After breakfast, the nurse was eager to collect the empty tes and leave the room. Observing her hurry to the door, I wondered if someone was chasing her. My every word caused her to jump on her knees and pale under her skin. Acute enough, I realized she was terrified of me. Soon then I realized she wasn''t the only one.


    An hourter, another uniformed nurse entered the door. She was polite as she greeted me good morning as she entered. She checked my vitals, then jotted the information to her note. As she did so, I noticed her fingers trembling. Not only that, she also appeared ufortable and pale.


    "Are you alright?" Softly, I asked her. I said the words in the gentlest voice I could muster, but anyway, she jumped, startled at the sound of my voice.


    "I-I''m fine, Mrs. Alexander." The nurse replied, unable to conceal the tremor in her voice.


    Worried that speaking again will cause her to flee the room, I kept my mouth shut as she did her job. I was handed a ss of water and medicine tablets after the nurse was done checking me. As the tablets slipped down my throat, I felt as if I were choking on them.


    In spite of the bitter taste lingering in my tongue, I fought back the urge to throw up, and asked for another ss of water to wash it away.


    I handed back the ss to the nurse and thanked her. She looked startled. Didn''t anyone say thank you to her before? For the first time since she got there, she gave me a genuine smile that lit up her face. "If you need anything, please press that button, and a wille to your aid."


    I nodded my head. On her way to the door, an idea came to my mind. "Do you have any reading materials I could read to pass the time?"


    The nurse slowly pulled into a stop. Thankfully, she didn''t jump. She must have realized now that I don''t bite. There''s no need for her to jump at the faintest sound of my voice.


    "I''m sorry, but we don''t have books here." She thoughtfully replied.


    "How about newspapers and magazines?" I told her, praying at least they have that or I will die of boredom while staring at the white ceiling of my room.


    "My nurse friend has a magazine she kept in her locker. I will ask her permission to borrow it. As to a newspaper, of course we have that on the nurse station. I''ll get them for you."


    "That''s wonderful. Thank you." I gave her the sweetest smile I could muster before lying back on my bed.


    Shortly, the nurse returned with a magazine and a newspaper in her hand. After she handed the reading materials to me, she left the room to attend to her duties.


    Once again, I was alone inside my cold, quiet room. The only sound I could hear now was the hum of the air conditioning unit and the footsteps passing in the hallway. ''Thank god, I have a magazine and a newspaper with me,'' I thought to myself, relieved that I have something to do other than listen to the noise.


    I set the newspaper on the side of the bed, revealing the cover of the Forbes Magazine.


    THE SEXIEST AND THE WEALTHIEST MAN ALIVE. The caption said in thick, crimson, capital letters. Underneath the caption, a man''s full name was written in the same manner.


    LUCAS NICHOLAS ALEXANDER.


    A gasp of surprise escaped from my lips as I found myself staring at him. In response to seeing him, my pulse quickened while my heart pounded hard inside my rib cage. It took me a moment to calm my jittery nerves.


    Pulling myself together, I let my gaze drop back on the magazine cover.


    If being drop dead gorgeous is a crime, Lucas would have been serving a lifetime in prison.


    He yed the look in a ck tuxedo. On his lips, he had this tooth-patemercial smile that could turn a woman''s knees to Jell-O


    I flipped the first page of the magazine, and the next picture made breath hitch in my throat. The daredevil was wearing nothing except his briefs on, exposing the expanse of his broad shoulders and the hard contours of perfect abs, screaming at me to look at them.


    Embarrassed at the sight, I looked away. Warmth spread on my cheeks as I did so.


    Why was I acting like a teenager?


    ''I''m his wife. I had probably seen him naked before and saw something more than what the magazine was showing.'' With that thought in my mind, I finally convinced myself to look back at the magazine.


    Damn hot. I groaned to myself, unable to resist the urge, and my gaze drifted downward. Damn big as well. This time, I wasn''t referring to his abs anymore.


    The next page was a relief to me because there were no half-naked pictures to distract me. Instead, it contained details about himself and thepany he inherited from his affluent parents and turned it into an iron empire. Lucas, named as the wealthiest man in Forbes magazine, owned a chain of hotels and shopping malls all over the globe.


    The magazine also has a conspicuous, detailed information about his love life. Say the least, I found myself more drawn to his romantic escapades than in his wealth and business. Thetter was interesting, but it was not as intriguing as knowing his intimate love affairs.


    Lucas Nichs Alexander was the most sought after bachelor in town, a literal yboy, a man who changes girlfriends faster than flipping books. He dated a good deal of girls. Not just ordinary girls, but the diamond of the first water type. He''d been in a rtionship with a supermodel, the president''s daughter, the Queen''s niece, and a beauty queen, but none of themsted a year.


    Then the restless yboy meets Alexandria Angelstone, the woman who tamed the yboy''s elusive heart, and he ends up marrying her, much to everyone''s chagrin.


    As the article had candidly written, Alexandria Angelstone wasn''t the biggest catch. A dozen of women he dated before were richer and far more influential. But the yboy Billionaire had made his choice and there''s nothing anyone could do but wish him a happy marriage.


    I dropped the newspaper on myp as I let my brain digest the information. A smile made its way to my lips. I was so happy that Lucas had married me instead of those girls. It made me feel as though I''m the luckiest girl on earth. He married me, proving that he''s in love with me.


    Loved. Past tense. A voice in my head whispered, and the smile on my lips vanished as the realization finally sunk in.