Chapter 7 Seven

7 When Skyler woke up, she saw Mason looking at his reflection in the mirror as he was knotting his tie. "What time is it?" she asked slowly, just waking up from sleep. "9 AM," he replied simply, then picked up a gel and hairbrush from the stool beside him to style his hair. "Oh," Skyler muttered and got out of bed, then began packing her loose hair into a single ponytail. Once Mason was done dressing, he turned to look at her face. "What?" she asked, and he pointed to the mirror. She moved toward the mirror and her eyes widened. There was some dry saliva on the side of her lips, and she immediately covered her mouth with her palms. "And I told you I wouldn't have a problem unless you jumped on me, and you did so last night," he added as he picked up his perfume and began spraying his neck. Skyler cleared her throat and wiped her mouth, then turned to face him. "You’re done dressing already. Are you still going to drop me off at my place today?" she asked slowly. "If you can use thirty minutes to bathe and dress up, I had a maid dry clean your dress yesterday. It’s over there," he pointed to a white cloth stand. "Oh, okay," Skyler bit her lip but did nothing. "Twenty-nine minutes more," he looked at his wristwatch. "Can you lend me your towel and turn around?" she cleared her throat before speaking. A silent sigh escaped Mason's lips, but he did as told. Not that he was interested in seeing her body anyway. Skyler took off her clothes and borrowed his towel. After showering, she quickly dressed. "I'm done," she said. "Shall we?" he stretched his hand out to her. She nodded and accepted it before they both left the room. ✬✬✬✬✬✬✬ LIGHTHOUSE HIGH SCHOOL A middle-aged man wearing glasses could be seen going through some files when a knock sounded on his door. "Come in," he said, and the door opened as Carson stepped in, dressed in his school uniform. "Mr. Brown, you asked for me. Hope all is well?" He moved closer to the man’s desk. "Carson, you must be wondering why I called you here today," Mr. Brown looked at him. "Don't tell me I failed my math test," Carson folded his arms as he spoke. "You did," Mr. Brown didn’t beat around the bush with his reply. "No, no, no, my Grandpa will kill me for real. He won't allow me to do music. Mr. Brown, please, is there a makeup test for it?" Carson pleaded. "I've been giving you lots of chances, but you're still not good in math, so I've found a new solution," Mr. Brown adjusted his glasses. "You’re going to forget that I don’t know math and let me go?" He grinned. "No, I’ll get one of the most brilliant students to tutor you in math," Mr. Brown replied. "Man, I hate tutors," Carson frowned, and Mr. Brown showed him a picture. Carson's eyes widened as he stared at it. "James Paul?" he gasped. "What's wrong with that?" Mr. Brown gave him a look. "I hate that dude," Carson pouted. "But he's a scholar in math. If you want your grandpa to be happy with you, then you’ll have to work with him," Mr. Brown leaned back in his chair. Carson was still frowning. He didn’t like James, not just because he was a math genius, but because he was also really popular, and Carson didn’t like him for some reason. "Mr. Brown, I’m still not sure about this..." Carson muttered. "You don’t have a choice, Carson. It’s either you do this or fail math, and I tell your grandpa," Mr. Brown shrugged. "Fine, I’ll look for him then," Carson said dryly. "Sure, you can leave," Mr. Brown told him, and he left the office. ✬✬✬✬✬✬✬ MASON ARRIVED AT SKYLER'S PLACE. "I’ll pick you up later in the evening when you're ready," Mason said as soon as Alvin stopped the car in front of her neighborhood. "Okay," Skyler mumbled. "Here," he stretched a phone back to her. "I just saved my number in there. If you can’t reach me, then call Alvin, okay?" He sounded calm, but he still looked so cold. "Okay," Skyler collected the phone from him and got out. She nodded at them before walking away. Mason only watched her leave before he faced Alvin and leaned his head back. "Drive," he ordered, and Alvin started the car. Skyler took some deep breaths when she stopped in front of her door. She breathed again and knocked. It opened immediately, and Kiara came out. The moment her eyes landed on Skyler, she pulled her into a tight hug. "My baby, where have you been since yesterday?" Kiara began crying. Skyler patted her mom's back gently. "Let's go inside first," she said, and Kiara pulled away from her. She wiped her tears and escorted Skyler inside. "Baby, how are you feeling now? Please sit down," Kiara led Skyler to sit on the couch. "I'm fine, Mom," Skyler rubbed her fingers together. "Hope you didn’t go too hard on yourself. You ran out of the venue yesterday and I’ve been calling, but you didn’t pick up. I was so worried… I—" "I’m married, Mom," Skyler suddenly said, and Kiara paused. Skyler stood up from the couch. "I don’t know how to tell you. I don’t know how it happened either, but I’m married," she explained further. "With Felix?" Kiara’s eyes widened, and Skyler shook her head. "Then with who?" "I don’t know, Mom. It just happened. I just want to make Felix pay for what he did to me," she replied. "Skyler, what are you saying? You got cheated on, on your wedding day, and yet you still went ahead and married someone you don’t know? Does marriage look like a joke to you?" Kiara yelled, and Skyler wiped the tears that fell from her eyes. "At least what’s his name?" Kiara asked. "He’s from the Delgado family. Don’t tell anyone, Mom, but his name is Mason," Skyler replied, and Kiara nearly fainted. ✬✬✬✬✬✬✬ D•S STYLE★ Alvin stopped the car in front of the beautiful skyscraper company building. The moment Mason pushed his door open and placed one of his feet down, lights began flashing in his face. Luckily, he was wearing a black thick nose mask and sunglasses. "We heard old man Mario would be giving the company to his eldest grandson Mason. Are you Mason?" "Please, can you take off your mask for a second?" "How are you planning to improve D•S Styles?" "Are you Mason Delgado?" "We heard you’re already married. Who’s your wife?" "Mason, when will you open an Instagram account?" The reporters were there with their mics and cameras, flashing aggressive lights as they bombarded him with questions. Grandpa Mario was smart enough to have bodyguards waiting for Mason’s arrival, and as Mason made his way in, they made sure to block him from the reporters. They successfully got in. The employees were gossiping about him and murmuring, but he ignored them as Alvin followed him to his office. It was clean, the space was enough for him, and there was coffee on his desk already. "Good morning, sir. My name is Sunny, and Mr. Mario picked me as your secretary. You don’t have to worry, I’m trusted and I’m professional. I live for my work!" A woman dressed decently came in. Mason only stared at her before nodding. "If you need anything, boss, my office is opposite you and I’m one call away," she bowed and walked out. Mason stared at Alvin. "You’re sure Grandpa selected all these workers himself?" he asked. "Yes, boss, Sunny is a trusted person, and the workers take their work seriously. There’s nothing to worry about," Alvin nodded at him. "Good, I guess," Mason adjusted his tie before going to sit in the president’s chair. "Let’s start work, shall we? Let me have the company statistics," he asked, and Alvin nodded. ✬✬✬✬✬✬✬ LIGHTHOUSE HIGH SCHOOL "Hey, where’s James Paul?" Carson stopped a girl he saw coming out of a classroom. "Swimming pool," she replied and walked away. Carson sighed and changed his direction to the swimming pool. When he got there, the pool was empty. "Doesn’t that guy ever stay in one place?" He rolled his eyes, and almost immediately, a sexy male figure emerged from the pool.