“Where the hell were you? You are fifteen minutes late.” 

Justin curiously asked his good friend Oliver. He had been waiting for his pal for an hour now. The meeting, on the other hand, was about to begin in a few minutes.

“Sorry, got caught up somewhere.” Justin’s brows tilted with interest at Oliver’s reason. This was interesting, as Oliver Winston was hardly ever late.

“I will tell you after this meeting.” He told Justin so that his friend would drop it for the time being.

After five long damn hours of the meeting, both friends were catching up in Oliver’s office. They were drinking coffee and chowing down on sandwiches.

“So, tell me, what brought you here so late? I doubt you wanted to come here with the smile you still have on your face.” Justin asked him with interest. It was out of the ordinary for Oliver to react in such a manner. He is one of the most composed guys that he has ever met. His emotions are always in check.

“Ha-ha, hilarious. It’s not as big of a deal as you make it out to be. It is just that while I was coming here, I bumped into an interesting girl in a café downtown.” Oliver tried to calm his friend’s nerves. Justin can be really inquisitive when he wants to be.

“And let me guess. You tried to charm your way through and got yourself a date?” Justin asked him with a smirk.

“How I wish that were true, but no. I would have liked to try it, though. But unfortunately, she is a married woman and extremely faithful to her husband. Not that I would have dated her if she wasn’t. A married woman is a big no. Aside from that, the fascinating thing is, while her husband was busy in a meeting, she was busy exploring the town alone with not a single frown on her face.”

Oliver’s last statement triggered something inside Justin. A realization struck him, which did not make him feel good about himself. However, Oliver, unaware of Justin’s musing, continued.

“I asked her if she wanted me to drop her off somewhere, and she flat out declined. Where can you find that kind of woman nowadays? Normally, any woman would be pissed if her husband ditched her for a meeting, but she didn’t have a single ounce of frustration on her face. In our circle, most of them are bitching about their husband or boyfriend when they leave their other half for a meeting, let alone a few days’ trips, but not her. I have to say that the guy is fortunate as it must have taken lots of restraining for him to let her wander around the city alone.”

Justin truly hoped Fiona was not strolling out on her own. He was jerk enough to ignore her since the time they got married, but he didn’t want her to venture out alone. God only knows what might happen to her in this new place.

He tried to block out his own thoughts and listened to Oliver.

“You really like her, don’t you?” Justin asked him curiously.

“Like enough be in a long-term relationship with someone like her, then sure.” Oliver shrugged his shoulders. He was forthright in his response.

“You only met her for a few minutes.” It was strange, even for Justin, to think that his friend liked someone within a matter of a few minutes of a conversation.

“Trust me. Those few minutes were enough to get to know her: a genuine smile, no flirty tricks, and an odd sense of humor. You can’t help but wish to befriend her. And let’s face it, sometimes a few minutes is all it takes to figure out what kind of person someone is, and sometimes even after knowing someone for a lifetime, they can be a stranger to you.”

“Well, now I cannot argue with you on the last line.” Justin shook his head sideways, unable to come up with anything else to say.

Because of their line of work, they are usually aware of the types of people they are dealing with the majority of the time. It happens when you frequently meet plenty of new people on a regular basis.

“Anyway, what is your so-called lady friend’s name?” Justin asked him while taking a sip from his black coffee.

“I don’t know,” Oliver said, a blank expression on his face as he realized he had forgotten to ask her name, but it didn’t matter. It was not like he was going to meet her again.

“Huh! Are you kidding me?” Justin exclaimed with a surprised look on his face. Leave it to Oliver to forget to ask the girl’s name, whom he has developed a liking towards.

“No. I never bothered asking. She is married, for god’s sake! Plus, I doubt we will ever meet again. And to give it a thought, I would have asked her name if you didn’t message me.”

This made Justin roll his eyes. Yeah, blame him for ruining his chance to be friends with a married woman.

“Anyway, that’s enough about me. When am I going to meet your wife? It is sad enough that you guys didn’t have a proper wedding, but turning your honeymoon into a business trip is even worse. Seriously, dude. What the hell were you thinking? This is a whole new level of being a workaholic. “

“Oliver, we had a hush-hush wedding. I know it was wrong to turn our honeymoon into a business trip, but this deal is very important. However, my wife, on the other hand, is extremely supportive of me. Way more than I could possibly imagine. So, to make it up to her, I promised her a proper getaway once everything is settled.” Yes, he is such a jerk for lying so blatantly, especially when the other person is such a good friend of his.

“That is no excuse. We are having dinner tonight, and you better bring your wife with you. I want to meet the girl you’ve decided to get settled down with. It is not every day that ‘The Justin Carter’ like anyone, let alone marry one. She has to be special.”

“Sure, I am positive that you will like her.” He told Oliver casually, but on insight, he was freaking out.

 He really hates his Grams for making him deal with this kind of situation.

Why couldn’t he have a normal grandmother who forced him to go on dates, even blind ones for that matter, or coerce him to meet new girls? But no! Instead, he got stuck with one who emotionally blackmailed him to get married to Fiona.

Damn the planet for having both of their grandmothers be best friends and abnormal humans in this entire universe.

What on earth were they thinking? His grandmother, in particular. Playing him like a fool and staging her own poor health to convince him to get married. And his parents, who were too happy for this marriage to have taken place.

 Not a single word against it.

As Fiona worked at Carter’s Enterprise, his father knew her well. Whereas his mom was concerned, she has also met Fiona a few times. Both his parents were delighted to have her as their daughter-in-law. 

Over the moon, in fact.

Leaving aside the whole situation of being trapped in an unconventional marriage, Justin personally knew that she wasn’t a bad person. Based on what he has seen and observed, she is a decent human. She seemed to be a sweet, sincere, and hard-working person. He has only exchanged a few words with her, but that was way before the marriage fiasco was even in the picture.

He really is a jerk for leaving her alone in the room.

He has hardly exchanged any words with Fiona since they have gotten married. Even before that, they only offered brief acknowledgments or professional briefings. God knows what is going to happen at dinner.

Oliver is one of his really good friends. They went to university together and have maintained a strong bond since then. They’ve never let their professional or personal relationships get in the way of each other. He’ll be surprised if Oliver doesn’t suspect anything is wrong between him and Fiona.

On the other hand, Justin did intend to break the silence with Fiona. That is, once his meeting here was settled, but he was not ready to do it now. Maybe when they reach their home, or better yet, when he gathers enough courage to talk to her. It will be best if she initiates it herself.

He was well aware that he was being a coward about it. But a guy could hope, right?

After Justin’s brief reunion with his good old friend, he walked into their hotel suite and looked around for Fiona. But she was nowhere to be found. He hesitantly knocked on her door, but there was no answer from the other side. So, without thinking, he went into her room, only to find it empty.

Justin had reserved a premium suite in the Hotel Imperial. It was only a fifteen-minute drive away from the airport. The suite he had booked had two rooms and a living area, which was ideal for their current situation. But Justin was worried right now because he could not find his goddamn wife. He would never be able to live with himself if anything were to happen to her. It was six o’clock in the evening, and he was about to call her when she entered their suite through the main door.

Just when Fiona set her foot in the room, Justin didn’t even give her a chance before asking, “Where the hell were you?”

He may have asked her too quickly because as soon as he saw her face, it was enough to send relief through him. But at the same time, he couldn’t help but wonder about her whereabouts.

 His tone, however, was louder than he intended. He realized that when he looked at Fiona’s wide eyes. Even though he could see Fiona was not hurt in any way with his own eyes, his raised voice level was not justified.

“I was... Um...” Fiona was struggling to find the right words when Justin cut her off.

“Never mind. My friend wants to have dinner with us tonight. So I will meet you by seven here.” With that, Justin left. More like hurrying from there.

It was rude, and he knew that as well. He didn’t mean to interrupt her, but he just blurted it out without thinking. There has been far too much silence between them. How the hell is he supposed to talk to her? What the hell is he supposed to do with her, which won’t make him jerk in front of her? Somewhere in his mind, he knew that he was making things worse for them, but apparently, his actions had been far more impulse-like than they had ever been.

Whereas Fiona was concerned, she felt like strangling Justin’s neck for good. 

Who the hell does he think he is? They are both trapped in this marriage in the same way. But no, he believes that he is the victim here. At the very least, she was not cold with him. Nor was she treating him like an invisible person or dictating him around like a queen. 

Emily was absolutely right about him. He is unquestionably a jerk who deserves to have his neck strangulated by her or anyone else, for that matter. She was wrong to give him any kind of benefit of the doubt.

‘Damn you, Emily, for ruining my innocent mind.’ She thought, but that’s what happens when you have a crazy best friend.