Chace Crawford as Chase Edwards

Chapter four

Hailey's POV:

When we landed at the New York airport, the driver was waiting for us outside to take us home. The driver took the bag from my hand and put it in the trunk of the car. Chase got inside the car after dropping his back on the ground for the driver to put in the back with my bag.

I glared at his back for being rude to me then got inside the car. Chase stayed busy with his cell phone, avoiding my presence again. I stared at the tall buildings for a while then dozed off because of the tiredness of the wedding.

Next thing I knew, someone was shaking me brutally, making me groan and slap the hand away that was on my shoulder.

"Wake up! I don't have time for this." I heard an angry voice.

Groaning, I opened my eyes and found Chase staring at me with anger. In seconds, I was awake and out of the car. I looked around the neighborhood, and the beauty took me off guard. The beautiful two-story white house in front of me had a vast garden and gave the vibes of peace and calm.

Chase took our bags from the driver and made his way towards the house. I followed him like a lost puppy. Suddenly, he stopped outside the door and searched his pants' pockets then pulled out a key. He unlocked the door and went inside without even bothering to invite me in.

I was hurt by the way he was behaving. I was not expecting him to accept me as his wife in one day, but he could at least welcome me in his house. It looked like my dream of happily ever after was not going to come true any time soon.

I could understand that he wasn't ready for such a huge change in life neither was I, but we had no choice other than to accept our fate. At least he should be thankful that he had spent twenty years of his life with his family that loved him and gave him the freedom to do everything. Unlike me who stayed cooped up behind the walls of my room and tried everything to feel accepted by my mom and this cruel society.

I entered the house and shut the door. When the lights were switched on, I gasped at the expensively decorated living room. Everything in the house looked extravagant and perfect.

I was pulled out from my dazed state when I heard Chase's voice.

"Follow me. Your room is upstairs," Chase said, making his way upstairs with our bags.

I nodded my head even when I knew he wasn't looking at me and followed him upstairs. After the long flight of stairs, four rooms came to my view. Passing by the first three rooms, Chase made his way towards the last room in the left corner.

He twisted the doorknob and pushed open the door. Then he stepped inside with my bags and switched on the lights of the room.

I stared at the room with my mouth agape.

He faked coughed to catch my attention. I turned to face him with the horrible blush gracing my cheeks in embarrassment at my shock.

"This is your room. The room on the right corner is mine," he said, sounding irritated.

"Thanks for showing me the room," I mumbled, looking down at my sneakers feeling scared to make eye contact with him.

He was quiet for a second and stared at me with narrowed eyes, making me look up.

"You're welcome. Now I hope to catch some sleep. And if you want anything, don't even think of disturbing me," he said with a glare.

I nodded my head in a silent okay.

"Be ready at ten tomorrow morning. We need to go to the hospital to visit my granddad," he said.

"Okay," I mumbled.

He gave me one last lingering glance then left me alone in my room. I let go of my breath that I didn't realize I was holding while he was here.

Why did he scare me so much?

Oh God! How was I going to stand in front of him and talk to him without cowering back in fright?

I shrugged my shoulders and took a quick glance of my new room. I realized that I liked it more than my old room. This room was large and beautiful than the one back at my home. The cream-colored walls and baby pink curtains were great in contrast. It was too girly for my taste but who was I to complain.

My eyes went to the very comfortable looking queen-size bed in the center of the room, calling me to sleep on it like a baby. But I decided to unpack first and dragged my bag in the center of the room. After twenty minutes, I was done unpacking all the stuff that I brought here with me for tonight and set everything inside the closet.

My other stuff would be delivered tomorrow, so I didn't have a lot of things with me. I just had some necessities and clothes in the bag, and it didn't take much time to unpack.

I looked at the silk pajama shorts that my lovely half-sister put inside my bag with the note stating that I should show my fat body to my husband so he would divorce me. Good thing we were not sharing a room. I had no other option but to wear the pajama shorts if I didn't want to sleep naked. I picked up my white tank top and shorts then made my way towards the washroom to take a shower.

The washroom was large and pretty nice with a white and pink theme. There was a large bathtub on the side inviting me in. Changing my mind, I filled the bathtub and lay inside feeling my muscles relaxing in the warm water.

After the bath, I wrapped a fluffy towel around my body, and another one on my head then put moisturizer on my body. When I was done applying moisturizer, I got changed into my undergarments then put my pajama shorts and a white tank top on.

I dried my hair with the towel because my hair dryer was something that I thought wasn't important for one day and packed it with my other things that would be here tomorrow. And asking Chase for a hair dryer meant disturbing him and risking my life, so I had only one option, and that was to towel dry my hair.

I opened the window of my room and breath in New York's air, which made me sneeze instantly. My eyes roamed around the neighborhood, for a few seconds I took in the beauty of other similar fancy large houses.

When I felt my eyes dropping, I made my way towards the bed then flung myself on it. The feel of soft silky sheets under me instantly made me fall into a deep slumber.

[In the morning]

I woke up with the loud banging on my door. It took me a few minutes to sit up on the bed and recall where I was. When I heard an angry voice calling my name, I was up from the bed in seconds and running towards the door like my life depended on it or in my case it really did.

I unlocked the door and opened it to find Chase standing outside with a scowl on his face. I was breathless due to running.

He opened his mouth to say something but stopped. His eyes moved up and down, staring at me from head to toe and his mouth opened then he closed it.

I was so scared of him, so instead of staring back at him, I averted my eyes.

The cold, chilly air came through the open window and made me sneeze. Chase snapped out of the trance he was in and looked at my face. He clenched his jaw and opened his mouth again.

"It's already 9:00 am. We need to leave in half an hour if we want to make a stop for breakfast before going to the hospital, so get ready." He ordered me with a glare.

I nodded my head not able to say anything to him.

Chase looked like he already showered. He was dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans. His attire was casual, but just like yesterday, he managed to look perfect.

Wow! It was already a day, and he didn't dispose of me last night. It was a good start then!

I closed the door when he disappeared from my sight and sighed in relief. Then my eyes landed on my night attire. Bloody hell! He saw me in shorts! Would he divorce me now?

My mind told me to crawl under the bed and die there, but I was more scared of getting scolded again by Chase. I hurriedly went to the washroom and did my routine. Then I got changed into the first thing that I touched with my hand, which happened to be my black jeans and cream wool jumper. I put my hair in a ponytail then went downstairs to find Chase sitting on the couch in the living room. He was taping on his cell phone, probably messaging someone.

I didn't want to disturb him, so I coughed. He didn't look at me, so I coughed again, but this time loudly.

"Do you have some contagious lung disease?" Chase asked me.

I stared at him in bewilderment then shook my head. Chase rolled his eyes at me then put his cell phone in the pocket of his black leather jacket and got up.

He walked closer to me, making me feel uncomfortable.

"Are you mute?" he asked me.

I shook my head, and he raised his eyebrows at me.

"No, I am not mute."

"Then why were you coughing instead of informing me that you are ready to go?" he asked me.

My eyes widened, and I opened my mouth to explain him.

"I... I thought you were." I tried to tell him, but he interrupted me.

"Forget it. You'll take the whole day to speak," he said, turning around and walking towards the door.

Coming out of shock, I realized that I needed to follow him outside if I wanted breakfast.

He seemed arrogant and rude. I felt scared around him, and my mind would shut off. His all hard and angry demeanor made me scared, but the feminine side of me got me distracted with his stunning looks.

I went out of the house after locking the door and found him waiting for me inside a shiny black car. I got inside the car and strapped the seat belt. When we were settled in the car, he started driving to some place for breakfast. I kept my eyes on the road or sometimes looked out of the window to stare at the scenery. The car ride was so silent, and I was ready to fell asleep again if he didn't stop the car outside the cute small café.

We got out of the car and made our way inside the café to have breakfast. Chase selected the corner booth for us to sit. The waitress approached us with menus, and she handed Chase one while I waited for her to give me the other menus. She stared at him dreamily and didn't hand me the menus, but Chase didn't notice her.

"Hailey, take a look at the menu and order something for you," Chase said, handing me the menus.

I stared at him dumbly because it was the first time that he said my name, and it sounded really sweet to my ears.

"I know what I want, so order for you," he said, pulling me back to reality.

I nodded my head happily, and with a quick glance at the menu, I ordered coffee with lots of whipped cream and some chocolate pancakes.

Chase ordered some sausages and sandwiches with black coffee. I couldn't even think about drinking a black coffee. The mere smell and look of black coffee made me shudder. I liked my coffee sweet with rich cream and milk.

We were waiting for our food to arrive when I thought of striking a conversation with him. It was really difficult to find the right topic to initiate a conversation with Mr. Stone Face. Yes, I had given him a nickname that would be stuck with him until he would change and show me some emotion to conclude that he was indeed a real human and not made up of stone.

Before I can think of a much interesting thing to say, I opened my big mouth and said, "It's a very nice place. It smells like coffee."

And there I went embarrassing myself again because of my stupid mouth that did not know how to strike a nice conversation. I was busy cursing myself in my head when my stomach growled and embarrassed me further. I was sure that he heard the growling of my stomach and my cheeks started to feel hot.

I took a shy glance at his face, and my eyes got stuck. I was mesmerized by seeing something similar to a smile on his face. It was something like a slight twitch of lips similar to a smile, but it was beautiful nonetheless. I was staring at him completely amazed. My mind started to imagine how a full smile would look on his face.

Yesterday, when I saw him for the first time, I realized that he was handsome and had great features, but the constant scowl on his face dampened his looks a little bit. It made him look dangerous.

The waitress came back with our orders and placed it on the table. The smell of pancakes and coffee instantly filled my nose, and I wasted no time in devouring my breakfast like I was some starved person.

"This place is my granddad's favorite. We used to come here every Sunday after football practice when he was healthy," Chase said.

I was shocked that he was talking to me and sharing something about himself with me. Discretely, I turned my head to look if someone was standing behind me, but I didn't find anyone. When I was sure that he was actually talking to me, I cleaned my lips with a napkin.

"It means this place is special and full of memories," I said.

He nodded his head, and said, "We used to spend a lot of time here. This place has both happy and sad memories of my granddad and me."

Then he took a sip of his coffee.

"Recall the happy memories. They will make you smile," I said.

He stared at me, and I stared at him.

I was informed that his granddad had not been in good condition for some time. Doctors had hardly given him a week.

Then we completed our breakfast, and Chase paid the bill after that we left the café.

It took us fifteen minutes to reach the hospital. The large board stated that it was St. Martin Hospital. We walked into the hospital and made our way to the elevator. Chase knew the floor and room number of his granddad's room, so we didn't make a stop at the reception to ask.

When we were outside the room, Chase turned towards me.

"Hailey, when we go inside, we must look happy," he said.

I nodded my head understanding his need and gave him a reassuring smile. He took my hand in his and laced our fingers together. My heart started doing a somersault, and a blush appeared on my cheeks. He looked at me, and I smiled.

Maybe I made the right decision that night by agreeing to this marriage.