In Love, Never Say Never (Ashton Fuller and Scarlett Stovall)

I froze and shook my head slowly. "No, everything's fine."

He frowned. "Kid, you become one with your spouse the moment you exchange wedding rings. You have to treat all your future problems with the same attitude. Disagreements are common since you're both young and have your own personality and opinions, so naturally, you'll do things your own way. But that's all part of the relationship. You can't think of splitting up just because of an argument. Getting married isn't a game. You can't quit whenever you feel like it. Ashton is a genius when it comes to business, but he's not perfect. I can see how much he cares about you."

I nodded, understanding where he came from. "How's the Moore family doing, Dad?"

He smiled helplessly when I suddenly changed the topic. "As long as Zachary stays quiet, you'll be fine. It's kind of strange how quiet the Moore family has been since what happened last night. Apart from just keeping the media silent, they didn't do anything to you."

I pressed my lips together tightly. The Moore family's non-action was rather confusing and I couldn't help but wonder if they were planning to do something even worse.

After chatting to Louis for a while, I stopped by the Baumans that afternoon to visit Sophia and Anthony.

It was rather late when I got back to the villa, but surprisingly, Ashton was reading in the living room.

Since we wouldn't argue if we weren't talking, I went upstairs straightaway. In Mrs. Eriksen's absence, the house felt as empty as a ghost town.

"Since you've visited Mr. and Mrs. Bauman, are you going to stop by the graveyard to visit the rest of them tomorrow?" Ashton said suddenly in a cold voice.

I curled my lip. Rather than get angry, I just replied, "I guess Mr. Fuller really likes sticking his nose into others' business."

I knew he arranged for me to have bodyguards but I hadn't imagined that he would send people to stalk me 24/7.

He put his book down and leaned his arm against the sofa as he looked at me frostily. "Have you prepared anything for that visit? I don't think there's a lot you can bring to dead people though."

I frowned. He was being way too cynical at this point. "Ashton, I'm minding my own business so I hope you can stick to minding your own too."

I wasn't in the mood to argue with him, nor did I think we had to.

I turned to walk upstairs and went into our bedroom. New Year's Eve was arriving soon so I decided to pack some of the things I'd be bringing back to J City.

Ashton had followed me up. Once he saw me packing my things, his expression darkened and he reached out to snatch away the clothes that I was folding. Then he proceeded to toss my luggage on the ground.

"If you really want to leave, shouldn't you at least follow through with the procedures properly? Ms. Stovall, are you really planning on throwing three years of marriage away without a word? Is that the so-called 'manners' that you love to nag about?"

I gritted my teeth and felt a sudden headache coming on. "Ashton, I don't feel like arguing with you anymore. I already told you that we needed to take a break from each other. If we feel like this marriage is a dead end, then we can break it off on good terms."

I sighed, feeling tired. "Every problem has a solution. We're both adults. There's no need to throw a tantrum at me like that."

He scoffed coldly. "No need? So you want a divorce, huh? Is it because I don't treat you well enough or am I abusing you? Is marrying into the Stovall family and having me as your husband pointless to you now? Leaving after using me is indeed vicious of you, Scarlett."

I looked up and tried to suppress the emotions building up inside of me but eventually failed. "Then what do you want me to do? I tried to talk things out with you but you threw a tantrum. Now that I'm trying to give us a break, you call me vicious. Ashton, even a machine needs instructions and programming before it does what you want it to. I'm only human. How am I supposed to read your mind? I can't just magically guess whatever you want from me!"

He looked down and said in a low voice, "Don't be involved in anything that has to do with Marcus anymore, including the Baumans and the Whites."

I frowned. I didn't really need to bother with the Whites anymore, but Sophia and Anthony...

Ashton grew irritated at my silence and gripped my chin firmly. "Answer me!"

"What do you want me to say?" I could have just replied 'Okay', but the thought of not being able to visit any of them pained me. Marcus saved me after all. Was it so hard to go and visit once in a while? "Stop wasting your time on a dead man!"

My frown deepened as I started to get even more annoyed. "Ashton, I think you're the one who needs to get over Marcus."

Constantly talking about how he was 'dead' was incredibly disrespectful.