The Billionaire's Contracted Wife [English]

Suddenly, the room turned quiet while they sipped their coffee. Mrs. Garcia was in deep thought, while Ashley and Tanaga were silently communicating with their eyes, discussing some topics.

When no one spoke after some time passed, Tanaga got up and excused himself to go and get some fresh air, giving the two women some time to talk before Ashley, and Tanaga left to go sightseeing.

"I’m just going to look around, I’ll be right back, and once you’re done chatting, we could go sightseeing, okay?" He asked Ashley as he bent and gave her a slight peck on her forehead.

Ashley nodded, she wanted to ask Mrs. Garcia some questions before she left, and she didn’t want to ask her in front of Tanaga.

"Okay, I only need a few minutes, and I’ll probably be done."

Once Tanaga was gone, Ashley asked, "Mrs. Garcia if you don’t mind me asking, what’s your first name? I remember you said you don’t recall who you are, but surely you have a first name? I can’t keep calling you, Mrs. Garcia. You’re more than just Dr. Garcia’s wife?"

Mrs. Garcia was in deep thought; she came to her senses when she heard Ashley’s question. She turned her attention to her and smiled.

"I didn’t even realize that I forgot to introduce myself properly. Let’s start anew. I’m assuming my first name’s Christina since my husband calls me that," she answered, the name coming out of her mouth quite smoothly as if it was, in fact, her real name.

"Christina Garcia. What a lovely name for a lovely woman," Ashley said as she looked around her and saw a cabinet with some awards that Mrs. Garcia had won in the past. She stood up and walked towards the cabinet to see what kind of awards she had won in the past.

Ashley’s eyes widened when she saw some pictures of her with distinguished personalities and well-known actors and actresses. She then started reading the descriptions of the awards.

She saw some of the text—emerging Designer of the Year, International Women’s Designer of the Year, and many other awards.

As she read it all, she found out that Mrs. Garcia was not only a manager but a renowned fashion designer in the fashion industry.

Unfortunately, Ashley was never one into fashion, and since she came from a middle-class family from the Philippines, she didn’t know much about fashion.

Her eyes were as wide as a saucer. She turned around and sat back down. She quickly grabbed Mrs. Garcia’s hands before she spoke ecstatically.

"Mrs. Garcia, this is unbelievable! You’re a very famous person, known worldwide as a famous fashion designer, and I actually have a chit-chat with you. This is so cool!"

Mrs. Garcia patted her hands and smiled kindly.

"You’re so innocent. No wonder your husband loves you so much. You’re as clear as water in a vast ocean. When you speak, it comes from your heart."

She then took a deep breath before she began recalling what Dr. Garcia had told her about herself.

Mrs. Garcia took a deep breath before continuing.

"You know, I also don’t really understand, but Dr. Garcia told me my name was Christina and that I used to be a model before the accident. I also believed that because it just felt true. Because of the accident, it took me a long time to recover, and while I was recovering, I decided to pursue a career in fashion design. I worked hard, and I reaped amazing results."

Ashley nodded.

"Wow! So how many talents do you have?" She asked curiously, even though she wasn’t interested in becoming one of Mrs. Garcia’s talents, of course. It was simply her curiosity.

"Right now, I have about twenty people. Most of them are still beginners, or novices, if you will, and they haven’t made their debut. So now, I’m focusing on my designs and allowing talents to wear them and walk the runway and make their debut in my fashion shows," Mrs. Garcia explained, talking about her business.

After a while of talking, Tanaga returned and held his cellphone while approaching them.

"Sweetheart, your assistant, called you earlier." He gestured to his cellphone while talking, Sato on the other line, waiting for her reply.

Mrs. Garcia excused her and allowed her to leave. Ashley took Tanaga’s cell phone and left to talk to Sato a little further away for privacy.

"Sato, you called? Is there a problem?" Ashley asked, wondering why the sudden call.

She forgot that Sato would follow them after the Florida convention ended. She had been busy wondering about Mrs. Garcia’s situation that she had totally forgotten about it.

"Ashley, please just pick me up! I’ve been here for quite a while now, and people are staring at me. How is this the only time they find a gay person handsome?!" He cried at the other side of the line.

Ashley fought the urge to laugh and snicker.

"Alright, alright. Your sir Jones and I will leave right now and will pick you up. We’ll be there soon, no need to worry," she assured him as she returned to where Mrs. Garcia and Tanaga were.

"Mrs. Garcia, I’m sorry, but we need to pick up my assistant. He’s arrived here right after the convention. It’ll take a while before we return since we will have to check-in at the hotel before we go sightseeing and come back to pick you up later," Ashley said as she prepared to leave.

When Mrs. Garcia heard Ashley’s plans to let Sato stay at a hotel, she didn’t hesitate to invite him to her home.

"If it’s okay with you, he could always just stay at my home with you so he could work more easily, especially if you need anything. Is that okay with you and Mr. Jones?"

Ashley didn’t answer. Instead, she looked at Tanaga. When it came to making decisions like this, Tanaga was the one that should decide. It was his assistant, after all. Even though she knew that Tanaga would prefer to be with Sato. Tanaga nodded in agreement, allowing Sato to stay with them at Mrs. Garcia and Dr. Garcia’s home. Ashley took the hint and smiled broadly.

"In that case, our assistant will be staying with us as well. If you don’t mind, and if it doesn’t bother you, he’ll stay with us at your home. Thanks for the invitation. We’ll have to go pick him up, so we’ll have to take our leave now. We wouldn’t want to bother you anyway," Ashley said, smiling as she looped arms with her husband’s.

"Yes, we have to take our leave. I have some shopping I want to do today," Tanaga said as he placed his head on his wife’s arm and walked out of the office.

===

After the couple left, Mrs. Garcia instructed her secretary about what needed to be done.

Her secretary then went to the training room, where an instructor taught his talents everything they needed to know about fashion.

Mrs. Garcia owned the entire building, her office is at the top, and the four floors below for her employees that handled the business. The next floors were dedicated to her other designers and sewers. The next two floors below were a training room for talents. The ground floor consisted of a lobby, a huge cafeteria for employees, a receptionist desk, and some showcases that displayed some clothes designed by Mrs. Garcia that won awards.

Tanaga and Ashley did not see the rest of the office since they had used a private entrance, but when Tanaga had gotten some fresh air, he thought of looking around the office and descended to the lobby.

There, he saw all of Mrs. Garcia’s accomplishments. He thought about finding more about her business and helping Mrs. Garcia out. He wanted to help.

But he had something to ask Mrs. Garcia in exchange. In exchange for his help, he wanted her to teach his wife how to act as his wife, the wife of the CEO of the THJ Group. After all, Tanaga intended to introduce everyone to his beloved wife and their two children, possibly after getting properly married.

While he was in his train of thought, he didn’t know that his wife had been watching him this whole time.

"Tan, you okay? What are you thinking about? " Ashley asked as the elevator descended to the underground parking lot of the building.

"If you don’t want Sato to stay in their house, we could always take him down to the hotel Dr. Green is staying at. They could go together to the house every morning and leave together as well." Ashley suggested as she wondered what her husband was thinking about.

Tanaga looked at his wife lovingly, full of love as he leaned to her ears.

Then he whispered huskily, "My dear wife, always remember, I’d give anything to make you happy. If you want our assistant to be by your side, then it’ll be that way."

He lowered his head to kiss Ashley’s lips passionately and full of love.

****

Chapter edited by marichat_nettenoir

If you like the edited version of this Chapter, kindly check her novel: ’The maid’s daughter.’