Sentenced to Marriage

Chapter 29

Meet Miranda The blood drained from my face, turning it paler than pale. Aren had a fiancée?! A real, uncontracted fiancée?! If Aren and Miranda had been engaged, then why did they break up?! I was confused. I didn’t even know how to behave in front of her right now... “Oh,” I voiced out, giving her a blank stare. She burst into laughter, slightly slapping my shoulder. “Hey! I didn’t mean to freak you out; I’m just teasing you!”

I guess Miranda found her own words amusing, but I still didn’t get the joke. “So… Were you, or weren’t you Aren’s fiancée?” I asked, both flustered and annoyed.

“I was… for about six hours… until we sobered up.” She chuckled before shooting me a beaming grin. “But you… you are in a real relationship with him. I must admit that it fascinates me.”

I felt even more baffled. “Wait… so what is YOUR relationship with Aren?”

“We’re friends… nothing more than friends,” she stated firmly.

“So what was it about that thing with Aren’s ear?” I frowned.

She smirked. “I’ll tell you what… Let’s get those tests done, and then we will meet for a coffee or a drink I will tell you everything you want to know and more.”

I sighed, pretending to be cool about it, even if I wasn’t. “All right. Let’s do like you said.” She smiled before putting on a doctor’s mask. I couldn’t help but admire that professional change. It was as if she had turned into a different person. She had done a basic checkup on me, and then she typed it all down on her computer form before collecting my blood for further testing.

“Now, you need to go upstairs for the ultrasound and MRI. After you’re done, we’ll meet for some coffee and chat,” she said, in between calling for a nurse to come and take me to the rest of my examinations.

I nodded yet was still uncertain whether Miranda was a friend or foe. As soon as I left her office, I texted Neil, asking him to tell me anything about my new doctor. He called me instead.

“Did Ms. Corbyn say anything inappropriate?” he asked as I answered, concern more than obvious in the tone of his voice.

“She said that Aren and she were engaged once. That knocked me off guard and that’s why I asked…” I replied, lowering my voice as I followed the nurse to the examination room. Neil cleared his throat. “Well, she can be a little peculiar sometimes, but she is one of Mr. Lan’s most trusted associates.”

“She said that they are friends,” I added. “I suppose that is true. Ms. Corbyn and Mr. Lan have known each other for many years. They used to grow up together,” he explained.

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Meet Miranda This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

“I see… Thank you, Neil,” I muttered before ending the call.

I couldn’t say that I felt any better after hearing it. I was oddly annoyed by the fact that she might have known a lot about Aren. Aren trusted her… and that alone made me feel inferior. Then again, I couldn’t explain why I cared so much about being in his inner circle. After all, we would have nothing in common when our contract ended…

Two hours later, all the examinations were over. I was drained out and starving since I came to the clinic on an empty stomach. My desires were simple: I needed food and rest in some quiet place, far away from the MRI’s annoying buzz, which had given me a headache. I wobbled down the stairs and headed straight to the exit when Miranda suddenly blocked my way.

“Hungry right?” she grinned, hanging her arm around my shoulder and directing me to the corridor on her left. “Starving,” I admitted, too tired to refuse her offer.

She laughed and continued leading me down the corridor. I tried to keep my guard up around her while relentlessly looking for the motive she might have had to get close to me. Was she testing me? And if she truly was, was she doing it to satisfy her curiosity, or was she doing it because Aren asked her to?

We walked into something resembling a bistro café, which was a part of Lan’s Clinic. The floor -to-ceiling windows in the warm wooden frame created a cozy, almost therapeutic atmosphere. I couldn’t wait until I would get to sit on one of those wooden chairs with linen covered cushions set by one of the many tables inside the room, but Miranda decided to take us to the small patio area, which appeared to be much more private. There was one table set in the corner. It was separated from the rest of the bistro spots with a hedge fence.

“This is my favorite place,” Miranda said. “I come here whenever I want to eat in peace and quiet.”

I had to admit that I liked her choice. A few minutes later, we were enjoying the birds’ singing while waiting for our order. She kept smiling as she stared at me, and it frustrated me that I couldn’t read through her joyful expression. “I’m glad, you know?” She chortled. “Aren deserved to actually be with someone a long time

ago.”

I smiled nervously at the sincerity in her voice. It instantly made me feel guilty.

“So… how long have you and Aren known each other?” I made a desperate attempt to change the subject.

“We’ve known each other since we were kids. My parents and I lived next to Winton’s mansion. I hated his stepmother, though, and his half-brother… He was the most hateful kid I’ve ever met. Could you believe that Aren was treated like the stepson in the family just because his mother, the real Mrs. Winton, died?!” I could feel her anger when she told me about Aren’s past, and I had to say that I instantly shared her anger. Aren must have suffered a lot when he was a child. As I saw the agitation in Miranda’s eyes, I

learned that she certainly cared about Aren… but did she care about him as a friend or more as a woman?

More Miranda

“What about your engagement?” I decided to cut to the chase.

She smiled wryly, waited until the waitress put our salads and coffee on the table, and took a deep breath as she walked away. “It was at Harvard. Aren and I studied together. I was after a tough breakup… or more like I was dumped, and I made Aren drink with me to drown my sorrows. I was stupid, and I sort of used him as my remedy for a broken heart. We were completely wasted and ended up in bed. When we woke up, Aren started to apologize and said that he would take responsibility and marry me. Who does that, right?” she smirked, observing my reaction.

My heart fluttered listening to her story. Was Aren some kind of Prince Charming hiding behind that arrogant mask?! “I guess that he was guilty because in his mind I was supposed to be that one woman that he would never touch… He always acted like an absolute jerk. He’s never been in a relationship, and he’s never chased after a woman. He had many one-night-stands though. Women spread their legs before him, and since he made no effort to get them, the more he didn’t care about them afterward. I’ve become the only one that he banged and still talk

Miranda’s further description slightly shattered Aren’s charming image… But if Aren treated Miranda differently, then why weren’t they together? “Mind me if I ask, what happened after Aren proposed?” I muttered hesitantly.

Miranda shrugged. “A few hours later, my partner came and begged me to come back… So we got back together.”

Her words blew my mind. Aren was beyond sexy, deadly intelligent, capable, and rich. Who in their right mind rejects a sincere proposal from someone like him?!

“So you chose someone who previously dumped you over Aren? Was there anything wrong with-”

“No! God, no!” she exclaimed and burst out laughing. “He was perfect… the sex was perfect… But I couldn’t help it; I loved Agatha too much.” She sighed and smiled dreamily.

I blinked my eyes, confused. “The… who?”

“Agatha, my girlfriend who dumped me,” she explained. “I’m bisexual, honey… or more like a lesbian nowadays.” I instantly felt like an idiot. I could now understand her friendship with Aren a little more. She didn’t sound as if she was dishonest about anything she told me. “I’m sorry…” I smiled awkwardly. “When you told me about the engagement and Aren’s ears, I

“I’m the one who’s supposed to apologize. I shouldn’t have teased you like that… And I was only joking about the ears. I guess the fact that you are the first woman that Aren chased after made me a little jealous. Not that I’ve ever wanted his attention that way, but still,” she said, leaning forward on the table with an excited grin.

I laughed nervously. “What do you mean by that he chased after me?”

“Well, he surprised me when we were drinking coffee together a few weeks ago. He said that

Meet Miranda

he had met a beautiful blonde at some café and that he would do anything to make her his… Then a few days ago, he called me and informed me that he had gotten engaged to that girl.” She giggled. I almost choked on the salad I was eating. “He said… what?!”