Chapter 4

They stood there, surprised and Zoe wondered why Avery had decided to kiss her. He said they were going to be having dinner with his mother and siblings, why the hell were there more than three people in the room?

The woman who Zoe registered to be Avery's mother walked over with arms wide open. She hugged Avery not paying attention to her.

"Happy birthday, darling." She said and Zoe turned to look at him.

Birthday? Really? And when they had been busy getting to know eachother, he didn't think to tell her today was his birthday?

"Thanks mum, You didn't have to do all this. I said I wanted just a small dinner." He complained.

"Of course we are having a small dinner. They were just paid to pop the balloons." Felicity replied, turning to her other son. "Aaron, off with all of them."

In less than a minute, the room was cleared much to Zoe's surprise and his sister, a beautiful girl in her teens walked right to her.

"Another one?" She asked, eyeing Zoe. 

"What do you mean by another one? Come sit down Mia." Avery said to her. She eyed Zoe one more time before turning away.

Zoe shook her head at the insolence, wondering just when Avery was going to introduce her to the mannerless child and the stoic young man staring suspiciously at her.

"Come sit, babe." He said stretching his hand to her.

''Babe?" Mia asked as she helped herself to a slice of bacon. "She really is another one."

"Avery?" Felicity called to him when they were all seated at the table. "Who is she?"

"This is Zoe, guys." He said, squeezing Zoe's hands. "My wife."

There were mixed reactions at the table. His mother opened her eyes in shock, Aaron, his brother, the less handsome version of him looked up from his tablet while Mia just couldn't believe her eyes and ears.

"Your what?" Mia exclaimed

"My wife."

There was silence from them for a while making Zoe wonder if they were this calm in such situations.

''Are you crazy?" Felicity asked him. "What do you mean your wife? You broke up with Jasmine a week ago."

"Yes and she's in the past. I met Zoe before, she's the daughter of Margery Madrigal and we've been dating for a while now."

"For a while?" It was Mia's turn to ask him. "Even while you were together with Jasmine?"

Avery looked at her, his mouth opened and Zoe shook her head. He really didn't think this through.

"Yes, Jasmine was just a side piece. Zoe here has been in Maples for a while and now she's back, we just registered our marriage."

"So you were two timing two women." Mia said with an amused look on her face before turning to look at Zoe. "And you are completely fine with that?"

Zoe cleared her throat. She wasn't used to situations like this, now she had no idea what to say.

"It doesn't matter." She replied. "This is the twenty first century, people do lots of things." Mia nodded her head slowly and Zoe wished they could just drop the subject.

"She looks familiar." Aaron said finally. It was the first time Zoe was hearing him speak and his voice held and commanded a lot of power. "Where do we know her?"

"She's the heiress to Madrigal hotels." Avery said to him. "We have done business with them in the past."

 "Margery is your mother." Aaron said, smiling and turning to give his mother a look. "That's interesting."

"I'm glad you all find it so." Avery butted in quickly before more questions would be thrown at them. "She's my wife, we got married few hours ago. There has been no ceremony yet and I'm not sure there will be."

"So no pretty gown and makeup for me then." Mia said, shaking her head while putting a piece of meat inside her mouth.

"None, for now." Avery replied. Zoe noticed he seemed to be the head of the family at the moment since his father had passed away. 

"Now, We finish off the lunch and get dressed for the event. I have already sent a dress up for Zoe, all of you must get ready before 9pm. Yeah?" He asked and after a while Mia and her mother acknowledged the order.

"Aaron?" Avery called to him.

''The women are usually the problem. All I need to do is to put on some suit. Don't worry, I got you." He replied.

"Great."

Yeah, great. Zoe thought. That went well.

                                *****************

"Your sister hates me." Zoe said to Avery as she sat by the mirror dressed in a red gown. He hadn't told her before hand that they were going to be out to a party on their first day as a married couple. The whole situation was quite ridiculous.

"Mia rarely hates people." Avery replied, clasping his wristwatch. "She just needs to get acquainted with you."

Zoe shrugged her shoulders, wondering when that magic was going to happen.

"They don't seem to believe your little fairy tale and what do you mean by there might be a wedding?"

Avery turned to look at her just as she stood to face him. His eyes travelled down her features and she felt her skin heating from his stare.

"My mother has a thing for weddings and marriages, she holds it sacred. If she says we must have a wedding, then we will have one. For now, I'm buying you a little time.

Zoe shook her head, accepting that she had no other choice but to follow his direction

''Where are we going to?" She asked.

"A company event." He replied without giving it much thoughts. "The company is 50 years today and it's also my birthday, so double celebrations." He added and then turned back to the mirror to give himself an appreciative look. Satisfied, he turned back to her.

"Let's go."

Together they stepped out of the penthouse, into the elevator and made their way down.

''Where are your family?" She asked.

"At the venue already." Avery replied and she nodded, thankful for it. At least, the ride would not be awkward.

Outside, they got into the same limousine he had brought her in and rode quietly to the venue of the event.

"Brace yourself." Avery said to her as soon as the car stopped. "There are going to be lots of flashes."

"I'm used to flashes." Zoe replied, stretching her hands to be helped out of the car. Then the paparazzi began, with flashes of their cameras not in any way nice to her.

'Happy birthday, Mr Trent.'

'Are you and Miss Madrigal here a couple?'

Of course they would ask that question. Zoe thought as she used her hands to shield her face while Avery took her arm, his bodyguards making sure they were not touched in any way.

Immediately they walked into the nicely decorated and equisite hall, a woman came to them while another man took her from Avery.

"You're late sir." The woman said to Avery. "They are ready for your speech."

Avery nodded and allowed them move her to sit with his family. She found herself seated directly beside Mia who eyed her suspiciously.

"Good evening everyone." Avery started. Zoe looked towards the stage and was impressed at how handsome he looked just standing there, the lights doing a perfect job on his skin. "Happy birthday to me and to the company."

There was a fit of cheers from the guests making Zoe smile at how accomplished he must be. He waited for some minutes, properly reminiscing about something and to everyone's surprise, began to hit the microphone with his hands. The crowd covered their ears as they stared at him.

"Now let's play daddy jokes." He started, his voice changing immediately from that of a serious business man's to that of a cocky child's. "What do you call a soup made with Lion?" He asked, grinning with expectation and when the hall was silent, began to laugh hysterically, clapping his hands and pointing at everyone.

"King of soups!" He shouted to everyone's dismay and immediately, the shuttle sounds from the cameras increased, every media outlet capturing and recording as much as they could.

Felicity gasped immediately at her son's behavior. "Oh no!" She exclaimed, turning to her second son whom Zoe realised was on his feet already. "Aaron."

"I'm on it." Aaron said immediately, walking and almost running to the stage, proving that this was a situation they were used to.

Zoe stared, surprised at what was happening to her husband and why he was beginning to make crazy dance steps on stage. Mia on the other hand, placed her hands on her mouth to hide her shock.

"Oh God." She exclaimed. Zoe turned to look at her. "God, not now!" She said again.

"What?'' Zoe asked, shaking Mia's arm. "What the hell is happening to him?"