Chapter 10 - Eighteen Luggage?

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Chapter 10 - Eighteen Luggage?

Ava

"I was angry at Ace," I lied, without batting an eye.

I had always been good at acting. Only two people could catch my lies—Dad and Ace. Although the intensity of Grandpa's scrutiny almost made me stutter, the last thing I wanted was to give him the benefit of the doubt. Aside from wanting a grand wedding, he always wanted Ace to marry for love and happiness, not to save his best friend from a marriage of doom. He would be pretty disappointed in both of us if he found out the truth.

"You were angry at him for more than three months?" Grandpa asked once again.

"Yes, I have quite a temper," I explained to him. "Whenever I get angry, I won't speak to that person for months until my anger melts. Plus, Ace didn't even apologize."

I'm sorry, Ace.

"So we kind of fell out of contact during that time, so I made the rash decision of marrying Simon, which now that I think about was really dumb."

Grandpa's face told me that he agreed with my assessment.

"But I'm glad for that too. I realized my true feelings for Ace through it. I know it's cliche, but I realized I couldn't live without him. There is no one else I would rather be with for the rest of my life. Just before the wedding, I just knew that no matter how mad I was at him, it had to be Ace whom I would marry."

"Did Ace apologize to you in the end?" he asked curiously.

"Of course, he did. It may sound filmy to you, but we both realized our feelings at the same time. He came running to apologize to me, and of course, I accepted. You know the rest of the story. And I'm sorry that your only grandson's wedding wasn't up to your standards because of our mistakes."

Grandpa maintained eye contact with me for a few more moments before he cracked a small smile and said, "It's okay. It's all in the past now. What matters is you are here now as Ace's wife, just like it was always meant to be. I could be happy for that, at the very least." Did literally everyone shipped us? "You should go to Emma now. She will be happy to see you."

I smiled at him. "Thank you, Grandpa."

As I started walking straight to Emma's bedroom, I was impressed with myself. Damn, I should have become an actress. I even convinced someone as tough as Ace's grandpa.

I had already discussed with Ace what I was going to tell Grandpa, so I didn't need to worry about that.

I reached Emma's bedroom and knocked on the door.

"Come in," came a faint voice.

I stepped inside and found the blonde girl sitting quietly on the couch with her notebook, and her school backpack thrown on the floor. Her bedroom was of baby pink color. It was a room of a Disney princess living in a palace.

"Hey, Em, look who's here," I chirped. Her amber eyes lightened up hearing my voice. She closed her notebook and smiled up at me.

"Hey, Ava," she said politely. Despite being sixteen, she wasn't a rebellious teenager, but polite and shy. She wasn't energetic and upbeat like her mother and aunt. Well, neither was Ace. Of course, I don't mean that was a bad thing. However, I often wondered if their dad was a quiet, shy, and reserved person.

"I love your new hair color. I am glad you chose to dye your hair blond with Aunt Chloe," I started talking and sat down beside her on the couch. "You didn't send me a picture after that though. I'm hurt," I feigned.

"I clicked a picture but forgot to send it. Sorry," she said sheepishly. "When I was going to send it after returning from the parlor yesterday, Mom came squealing that Ace was getting married to you, so you can imagine why I forgot after that."

"Understandable," I sympathized.

"Anyways, thank you for motivating me for this though. I love this color. I don't know why I believed it would look hideous on me," she said, then got a little hesitant, "You're sure I look nice, right?"

"Of course, you look great! If I was into girls, I would totally ask out a cutie like you!" I exclaimed enthusiastically, and she ducked her head shyly while chuckling lightly. I softened my voice and added, "Plus, you wanted to be a blonde, so there's nothing to thank me for. You just needed a push, for which by the way, you have Ava Ka—Valentino now."

"Is it mandatory to change one's surname after marriage?" Emma questioned curiously.

I shook my head in denial. "It really is the bride's choice, whether she wants to use her husband's surname or not. I have always loved the Valentino surname, so why not?"

She smiled, showing her cute dimples. This time, she didn't duck her head.

"You should always keep smiling, Em. Damn, look at those cute dimples. It's a sin to hide these gorgeous smiles from the world." This girl seriously needs a confidence boost, so I always made sure to let her know that she was a beautiful person, inside and out.

"You have them too, and so does Ace," Emma responded.

"Yeah, but I am talking about you here. Do you know how cute you look with them?" She just stared blankly, not knowing how to reply to that compliment except to mumble a small thanks. "Okay, now, tell me about your school. Are you liking high school so far?" She was in a private high school.

Despite being born with a silver spoon, I never attended private high school despite Dad insisting. I preferred to enjoy public high school life. It sucked on occasions, of course, but which school was perfect? I overall had a great time.

But I noticed the way Emma's face fell at the question. "School is okay. The teachers are friendly," she answered, giving me a fake smile that I could see through.

I was about to ask her more until Ace knocked on the door. "Hey, Em. How are you?"

"I am good."

He gave her a smile and shifted his gaze to me. "Ava, come down. Our lunch is still waiting. It's going to get cold."

"The colder, the merrier, though," I chirped.

He gave me a stern look. "No. You're not going to eat cold food. Not on my watch, at least." He was well aware that I had a thing for cold food, yet he always forbade me.

I stood up from the couch. "But cold food is tasty, and you know that."

"I know, which is why I am telling you not to," he said, putting his hands in the pocket of his gray sweatpants.

"Ace, you should stop being so mean," I whined, putting my hands over my hips.

He arched an eyebrow and sarcastically said, "Oh, I am sorry for worrying about your health."

"You—" I was interrupted by Emma.

"I am sorry, but you two are really adorable."

"What?" Ace and I let out at the same time.

"Seriously, I am really happy that you two got married," she mumbled, "Totally made for each other."

I glanced at Ace, only to find him looking at me. "How?" I mouthed.

He shrugged his shoulders, letting me know that he had no idea either how we looked made for each other.

To avoid the awkward silence, Ace said, "Let's go down, Ava."

"I haven't freshened up yet, though," I made a last shot at having cold food.

"If you haven't done that yet, you are not going to die if you did that a little later. Now come," he ordered.

"Yes, sir," I mumbled grumpily, but he seemed to hear it as I found him narrowing his eyes in my direction. "What's wrong?" I asked innocently.

"Nothing at all." He gave a tight-lipped smile.

"Em, I'll see you later then. Your brother here won't let me eat cold food in peace. So bye for now." I could feel Ace's glare at me, but I didn't care.

After that, Ace and I made our way downstairs to the dining hall. I didn't know why we had to eat there. Eating in the room was more comfortable. But oh, well, I was starving, so I wasn't going to complain right now.

Once we were seated and started eating, Ace spoke up, "Since there is no one else here, should we discuss my conditions for you right now?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Okay, so first of all, you always have to eat in the dining hall whenever you are home." I gave him a wide-eyed horrified look, and he rolled his eyes. "No need to look like the sky has fallen over your head. I'm well aware it's not very common nowadays and kinda weird too, but no one in this family eats in their bedroom. Especially breakfast and dinner on working days and lunch on weekends. They are family bonding time."

"But..." I trailed off.

"I know, Ava. You're used to eating in your room most of the time. But I did say you would have to live in a joint family and this condition is just an extension to it," he explained, and I nodded slowly. "Breakfast is at seven-thirty sharp."

My eyes almost popped out of my sockets. "You're kidding me, right?"

He smoothly ignored me and continued talking, "And dinner is usually between seven to eight. I often have dinner at the office, depending on my schedule. Also, I guess it's okay to miss eating here once in a while, in case you are not feeling well."

"Okay," I grumbled, dreading the upcoming days.

"Now onto the next condition."

Now, I was a little afraid of the next conditions.

"Your belongings will not be staying in my bedroom. They will be shifted into another room," he said.

I gasped at the new condition. "Why, though?"

"You brought eighteen luggage, Ava," he pointed out, staring at me dead in the eye.

I cleared my throat and said, "So? Your room is big enough."

"That doesn't mean I will make it a dumpster—" he was interrupted by me.

"Are you calling my belongings trash?"

An innocent look covered his face as he replied, "No, I wouldn't dare."

"It would take a long time to take my stuff from the other room and then return to your room," I reasoned.

"Then you can keep some essentials in the room. I have made some space in the wardrobe of the closet room."

"Ugh, fine. What next?"

"We have to pretend to be a happy couple in front of my family. Because I don't want them to think badly of you or that I'm unhappy."

I nodded. This condition made little sense, unlike the others.

"Next is, birthdays. Birthdays are a big deal in this family. We throw a party for every member, and it's mandatory for every other member to attend."

"I understand." We were already done eating, but we still remained seated. "Are there any more conditions?"

"Not that I can think of right now. I'll let you know if I do."

"Okay. But what if I couldn't attend any of the birthday parties or if I broke any of the conditions? Will you file a case against me?" I asked curiously.

"Well, you will just end up hurting my family, and you know, I'm not kind to people who hurt them."

I knew Ace was completely serious about that. "And you know, I would never hurt them intentionally."

"Yes."

I smiled and said, "Okay, now let's talk about my conditions."

"What?" Ace looked like he just dropped from the sky.

"Well, you gave so many conditions, I get to give some too, right? It's only fair," I reasoned.

"But are you forgetting I am the one who saved your ass, not the other way around? Why do you get to boss me?" he asked, baffled.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm still indebted to you. But I want to put in some conditions as well," I announced. "Marriage is all about equality, right?" I nudged him.

"Fine," he groaned. "What are they?"

"Okay, so no matter what, I need to have my eight hours of beauty sleep with no interruptions," I stated.

"Okay, only if you are at the breakfast table on time," he simply replied.

"Fine, I will go to bed early. My second condition is, that I will continue my blogging, so no interruptions in that, either," I added.

"Okay."

"And..." I couldn't think of anything else. "And that's it."

"Okay. Cool. You should freshen up now. I will be in my study for some important work." With that, he left the dining hall and I went to his bedroom.

I entered the midnight blue-shaded room, and it was as gorgeous as ever. The king-sized bed sat in the middle of the huge room, across it was a white divan, and beside it at a good length was a dressing table. There was a big wall-sized window behind the couch and a coffee table on the right side of the room. There were two doors; one of them was the bathroom and another one was the walk-in closet room. I have always loved the vibe of his room. It was just like him. Cool and classy.

I was standing at the entrance. As I stepped in, I stumbled onto something and lost my balance.

A/N: If you are loving my novel so far, please follow me, trimagical_, and stay tuned for more updates! Have a nice day!


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