His Arranged Bride is a Multi-talented Heiress.

CHAPTER4

A ROUGH MORNING

Ares' POV

After Ares puts on his grey suit and dark brown shoes for work, he walks out his room door and to his surprise, the hefty smell meets him. There are about twenty candles lined up straight on the opposite sides of the hallway.

"What on earth?" He sighs, running his hand down his face as a groan escapes his throat.

The smell is even more potent as he walks down angrily towards Athena's room. A knock follows. And then two, but she didn't respond.

Ares is furious, anyone who sees him in his current state in front of her door would think that he swallowed a boiling kettle due to the invisible steam evaporating out of his ears.

He hears voices coming from the ground floor, and he decides to follow it. When he walks down the flight of stairs, an aroma unlike before hits him, and the supposed boiling kettle comes to a halt.

He tracks the smell to the kitchen and leans against the open door. The sweet aroma envelopes the whole room like fog at the rise of dawn.

"What's going on here?" He asks, citing the kitchen staff.

Mrs. Greene, his head chef turns around.

"Oh my, good morning sire," she says in her French accent, with a smile so bright, Ares can swear that he could have been blinded.

Ares' expression reverts into a scowl, "I asked a question, Mrs. Greene."

"Well, Madame said she wanted a meal this morning..."

"Madame?" Ares questions.

"Good morning Ares," Athena reveals herself from the long beam that hides her slender frame at the far end of the kitchen close to the store. She is holding a bowl in her right hand, and turning the mixture in it with her left.

Ares walks further into the kitchen, "What are you doing here, Athena?" He asks as he reaches her.

She turns her head towards the kitchen island in the center of the room. Ares' eyes widens at the amount of food present atop it.

"Is there a celebration I'm not aware of?" Ares questions, his brows knit together in confusion.

He turns to the head chef, "This isn't the usual bacon, eggs, and toasts you serve me for breakfast, Mrs. Greene." He states sternly.

The middle aged woman smiles nervously, seeing that Ares might not be so pleased after all.

"Well, yes, we tried to spice up the breakfast menu for today since it's your first day of being married to Madame Athena. More like a little celebration since we couldn't do anything for you two yesterday," She states, and the kitchen staff nods in agreement.

Ares can hear the sincerity in her voice which makes it hard for him to get angry at her. So, he diverts his attention back to Athena.

"Then why are you here?" Ares asks.

"Can't you tell? I'm helping of course," She drops the bowl, raising a brow.

"Madame Athena is just being humble..." Mrs. Greene interrupts. "She actually made all of these. We were helping," she says, emphasizing the word 'we.'

Ares turns to the island once again and blinks rapidly, clearly in shock, and impressed as well. Athena catches this, and smiles.

He didn't think that Athena could even lift a soup spoon, not to mention cooking a full course meal from start to finish. He thought that she is a spoilt brat who wants nothing more than to leech off him.

"Well, would you like breakfast?" Athena offers, snapping him back to reality.

"Why would I want to eat breakfast with you?" His face contorts into disgust. Athena once again struggles to hide the hurt Ares never fails to unleash upon her fragile soul.

She then turns to Mrs. Greene.

"Can you please excuse us for a moment?" She asks.

Mrs. Greene fidgets, sensing an argument, "Umm...sure, of course, Madame..." And to the kitchen staff she says, "Let's go everyone."

After they leave, Athena turns to Ares.

"And why won't you eat breakfast with me?..." She placed a hand on her hips. "Or is there something you're not telling me," she walks to him on the opposite side of the kitchen island and faces him squarely.

"I..."

"Am I an ogre?" She cuts him off, hunching her hip to the side.

Ares face morphs yet again into confusion, "What?"

"I don't understand why you won't want to have a common breakfast with me. Even strangers do it, so why not? Except if I'm an ogre and you can't stand my ugly face," Athena states, staring at him.

Ares' eyes soften for a second, in understanding, "Stop being childish, Athena. Didn't you get my message last night clear?"

Athena scoffs, "You bet I did. But how does it affect breakfast?"

Ares runs his hand through his hair in frustration, "And I actually thought you're smart..." He chuckles nastily.

His face hardens, "Athena, spare me this unintelligent banter. Are you the one who placed numerous incense candles in the hallway?" He segues the topic of discussion, even though he already knows the answer. Athena shrugs.

"I thought it could cast away the influx of madness within the house, seeing as you're clearly entrapped in it," she states nonchalantly, picking on her pearly white nail beds.

Unknown to Ares, Athena intentionally placed the smelling candles to spite him for what he said to her last night.

"Are you crazy?!" Ares roars, making Athena flinch.

"Why are you screaming at me?!" Athena raises her voice as well.

Ares' voice remains on the edge, "Why on earth are you tampering with the order of things in my own mansion? Allow the chef to do her duties, woman!"

"If this marriage is to work, Ares, we have to be cordial with each other even if to a fraction..." Her right index finger points to the lacquered marble floor as she stands her ground.

"You know what, Athena, I don't care..." He holds his hand up in surrender, his strong gaze piercing through her like claws. She opens her mouth to speak but he cuts her off.

"Just get upstairs and move those damn disgusting candles out of the hallway,"

"You have your hands, Ares, if you don't like the smell, do it yourself, as you can see, I'm busy," she turns her back on him.

"You are...so....impossible to deal with!" Ares groans loudly and walks ahead, away from her and towards the door.

He steps out, "Damn it!" He yells as he bangs the door.

"Same to you!" Athena yells back.

Now enveloped in silence, Athena anger slowly dissipates as she slumps on the edge of the kitchen island, her confidence now in shambles.

She sighs, sadness emanating from her voice, "Breakfast plans failed after all."