Chapter 4 - Conditions & Promises

Ava

I waited for a response from Ace, but he stood still like a statue, just looking straight into my eyes to figure out whether I was joking.

"Ace, I am serious," I said to him.

Ace shook his head in disbelief and let out a humorless chuckle. "I am not following whatever you have in your mind, Ava." He was about to step out of my room, but I stood in front of him, stopping him.

"Come on, Ace. I am not asking you to donate your kidney to me. I am just telling you to marry me. Besides, I proposed to you in a nice and decent way, didn't I?" I pointed out. "How can you reject this pretty face?" I gave him a puppy-eyed look.

He rolled his eyes with a sigh. "Telling me to marry you is not you asking me to donate my kidney. It's you claiming my heart, soul, and the rest of my life — which is worse."

I had no option but to talk to Ace and convince him to marry me. Even though it was selfish of me, I couldn't lose this one opportunity to save my dad's and the unborn baby's life. Plus, I knew Ace had nothing to lose from this, anyway. I was well aware he wasn't remotely interested in any woman at the moment.

"What's wrong with getting married to me?" I asked in annoyance.

"Everything," he breathed out. "Look, Ava. I need to know what happened. You were about to cancel your wedding, and that's why you went to talk to Robert. Why are you asking me to marry you now? What made you change your mind? I need to know." He scanned my face, still trying to figure out what was wrong.

I couldn't cry in front of him. I couldn't even show him any sad expression, otherwise, he would see my weak side.

"Hey, talk to me, Ava," he said softly.

I sucked in a deep breath and finally started speaking, "I didn't speak to Dad."

"Why?" he inquired, and I could tell he was trying to remain calm.

"As I was on my way, I bumped into Blue and saw a medical report." I closed my eyes to not let the tears out and murmured, "My dad has a weak heart. His heart won't be able to take it if I cancel my wedding. He has so many expectations of this day. I can't ruin all of that."

Ace was quiet for a while, and silence covered up the room. He understood the reason, which was why he was now thinking of what he should do and what would be the best way to solve this problem. However, I knew how to convince him fully to bend towards my plan.

"If you don't want to marry me, it's okay. I understand," I said with a frown. "Looks like I have to marry Simon."

He didn't look at me yet and kept thinking.

I further spoke aloud, "It doesn't matter if he impregnated another woman. Maybe I will accept that woman too and stay alone in a corner as Ava Rainstorm. I can at least do this for my dad." He closed his eyes, and I continued, "I will marry S—"

"Me." Ace completed my sentence.

"Sorry?" I asked, to be sure whether I heard it right or not.

"You should be because I am agreeing to marry you." As soon as he said that, my lips formed a grin.

"Really?" I asked in bewilderment.

He nodded his head. "Yeah, I cannot let you marry that cheater. If me agreeing to marry you saves your and Robert's life, then why not?"

Ace really was... He was too damn nice to me. Now that he actually agreed, I couldn't believe it. He was ready to sacrifice his life just for me. Whereas, I was the person who pushed him under the truck only for my father.

With a smile on my face, I wrapped my arms around Ace's neck, pulling him into a tight hug. "Thank you so much," I mumbled, and a tear slid down my eyes. He couldn't see my tears because we were still hugging.

He rubbed my back and said, "Anything for you."

I wiped the lone tear with the back of my hand and freed myself from the hug, smiling at him brightly.

"I promise, I will transfer all my properties under your name and help you in business after we get married," I informed Ace as guilt started settling inside me.

He raised his brows in amusement. "We will see about that. For now, there are a few conditions for you which you have to agree upon after we get married."

"Why are there conditions?" I asked in confusion.

"You see, I was here to attend your wedding. I didn't intend on being your groom," he commented. "The reason I didn't want to get married for now was that I wanted to dedicate my free time to my family. So there are some conditions you must follow."

"Okay," I agreed casually. He was doing a huge thing for me, so the least I could do was to agree to whatever he said.

"First, we will live in Utah, with my family as, you know, I live in a joint family."

My eyes grew as wide as saucers upon hearing him. "Are you saying I have to live in a joint family?"

Ace lived in a joint family, and it was always fun to hear about his family incidents from him. I've always wanted a big family like him. But the thought of living with a big family forever was scary. What if I didn't like living with them? Or what if they didn't like living with me? I would be stuck there forever. It would be like being trapped in a never-ending nightmare.

"Yes. Are you okay with that, Ava?" he asked, noticing I was quiet.

I nodded my head. "I am okay with it." I had to try at least.

"Great." He put his hands in his pocket. "Second, I know we are willingly, yet unwillingly getting married. Still, I want us to respect each other's privacy. You can do whatever you want, while I will do what I want. However, we cannot cheat on each other."

I found this condition pretty interesting. "Are you saying we can live our lives the way we want, but we cannot make out or even kiss someone else?"

He avoided my intense gaze. "Yes. I mean, we will be legally married, so technically, it will be called cheating if we do that."

Ace Valentino never failed to impress me.

"Okay, anything else, sir?" I asked curiously.

"There are more, but we can talk about that after the wedding," he said to me, and to be honest, I was a little scared of what those conditions might be. What was left, anyway?

"Great. Then I am going to inform Dad that we are getting married." As I was about to walk out of the room once again, Ace stopped me.

"Ava."

I turned to look at him. "Yes?" I asked with a smile.

"I promise to keep you happy forever," he said, his eyes piercing through mine. I could feel the sincerity in his tone.

"I trust you," I said with a nod and got out of the room, taking a deep breath.

I was going to be Mrs. Ava Valentino.