Chapter 10

PRUDENCE was torn between throwing a fit and staying calm. The Whitewoods had known her for being reserved, but for the first time, she wanted to vent out. Julian’s father arranged a vacation for the two of them. The chauffeur fetched her home and brought her to the airport a couple of hours before boarding time. However, there were only ten minutes left, and Julian still hadn’t arrived. She had tried calling him several times already, but his phone was out of reach.
“Ah, Julian! Ah!” She groaned out of frustration.
Of course, she couldn’t leave without him. She wouldn’t go alone on that vacation just to waste her precious time. She had a lot of things to accomplish, and she could do that only if she were close to the Whitewoods.
“Perhaps it’s about time to call Francis Whitewood and tell him what his son had done.”
Prudence called Julian’s father. But even before the call could connect to the other line, a hand snatched her phone away.
“What the—” She raised her head and saw Julian standing in front of her with a grin. “Julian. At last, you’re here. I thought you were no longer coming. I’m about to call your father.”
“And what makes you think that I wouldn’t be joining you?” He arched a brow.
“Well, you seemed uninterested in this engagement when we had dinner last time.” She held out her hand, palm out. “My phone, please.”
Julian shook his head and scoffed.
“I’m sorry if I made it look like that. But I want you to know that there’s no way I would back out of this engagement, Prudence. As long as my father rules over our family, I must oblige. This is my duty as his son, after all.”
He didn’t return her phone yet and called his father instead.
“`Pa.” Julian was looking at her intently. “Hm. We’re about to board now. I’ll call you again when we get there. Yes… of course, we will make sure to enjoy our vacation.”
Prudence couldn’t help but raise her brows. Julian made it sound like he was anticipating something. Could he be…
She shook her head hard to erase any dirty thoughts that started to enter her mind.
“Give me back my phone.” She tried to snatch it from him, but she failed.
Since he was a lot taller than her, it was too easy for him to just raise his hands, and voila! Her phone was out of reach.
“What are you doing?” Prudence gnashed her teeth while looking at him with narrowed eyes.
Was Julian provoking her? Perhaps he has some hidden agenda against her. Perhaps she should be cautious whenever they were together. She didn’t want to fail her mission. Not now when she was just getting started.
Soon, a playful smile curved on his lips. He then pocketed her phone and held her hand.
“Let’s go.”
“Why did you—”
“You can’t have your phone when we’re together,” Julian said, cutting her off. “I want you and me to focus on getting to know each other. Understand?”
“This is absurd!”
“I don’t think it is.” He gave her a side-way glance just to wink at her.
Prudence exhaled sharply. It looked like she had fallen into a trap!
Ah, lowering her guard on Julian was a huge mistake. She forgot that he could be as sly as anyone if he wanted to.

FRANCIS booked them a villa in a prestigious island beach resort. She and Julian would stay there for a week. Damn, it was too long. What could they possibly do there in one week? She wasn’t that fond of swimming because she was afraid of the water. Prudence almost drowned when she was young, and since then, she has avoided bodies of water.
She immediately checked the rooms the moment they got in. But to her dismay, their villa only had one bedroom.
“This room is mine,” she declared when Julian was about to come in.
“You gotta be kidding me,” he countered. “This villa is for the two of us, which means we have to share every—”
“I’m not sharing this room with you. You can use the sofa—”
“I’m not sleeping on the sofa.” He gently pushed her to the side and went in. “Are you really this conservative?”
Julian turned to her after opening his luggage above the king-sized bed.
“Well…”
“You must be a virgin.” He tilted his head to the side. “I guess my brother didn’t bother to sleep with—”
“Enough.” She cleared her throat. “If you want this room, then this is yours. I’ll sleep on the sofa.”
She grabbed the handle of her luggage and brought it to the living room.
Prudence plopped down on the sofa with pouted lips and started cursing and calling him names inside her head.
“Hey.”
Her lip twitched upon hearing Julian’s voice in the living room.
“What?” she asked without looking at him.
Did he change his mind about the bedroom?
“Here’s your phone.”
She turned to him abruptly and grabbed her phone before he changed his mind.
“I thought you would keep this as long as we’re here.” She opened her phone, and it instantly got flooded with messages and notifications.
“Well, I decided to give it back since you’ll be staying here in the living room. You know, you might need it when you get bored or something.”
Prudence rolled her eyes when he turned around and strode toward the bedroom. So, that was it? Would he really act that way?
“Screw you…” she muttered out of annoyance and frustration.
*Come on, self… Think!*
Prudence must think of a way how to get even. But wait… Perhaps she should use reverse psychology on him.
Julian returned to the living room after a few moments.
“Prudence, you should get dressed. Papa called and told me he made a dinner reservation by the beach.” He checked his wristwatch. “He said it’s at six. Can you prepare in twenty?”
“Are you fucking kidding me, Julian?” She groaned out of frustration. “Why are you telling this to me only now?”
He shrugged.
“I thought you received our week’s itinerary from my father.”
Prudence looked at the time on the grandfather clock in a corner.
“It’s only past four. Why do you want me to hurry—”
“Because I’m using the bathroom first.”
“And it will take an hour for you to take a bath?” she asked with furrowed brows.
Julian responded with a wide grin and rushed inside the bathroom.
She could only groan in frustration.