Alejandro was in his office going through some files when his door opened and Camila barged in.

“Even my dad knocks before he enters,” Alejandro said without sparing her a glance.

“Isn’t that why I’m your wife?” she clapped back and dropped the badge Sandra handed to her on his desk.

“You were behind it, weren’t you?” she asked, but he did not reply.

“I’m a little happy that you still have some empathy left in you. I was starting to think you were a monster,” she mumbled, but it was loud enough for Alejandro to hear.

He stopped the work he was doing and stared at her. “Here’s the thing, wifey, I don’t want you to flatter yourself. I take work very seriously here. Sandra broke the rules, and she’s facing her punishment for it,” he explained, then glanced at her from head to toe.

She was wearing a blouse that showed her cleavage a little, and his eyes darkened.

“Do you even go through the dress code?” he asked.

“What’s wrong with the way I dress?” Camila frowned.

“Everything,” he replied, taking off his suit jacket and handing it to her. Camila gave him a confused look, not understanding his gesture.

“I don’t want other men staring at what’s mine. Next time, put on clothes that fully button. Maybe when you’re next to me, you can show off those peaches,” he said.

“You can’t be serious. I’m not putting on your suit,” Camila frowned even more.

“You can and you will!” he said firmly.

“You don’t get to tell me that,” Camila gritted her teeth.

“I’ll give you three seconds. If I don’t see you in my suit, then I’m calling Diego, and I will have him cancel my whole appointment for today so I can spend the whole day with you in this office. And when I’m done with you, you would leave this place in a wheelchair. Do you want to try me, Camila?” he asked, his lips forming a wicked smirk.

Camila could see he was dead serious.

“One,” he began counting.

Camila stared at the suit, wondering how ridiculous she would look if she stepped out of his office with the suit on.

“Two,” he counted again.

“I h@ťě you,” Camila said before putting the suit on.

Something glimmered in Alejandro’s eyes when he saw her in his suit. He began imagining what she would look like in his clothes, especially if she wasn’t wearing anything underneath.

“Are you happy now?” Camila asked angrily.

“You look so segzy. Maybe you should start dressing like this every day,” he replied.

Camila’s eyes widened. “Tell me you’re joking.”

Alejandro was about to reply when Diego stepped in.

“Boss, the—” He stopped, looking shocked to see Camila wearing his suit.

“Yes, Diego?” Alejandro asked, not liking the way Diego stared at his wife.

“Your clothes are ready for the business event. When do I book your visit to D•S to try them out?” Diego cleared his throat and asked.

“Find a time to do that today,” Alejandro replied, and Diego nodded, walking away.

Camila rolled her eyes and stepped out of the office so Alejandro wouldn’t tell her to do something ridiculous as he always did. She felt all eyes on her as she thought. She bet they thought she looked ridiculous. She knew she looked ridiculous, but apparently, Alejandro didn’t care, and maybe she liked this a little, but only 1/100 of her mind agreed with her.

★★★★★★★

BRIARWOOD SCHOOL ★

Isabella admired her pretty face in the mirror. She was in the girls’ locker room, getting dressed for the cheerleaders’ dance-off.

“Didn’t the school suspend you from school activities for a month?” Chappell asked.

Isabella rolled her eyes. “And you think they actually meant that?”

“But Briar takes their rules very seriously. I don’t think they give a f-__-k who you are,” Gloria said, which made Isabella frown, angrily dropping her hair straightener.

“Think about it. If I’m not the cheer captain, then who will be? Who has gone through many championships and won awards for the school? Who is f-__-king recognized if not me?” She trembled visibly in anger.

Abby hit Gloria and silently ushered her not to say anything again.

“Calm down, Issa, let’s just go and see how things go,” Chappell said.

“Wh@ťěver. No one is taking my post from me, or I’ll make sure this school suffers. Do they know who my father is or who my sister is married to?” Isabella scoffed, packing her makeup in her kit and angrily leaving the restroom.

“She’s just paranoid,” Gloria rolled her eyes, and they all followed her.

••••••

CHEER FIELD★

The cheerleaders danced in rhythm with their pom-poms while chanting Briar’s usual victory song. A woman, dressed as a stud, sat on a bench and watched them.

“Coach Naomi, sorry I’m late. The electricity in the female restroom was bad, and my straightener was not working perfectly,” Isabella walked in, dressed as a cheerleader with her crop shirt, flare skirt, canvas, and long socks.

She looked at the cheer members dancing, and her eyes darkened.

“What do you think you’re doing? Have you forgotten the dance code, or did you change it without informing me?” she asked angrily.

The cheerleaders stopped dancing, but they looked confused.

“Why is everyone looking at me like that?” Isabella mumbled, feeling irritated.

Abby slowly stood beside her.

“Isa,” Abby gave her a worried look.

“What?” Isabella gave her a frown.

“We now have a new captain. I didn’t tell you earlier because I didn’t know how to, so I wanted you to see for yourself,” Abby said.

“If I’m not the cheer captain, then who is?” Isabella looked irritated.

“Sorry I’m late, Coach Naomi, my car broke down earlier,” a familiar voice said, walking in, and Isabella turned to see Valeria walking in, dressed as a cheerleader.

“What’s going on? Why is Valeria dressed like that?” Isabella asked angrily. She couldn’t hide the fact that she was truly fuming.

“Is, Valeria is the new captain,” Gloria said.

“What!??” Isabella screamed and quickly turned to Coach Naomi. “How can you make her the captain? She’s just new!!”

“Well, she is very experienced. She showed me her record in her past school, and she’s very compatible. The whole team agrees that she becomes our captain,” Coach Naomi said.

Isabella turned to her friends.

“Don’t give us that look, Isa. The school suspended you, and we need to move on,” Abby mumbled.

“I just can’t believe this,” Isabella angrily stormed off.

Valeria only rolled her eyes and dropped her bag on the bench.

“I see the minor issue is being fixed, so let’s move on. Give me the stretch, everyone,” she clapped her hands while urging the cheerleaders to keep up.

★★★★★★★

D•S MALL★

Alejandro’s car stopped in the mall parking lot. His driver came down and helped them with the car door. Alejandro put on his sunglasses and stretched his hand out for Camila.

“I can walk on my own,” Camila folded her arms. She still did not like the fact that Alejandro made her wear his suit out to the mall.

“If you don’t accept my hand, then I’ll fling you over my shoulder and take you in. Maybe you’d like that,” Alejandro smirked, and Camila quickly accepted his hand.

She h@ťěd how he always had his way with everything. She wished to have something to thr_@ten him with, like he does to her.

Alejandro and Camila walked in, and the employees greeted them. Some were looking at them, specifically Camila, and might have been wondering why she was wearing a suit jacket.

“Mr. Ruiz, this way, please,” a woman dressed corporately confidently walked to them, her heels making clicking sounds. She gave Camila a polite smile as she led the way.

She took them to a dressing room, one for the male and the other for the female. Camila was happy that she was away from Alejandro. The female dressing room looked the way it should, surrounded by segzy mannequins and eye-catching clothes.

“Camila?” someone called, and Camila turned back. Happiness filled her face when she saw Skyler.

“My husband told me you came earlier to get clothes with your husband,” Skyler said, and Camila noticed her baby bump.

“I’ve always admired you, and I picked a dress specially for you. Come,” Skyler held her hand and led her to another room.

There was a long mirror and mannequins along with some dresses. Skyler called a worker over.

“Take Mrs. Ruiz to the dressing room and make sure she tries that dress I selected for her yesterday,” she told the worker.

“Sure,” the female worker led Camila to the room, and after a few minutes, Camila came out. She admired herself in the mirror, wearing a bodycon red gown that perfectly hugged her curves.

“Your husband is going to lose his mind when he sees you in this gown,” Skyler stood behind her as she watched Camila admire herself.

“You think so?” Camila didn’t know why she was asking, but maybe seeing Alejandro lose control over her might be the best revenge she could ever have, or maybe she just wanted to see him lose control over her.

“Absolutely. Men go feral when they see you in a red dress,” a pink dust covered Skyler’s cheeks. “When I wore a red dress for my husband and followed him out, that night he literally ripped it off,” she mumbled.

Camila almost imagined Alejandro standing behind her, his hands on her waist and his hot breath fanning her neck. She imagined him ripping the dress off but quickly shook the image away.

“I’m dressing for myself, not for him. And thank you so much, Skyler, I really love the dress,” Camila turned back to her with a sweet smile.

“You’re welcome. We’ll pack the dress for you,” Skyler nodded at her and called a worker to escort Camila to the dressing room.

The worker helped her pack her dress, and Skyler escorted her out. Alejandro was talking on the phone while waiting for Camila to come out.

“Mr. Alejandro Ruiz, my husband has mentioned you before,” Skyler walked with Camila to Alejandro, but his eyes darkened when he didn’t see Camila wearing his suit jacket.

“Nice to meet you, Miss Skyler,” he gave her a brief handshake, pulling Camila to his side as if Skyler was planning to snatch her from him.

“I hope you both have a nice day,” Skyler waved at them as she watched them leave.

••••

When Alejandro stepped out, he let go of Camila’s hand and entered the car. She rolled her eyes and stepped in too.

“You did not come out with my suit. Why?” he asked.

Camila scoffed and did not reply.

“Do you know how much that suit cost and you just left it there?” His eyes darkened.

“If you needed it when you wouldn’t have asked me to wear it all day and beside you’re being ridiculous. I can’t keep wearing that all day,” Camila argued.

“Maybe you being segzy is something my eyes are meant for alone, but I’m still going to punish you for my suit” Alejandro finally came to an agreement with her, and the car started moving.

“I want you to get prepared we will be going out with our family soon, they have been disturbing,” he informed her.

“Really?” Camila’s face brightened as she was excited to see her family again.

Alejandro stared at her for a while. Seeing her look happy after a long while stirred something inside him, but realizing her face never lit up like this when it was not him also made him troubled, and he didn’t know why.

He, however, did not reply to her. He just began pressing his phone. Camila stared at him, wondering what was up with his change of mood, but at the same time, she did not read too much into it. She just couldn’t wait to see her family again.

★★★★★★★

BRIARWOOD SCHOOL ★

Isabella stared at her reflection in the mirror for a long while before bursting out in tears. How is everything falling apart so easily? Her family is messed up, and her social life is becoming messed up too. Soon she would lose all that she has left in the blink of an eye.

“I h@ťě you, Valeria! Why did you have to come into my life!!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. She was alone in her soundproof locker room, so no one could hear her go through her daily breakdown as usual.

Now it feels easier to digest because she can finally blame someone for it.

“I was doing just fine without her!!” She scattered some of her things while breathing angrily. Valeria was not getting away with anything, and she would make sure of that.

A knock sounded on her locker, which made her freeze. She slowly looked at the soundproof button somewhere on the wall, and unfortunately, it was turned off.

“No no no! No one is allowed to hear me break down,” she thought, panicking.

The knock became louder each second.

“If the door doesn’t open, then I’m breaking it down,” a male voice thr_@tened.

“Elijah?” Isabella thought and quickly opened the door, but to her dismay, it was Ace. He looked down at her with squinted eyes because she was shorter.

“Is everything good in there? I heard really loud crying and screaming, and I got concerned,” he said worriedly.

“It’s not me,” Isabella looked elsewhere, but he grabbed her chin and made her face him.

“Are you sure? Your eyes are baggy and swollen,” he began inspecting her eyes.

Isabella wanted to slap his hands off, but Chappell appeared.

“Isabella, I—” Her words hung, and her smile faded.

“Chappell,” Isabella called, but she immediately ran away. Isabella tried going after her, but Ace held her forearm, stopping her.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked with worried eyes.

“Can you just mind your business?” Isabella irritably yanked her hand from him. “And don’t tell anyone you heard me cry, or I’ll make you regret it,” she added before storming off.

Ace just smirked.

💍💍 TBC 💍💍