than to love you too, if I want to be happy. Right now, I like you, and I feel attracted to you already. Your presence makes me happy, are you happy now?" 

He nodded. "That's progress. So do you really really like me? You'd like to kiss me everyday, and wouldn't have a problem with spending the rest of your life with me?" He asked slowly. 

"Yes, as long as you don't return to your grumpy ways, I shouldn't have a problem."

He grinned. "She likes me a lot." 

"You sound so excited."

"Definitely! You kissed me, I feel like I'm in heaven right now. I know you'll admit that you love me very soon."

How could someone be this excited over what I felt about him? 

"Do you agree that our marriage isn't such a bad idea after all?"

I rose from his lap. "I guess so."

"Please make me a promise," he wrapped his fingers around my wrist, automatically stopping my movement.

"A promise?"

"Yes,"

"What promise?"

"You'll grant me five requests," 

"Five requests? What are they?"

"You'll first have to promise me that you'll grant me the requests."

"And what will be my benefits?"

"You'll derive a lot of benefits from it, I promise." He sounded desperate. 

"Hmm…"

"Please. It's one of the fifteen chances you've given me so please, promise me."

"I'm curious to know what your requests are so I promise I'll grant them." I reluctantly answered. 

"Really?! My first request is for you to promise to never leave me. I know there's a contract behind our marriage but what if you still choose to leave me? I won't be able to live without you." He rose to his feet and held my hands. 

"My second request is for you to love me, it doesn't have to be now but soon, I hope you'll love me as much as I love you." 

"My last request,"

"Last request? What's with the third and fourth request?"

"I'll save them for later." That didn't make so much sense to me. "My last request to you is for you to bear me a child. I want to be the father of our child or children in at least nine months."