His Contractual Mistress

[Hilda and Frederick Shen] 

Thirty-three years ago...

She thought it was just a typical family dinner with the entire Lopez Clan. Once in a while, Elder Lopez gathers his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren in Metro City occasionally to maintain a good relationship among the Clan. 

But tonight, the said dinner was only between her grandfather, her parents, and their special guests, the Shen Family. 

"Don't think I will marry you!" she told Fred when they were alone in the garden. Her parents urge her to bring Fred to the courtyard so that they could have time alone together to get to know each other. 

She has been treating him indifferently all night, but to her annoyance, Fred is too polite to the elders and her parents thought he is a gentleman. 

But now that they were alone, Fred showed his true color. He kept smirking to annoy her, then spoke to her coldly. 

"Do you think you are the only one thinking that? I am also against this arranged marriage thing!"

His father said that they were going to meet a potential business partner. It turned out it was a marriage discussion!

"Stop acting like you are the only one who feels forced with this setup!" Fred added.

Now, staring at this cold and snobbish woman, he better stays bachelor his whole life! 

"I'm in no hurry to get married! I love my life being single. Marrying too soon is a pain in both my head and my ass!" Fred told Hilda sternly; he even pointed at his head. 

"That's my line! I better stay an old maid my whole life!" Hilda replied.

Fred rendered his silence. What this girl told him buzzed his ear. Then, he fell into deep thoughts. The girl seems telling him that he is not attractive at all. 

'Is she serious? Or is she only stubborn and spoiled brat girl?' Fred wanted to believe this. But this woman stepped on his ego. All the women he meets in the past are deliberately thrown themselves at him. They would willingly strip in front of him and find a way to climb on his bed. Not only that, they were pursuing him to choose one of them to be his wife. But this woman is the opposite one! 

Fred could see that Hilda is such a prideful woman. If she became his wife, they would only argue all the time. He could already see it. So then, he would never dare to get involved with her. 

"Don't worry! I feel the same!" Fred uttered before he retreated and went back to the Lopez dining hall. 

Hilda glared, watching his receding back. "Humph!"

If only she could beat him up, she already does that! This man is such an as*! She will never marry him! She swears. 

But the meeting didn't stop there. Even how she persuaded her parents, but her grandfather stood on his words. To his annoyance, he publicly announced her engagement to Fred Shen. 

One night…. 

Hilda joined her cousins to attend someone's birthday party. And in the crowd, she saw a familiar face. Well, she should no longer be surprised. This guy was everywhere, partying almost every night. 

Whatever gossip, there is no way she couldn't have heard about it, which she just used to ignore. 

But tonight, he brought a new girl as his date, and it happens that she witnessed this, and so, she can't tolerate it. 

"What are you going to do now, Hilda?" Eliza Lopez asked her. 

Hilda clenched her palms and pressed her lips to calm herself. Gossips about her coming from the other women at this party, lashing out at her, have arisen. They were attacking her, using the fact that Fred Shen brought another girl to this party instead of her.

She weighed whether to confront Fred or not. But he is only forced to engage with her. It's not like she is his girlfriend. 

In the end, she marched toward him. 

"Frederick Shen!" 

Fred, who didn't see her approaching, suddenly swallowed the whisky he drank after hearing her voice. It choked him as he was too surprised to see her all of a sudden. 

Hilda, on the other hand, was annoyed with his reaction. Witnessing how he was coughing, she smacked his back with such intent. Not to comfort him but to hurt him. 

"That hurts!" he complains, shooting sharp glares at Hilda. 

"What?" she snapped. "I'm helping you! You should be thankful!" 

Fred felt ridiculous at her attitude. He heard how sharp and straightforward a mouth she has, the reason he is avoiding being in the same place with her. She could only embarrass him. 

"Come here!" Before this girl made a scene, he dragged Hilda out of the party hall and brought her to the courtyard, which was empty. 

"That hurts!" Hilda withdrew her hand and shove Fred's arm away. He gripped her arm, and it hurts her.

"What are you doing here?" Fred asked Hilda the moment they stopped walking. 

"Why can't I be here? Is this your party?" she countered stubbornly, which made Fred speechless. 

"Okay, fine! Then what do you want?" 

Hilda scoffs. "Can't you be shameless? If you want to date and flirt with other women, you should persuade our grandparents first to cancel our engagement!" 

"Then why don't you do it yourself?" Fred twitched his mouth, looking at her downward. 

Hilda raises an eyebrow. She snorted and countered, "It should be you since you are the one who always goes on dates with different women! How dare you humiliate me to the entire world!"

Fred hissed at her. "You! How dare you accuse me?" 

"Then ask your grandfather to call off our engagement!" 

"You are so stubborn! You know that is impossible!" Fred reason out. 

"Then stop fooling around with other women until our engagement breaks off!" 

Fred rendered speechlessly. Hilda was right. However, it annoys him that she was accusing him endlessly. 

"I don't fool around!" he insisted, which Hilda didn't listen to. 

"Is that so? And who's that girl you brought to this party?" 

"Are you jealous?" Fred asked; he sounded poking fun at her. 

"And why would I? You are not that great, to begin with!" she snaps at him. 

With what she had said, Fred explodes with anger. 'How dare she insult me!' 

"What's wrong with you!?" And why am I explaining to this woman! He muttered to himself inwardly, then went on, "She is someone's girlfriend, and I have to look for her tonight!" 

"Humph." She glared. "That's easy for you to say since no one can hear you. All men are such a liar. You…."

"Shut up!" Fred clenched his jaw. This woman is too noisy! 

Hilda continues blabbing. She didn't stop talking, and that pissed him off. 

Later on, Hilda froze on her feet. Suddenly, her eyes widened when all of a sudden, Fred kissed her. 

But after she came back to her senses, a loud slap landed on Fred's face. 

"You…. You…." She stuttered her words, which she could not think what she wanted to tell him. 

Fred saw how her face was blushing pink, and her ears turned red from embarrassment. 

"Oh. Don't tell me. It was your first kiss?" 

There is a playful smile on Fred's lips. Suddenly, the noisy woman in front of him looked cute. 

'So this is how he could shut her up? Interesting.' He mused inwardly; he grinned. "Then this means that I am your first kiss." 

"Who says? Stop being too full of yourself, Frederick Shen!" After saying that, Hilda turned around and marched back to the party hall. 

Fred chuckled while he followed Hilda back to the party. He had a broad smile across his face, which his friends noticed. 

* 

PRESENT TIME 

Back in the girl's room, Hilda continued reminiscing some more memories that she had… 

Deana and Sheena were astounded to hear this side story of their parents. 

"So, you got jealous of Hailey's mom because you thought dad dated her?" 

Hilda nodded timidly. She didn't know Marley Hillson. What happened that night is their first meeting, and it never happens again in the future, until that accident.

She sipped on her tea and put down the teacup as she explained herself. 

"Your dad and I were against this marriage. But when your dad often links to other women, a part of me is enraged. The people already knew about our engagement, so I feel ashamed that my fiance is fooling around with other girls." 

"I won't care about it if the socialites would not backlash me. But they were slandering my name and degrading my reputation that I'm a snob. That's why Fred would not marry me."

"Although our family is the most wealthy in the province, the High Society in Metro City is looking down on me because I grew up in the countryside, the South Island where Lopez Steel Corp. is located." 

"So, I asked my uncle to transfer me from working in the office of Lopez Steel Corp to work in Lopez Corporation Headquarters in Metro City. Then, I dare those women who want to embarrass me—especially those who flirt with your dad." 

"I accepted my fate as a future daughter-in-law of the Shen and challenged myself to live in Capital City to take revenge on those women. So instead, I showed how snob I am, that I don't care who they are. The families in High Society are full of hypocrisy. They make friends with me, but I know that they talk ill about me behind my back. So I didn't show kindness and fake my smile."

"To be honest, Julia is a good friend of mine. She helps me fight those women, but I can't believe she'll betray me in the end." Hilda heaves a long sigh. But there's no regret can be seen on her face. 

"Mom, this is the first time you told us completely new about you," Sheena commented.

"There is nothing much to talk about me. I am strict with you, especially with your brother, because I don't like most families to get involved with us. They are all fake and wanted to take advantage of us." 

Listening to this entire time, Hailey lifted her gaze to look at Hilda. In her thoughts, Eva had been lying to Shen. But Lan still manages to arrange Eva for Vince. 

For some reason, Hilda values her friendship with Julia Lan. However, in the end, her friend betrayed her.

But to look at the situation, Eva was probably willing to divorce Vincent if Liam didn't enter the picture. 

Liam sets his eyes on harming Vince when she got involves with him. For some coincidences, Vince is Eva's husband. He used her once again to break her heart. 

Liam always has his advancement to make things hard for her, and that to keep Vince's divorce impossible to happen. 

But can she reveal to Vince's family that Eva had an affair with her ex-fiancé? 

Hailey sip on her teacup. She straightened her back and looked at Hilda, Janise, and the two sisters. Maybe it is better to know that she knew where Eva was and knew her all these years, even before marrying Vincent.