It was about 7 p.m. Jessica rested on her tummy, in her white tank top and plaid flannels pants, as she slowly scrolled through her Instagram feed. Then, she rolled around on her back and lifted her eyebrows when a new follower notification came in. She automatically checked out the user because the profile picture was too intriguing for her to ignore.

                “Damn. Aiden checks this out!” She yelled at the man in the bathroom.

                Aiden stepped out of the steamy bathroom and dried off his wet hair. He walked over to their bed and stooped down to get a good look at the image she was showing him. Realization caught him as he recognized the familiar face on the phone.

                “This maxxyourboy guy is fine as !”

                “Jessie.”

                “Aiden, I mean… look! He’s so hot!”

                “Jess.”

                “I’ll totally this guy!”

                Yeah, about that, Aiden thought. He gave her a bland smile and walked to his closet. After grabbing a faded shirt and a loose cotton pant, he quickly wore them and continued drying his hair. Jessica put down her phone and looked over at her husband.

                “Aiden, I didn’t mean it in that way, you know?” She mumbled.

                “Nah, it’s fine.”

                “I’m sorry. I mean, one day we are best friends, and the next day we are married. How weirder my life can be?”

                Aiden smiled reassuringly at her. The mattress dipped down as he sat beside her and moved closer to the girl. He grabbed her phone and stared down at the screen. The maxxyourboy was indeed a very handsome young man.

                “This guy is our bodyguard. His name is Maxwell Collins. That’s how weird your life can be.”

                She’s going to know about him sooner or later anyway, Aiden thought.

                A charming man with dark brown hair and cobalt blue eyes, neatly suited-up in the expensive outfit, held out his hand towards Jessica. The lady was barely blinking as she stared up in amusement at the undeniably attractive man opposite her. It felt as if the man was oozing charisma and elegance into the atmosphere so intense that he turned every eye in the room to him automatically.

                “Hi. I’m Maxwell Collins. I’ll be your bodyguard for now.”

                Jessica cleared softly and put on her sweetest smile. She shook the hand, deliberately letting hers linger around for a few seconds, before pulling it back to her side.

                “Hi. I’m Jessica Lee. You can call me Jessica, or Jessie. Whatever you think best.”

                “I’ll be happy to be at your service, Jessica.”

                Only God knew how shaken Jessica felt when her name rolled out of this man’s tongue. Dirty naughty pictures popped into her mind out of nowhere. Maxwell smiled at her charmingly, and she swore her heart beat so quick it could jump out of her chest anytime now.

                “Thank you. Have you met Aiden?” She asked.

                “Oh, yes. I met Aiden yesterday. You’re lucky to have him. He is a nice guy.”

                Jessica nodded.

                “Oh, Jessica? Do you mind if we minimize the formality? If that’s okay with you.”

                Jessica looked up at the man and made eye-contact with him for a moment. She felt uncomfortably attracted to the way the man held and locked her eyes with him. She cleared and nodded her head.

                “Sure. No problem, Maxxie.”

                “Maxxie. I love that, Jessie,” He slightly smirked.

                The sun was slowly setting down, painting its shades of orange light across the darkening sky of South Korea. Down at the earth, the roads were growing congested with cars and buses driving back to home from work and school. In one of those cars moving inch by inch was Jessica accompanied by Maxwell. She was completely focused on replying the text on her phone.

                ‘are u coming home soon?’

                ‘im otw. im with maxxie btw.’

                ‘who’s that?’

                ‘maxwell collins. we agreed to drop the formality.’

                It took almost ten minutes for Aiden to reply to her last text. She sneaked a glance at the bodyguard beside her. The man seemed to be lost in his daydream as he gazed at the window. Suddenly, her phone beeped.

                ‘okay.’

                The black luxury car turned left at a junction and drove for a quarter mile before making another left turn into a big housing compound. When the tinted glass window lowered down slowly, the driver craned his neck out of the car and spoke to the speaker at a small post near the gate. A few minutes later, the towering metal gate automatically opened big enough to allow the vehicle to pass through.

                “This is my family residence. Right now, it’s my father’s mansion,” Jessica said.

                Maxwell nodded but raised his right eyebrow a moment later.

                “What about yours?”

                “Mine?”

                “Yeah.”

                Jessica was not sure if there was any hidden intention behind the simple question. It had been only a few hours but this man had messed with her head many times already. She cleared and looked outside at the well-cared garden covered in snow. She could feel the intense stare the man was giving her. She swore in any second she could collapse, her dignity she meant.

                “I've got a house, a small one, in Boston. And also, one at NYC,” Jessica replied.

                “No kidding, I lived in NYC before.”

                “Oh, really?”

                “Yeah, at Manhattan.”

                “Oh, my house is in Manhattan too!” Jessica laughed at the coincidence.

                Maxwell was silent for a while as he stared at the laughing girl. He let out a chuckle gently and turned back to look at her.

                “We might have bumped into each other...,” Maxwell said.

                “Probably.”

                “If only I get you first,” He whispered softly.

                “What?”

                “Nothing. We’re here, I guess?”

                Jessica looked out at the window to see Aiden standing at the mansion door with his phone in his hand, and she nodded her head. This was not the first time Aiden did that since it had become kinda a strange habit of him to wait for people to arrive home for some reasons. Somehow, seeing him waiting for her to come back home brought a weird sensation in her stomach now that they were husband and wife.

                When the car came to a complete stop, Aiden walked down the stairs towards the car. At the same time, Maxwell immediately got out of the car and dusted off his uniform. He was about to get to the other side of the car, but Aiden was already there with his hand reaching the door handle. The man pulled open the door with a warm smile on his face.

                “Hi, Aiden,” Jessica said, stepping out of the car.

                Aiden slid his right arm around her waist and gently pulled her closer towards him. Leaning in, he kissed her on the lips for a few seconds and pulled away with his sweet smile. Jessica was fairly surprised by his action and did not move much after that. She closed the car door and knocked at the window to sign the driver to park the car.

                “How’s your day?” Aiden asked, arm still intact around her waist.

                “Good. Yeah… good.” Jessica replied, still surprised.

                Suddenly, a tune came from Aiden’s pocket. He fished out his phone and looked at the caller ID. For a moment, his body tensed and his face became pale. He pressed the power button to reject the call and kept his phone back into his pocket. Jessica was about to ask who was it but he immediately gestured both for both her and Maxwell to get into the house. When both of them were already in the house, his phone rang out again. When he took it out and looked at the same caller ID, feeling his heart dropped a little.

                “Hello.” He answered.

                “Aiden?”

                “Yeah.”

                “Good.”

                “I’m hanging up.”

                “Don’t.”

                “Why not?”

                “Help me.”

                Aiden was silent for about a minute. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. He fidgeted around as a small lump slowly grew in his throat.

                “Please…”

Hi. So, I'm throwing at you guys two new characters in one chapter. -clap clap- I feel like the story pace is slow, so I'm trying to speed things up. What do you think? Plus, I plan to update this story once every two weeks and I'll try my best to stick to the schedule :)

P.S: I'm currently watching Gossip Girl show (and super-loving it!) to learn and apply the luxurious lifestyle into this story. Any recommendation of movie or TV show that suits the concept is very much welcomed :)

-mirrue-