Sometime later in the study, Gloria sat across from Xander who fortunately didn't leave the mansion after she left but had his work there. Making it easy for her to find him once her mind was sorted.
After pouring her heart and soul out, Gloria thought hard about how to deal with this matter while taking advantage of the fact that she was now tied to Xander. A lot of ideas flooded her mind, which brought a faint smile to her face as she pictured how exciting the whole revenge would be if it followed the plan.
Once her mind was made up, she visited Xander who fortunately listened to her without condemnation and even filled in where the plans seemed to be lacking.
After discussing the whole plan for nearly an hour, Gloria smiled beamingly at Xander. No longer finding the man scary or too difficult to approach. They have shared their wonderful moments before the bad news arrived, after all.
"Since you have decided on this. I will help you. Just don't give up halfway and show mercy," Xander solemnly said as he looked at her.
Gloria smiled sheepishly when she heard that and scratched her chin nervously while responding, 'I will never go back. Trust me!"
Upon hearing that, Xander's brows rose in amusement and, seeing that, the hue of bush crept on her face. Forcing her to look away.
Xander chuckled lightly when he saw that, finding her cute when shy. To think that she was once a cautious woman before today and yet on this day, she had changed greatly like that, he couldn't help but applaud himself for the dangerous choice he had made back then.
Although it was risky, at least it brought a bountiful harvest.
When Gloria realized that she no longer had any business with Xander and that being here might disturb him further, she forced herself to look at him despite the heat on her face.
"Xander, um …. I have to go now," she nervously said as she clenched the hem of her blouse and added, "I need to prepare for tomorrow," her words barely a whisper.
When he heard that, the corner of his lips curled up as a playful glint flickered in his eyes.
"Um, then, madam, I won't keep you. I would need you well rested for tomorrow's ceremony," his playful voice sounded in her ears, making her heart flutter.
She didn't dare look at his face when he said that, but still responded as she rose to her feet. "I will take my leave." Before he could respond, Gloria made her way out of the study, her feet as if oil had been spread on them.
"Hahaha!" and his baritone chuckle nearly made her stumble and fall. She couldn't help but flee faster.
Bang.
The door to the study closed and Xander shook his head, a smile still on his face.
It was a wonder how much he had been smiling ever since she came to the clan.
***
Meanwhile, after Gloria fled from Xander, she hurriedly went to her room and dismissed the nosy Cassy before locking herself in her bedroom once again.
"Phew~" she released a sigh of relief as she stood at the balcony, the garden view of the mansion quite striking to look at.
"You and your fickle heart. What are you feeling?" Gloria scolded herself as she shed non-existent tears as she thought about that wild moment, she and Xander shared earlier that day.
To think that there would be a day she would feel that way towards another man who wasn't Simon. She felt like her heart was fickle.
If she truly loved Simon, despite his lies and betrayals, the way she said she did. Then these strange feelings, this lust and desire she was having for a man who agreed to a deal that made her feel disgusted and hate Simon so much. She shouldn't be having them.
However, the more time she spent with him, the more she found her feelings to be even more ridiculous. She seemed stuck between a hard place and a rock. She was confused.
Gloria was in a dazed moment for a while before she shook her head, shaking away any unwarranted thoughts before thinking about the earlier conversation she had with Xander; the marriage.
Talking about marriage, Gloria had one major purpose when she asked Xander to marry her.
Simon had an inflated ego. This man who raised her in a way that she would literally do anything that he asked must be thinking that her heart would never waver. No matter what, she won't give herself to another man.
He was so full of it and confident that in her heart, he would remain her number one. She would fight and do anything possible, not to let him down.
Despite knowing that he sold her to Xander and even told the man that he had never touched her. Which, in Xander's point of view, would mean that whatever he wanted to do with her, she wouldn't have a choice to object. And yet, despite knowing all that, he brainwashed her before they got divorced.
She still remembered clearly some of the words he said as he looked at her apologetically and his eyes filled with guilt for not being able to do much to help the clan, which then resulted in the exchange.
"You are my wife and this clan's matriarch. If you go to another clan to tend gardens, don't you think that what they are doing is kind of humiliating us? I think that they might be getting back at us for the past grievances!"
The way he righteously said those words, she still remembered how she was so touched and like a puppet, she let him lead her until the divorce certificate was taken.
He instilled in her that Xander was the bad guy and he was the one who wanted to destroy and humiliate the clan she used to love so much. Faced with such, how could she, as the matriarch, not do anything about it?
She hated the Frost clan and Xander so much. She was willing to spy for Simon and sell as much information as she could, just to help the Willow Clan. But then she didn't expect that Xander didn't play by the rules.
Instead of hiding what Simon did, he simply revealed the matter. Though it nearly sent her to meet her maker in the process.
She doubted if Simon expected that as well. Possibly in his mind, he didn't think that she might mean differently in Xander's eyes that he was willing not to carry the blasphemous crime on his head, but let her be aware of the truth of the whole matter.
Since his thoughts and her family's aligned, there would be no way he would think that she would indeed marry Xander. After all, with how low her self-confidence was, she was forced to remain in a small well and barely raise her head. How could someone whom they considered unfit to be the matriarch of such a small clan be eligible and suitable to be a matriarch of a bigger clan?
It was impossible in their heads. That's why this move felt so fresh and intriguing to her. She was going to start by hitting them where they didn't expect.
By marrying Xander, her cut with Simon would be officially cut. No matter what the man says, didn't he incur the wrath all by himself?
Moreover, why settle for less when she could have it bigger?
Thinking about the benefits that Xander promised her on top of helping her with her revenge, a beautiful smile blossomed on her face.
It seemed that getting sold to another man by her husband wasn't as bad as she first thought.
It was a blessing in disguise.
"Hehe," a chuckle escaped her mouth as she wondered Simon and Sia's reactions when they finally learnt the truth.
It was going to be EPIC.