The Accidental Husband

Chapter 5

Astrid was silent for a while, but when she spoke, her words were firm and final.

"As regards to our s****l life, on no account should you touch me without my consent unless I verbally express feelings for you, which will never happen, so just take it as you're not allowed to touch me in any manner– ever."

"I understand," Julian nodded gently.

"Is that all?" Astrid asked,

"For now, yes," Julian replied,

"Alright then, I guess I'll be on my way now."

Julian slowly backed away from her window as she rolled it back up and zoomed out of the city hall's premises.

Thoughts about his impromptu marriage with Astrid filled Julian's head as he walked home. He felt as if he was in a dream, things were progressing at an alarming rate.

These thoughts were still bothering him when he opened the door to the living room and saw Emily sitting on a couch with his mother opposite her.

'What's going on here?' Julian asked himself as he saw lavish gifts all around Emily.

He had seen a lot of strange things that day but none were stranger than Emily laughing and cracking jokes with his mother.

'I thought she hated my mother's guts... what's she doing here?' Julian gritted his teeth.

"Hey! Julian!" Emily beamed brightly when she saw him walk in, "Welcome home! We've been waiting for you."

"Uh... I hope there's no problem?" Julian's gaze flitted to where his mother sat, and from the expression on her face, he could tell that she was a bit uncomfortable by Emily's strange attitude.

"No no no, I just came to give you my own gifts like that Everett chick did yesterday," Emily said casually, but Julian could detect that there was an ulterior motive hidden behind those words.

"Uh... and I'll probably reject your gifts like I rejected hers..." Julian shrugged casually,

"You didn't possibly reject everything," Emily's smile instantly became strained, "you won't tell me that you didn't keep even one of it for yourself or your mother. They're so expensive..."

"I rejected everything." Julian replied plainly.

Emily seemed to have sensed that he was telling the truth because the fake smile left her face and her mean demeanor replaced it. "Oh... I see..."

Nora seemed to have suspected that Emily was unhappy about it so she tried to cheer the younger woman up by inviting her for dinner. "Don't bother your pretty head about all that my dear, join us for dinner again tonight."

The gaze that Emily flashed towards Nora made her instantly rethink her words and wonder if she said anything wrong.

"Who do you think you are calling 'your dear'?" Nora spat acidly, "and what do you take me for that you will invite me to eat your horrible food again? My taste buds haven't been the same since I tasted your meal yesterday, do me a favor and don't ever invite me to eat here again, because I won't. I guess the sayings are true, cripples are really the worst type of chefs...."

Nora felt insulted, especially by Emily's last statement. She was so shocked that the child insulting her was the same one who was laughing with her a few minutes ago.

'Is it because of the gifts?' She wondered.

Julian, however wasn't in the mood to indulge Emily's ugly behaviour. He simply beamed at his mother and said, "Hey mom! I just got married!"

"Huh?!" Nora and Emily said almost simultaneously.

Julian produced the marriage certificate and gave it to his mother. Emily, overwhelmed by curiosity edged closer to see it better.

A moment later, the both of them were shocked to see the name 'Astrid Everett' written boldly on the certificate, just above his name.

"You got married to Astrid?!" Emily couldn't believe her eyes, "it's a lie. This is fake!"

"Julian... how? How did you get married to someone you just met in a short period of time?" Nora asked, concern written all over her eyes.

Julian ignored Emily, he didn't have to prove himself to her, she meant nothing to him, but he had to reply his mother so he lied, "I actually met her in the military and we've been secretly in love since then. We only decided to make it official now."

Emily scoffed, she didn't believe him. So many things did not add up, he was definitely lying.

"But...but this is all so sudden." Nora looked at the certificate for a second, "what does she do? Where does she stay? Tell me about her."

Julian suddenly started acting as if he was tired of the questions to prevent his mother from asking further questions, since even he himself did not know a lot about Astrid.

"Well... mum there's no need to know all about her at once. You'll find out more about her with time, all you have to know now is that she's a senior executive at her grandfather's company, and she is very busy at work."

Nora was filled with mixed emotions about this sudden revelation. She was happy because her son would finally be getting married and give her some grandkids, but at the same time she was worried that she did not know anything about his new wife. But from what Julian said about her, Nora believed that she was a hardworking and ambitious woman.

Suddenly, Nora looked up again, "Julian, I know you said she's really busy at work, but I'd really love to meet her sometime."

Julian gulped in discomfort at his mother's request. He couldn't just tell her that his marriage with Astrid wasn't a deep and personal one, and that it was simply an arrangement to appease her grandfather.

He knew that Astrid disliked meaningless social events and he wasn't sure she would honor the invitation if he brought it up.

Julian rubbed his forehead in slight irritation, "man... what did I get myself into?”