Arranged

Home not so sweet home

I quickly followed Zac inside the mansion, setting Professor Meowkins' cage down and letting him out to explore.

Zac gave his usual grimace to the cat and then began a hurried tour of the place. I knew that even if Zac was used to travel, he had to be at least some level of tired as I still felt exhausted, and the time difference would be affecting us too. I called out to Zac as he walked into the kitchen.

"Do you think I could explore the place later? I just really need to lie down for a bit, don't you?"

He nodded and began up the stairs. "Our rooms are up here. There's quite a few rooms to choose from, but they've made up the room beside mine for you. Um, you can always move to another one if you'd prefer, once you've had a look around."

I nodded and stepped into the room as he lingered on the doorway.

"Thanks, I'll just take a short nap and come find you when I'm up." I gave him a short smile and then pulled the covers off the bed to hop in, barely noticing the size of the room, the bed, and the decor. I didn't even hear the door gently close as I drifted off to sleep.

My 'nap' lasted 12 hours. I woke with a start, confused by the unfamiliar surroundings but having an intense, sudden need to pee. Untangling myself from the thick blankets and very comfortable bed, I slowly came to my senses. Oh. Right. I was a married woman now. In an entirely new environment. At some point in my sleep, I'd clearly tried to get comfortable and pulled off my pants, as I only had underwear on the bottom half of my body.

I tried to remember if Zac had shown me any bathrooms during the house tour that I'd cut short. He hadn't. My eyes scanned the room, coming across a door on the side wall, to the right of the bed. That wasn't the door leading out of the room. I hesitantly opened the door, and relief rushed through me as I saw a bathroom, complete with two sinks, two shower heads in the massive shower, and a tub.

As I completed my business and washed my hands, I noticed that the bathroom had two doors. The one I had entered from, and a duplicate on the opposite wall. My stomach dropped. Surely not. I wrenched the second door open.

Zac looked up from his phone, lying comfortably in a large bed with black sheets. His lower half was covered by the blankets, but his shirtless torso was exposed. My eyes were drawn to the tattoos littering his ribcage, but they snapped back to his as he gave a little cough. His own eyes did a once over of me from head to toe before meeting my own again.

"Hi," he said simply.

My cheeks burned as I realised I still had no pants on. I stammered something incomprehensible and quickly closed the door, scurrying back over to my room and hunting for my pants.

I knew I was behaving like a childish girl, but instinct had caused me to become embarrassed in that moment. Once I was more properly dressed, I used the dual bathroom to approach Zac again. This time, I knocked on his side of the bathroom door.

"Come in," I heard him call. I opened the door much more carefully this time. Zac hadn't taken the time to get dressed and seemed comfortable to lay there, smug and shirtless. I glared at him.

"This entire freaking mansion, and we have to share a bathroom?"

He shrugged. "We don't have to. I told you, there are plenty of rooms to choose from. My father thought this would be a good idea to help us become comfortable around each other. There's a master en suite bedroom that's much bigger than these rooms and has a huge bathroom all to itself. It was too big for me -" He abruptly shut his mouth. We'd both realised that this was the largest amount of words he'd said to me in the time we'd known each other.

I gave a humourless little laugh. So perhaps he wasn't as cold and distant as he was pretending to be. Interesting.

I shook my head. "It's fine. If Corey thinks it's a good idea, then it must be. He's just full of these great ideas, isn't he?"

Zac gave me an amused look but said nothing about my little dig. I was trying very hard to look at everything in the room except that very tempting shirtless chest. Zac's room was the same size as mine, twice as big as my old room back home. It was scattered with a few things that hinted at his hidden personality. There was a guitar sitting against the corner. A number of rings and cologne on top of the drawer. A thick dark curtain that was only open a fraction, allowing some light into the room. A huge flatscreen encompassing the wall opposite the bed. The bed. It had a soft, high headboard that Zac was currently leaning against. The pillows were black, the sheets, the covers, all black. This guy really needed some colour in his life.

Zac swiftly got out of the bed and stood in front of me, his dark faded jeans hanging low on his hips. "If you're done examining my room," he murmured, "we can finish off that house tour and get your luggage taken up to the room you choose."

I took a step back and nodded my head, cursed cheeks reddening once again. "Lead the way, husband."

***

The house was even bigger than I'd expected. The inside was new and renovated, whilst the outside maintained an old classic country look, with pillars and balconies surrounding the structure.

A creek ran through the back of the property, with a cute little walking bridge leading to the other side, where a guest house had been built. It was incredibly picturesque.

"Who maintains the gardens?" I asked. Somehow, I couldn't imagine Zac labouring away for hours planting perfect little rows of seeds and maintaining them regularly, despite knowing his country background.

"There's a gardener, Mac, who comes around. You'll probably see him often. There are also cleaners that come twice a week, usually on Mondays and Thursdays. There's also a cook who can come by upon request."

The life of luxury. Although my family had money too, my parents had worked hard their entire lives to earn it, not generational wealth. Brody and I were raised with the same values of knowing how to look after ourselves, to be able to cook and clean and sustain ourselves.

I kept the judgement off my face. I knew Zac's family had owned vineyards and wineries for decades, and his father had taken over the corporate side of things, expanding their business onto an international playfield. Then, Zac's penchant for the guitar and his singing talent went viral in an online video a schoolmate had posted, launching him almost overnight into his now 10 year career of music. I hadn't really allowed myself to think about how the boy who I'd had posters of as a teen, whose songs from a lifetime ago I'd had memorised and could probably still sing along to if I heard them, was now a full grown man, standing in front of me, wearing the black titanium wedding band I'd given him.

Wait, what? My hand instinctively went to the finger where Zac had placed a simple silver wedding band, which was now empty. An inexplicable wave of guilt covered me, and Zac must have been very good at reading faces because he immediately put his fingers to his own ring, and said, "No, don't worry about it. I just figured I'd get used to wearing it for the public."

I tried to explain. "I took it off after the wedding so that it could be packed away safely for the flight. It's in my jewellery box -"

He shook his head again, his face a blank mask. "Really, it's fine, it's no big deal."

He cleared his throat and led us back inside, from the side patio that led to the kitchen.

"The wifi password is on the fridge. We'll have a meeting with my father, once he's back next week, to discuss public appearances and such. You said something about wanting to work or study? As per our contract, your entire living and spending funds will be covered while you're here so you don't really need to work."

He saw the look on my face and quickly added to his sentence. "Unless you want to, of course. I just mean you have time to explore and really decide what you want.."

"Do you know what you want?"

His eyebrows crinkled in surprise. "What do you mean?"

I shrugged. I didn't even know what I meant. "Just, with your life. We've both just accepted major changes to our lives for the sake of our parents. Says a lot about us, doesn't it?"

His expression smoothed out, then closed off again. "It doesn't really matter. This is just a business agreement. I'll let you be now. If there's anything that you need, just write a shopping list on the fridge notepad and we'll send someone to get it. Now, if that was all? I've got work to do."

Zac's sudden cold tone was no surprise but I was getting sick of his mood swings. Asshole, I thought, yet again.

I mirrored his poker face and gave him a curt nod. "That'll be all, thanks. I'll see you around." And with that I turned away and headed back to my room.

I spent the remainder of the day unpacking my many bags into the empty drawers and wardrobes. I had decided to keep the room, if only to make Zac uncomfortable. I was fuming at his immaturity. Surely he could at least pretend to act like a decent human being. All those headlines about the issues Zac had got into in the public eye made sense now. I couldn't believe I was stuck with him for two years, and this was only day one.

After I'd emptied out all my suitcases, fed Professor Meowkins, and found some frozen lasagne in the freezer to heat up and eat, I decided to venture outside and explore the gardens. I met Mac, who was the sweetest old man who clearly loved his jobs. He tenderly cared for all his plants and ensured all was in order. He had laugh lines around his mouth and the corners of his eyes crinkled when he laughed. He had many wise old tales to share and reminded me of an older, more relaxed version of my father. I knew I'd be spending a lot of time in his company.

As the sky darkened and Mac said his goodbyes, I made my way back inside with a smile on my face. Maybe I could find the positives. Despite Zac, perhaps there were reasons that the next two years would be okay after all.