The Second Marriage Chance

Sarah

When I woke up in my hotel room, my head felt unbearably heavy, like a massive stone weighing it down. I first noticed a large diamond ring on my left hand. Where on earth did I get this extravagant piece of jewelry?

“Shit!” I murmured, holding my head as if it might explode.

“Amanda!” I called for my nanny. “Amanda…” I repeated, grimacing as a new wave of pain shot through my head. The room spun around me.

The door burst open with a loud thud, and my faithful attendant Amanda quickly entered.

“Miss!” She rushed to my side, helping me sit up.

“God, what happened?” I cried out as the pain became too much to handle. Tears filled my eyes, and I sobbed loudly.

There was a knock on the door, and my guard stood outside, wearing dark shades. “M-Miss Sarah, President Cornell has arrived.”

“What? He’s here?” I couldn’t believe Philip was at the hotel. Why was he here?

“Yes, he brought the doctor who checked on you last night,” the guard informed me.

I blinked. Why can’t I remember anything?

Amanda explained, “They woke me up last night, Miss Sarah. I helped you take a bath and change into fresh clothes. We couldn’t stop you from crying.”

“What?” My cheeks flushed with embarrassment. The last thing I remembered was being at the bar, drinking alone.

“Should I let President Cornell in?”

What is Philip doing here? That’s what I want to know!

“You need to see the doctor first, Ms. Sarah,” Amanda suggested, noticing my confused expression.

I nodded, massaging my throbbing head.

Philip and the doctor entered, Philip’s eyes locking onto mine with an intense, penetrating gaze.

“I’ve called for breakfast to be sent up,” Philip said calmly.

What is happening?

“Please check my wife…” Philip addressed the physician.

The doctor proceeded to examine me thoroughly-inspecting my eyes, taking my temperature, and having me stick out my tongue. Then he started asking about my symptoms, and I tried my best to answer, even though the pain made me cry even more.

“I will give you another shot, Ms. Mitchell…”

“What? W-what is that for?” I stammered.

“Sarah, last night… you were drugged,” Philip’s voice cut through the room, tinged with concern. “I couldn’t stop you last night. You wanted to do so many things, so I called a doctor.”

“What?” My eyes widened. I glanced at the bodyguard by the door. I could feel his nervousness. It was negligence for both of us.

Philip seemed to anticipate my silent inquiry. “You sprayed pepper spray at your bodyguard, preventing him from approaching you. Two strippers lured you. Jakob reviewed the surveillance footage; those women spiked your drink.”

“How… how could this happen?” I stammered.

“You’re here in the Las Vegas Strip, Ms. Mitchell. Unfortunately, different kinds of dangers are happening. I’m not implying that this is exclusive to our town. Dangers are everywhere, so you should be careful,” the doctor cautioned. “This medication will help…”

As the doctor prepared to administer the medication, he reassured, “President Cornell, I’ll return tonight for another IV dose.”

Acknowledging the doctor’s departure, my guard ushered him out. Just as I prepared to recline, my hand brushed against an unfamiliar object on the bed.

“Ahhh! What is this?!” I exclaimed, casting an accusatory glance at Philip.

“Babe, d-don’t freak out…” Philip’s voice quivered, his expression betraying his horror.

He’s wrong because it freaked me out even more!

“What is this, Philip?” I demanded, waving the document.

“Um… they… they registered our marriage,” he confessed, trembling. “I-I’ll call Jakob!”

“Nooooo! You answer me now!” I yelled at him, hurling a pillow that narrowly missed his head. My senses were in overdrive from the adrenaline coursing through me.

“Okay… Okay…” He held up his hands placatingly. “You need to calm down; getting worked up will only worsen things.” He wiped his face with a shaky hand before continuing. “Last night, after I picked you up from the bar, a group ran into the hallway; they invited us to join their party. Then, we watched four wedding ceremonies. Then, after all the weddings happened… you demanded the officiant marry us too!”

“And you didn’t stop me?!” I exclaimed, incredulous.Content is property of NôvelDrama.Org.

“Trust me, babe. I tried to stop you!” he stuttered. You wailed and complained to the officiant. People were looking at us. Then I asked the officiant if it was okay if we could do the ceremony unofficially. Trust me. I believe it was just an unofficial sham.”

Philip seemed increasingly anxious as he attempted to explain, but his words didn’t match the proof I held.

“But this doesn’t make sense, Philip! This is definitely an officially registered marriage license!” I thrust the document at him accusingly. He jumped back as if it had burned him.

“That was my mistake. Jakob was the one who helped register our wedding last night.”

“How did Jakob get involved in this?” I was incredulous, my head pounding, ready to explode.

I snatched my phone and called Jakob immediately, demanding answers.

“Hello?” He answered after several rings, his voice still husky with sleep. “Geez, Sarah… not again! Can’t a guy get some rest?”

“Come to my suite right now, Jakob!” I snapped.

“Fine, fine!” he grumbled.

Philip stood to the side, staring at me with a serious expression. We were all tense, waiting for Jakob to arrive. Room service and Jakob came together. Still in his pajamas, Jakob brought a glass of juice with him, looking very sleepy.

“Why was our sham wedding registered last night?” I demanded before he could even settle into a chair.

“What? Your wedding was supposed to be fake?” Jakob asked, appearing puzzled.

Philip explained, “Jakob, you told me you would only settle the bill. We had an agreement with the chapel that it’s unofficial. I-I just wanted Sarah to stop crying and go through with it for appearances.”

Jakob took a long sip of his juice and said, “I didn’t know the full details. I sent you ahead because I thought Sarah was already sleepy. You didn’t explicitly tell me to just pay the bill. It was required when the officiant asked for identification to finalize the paperwork. So, I casually provided your IDs, believing you had simply forgotten to give them to the chapel earlier.”

“I only asked you to settle the bill! And how did you even obtain our identification documents?” Philip’s voice rose in exasperation.

“You invested money in LoveLogic, President Cornell. Standard protocol is to keep copies of investors’ IDs and passports on file for verification purposes.”

The realization hit me like a truck. “What? You invested in LoveLogic?” Now it made sense why Philip was here. Bronn invited him! “Jakob, what in the world were you thinking?” I exclaimed.

“Anyway, if you don’t need me anymore, I’ll eat outside since you woke me up. I’ll take this chance to enjoy a delicious meal!” Jakob left the room.

“Let’s all calm down, babe…” Philip muttered. “We can sort this out.”

“No! No one should know we were remarried, Philip! My grandfather and Amir will definitely kill me!”

Philip fell silent… then he explained why I had a fancy ring on my finger.