Chapter 4: 

Nadia's POV:

"Who's Cecilia?" Zack whispered in my ear.

"My mother" I answered him but then I regretted opening my stupid mouth.

Mom and Sarah kept talking about Leticia, Zack's mother. And I could sense Zack's muscles flinch under his shirt, he obviously was still attached to his mother so I had no idea of what has gotten to me when I interrupted them to change the subject.

"Where's Maria?" I asked Sarah who was still sharing a conversation with mom.

"Well, she's in California, she's staying with her cousin Anna" She smiled at me genuinely "She apologizes for not making it today"

"What about Sam?" I remembered him out of a sudden.

"He's in Canada with your brother" She replied casually.

Speaking of my brother: Adam, he couldn't make it to the wedding since he had an important exam that day and he had to stay in Canada. He apologized for two weeks on a road but since it was a fake marriage, I couldn't care less about who attended the wedding.

"You have a brother?" Zack whispered in my ear quite surprised.

"Yeah, he's three years older" I chuckled at his expression since I kind of forgot to mention that small detail. Or big detail.

"And why haven't I met my brother and mother in law?" He raised his eyebrows at me.

"Because I had my reasons" I smirked him, mischievously.

"Playing with that card again" He frowned at me but replaced his expression with a smile.

I didn't even care about their conversation since my mind decided to take me to the past. I knew aunt Leticia, she used to be my mother's friend from college. While Sarah and Leticia studied law, mom studied business management. I met Leticia ten years ago, she came to my thirteenth birthday party with Sarah and her two children. She was amazing and full of life. God bless her.

"You know kids" Sarah brought me back to present "When Leticia gave birth to Zack, she called Cecilia right away" She chuckled to herself, as if she just remembered a joke.

"Yeah, I remember, I was 6 months pregnant with Nadia" Mom laughed for few seconds then gained her voice back "You remember what she told me?"

"She said and I'm quoting her 'I have a boy so you better keep your daughter for him'" Sarah smiled sadly, a tear crept on her cheek "Leticia didn't want to know the gender of her baby, she wanted it to be a surprise"

"She was full of life" Mom stated as a matter of fact.

I could tell that mom, Sarah and Leticia, they were best friends, just from the sad smiles they both both had when they remembered her. They shared a lot of priceless memories and the looks they had when they were reliving those moments, it showed how much they were disorientated and broken.

I unconsciously turned my head to look at Zack, his face was as hard as a rock while his eyes were focused on the ground as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. I held his hand and tightened my grip of it to get his attention.

"Are you okay?" I asked, not sure of what I was waiting from him to say.

"I'm fine" He nodded bidding a smile on his face but I could notice the tear which threatened to escape his eyes.

Putting my feelings toward him aside, my heart hurt at the sight of him in that position because I surely knew how it felt to lose a parent. At first, I denied that my father actually died but then when the truth had crept to my brain, I accepted that I would never see him again although every once in a while, I waited for him to enter through the door with my favorite chocolate or ice cream.

I felt like I had to help him even though I still had no feelings for him after spending so much time with him, seven months to be specific. Therefore, I intertwined my fingers with his and thought of a way to leave that place.

"I'm sorry but I need to steal Zack for a dance" I looked at Zack, who looked kind of surprised.

"Uh, of course go ahead enjoy your youth" Mrs. Collins, who was surprisingly quiet throughout the whole talk, she giggled, making the others chuckle with her.

Different types of music were played like I had insisted and back then we were in the half way through 'Bust your windows' By Jasmine Sullivan. And suddenly Zack steadied himself to dance. He outstretched his hand to me, a smirk covering his face.

'I wish it wouldn't be like the first dance' I thought to myself as I stepped in his hands and let him lead the dance.

He stared at me for few seconds before sliding his arm on my waist and pulling me to his chest while his free hand held mine possessively. I couldn't help but smile at him since I remembered our first dance when I felt trapped in my place, I was in the same space I created to tease Zack as I couldn't pay attention to anything besides him. I was in fact imagining how things could be different if we got married for love nor for alliance.

I honestly wished that my marriage was real not fake, I wanted to experience those things for real. Not some sort of game I was playing to protect people I loved, just because I was weaker than people expected me to be and I was actually afraid of losing grandpa.

/*It's pathetic*/

Whenever I asked Zack to do something, he did the opposite. Just like kissing me in front of everybody. I was actually shocked in the beginning because I wasn't expecting it then I smiled at him instead of pushing him away because I remembered that we were supposed to be a cute couple.

However, I literally felt nothing, it didn't give me butterflies nor a cheerful voice in the back of my head. It felt like I was an actress in a movie and I was asked to be a part of a kissing scene that the director forced me to do and I was obliged to accept.

When the song was almost over, Zack did something I didn't expect, he turned me around like I was dancing Tango and made us lean back as our faces were literally inches away. We posed for few seconds before standing up again and continuing dancing like that move didn't happen.

"Was it stupid enough?" Zack stared at me, challenging me.

"No comments" I answered him because I knew exactly how to stop his game: Staying out of it.

Just when Zack was about to talk, the song was over and people started applauding for us as waiters walked-in with a gigantic Vanilla cake which had five layers. They handed us a knife, an empty dish and two cups of juice.

Mrs. Collins cared about details even more than the event itself. She made us follow every command without giving us time to adjust what we were doing. she made us rehearse until we couldn't stand it and we decided to run away. Literally.

People gathered around us as I held the knife to cut the cake but then Zack put his hand on top of mine, brushing his thumb with my skin, I lifted my head, waiting to see a smirk on his face but instead I noticed a genuine smile. A smile he never offered me before and seemed so warm and breathtaking.

Hand in hand, we cut a small slice of the cake, lifted it together and put it on a plate. I couldn't neglect Mrs. Collins' hints to feed Zack myself so I dig the fork in the pastry and lifted a small piece; I held the fork up high for him as he he opened his mouth and moved it closer to me, never breaking our contact.

The moment the fork was in Zack's mouth, he closed his eyes, obviously enjoying its taste. I couldn't stop staring at him. What was happening to my brain? He was a normal guy chewing a cake not some superhero lifting a car with one hand. I shook my head to take those thoughts out of my mind as Zack was looking at me mischievously.

'When did he open his eyes' I mentally slapped myself.

"You like the view?" He lifted another fork, cut a piece of cake and held it in front of me "My turn to enjoy the view"

"Thanks" I said before feeling the sweet flavor of vanilla dancing in my mouth "Tasty" I moaned absurdly.

"You have something..." His thumb reached the corner of lips and wiped the cream off "On you mouth" He whispered, huskily.

We froze for few seconds, totally forgetting that everybody in the wedding were watching us until I blinked couple of times to bring myself back to reality since I was drowning in the beauty of his eyes, which held so many unspoken words that I was surprisingly interested to know.

There were so many times where I couldn't make sure if Zack was really a sweetheart or he was showing off in front of people because sometimes he would act like a stupid guy who didn't even care about me and occasionally, he would be protective and adoringly gentle. But when I remember that what we had was fake and only for the act, I smile at the thought that after one year, I would get rid of him for good.

'Or will you?' My inner voice snapped at me.

Shaking those thoughts out of my head, I lifted the cup of juice and gulped its contain in a hurry; I needed to wake myself up from the daze I was feeling because I was puzzled and out of my comfort zone.

"Honey, wouldn't you have one last dance before talking to your guests?" Mrs. Collins gestured at the dance floor drawing a megawatt smile on her face.

"Well..." Zack ran a hand through his hair nervously so I knew that he was going to disappoint her.

"Of course we will, shall we" I smiled devilishly at Zack who frowned at me but still held my hand and leaded me to the dance floor.

"You have no idea how much killing you is so tempting" He whispered in my ear when the music started playing.

"Oh and how will you do it?" I giggled.

"By doing this" He put his hand on my waist pulling me to his hard chest "And maybe this" He started drawing circles on my arm.

"What the..." I retorted but his previous move kind of blocked my thoughts and no word could escape my mouth.

"If you keep teasing me, you'll end up dead" He exhaled in my ear "I guess you just skipped a beat"

"What are you talking about?" I could finally ask through shaking breathe.

"I can hear your heartbeat" He chuckled through my hair "Am I making your nervous?"

"No" My answer looked and was as silly as my next words "You're my husband, aren't you?"

"Then I'm allowed to do this" He squeezed my fingers in his big hand comparing it to mine, to the point that it hurt then he planted a quick kiss on my lips, which made my cheeks burning from heat as I surely looked like a tomato.

After what he had done, I pulled back immediately as he just stared at me smirking and I sent him a 'you're going to regret this' glare. He lifted his shoulders in defense as if it was the most casual thing in the world.

"Next time don't even think of kissing me" I glared at him.

"Why? I'm your husband now" He winked at me, mischievously.

"I want it to be from my real husband not you" I mumbled, feeling like I was defeated.

Of course I wanted to have that moment, I mean being in that position with someone special whom I would spend my life with under name of love not with "My fake husband" who had one goal in life which is making my life a living hell.

After what seemed like two minutes, we were walking around the garden greeting people, who gave us the best wishes of a happy marriage life, with advice on how to handle each other when times get rough and how to enjoy every second while it still counted.

Half of guests in the wedding were grandpa's friends and parents of most of my friends, who obviously weren't invited since they could easily blow my cover as they had known me for so long. Moreover, I was scared of their reaction because they'd be mad at me for hiding such a big detail of my life.

An hour later, I was in the car heading home with Zack, after making sure that we had spoken to everybody and thanked them for being a part of a happiness. Mrs. Collins insisted that we should've traveled somewhere for our honeymoon but we both thought it was a bad idea and blamed college for it.

"You can turn the radio on, I don't mind" Zack stated as I opened the window desperately craving for oxygen.

"No one is here, you can stop acting" I snapped at him.

"I know, I was just trying to be nice" I felt his eyes on me even though I wasn't looking at his side.

"Don't" I said coldly making him pull aside the road.

"What's wrong with you?" He raised his voice.

"Don't you dare act like my husband again" I felt rage pricking on my nerves.

"Oh! So it's all about the kiss, isn't it?" He squeezed my shoulder making me turn my head to face him "Why is it bothering you that much?"

"Because you're not my fantasy man, the man I had always dreamt of marrying" My statement came out loud and clear because after it, he didn't find what to say as he started the engine again, his hand tightening on the steering wheel till his knuckles turned white.

The rest of road was deadly uncomfortable and awkward, I leaned my head on the window, staring at the dark sky and shining stars as my eyelids were heavy and it was so hard to open my eyes...

"We're here, wake up" I blinked few times before opening my eyes to find Zack watching me with puppy eyes and messy hair.

"Oh OK" I mumbled as I unfastened my seat belt.

As I was about to step out, Zack opened the car's door for me sending me one his Megawatt smiles which made my temper rise immediately but I decided to let it go because I was tired and needed to have some rest.

The apartment was in the 5th floor of a well-designed building which screamed "Rich" and wasn't far from college; Mrs. Collins chose the apartment and everything in it including the furniture and the housekeeper.

Speaking of housekeepers, I had really hated the idea of having one to take care of my house because I was a girl after all and if I had ever owned a house, I would take care of it myself. Therefore having someone else to handle my house was annoying me. Ann was everything except a housekeeper because in the beginning, she started working as nurse for grandpa then after what happened with her husband, she became a part of our lives and she instantly snapped at us to pay us back therefore we asked her to cook for us; then with time, she became more than a family member.

I was walking with my wedding dress, my head spinning around still wondering why Mrs. Collins insisted that I should keep it on and wondering how was I going to bear a whole year with Zack under one roof without killing each other or maybe ending up crazy and insane.

"Good evening" A man welcomed us, swinging the big glass door open for us "I'm Collen, I'll be your doormen and I'll be here if anything happens, just press the green button placed in all of the rooms, and you'll get my ears"

"Thanks Collen" I smiled at him as I walked through the door.

"Mrs. Collins, you have a letter" It took me a whole minute to realize that Collen was actually addressing me.

"Thank you" I reached for the letter as Zack stood in front of me.

"Wow, we've got mail already" Zack stated.

I opened the envelop right away and read it "Zack, Nadia, I just want to tell you how happy I am that things actually worked for the best between you two! But I want to advise you to take things slowly and don't..." I kept reading without thinking or even paying attention to the words until I heard chuckles around me and felt Zack's grip on my wrist, leading me the elevator.

"Hey couldn't you wait to read it inside" Zack whispered harshly in my ear as we were inside the elevator.

"Hey, you're hurting me" I stared at him waiting for him to loosen his grip of my wrist "And what do you mean?"

"Read the last sentence again" He gestured at the piece of paper I was holding, as he pressed the button of the fifth floor.

"I advise you to take things slowly and don't push into things .." I felt heat rise into my whole body all the way to my cheeks which I assumed were flushed red from embarrassment.

"My grandma literally passed the limits here" He ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

"She's only thinking of you, don't blame her for that" I stated but he kept messing with his hair to the point that it irritated me a lot therefore without hesitation, I reached for his hand and stopped him "Stop messing your hair, it's distracting"

"Oh, so I'm distracting you Mrs. Collins" He spoke huskily with a huge smirk on his face.

"I'm here trying to help you and all you're doing is smirking at me" I snapped at him but his smirk didn't fade away.

"You want me to distract you my wife" He kept moving closer.

"Stay away Zack" I warned him because I saw the devilish sparkle he had in eyes.

"I should lift you bridal style" He rubbed the back of his neck "Grandma said that it's obligatory and compulsory"

"Nah, since when you really listen to what she says" I chuckled because he always nodded in her face, and did the opposite later.

"Since the day I married you" He leered at me, and without giving me time to react, I was on his shoulders, hitting his back with all my strength but it didn't bother him because I could hear his chuckles rise up, he was as solid as a rock.

"Zack, put me down, right now" I yelled at him as he dialed the password on the keyboard.

"What if I don't want to" He answered me, his voice holding a bit of seriousness and huskiness in it.

'What the hell did I get myself into' I slammed his back even harder. 

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