Destined To Be His Wife novel Chapter 9

"…" She bit her lips tight to hold back the swear words which lingered. She wasn't moving in anyway at all, as still as a statue in this huge unmovable bed. So he was just looking for a reason to criticize her and talk down to her some more. TangShi huffed, made an unladylike snort of distaste and made a point of moving around on the bed to get comfier. Plumping her pillow, lifting herself up to bash it around, and adjusting the sheets in a slow and deliberate fashion to rile him for the sake of it. She took great delight in tugging the sheets, so his arm was moved by her action. He turned angrily, leaning up on one elbow to glare at her shadowy face as they came eye to eye. Two storms meeting in a chaotic ocean.

"Really? Are you trying to piss me off?" He snapped, his biting tone carrying a threat and yet TangShi found the inner strength to not back down. Even as a child who suffered so much and held her tongue in so many ways, she was still stubborn when it was called for. He had found the button to ignite some of her pride. Finally, someone had.

"Goodnight, Mr Leng… If my moving bothers you, there's a couch over there. Try it. I hear it can be good for the back. You certainly look like a posture adjustment might help reduce some of your anal tendencies!" She cooed in a haughty tone of superiority, admiring her own ability to find the skill to do it. Right back at him and smiling sweetly, flinching at her own sudden sass and goading this man in a way she had never goaded anyone on purpose before. She didn’t know she had it in her. He seemed to bring out the need in her to rebel. A little flicker of excitement that made her feel suddenly alive and willing to stand up for herself.

"This is MY bed!! How about YOU go sleep there. Might help remove the stick from up your ass." he completely lost his temper at her sassy suggestion and yanked the sheet from between them, tugging it his way so TangShi was pulled towards him in a ferocious manner. She fell against his large body, almost on top of him with a gentle thud, and had to brace herself on her arms pinning over his shoulder and head.

"You're a bully and a brute! So not the esteemed master of Leng, or gentleman they all say you are! You’re a despicable and immature little boy!!" TangShi regretted the words but at the same time, felt exhilarated at her sudden burst of brave.

Pulling back to regain her distance from him and showing no hint of fear. It felt good to answer back after years of being trodden down, and despite his curt manner, and oozing hostility, something told her he was not a man who would beat a woman. For he surely would have done it already with how she was pushing his buttons. Her father would have so much faster.

Maybe her memories of him that night tainted her instincts so stupidly, but there was a feeling that she could push his bottom line and he wouldn't cross the boundary her father had so many times. Or maybe, it was that she had been beaten so many times in her past that she no longer feared it and knew it could not be worse than anything she endured before. Her father was cruel and ruthless and had made it so she could bear pain better than most.

"Isn't that a shame… given you fought so hard to win me. Guess you got what you asked for! Now I know you hate it so much, I'll be sure to increase this manner and let you enjoy how despicable I can be." He was furious too, to be called such things by this little waif of a woman. He lifted his hand pushing his pointer finger into her forehead and shoved her away as forcefully as he could and watched her fall back onto her space in his bed.

She had looked so pitiful and weak in the marriage office, for a moment he had felt remorse for her, and now, spitting at him like a devil in his own bed, he saw through her and that victim act. He really disliked her arrogance through and through. She was a very good actress at hiding her true ugly nature and he had no room in his heart for a manipulative female who wanted his title and his money.