If it wasn't Faye George cackling with another man in the middle of signing her marriage contract, then who else?
After all, the marriage registration wasn't much of a big deal, was it? Just a result of a mutual agreement to be legally married on paper for 2 years before annulment. Yes…it could be considered a real marriage because of the legal system, but—splitting and erasing its record was pretty easy. The terms were also decided by the couple in this case. So yeah, it was different than a proper court wedding.
Despite this fact, Faye would have appreciated her 'husband-to-be' spending 5 straight minutes, without having to to take a call. Apart from her, other people like the registrar himself, Fivio his assistant and Crest his lawyer, had a thing or two to do with their time, other than sit and wait for almost an hour.
About 2 hours earlier when she joined them, they made a stop at an high end store, to get a few things for her, per Fabian's instruction. He was to meet them at court later. Now she was sure they bit their lips in regret, wishing they accepted her offer to get them something to eat.
Unfortunately, there still wasn't much she could do now. They wouldn't let her move an inch, and were also instructed not to dart their eyes away from her for anything. 'How mean of him.' Faye pouted.
Darting her gaze back to the registrar, she couldn't help but sigh. The poor man. He didn't dare complain and wear a frown at Fabian's nonsense. He seemed rather afraid and way cautious than he should've been around them.
Faye guessed that was the reason he found his funny bone very quickly. After a while, his shoulders eased and his contrived humor shifted to an authentic one. Awkwardness finally disappeared, and Faye equally felt relieved.
The fact that she was signing whatever type of marriage contract with an insanely rich and powerful Fabian Scholar, didn't make her less of a human being.
"I'm so sorry." Faye begged, after the laughter died. "I believe he'll be back soon." She sighed again.
"Oh come on ma'am!" The middle aged man waved off dramatically.
"Sorry guys." She turned to Fivio and Crest, who were striving to maintain a tough exterior. Fivio shook his head.
"Oh, us? Don't worry Faye, we're fine__"
A thunderous rumble from his stomach erupted that instant! And Faye bursted into immediate chuckles.
"It seems you don't have to speak too much." She wiggled her brows playfully at the both of them, watching them trying to deny that the sound wasn't from either of them.
As she laughed louder, leaning towards the registrar Mr. Ghu, Faye whispered to him as if sharing a secret about the two tomato-red-faced men beside them.
Their laughter intensified, and another rumble sounded, sparking another round of uncontrollable laughter. Lost in their amusement, they failed to notice the presence of the 6-foot-tall, modelesque young man in the room.
His gaze was deep and piercing. His eyes threatened to avert itself from Faye, but looking at her was just too refreshing and it felt so right.
Her laughter was so contagious, that the end of his lips were raised before he even knew it. But something about how she leaned towards the person opposite her drew his brows together in displeasure, eventually forcing him to avert his gaze. The temperature dropped by a few degrees. Especially for his assistant and lawyer who were the first to notice him.
"Welcome back sir." Fivio, his assistant, cleared his throat, swallowing a lump when he saw the look on his boss' face.
At once, they noticed his presence and reduced laughing but didn't stop. Faye rolled her eyes even, before turning her attention away from him.
Without saying a word, he went to join them and sat next to her. However, it was clear his silence carried an undertone of something that made the registrar adjust uncomfortably.
'I hope I haven't crossed my limits.' Ghu tapped his fingers.
"Continue." Fabian's rich voice sounded. He thought to apologize once he returned, but that was under deep contemplation now.
"Okay." Mr Ghu bent his head, and adjusted his glasses to proceed.
"Ha." Faye scoffed, folding her arms. They turned. "What?" She retorted, picking up the pen in front of her. "Let's proceed."
They all turned again.
'How unbelievable? He couldn't even apologize!'
"Here." Mr Ghu pushed the file towards them. "You both are to sign here." He pointed to them.
Fabian then took his pen, and signed without hesitation. Faye was genuinely a bit surprised, looking at him, but in an almost unreadable expression.
His thick brow arched. "What?"
She adjusted, snapping out of 'whyland'. "Nothing." She replied.
He pushed the contract towards her, keeping the biro inside the chest pocket of his white long sleeve shirt. All this time, her eyes were on the contract.
'It's okay girl. You'll be fine. In 2 year's time. Just 2 years.' she comforted herself, pushing the ink of the biro forward, signing at once.
"By the acts of our constitution, you may now be considered husband and wife." The registrar smiled. "You may now__"
"Sign!" Faye butted. "You both may now proceed to sign." She tilted her head.
Mr Ghu raised his hand in objection "but__"
"Come on now." She gestured to the young men who exchanged glances. They looked at Fabian, but he didn't even notice. His eyes were on Faye.
Nonetheless, they were going to sign anyway, so they proceeded.
Feeling Fabian's piercing gaze on her, Faye clutched the pen so hard that it threatened to break. Goodness! She felt the urge to disappear into thin air, as if she could.
***
Now they were all in his car, the couple sitting opposite each other, as per Crest's doing, since Faye insisted on sitting next to them, instead of her newly wedded husband. There's no way he was going to join the three of them, so it was a no brainer what he had to do, with Fivio's help, to get the two to sit directly opposite each other.
"So…"Fabian cleared his throat. "Do you want to be anywhere else apart from your house?"
'Apart from your car you mean?'
Swallowing an imaginary lump, she shook her head. "No. Thank you."
Then she remembered Fivio and Crest hadn't eaten anything yet. "Actually yes." She licked her lips, forcing her husband to avert his gaze as swiftly as possible.
'Love.' Fivio smiled sheepishly, shaking his head as he observed Fabian's reaction.
"A restaurant."
Without saying a word, he knocked on the partition, and it rolled down.
"To Glitters, please."
"Yes sir." The chauffeur replied before the partition rolled up.
"Fivio, make a reservation now." He ordered in a tone that spelt out the fact that he wasn't familiar with repetitions.
Then an awkward silence ensued. The type that had Fivio counting the number of silver cars he spotted, once he was done reserving the most exclusive and private table for them.
Crest, on the other hand, for the 5th time going through the file that contained the new couple's agreement. Asides their marriage certification…which was pretty baseless.
As for Fabian and Faye, they were both buried on the screen of their devices. Fabian rounding up work stuff, while Faye was on her notepad typing "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH…!" away, hoping Crest and Fivio wouldn't see or notice.
When Fabian was done, a satisfactory smile made its way to his lips.
Thankfully, the restaurant wasn't far off from the heart of the city which they were in. Just before they alighted, Faye invited the driver to join them, without asking for Fabian's permission. She kind of knew he wouldn't make an issue out of it. And he didn't. He wasn't a monster of a person anyway, though she didn't know much about him.
When they got in, Fivio confirmed his reservation, and they were ushered in. While they were waiting for their orders, a text came in that dropped the smile from her face.
[There's an emergency meeting here at the family house. Be here in 30 minutes. I'm sure you're busy doing nothing after all, so that shouldn't be a problem.] The text read.
But it was the first line of the text that nestled unrest in her chest.
Pausing his discussion with Vincenzo the driver, being the first to notice her temperament "Faye. What's the matter?" Fivio asked with concern laced in his voice. Snappishly, Fabian raised his head.
"Nothing." She smiled, shaking her head. The rest of them turned their attention to her.
"Your face tells me otherwise." He insisted.
She then let out a deep breath, handing her phone to him. "It's a text from my step sister."
"Oh…" his voice trailed off as he raised his head from the screen.
If there was something they knew about her, it was the broken relationship she shared with her family members. So they didn't have much to say.
Fivio could only soft pat. "Sorry about this."
The daggers Fabian shot at him were better unseen. He did not only feel displeased at Fivio's gesture, but he equally felt bad that he didn't notice first.
Still, it didn't mean he could handle the sight of it anymore.
"Let go of her shoulder." he ordered, ignoring the stares as their heads turned to him.
"Oh! Right. I apologize Faye." Fivio immediately retracted.
"What did she say?" Fabian asked, already pissed knowing they were up to no good. They've never been.
"She informed me there's an emergency meeting at our grandpa's house. So I have to be there soon." Her gaze dropped again.
At once, the young man stood to his feet. "I'll take you there."
Both Faye and Vincenzo the driver were about to protest when he blocked them off. "Don't bother." He turned to his chauffeur. "Stay behind, you're famished already. That's the reason she brought us here after all."
Faye raised her head, surprised. Their gaze met and he swallowed again. Then he brought out his wallet and opened it.
"Order as much as you want." He threw a card on the table. "Let's go." he said to Faye, watching her stand to her feet and excuse herself from the table.
"Bye guys. See you some other time." She smiled.
"Bye Faye." They all nodded respectfully, and then she went ahead, walking past Fabian who was only 3 feet away from them when he turned around with his hands in his pocket, and his cotton sleeve rolled up.
"By the way," he glanced at all of them, stopping at Fivio "she's Mrs Faye now."