10 CHAPTER:10

After the wedding takes place, both of them being officially married to each other now. Both their families gather together to take pictures. Elara and Marshall try their best to avoid each other throughout the entire event. Smiling, when necessary. They act all lovey-dovey for the pictures as everyone looks at them lovingly. Elara tries her best to finish taking pictures early, but the photographer is persistent on catching 'beautiful moments between the couple'. Finally, as the night draws in and it's time to leave, Hana walks up to Elara and whispers; " Do you want me to come along El?"

She smiles weakly to Hana and replies; "Its okay Hana, thank you for being here today. I'll be fine. You should go home and rest too."

"Call me if anything happens. I'll come pick you up no matter what time it is, okay?"

Elara reassures Hana once again, as she leaves still worried.

The couple bid goodbyes to everyone around and get on the car. They sit next to each other but facing opposite directions, none of them saying a word.

The scenery outside passes in a blur ask they drive through the city.

. . .

"I'll stay over for the night. I'll leave first thing in the morning." -Elara says as they enter his penthouse.

"Okay, I'll send my driver over too."

"For what?"

Marshall turns to face her, confused. "To help you... move all your stuff here? What else for?" -he questions.

Elara sighs, and shows him, her best fake smile; "Mr. Marshall, I will not be moving in here with you. I have my own house."

"And you're my wife."

"That doesn't matter to me, I'm not going to move in here." -she bickers back. Marshall scoffs and continues; "I don't care what matters to you, you'll be moving in here, by tomorrow noon. Am I clear?"

"No.. I am my own person Mr. Marshall."

"And you are also Mrs. Marshall Wyatts, if you're forgetting." -he says, his voice dangerously low, his eyes challenging hers.

"You're my wife now. And I don't want to have to deal with stupid articles popping up as to why Marshall Wyatts wife lives somewhere else. You've already done enough damage, try to avoid making more." -he scorns.

Elara doesn't argue anymore, she has no idea what to say.

As they enter the bedroom, the couple remain silent, avoiding each other's gazes. Both of them look at the flower decorated, romantic ambience filled bedroom, feeling quite tense and uncomfortable. None of them had imagined anything like this taking place, and they both silently struggle, trying to come to terms with their situation. For the first few moments, they stand in silence, tension hanging thick in the air between them. Eventually, Elara breaks the silence;

"Uhh.. so.. I'm not sleeping in the same bed as you."

"It's a fucking penthouse Elara, I've got more than one bedroom." -he says, annoyed. Elara stares at him, bewildered, "Well maybe you could've shown me which room I should go to then!"

"You're not a kid Elara. And it's a finite space, you can figure it out on your own. I'm going to bed." -he says, turning his back at her, and not glancing again. He goes into the bathroom to freshen up, leaving Elara by her own.

She huffs to herself, annoyed. "God, how am I supposed to go a day without wishing to strangle him." -she mumbles to herself, leaving his room.

Elara walks around, finally finding a room she can sleep in. as she looks around the room, Marshall knocks lightly. He avoids meeting her eyes, and simply hands her a pair of his pajamas. "I realized you don't have any clothes to change into, so wear these and go to bed. Get your clothes and stuff here tomorrow."

Elara takes the pair of pajamas, thanking him as he turns and leaves.

. . .

Unable to sleep in new surroundings, Elara leaves as soon as the first sun-ray hits her face through the window. Marshall's driver drops her off to her place.

She decides to shower change into her clothes, and wash his pajamas as she enters her own home. Everything feels a little weird to her. Yesterday morning she was dressing up to go to Naia's wedding as her bridesmaid. Today, she is Marshall's wife instead of Naia.

As the water droplets continue washing her body, she thinks deeply, as to why Naia would do such a thing? Running away was fine, but making her the culprit in this? Why would Naia do such a thing?

Elara thinks deep and hard, unable to come up with any reasons as to why Naia did it. After freshening up, she decides to go downstairs and check on her precious cafe.

*And just like that, almost two weeks have gone by.*

She sees that Tim has already opened the cafe for the day. She lets herself in.

"You're here today early."

"Morning boss. Slept early, woke early. Decided to get to work early as well." -he replies, smiling kindly to her.

As she's about to say something, a man interrupts them.

"Mrs. Marshall.. I was sent by your husband to move your stuff in. I've brought my guys, they'll pack your things into boxes and load them in the truck."

Elara sighs, nodding, she hands the man the keys to her house. "Yes sure. Thank you for your help."

The man leaves with the keys in his hand, and she turns to Tim, who looks at her confused. "What was that? You're moving somewhere else?"

"Y-Yeah.. About that.. I kind of got married. So, umm my husband sent people to pick up my stuff."

"You're joking right? I thought it was your cousin's wedding?" -he questions.

"Well... things happened.." -Elara says, trying to avoid going into details.

"Did she run away?"

Elara nods, "Yeah.."

Tim doesn't question it anymore. He chuckles to himself, as what kind of drama is this. Elara decides to leave for the day, leaving the cafe under Tim's care.

As she takes a cab back to Marshall's place, she sees a lot of boxes by the entrance. She sighs; "Did they pack my entire house in these boxes, why're they're so many?" -she picks up one of the boxes.

She carries two of the boxes, breathing heavily due to its weight. Elara sees Marshall getting out of his room, all clean and dressed up, ready for the day.

She internally screams to herself as she's met with an unwelcoming attitude from her newlywed husband.

"Could you please help me move these boxes? They're too heavy for me."

"And why should I help you?" -he asks, coldly.

"Look, I don't want to be here any more than you do. But we have to make the best out of this situation. And you were the one who wanted me to move in. Not me. So whether you like it or not, you've got to help me."

"Fine. But don't think I'm happy about it." -he says grudgingly helping her move the boxes as they continue working together, bickering.

"Can you please not drag the box on the floor! It's going to scratch the floor."

"Oh sorry, I didn't realize you'd be the boss of this house from now on."

"I don't want my things to get damaged, because of how you're dragging them!"

"Well maybe you should've thought about it before asking for my help, then."

"Or maybe YOU should've thought about it before forcing me to marry you." -Elara bickers back, glaring at him.

"Well, you had your chance to say no. Instead of fighting against it, you went along with it and now we're stuck together."

"Don't pan the blame on me. You were the one who forced the idea!"

"Your uncle brought it up, not me!"

"Well, now you've got us both stuck together, so the least you can do, is be nice to me. And we can figure out the rest later."

"I would think about being nice to you, if you weren't such an unbearable person."

"I'm not the one who's unbearable, you're the one who's hostile. I'm just being honest here. And honestly, I didn't ask to be married to you." -she rolls her eyes.

"You think I like it any better than you? You think I imagined having to marry someone like you?"

"Excuse me, what do you mean by 'someone like you'?"

"You know what I mean. On our first meet, you pretended to be someone else. You lied about your name, your identity, gosh~!"

"And you still asked me to pretend to be your fake girlfriend?" -she asks, smirking slyly. Marshall laughs, "Okay, okay stop."

Both of them start laughing, joking around about what Elara said.

As they finished moving everything in, Elara turns to look at Marshall and says; "Lets not fight like little kids then. Maybe we can start off on good foot again, become friends."

Marshall looks at her, nodding. A smug smile spreading across his face. "Oh you want to be my friend so bad now, is it?" -he asks, smugly.

Elara rolls her eyes at his statement. "Fine, suit yourself. I don't need an arrogant jerk to be my friend anyways. I was just offering cuz you seem to have no friends." -she shrugs, trying to get under his skin.

This time, Marshall rolls his eyes. "Funny." Elara smiles, mockingly.

. . .

After Elara is done arranging her stuff in the room which she'll be calling her bedroom from now, she hears a *ping* from her cellphone. She walks over and it's a message from Hana.

Hana: "The entire neighborhood now knows you're married. Ms. Alberto saw some articles with your face innit and spread the word."

Elara: "So much for wanting to keep this matter private. *sighing emoji* Well, I guess no point in hiding it then."

Hana: "I'm surprised nobody realized that it isn't Naia. Everyone thought you're the bride to begin with."

Elara: "I don't know if I should be happy about it... I mean, no one's questioning it because the engagement ceremony was held privately."

Hana: "Can't believe your uncle didn't let me join too."

Elara: "I was pretty surprised to be invited as well at the engagement lol."

Hana: "Anyways, how are you settling in? That Tom dude told me movers were at your place?"

Elara: "Yep, and his name is Tim.. Marshall sent movers to bring my stuff over to his place. I'm settling in fine. We bickered again though."

Hana: "When did you two never bicker? lol. Are you two staying in the same room?"

Elara:"WHAT?! NO! Of course not!"

Hana: "You're missing out then. *wink emoji*"

Elara laughs to herself as the exchange continues. As night draws closer, Marshall still hasn't returned. She decides to go out in the balcony.

Letting the fresh, cold air hit her skin softly. She closes her eyes as she remembers the events over the past two days.

How drastically her life has changed.

The doorbell ringing causes her to open her eyes. She thinks to herself, Marshall must be back home. She goes over to open the door.

Fully expecting to see Marshall. But when she opens the door, no ones there. All that there is, is a huge box. A brown box, beautifully tied with a ribbon.

And she knows who sent it.

She feels her blood run cold, as she stares at the box at the doorstep.

Her stalker has managed to find her here as well.

. . .