Ben and Clara I

Ben frowned deeper and asked, "What do you mean by she is missing?"

"I dropped Clara outside your house yesterday so how is that possible? I left after making sure that she entered the mansion." Sam added.

"When I came back yesterday, Clara was nowhere to be seen and—"

Grabbing Philip's collar, Ben shouted, "What the hell did you do Philip? Where is Clara?"

"Ben—" Sam stopped when Philip gestured him not to come over.

"Look Ben, I know you are mad but listen to me okay? It's more important to find Clara right now. We can talk about this later. Please Ben, Clara is more important."

"Important? If she is so important to you then why the fuck are you cheating on her? I swear on God Philip that if I find out you have anything to do with—"

Cutting him off, Philip said, "I swear Ben, I would never harm Clara. She is a very good friend of mine and—"

"Friend? She is your wife, you jerk." Ben shouted.

"Mr Norway is right, brother Ben." Walking towards them, Guang added, "Clara Lafit is his friend, only friend."

"What do you mean Guang?" Sam asked.

"Clara Latif and Mr Norway never got married." Guang added.

Ben widened his eyes in shock and frowned, "What?"

"Are you sure Guang?"

Guang nodded his head and sighed, "Yes brother Sam, I am sure."

"Will you please let go off my collar so that we can have a decent conversation like adults?" Philip asked.

Letting go off his collar, Ben asked, "Is that true?"

Sitting on the couch, Philip massaged his forehead and said, "Yes, it's true that Clara and I never got married."

"So whatever you both had been doing, the anniversary celebration and everything was fake?" Sam asked.

Philip sighed and nodded his head. Looking at Ben, he smirked, "Didn't you ever notice that Clara never wore a wedding ring? And if you did, didn't you ever wonder why?"

Ben pursed his lips and frowned deeper. He did notice her empty ring finger but he always ended up ignoring it but who would've thought that she didn't wear one because she wasn't married.

But why did Clara lie to him? Why did she pretend that she was married when she wasn't? Why did she decide to stay with Philip and pretend to be married rather than being with him?

'Why did you do that Clara?' He thought.

"I did ask her to wear one otherwise people would doubt our relationship but she always turned me down." Philip added.

"Why? Why would you both pretend to be married? What are you hiding Philip and where is Clara?" Sam asked.

"I will tell you the truth but—" turning towards Ben, Philip added, "You cannot lose control because whatever I did, I did it to save my love."

Pausing for a while, Philip took a deep breath. "Clara and I never got married because all of this was an act. When my family found out that I already had someone in my life, they threatened me that if I did not marry any other woman, they would kill my lover. I was very confused and frustrated. I had no idea what I was supposed to do because I didn't want to him go but I also didn't want him to die and—"

Cutting him off, Ben frowned, "Wait a minute, did you just say him?"

Philip sighed and took out his phone from his pocket. He then called someone, "Honey can you come inside for a bit?"

After a minute, a man dressed in a white denim t-shirt and black jeans stepped inside the mansion.

Walking towards him, Philip wrapped his arms around his shoulder. "This is Matt, my long-time boyfriend and fiance."

"What? They are a gay couple?" Huiling whispered.

"Uh huh."

"But both of them are so handsome and—"

Cutting her off, Huang frowned, "What did you say?"

Sticking her tongue out, Huiling vigorously shook her head, "Ugly, very ugly."

Coming out of his stupor, Ben frowned, "So you were with him last night?"

"Yes."

"So you both are a couple?"

"Yes."

"Then what the hell were you doing with my Clara?" Ben shouted. Only if his parents and elders were not present, Philip would've been dead by now.

After asking Matt to leave, Philip sat down on the couch and continued, "After my family found that I was into men and that I was a boyfriend, they freaked out. I told them that I would leave the country with Matt and never come back but they didn't agree with that as well. Instead they threatened me to leave him and marry a woman and if I didn't, they would hire someone and get Matt killed. I was scared, very scared. I didn't want to lose him but at the same time I had to do something to keep him safe and that is when Clara came into the picture."

Pausing for a while, he added, "I—I had seen you and Clara together many times in different places so I knew that you both were in a relationship. I wanted to be with a woman who already had someone in her life so that it would be easy for me to leave her in the future and since I already met Clara a couple of times during social events, I knew that she would understand me. I was looking for a way to lure her into my plans when suddenly the bankruptcy of the Lafit family popped up."

"So you took advantage of that and forced Clara to act like your life?" Sam asked.

Philip chuckled and asked, "You think luring Clara is that easy? She might look all cute and sweet but damn that woman is stubborn. When I first met her, she straightaway told me about Ben that there is no way she would marry anyone apart from him. I tried to convince her but she refused to listen to me. When I told her that if she doesn't marry me, the Lafit family would be doomed, she snapped back at me and told me that she doesn't care. All she cares about is Ben."

"How did you convince her into this then?" Zian asked.

...