A REASON TO SUSPECT

Back to the Black SUV car, Liana couldn't help but feel embarrassed. She took a deep breath and began to explain, "I'm sorry that you have to witness your colleague's new wife exchanging words on her wedding day. I'm not usually that fierce, but I just fade up with tolerating their excesses."

The man chuckled. "You did nothing wrong ma'am. Evil people deserve to be treated even worse than that. In fact, if Mr. Christian were to be present to witness this, trust me, he'll even give you more support to fight back. I've always known him to be one who fights against women being bullied."

Just then, his phone rang.

It was Mr. Christian.

"What is keeping you guys for so long? Did they refuse to release her belongings to her? Tell me, and I'll get all of them arrested immediately!" He bursted out as soon as Ken placed the phone on his ear.

"Five minutes, boss. Five minutes and we'll be at the house." Mr. Ken replied.

Liana's heart began to beat faster than usual. She was feeling uneasy that on the first day of meeting her in-laws, she's already giving them a bad impression of a wife that is not punctual in her dealings.

"Mr Christian is waiting for us at his apartment already. He said once we drop your stuff there, we're driving straight to the reception venue."

“Alright.” Liana nodded.

In less than three minutes, the car pulled over in front of a large pyramidal structure.

It was an old looking apartment with exquisite features that has made it outstanding for years in the neighbourhood.

"Welcome to your new home, Mrs. Christian." Her husband opened his arms to give her an embrace.

In Liana's eyes, everything about the apartment looks familiar as if she's been there before now.

Her feet start to dangle as she tries to lift them up from the ground, her eyes rolling at the familiar features of the living room.

"Hey, is everything okay? You've been quiet." Christian asked when he noticed that she hadn't moved an inch from the doorway.

Liana blinked with a faint smile.

"This place seems so familiar. Maybe.... I've been here before. Or... I might have seen it in a dream." She explained.

Christian chuckled. "That's simple. It just means that we're actually destined for each other, how?”

The familiar feeling and the thought of past experiences linked to the house began to give her some light headache.

They both laughed, but Christian quickly took his eyes off her sight when it began to turn red, but before that, Liana had caught a quick glance of the redness already.

She shook her head faintly to displace the numerous thoughts in her mind.

'Well, I know that an occurrence like this is bound to happen. By the way, he's only seeing me as a replacement, which is the same on my own end." She thought to herself.

While Christian and Mr. Ken took over arranging her belongings in the bedroom, she took a gentle walk along the corridors, and the more she took a look at things in the house, the more intense her headache got as the familiar feelings got stronger.

"Liana. You don't look okay. Here, take a glass of water and relax for a few moments." Christian suggested as he descended the stairs and found her almost stumbling to the ground.

The moment she finished the glass of water, she was relieved.

"I'm sorry, Christian. I was involved in a terrible accident at twenty three. I barely had any knowledge of my past, but my parents said I shouldn't worry about that as there's nothing serious about my past. But the thing is .... Anytime I try to get back my memories, I end up having a serious headache." Liana explained.

Christian lowered his gaze and swallowed bitterly. "Sorry for that. I'll advise that we forget about the past now and start living our present."

"Do you want to take some rest?" He asked.

"Nope" Your folks are waiting for us right? It's already bad enough that we kept them waiting for long. We better get going. I can still take a little nap in the car before we get there." Liana suggested."

As they reached the Marriott Western Hotel, a large crowd was already seated on a round table at the VIP corner.

Liana stood frozen. She lost consciousness of where to place her feet when the numerous eyes fell on her.

Christian gently wrapped his hands around her waist and walked her to the seat, introducing her to everyone.

"Oh wow! Look how my grandson still managed to marry such a beautiful lady even in his mid–forties!" Christian's grandmother, Margaret blurted out, joyfully opening her arms to welcome Liana.

"Everyone, now I can die in peace, knowing fully well that I have such a beautiful daughter in-law! The old woman added, making the room to boom with laughter

Soon, a young lady walked in with a little boy of approximately four.

Immediately, the boy ran over and hopped on Christian's body.

"Welcome daddy. Is she my new mummy?" The little boy asked, and without waiting for Christian's response, he jumped on Liana's body as well.

"Can I call you mummy?" He asked, his cute white eyes fixed on Liana's face, anxiously waiting for her response.

Liana was numb. She rolled her eyes between the little boy and the woman he walked in together with, then she shifted her gaze to Christian, but their expressions were all unreadable

There was a slight resemblance between the boy and Christian, but he didn't mention anything about having a son while introducing himself to her.

She blinked and began to stutter. "I....I" her eyes still locked on Christian for some explanations.

"Oh. I'm sorry you were caught unawares. This is my son, Michael. He's five years old."

Christian explained, smiling as he placed his hands on the boy's shoulders.

Liana widened her eyes, her lips partly opened to demand for more explanation, but the lady that walked in with Micheal interrupted immediately.

"Hey, relax your nerves, Mrs. Christian. Your husband and I are just cousins. Nothing more." The lady explained.

"Yeah. She's right." Christian cut in.

"That's Annabel. My dramatic cousin that I told you about." He added, and everyone in the room bursted out with laughter, reducing the rising tension in Liana's eyes.

"Hey Michael." Christian turned to his son.

"Just address her as aunty for now so that you won't scare her away."

"No problem. I'm fine by whatever name the little boy chooses to call me." Liana opined.

Michael's face flushed with excitement.

Having tried to conceive her own child but was threatened by her ex-husband never to get pregnant, Liana couldn't reject Michael's kind gesture to call her his mum. Aside from that, there's always a sharp pain that strikes her heart whenever she tries to look into Michael's eyes.

Right there, she felt a strong connection with the little boy in a way that left her wondering if there's more to him than just being Christian's son from another woman.

As the meals were served, Christian carefully dished out a plate of warm fried olives with tangy cornichon, leaving aside the spicy hot mustard, and set the plate before Liana.

She giggled.

"How did you know my favourite meal? And how did you know I'm allergic to spicy hot mustard unlike what most people prefer?" she asked, knitting her brows in confusion.