The Unwilling CEO's Love Game novel Chapter 10

Ignoring him, Jocelyn ate her pizza while scrolling through Twitter. She noticed a post from her cousin Quinta, hand in hand with her new husband Damian, captioned "Hand in hand with you, through this life and into old age."

Jocelyn liked the tweet.

Quinta's new marriage seemed promising, and even if it was hasty, it seemed to affirm her belief in love.

Suddenly, the slice of pizza she had bitten into disappeared. Looking up, she saw Melvin, eyeing her phone while chewing..

"Quinta's on her second round of 'I do's', huh? After seeing so many marriages tank, why's she lining up to jump into the grave?" Melvin went, "Marriage flops are public freaking spectacles; why volunteer for the walk of shame?"

Jocelyn put down her phone; her appetite's gone. "Marriage isn't the death of love; it's a major life destination. You don't have to buy into love, but don't throw shade on other people's marriages."

Melvin saw her getting riled up, snatched her plate, and wolfed down her leftover pizza. "Don't you think your cousin's just playing house? Her last marriage lasted two years? Ditched the guy for not bringing home enough bacon. How long you think this honeymoon phase is gonna last? She'd be better off dating around like before, just cut and run if it doesn't work out. At least then, your uncle wouldn't lose face."

"Have you said enough?" Jocelyn was furious. "Do you think everyone is as irresponsible as you? Yes, marriage doesn't guarantee a lifetime together, but it means at one point, they thought it could be!"

Jocelyn took a deep breath, "Forget it, why am I even talking to you about this? I'm beat, you do you."

She stormed off to her room and double locked the door.

Melvin just stared at the closed door, cool as a cucumber, cleaned up the plate, then knocked.

"Jocelyn, we're just hashing out our views on marriage. Why the temper?"

"Hey, as a teacher, can you be a bit more gracious?"

Leaning against the wall, Melvin said in a lazy drawl, "I'm heading out of town tomorrow and won't be back till next month. You sure you want me crash on the sofa on our last night?"

Jocelyn was fuming inside.

Even though she knew his stance on love and marriage, hearing it straight from his mouth always stung.

He was reminding her, yet again, he was not the marrying kind.

Her pride was on fire, and she was not budging an inch.

After her shower, she heard the front door close.

She waited by her door, dead silence. Then she peeked out, and found he's gone.

Suddenly, the emptiness hit her hard.

Sleeping alone that night, insomnia kicked in her. It was past 2 AM when she finally dozed off.

No sooner had she closed her eyes than the alarm blared.

She got up, freshened up, opened her door, and there was Melvin, giving her the smoldering look.

She had no clue when he got back.

She tried to squeeze by, pretending he was invisible.

Melvin grabbed her hand, "Still steamed?"

"Yeah," she glared at him.

"Great, I've been holding onto my anger all night too.” He picked her up and carried her back to the bedroom, laying her on the bed and pressing down on her. “Let’s extinguish our fires together.”

Jocelyn struggled, "Get off!"

"Nope." He kissed her.

"I'll be late!" she protested, trying to push him away.

He interlocked their fingers, breathless, "I've seen your schedule, and you're free this morning."