“Love, noun. A temporary insanity curable by marriage.”

-Ambrose Bierce

The negotiation was finally over with her soon-to-be husband.

Husband. Long Jie. A long who she was supposed to loathe but she couldn’t. she shuddered at the thought of marrying him. Of all the people out there, her father selected him for her. The man she declared arrogant and presumptuous was going to be her husband.

The way he gazed at her when he thought no one was looking shook her heart with the strange emotions she couldn’t comprehend. One thing was clear, the emotions were anything but the giddy feeling one get when they meet their lover or the butterflies one get, described in those classical love novels.

Suddenly, she was aware of his effect on her.

She never knew his grey eyes were capable of hypnotizing. They looked thoroughly distinct from the pictures she saw earlier.

His messy yet perfect dark hair looked lovely yet elegant.

His body? Made for pleasure. He was tall, his shoulders wide, his legs long and lean.

Everything about him was perfect. On the surface.

But if he thought that he could fool her into thinking he was a good man for her, he was wrong.

The moment she saw him, she knew the truth.

Those grey eyes hid his poisonous heart.

Those lips were vessels of deception.

That body? Made for inflicting pain.

Men like him couldn’t give women like her anything but shackles. She knew that she couldn’t submit before him because if she did he wouldn’t even think once before swallowing me. He couldn’t be trusted because those who were hungry for power couldn’t be trusted. And he was no exception. He was hungry for power and he could do anything for it.

If he could marry the daughter of his enemy for power he could do anything. She was marrying him for her family but he was not.

“Zhenyi” She turned her head to find the owner of the voice. There he stood tall, dark and proud. The man was a walking epitome of confidence. He was a sight to behold but too bad she was not interested in him. Or to be more correct men like him.

She knew them too well.

“Mr. Long” She replied plainly.

” Call me Jie,” he asked -no -demanded. Like hell, she was going to fulfill this demand of his.

“I think Mr. long is perfectly fine. It’s not like I know you too well to call you by your first name, Mr. long” She replied with a sweet smile. She could deal him in her way but then she realized that he loved to get a rise out of her. That’s why she was going to treat him politely and professionally from now onwards.

“We are getting married within few days Zhenyi and I don’t think there is any close relationship between two people than husband and wife,” he said. The women was not ready to call him by his first name.

She smiled and replied ,”You are right but we are not husband and wife yet”

He scowled but didn’t replied.

“You were saying something,” She asked him.

“Yeah” He nodded and took out something from his coat pocket. A ring. A massive diamond engagement ring to be exact.

” Allow me ?”He asked. Yes he asked not demanded.

She shook my hand.

“You don’t want to marry me?” He asked. Something snapped in his heart at the thought of her repulsive to the marriage deal.

“No, it’s not like that” She answered him.

“Then?”

” It’s gold ring and I’m allergic to gold,” She replied honestly. Yes She was allergic to gold and she never figured out the reason.

“You are allergic to nickel too?”

She frowned as if to understand what his point was.

“Actually, people who are allergic to gold are allergic to nickel also. That’s why I asked.”

She shook her head because she was not allergic to nickel but she was definitely allergic to gold. She never wore any jewellery except the silver leaf necklace put on by her mother.

” It’s okay. It’s not compulsory to wear a ring anyways.”

“Let’s get going. Our fathers must be waiting for us” She told him and was about to leave the room when his voice broke out.

“Wait”

She turned back and saw him taking something out of his wallet. He took out a small but exquisite silver ring. The ring was plain so plain that she couldn’t imagine a man like him could have something valueless like that ring but the ring was actually very gorgeous.

“Allow me.” This time he didn’t ask neither did he demand but took her hand to slip the ring on her finger as if it belonged nowhere else but here on her finger.

The ring had a very exquisite and minute carving. She could see a heart craved on it with four veins attached to it. It was an appalling design that She had never seen anywhere. She was wrong when she said the ring was valueless, in fact, its value couldn’t be defined in monetary terms.