Chapter 4

“You said it yourself, Liberty. It’s his prenuptial property. It doesn’t make sense to add my name to the title deed since I didn’t pay a penny for the house. I think we should forget about it.”

Zachary did Serenity a huge favor by handing her the keys to the house the moment they got married. She could move in right away, solving her housing predicament.

Serenity was not going to request that of Zachary. Of course, she would not refuse if Zachary added her name on his own accord. Now that they were husband and wife, Serenity made up her mind to spend the rest of her life with him.

It was just a passing mention by Liberty, but knowing her sister who was self-reliant and not driven by greed, Liberty did not dwell on the matter.

After a series of interrogations, Serenity successfully moved out of her sister’s place.

Liberty wanted to drop her off at Brynfield, but Sonny happened to wake up. The little guy was crying for his mama the moment he opened his eyes.

“You should attend to Sonny. I don’t have a lot of stuff. I can move them myself.”

Liberty needed to feed her son and get a start on lunch. Her husband would call her out for doing nothing at home should he return with no food on the table.

Left with no choice, Liberty said, “Be careful on the road. Are you coming here for lunch? Bring your husband along.”

“I need to get to the shop in the afternoon, so I can’t make it for lunch. My husband has his plate full at work. He’s going away for business in the afternoon, so it might be some time before I can bring him to meet you.”

Serenity lied.

She knew nothing about Zachary, but Grandma May mentioned that his life revolved around work. He would sometimes go out of town for business, away for days on end. Without a concrete idea of when Zachary would be free, Serenity did not make a commitment in case she could not keep it.

“He’s going on a business trip the same day he got married.”

Liberty found Zachary to be inconsiderate toward Serenity.

“We’ve only got our marriage license and not the wedding. The way I see it. He should go on these trips and make more money since the expenses will pile up. I should get going, Liberty. Go and feed Sonny.”

Serenity waved her sister and nephew goodbye before hauling her suitcase down the stairs.

She had heard about Brynfield but never entered the neighborhood before.

She hailed a cab and went straight to Brynfield. Once there, it then occurred to Serenity that she forgot to ask Zachary the floor his place was on.

Serenity pulled out her phone to call Zachary, but he might not pick up since he was at work. Still, she decided to call him through WhatsApp.

Zachary was in a meeting. Everybody in the conference room had set their phones to silent mode as no personal calls could be taken during this time.

He had also muted his phone. As his phone was put on the table, Zachary quickly noticed the incoming call from Serenity.

Zachary did not save her contact when they exchanged numbers. With Serenity’s profile name, “Mermaid in the Deep Blue Sea” popping out on WhatsApp, Zachary canceled the unidentified call without a second thought.

He then blacklisted Serenity’s number.

In the dark about Zachary’s act, Serenity went on to try messaging since he was not picking up.

Serenity: [Mr. York, I’m at Brynfield now, but I don’t know which floor your place is on.]

Serenity typed the message and tapped send, only to find that her text could not reach the number.

She stared blankly at the screen of her phone.

“Why can’t I reach his number? We exchanged numbers at City Hall. Did I get the number wrong?”

Serenity mumbled to herself as she thought hard and long about whether there was a gap in her memory.

Having determined she got the right number, Serenity arrived at one possibility – Zachary had blacklisted her number.

Did he forget that they just got married?

Truth be told, she would have drawn a blank too about having a husband if she were to continue living with her sister.

Serenity later called Grandma May. After reaching Grandma May on the phone, Serenity uttered, “Nana, I moved out of my sister’s place, and I’m now at Brynfield, but I don’t know Mr. York’s… Uh… Do you know what floor Zachary’s place is on?”

Grandma York was speechless.

“Hang on, Serenity. I’ll call Zack right now.”

The old lady had no clue either.

The house and car were bought recently so Zachary could vet Serenity out. Grandma May only found out now that her oldest grandson bought a house at Brynfield after the couple got their marriage license.

Grandma May ended the call and wasted no time getting ahold of Zachary.

After blacklisting his bride’s number, Zachary put the phone back on the table and carried on with the meeting. Less than three minutes later, his mobile screen lit up. Seeing that it was Nana, Zachary accepted the call.

“I’m in a meeting, Nana.”

Zachary’s husky voice came through. “Anything can wait until I get home.”

“Zack, what’s the unit number of the place you bought at Brynfield? Serenity’s there now, but she doesn’t know where the place is specifically. Don’t you have her number? Go and tell her.”

Zachary raised his sleek brow. Oh. Now he remembered.

He got hitched today to a woman he had never met but Nana was deeply fond of. He believed her name was Serenity. Moments ago, Zachary had blacklisted his wife’s number.

“Nana, tell her it’s apartment 808 on the eighth floor of Block B.”

“Sure. I’ll let her know. Carry on with your meeting.”

The old lady was a brisk character, hanging up the call and passing the message to Serenity.

Zachary stared at his phone in silence for a moment before taking Serenity out of the banned contacts.

He saved Serenity’s contact and sent her an apologetic text message.

Zachary: [I’m sorry. I forgot who you were earlier.]

Serenity did not take the incident to heart.

Grandma May’s sons and daughters-in-law thanked Serenity personally when the latter saved their mother’s life. By the time the grandchildren made it to the hospital for a visit, Serenity was long gone. Hence, it was hard for Zachary to keep track of a stranger like Serenity.

Even though Nana had mentioned Serenity more than a few times, Zachary paid no mind and attached no importance to it. He could barely remember Serenity’s name.

Serenity: [It’s fine. Just do your thing. I’m moving my stuff up the stairs.]

Zachary: [Do you need help?]

Serenity: [I only have a suitcase. I can move it myself. Besides, are you going to come back and help if I really need it?]

Zachary: [No.]

He had a busy schedule.

How could he find the time to help her move?

Serenity responded with a cry-laughing emoji before going radio silence. She did not want to get in the way of his work.

Zachary had also quit the messaging. There was nothing to talk about since they hardly knew each other.

His only hope was for a docile wife who would not trouble him over the pettiest things. He had no time to give her the time of the day.

Placing his phone back on the table, Zachary lifted his head and noticed that all eyes were on him.