Chapter 4 Four.

Ava's words resounded in Piper's head.

Her voice turned high pitched, almost to a screech, "You got married? To who?!"

"Piper, I'll explain things to you tomorrow. I'm really tired right now. You woke me up from my nap." Ava quickly discarded her friend.

Piper, who had so many questions to ask Ava, gently obliged and hung up. They would meet at work tomorrow, and Ava would explain herself properly.

"Did Ava say she got married?" Mrs Reyes, Piper's mother asked her daughter.

"That's what I'm hearing now, mom." Piper sighed as her face expressed worry.

"Why the look? Marriage is a good thing, and you should be happy for your friend. Invite me when it's time for the wedding ceremony. I'll be sure to come with some gifts."

Mrs Reyes happily received the news of her daughter's best friend's marriage. It meant the girls were maturing, and it would soon be Piper's turn to get hitched.

Back in Calonia Heights, Ethan told his new wife that he had to get back to work for an urgent meeting.

"Don't stay up for me. I'll be late. Just keep the door unlocked."

Ava, who had no problem with him going back to work so soon, wished him well at his meeting.

She wasn't also going to wait up for him since he asked her not to.

Calonia Heights was quite secure, so she didn't worry about leaving the door unlocked at night.

Ethan took large strides towards the small sedan, and drove towards the gate of Calonia Heights.

At the gate, Jeff was already changed into a suit, and some dark shades.

He greeted Ethan with a slight nod when Ethan approached the main car. Jeff opened the car door for him to get in.

The compact sedan Ethan drove to the gate was driven by Jeff behind Ethan's main car. The two other cars behind them were driven by Ethan's bodyguards. This trail formed a small convoy.

Every now and then, Ethan would need to drive the compact sedan in order to keep up with his act of being an ordinary salaryman in front of Ava.

While still laid back on the couch, Ava scanned the spacious apartment with eyes. She lazily dragged herself up to walk around her new home.

Her first stop was the kitchen.

The kitchen was equally spacious. Its sleek countertops and modern appliances gleamed, reflecting the sunlight streaming through the window.

Ava sighed in relief when her eyes fell on the basic cookware set by the corner of the kitchen. At least the basic utensils for cooking were available.

Ava checked the rooms downstairs, and found them empty. Her luggages were taken up by Jeff, so she went upstairs to take a look at her room.

The first door she opened was the master's bedroom, it was big and spacious, with a walk-in closet. Seeing that her stuff were not in there, Ava got the hint that this was Ethan's bedroom.

She left, and headed towards the next room. There, she saw her stuff greatly disorganized. Now, she had to start cleaning and organizing.

She had some items from her old apartment that could still be useful now. She would sort them out, and place them in her new home too.

Since she did not contribute to the buying of the house, she should at least give her stuff to be used.

Ava began work at 4pm, and only finished by 7pm. This was because she took a long bathroom break since she was exhausted.

Her room finally looked like a human lived in there when she was done.

She took a long shower, and afterwards, checked her phone for messages.

She didn't have any.

She had hoped that Liam would order some pastries from her today so she could use the money to buy dinner, and have some spare change for the following day's cab fare.

Liam probably thought it was unwise to place an order when she only just got married today.

Ava's stomach grumbled, indicating that she was hungry.

Ethan must've probably forgotten that she was penniless. He wasn't going to be home anytime soon either, and the kitchen was without groceries.

Ding, dong.

The doorbell rang. Ava went downstairs to see who was at the door. It couldn't be Ethan since he said he'd be back late.

When she opened the front door, she stood face to face with a delivery man holding a paper bag. The aroma from the bag in his hands made the worms in Ava's belly bite.

"Are you Miss Waverly?"

"Yes."

"Your husband sent this to you." The delivery man handed her the bag, and brought out a notepad for her signature.

Ava blessed Ethan's thoughtfulness. After imputing her signature, she shut the door, and helped herself to a yummy dinner.

Ava went upstairs to sleep after watching a movie. She left the door unlocked as instructed by Ethan.

Ethan got back home that night a few minutes past eleven. He saw the empty food bowl in the trash, and knew that Ava already ate.

He stealthily went upstairs, and slipped into his room.

There, Ethan took off his jacket and tie.

He drew out a piece of paper to draft out the contract for their marriage.

The contract would end in exactly six months since the couple would obviously not be in love by then.

Ethan intended to keep their relationship this way. He would go out early, and come back late. Ava also had her thing going, and she would be much more focused on reviving Ava Bakies now.

They would be too busy to catch feelings even though they lived in the same house.

Ethan was just doing what Liam proposed since he lost the bet.

Morning rolled by rather swiftly.

Ethan was woken by the sound of pop music blasting from the room next to him.

"SHAKE THAT HIP, SHAKE THAT HIP!" Ethan heard.

He looked at the time on his phone. It was barely 6:30am.

Grumpily, Ethan got out of his room without looking at himself first. He marched over to tell Ava to tune down the music.

Knock, knock, knock.

Ava unlocked the door to see the man whom she married yesterday in front of her room. He was without a shirt!

The music blared loudly as Ava opened the door. Ethan recoiled with an obvious disregard for such noise very early in the morning.

Ava had a different thing running through her mind though.

Ethan had said yesterday that he wouldn't force her to do anything she didn't want to, so why did he show up to her room shirtless?

"Mr. Atticus, is anything the problem?" She spoke loudly, and intentionally eyed his chest.

Ethan's cheeks flushed red when he realized he was without a shirt. He was used to walking around his house shirtless since he had always lived alone.

"I came to tell you that your music was disturbing me. Tune it down a bit," with that, Ethan flew back into his room and shut the door.

Ava did not even get the chance to apologize for being a loud new wife before he sprinted back into his room.

She was only stretching her body to relieve herself from the pain she felt. It was only natural to feel body pains after a stressful day like yesterday. She used pop music to increase her tempo, as she woke up feeling unmotivated to do small exercise.

She tuned down the volume of her music, and went back to stretching.

Ordinarily, Ava would've gone downstairs to prepare breakfast, but they hadn't stocked up on any food yet.

Half an hour later, Ethan called Ava out to the living room. He was completely dressed with a tie, and ready for work.

Ava appeared sweaty as opposed to Ethan. Ethan did not ask questions as the incident with the loud music upset him a bit.

He handed Ava a copy of the contract he drafted the previous night.

Ava read through it, and was beyond satisfied with the content in it.

His room was off limits, she had to be decently dressed at all times, and she wasn't obliged to cook for him. However, if she cooked when he was around, he would eat out of it. They would also keep their marriage a secret, and they would NEVER be intimate. Lastly, they would divorce after six months.

Ava hastily signed the contract. Six months was enough for her to get back on her feet, and move out of his house.

Ethan's shoulders relaxed, the tension easing from his face as Ava signed the contract.

"You keep your copy safe," sliding a small piece of paper towards her, he continued, "write down your account information here. I'll wire a small sum to you before I head out."

Regardless of the fact that Ava genuinely needed money, she asked, "Why?"

Ethan simply stated, "It's part of my duties as a husband. You can use the money I send for household expenses, and to stock up the fridge.

"Don't bother about my favorites, you can stock up your own favorites." He would rarely be at home anyway.

Ava stalled a bit before penning down her account information.

She slid the piece of paper back to him, "Here you go, Mr. Atticus." Ethan received the paper.

At the spot, Ethan wired fifty thousand to her account.

When Ava saw the amount, a small scream escaped her lips, "Mr. Atticus, this is a bit too much to just stock up the fridge. It's not like I'm buying any new appliances since they're already available.

"Write down your account number. I'll transfer half the amount back to you."

Ethan stared blankly at Ava. He turned on his heel and left without saying anything else.

"Uh, Mr. Atticus," Ava called out to him before he opened the door.

He stopped in his tracks, and turned around to face her again, "hmm?"

"Where do you work?" As a wife, she needed to know where her husband worked in case of emergencies.

"At Atticus Corporation," Ethan swiftly responded without thinking.

Ava's brows furrowed.

"Do you own the place? Or is it just a coincidence that you bear the same last name?" She remembered that he had said something about being an employee, not an employer.

Ethan's eyes flickered, but he swiftly regained his calm demeanor. He agreed with her second assumption, "Yeah. It's just coincidence."

Ava hummed, "Have a good day, Mr. Atticus."

The name Atticus Corporation rung a bell, but Ava did not dwell much on it. All that filled her mind was reviving Ava Bakies.

While Ethan drove his compact sedan to the gate to get into his main car, he cautioned himself for almost spilling the tea about who he really was. Ava was clueless, and he intended to keep it that way until they went their separate ways.

Ava freshened up, and left for Ava Bakies not long after. She would close the shop early so she could stop by the grocery store to get some food for her and her husband.

As Ava alighted from the cab, she sighted her shop neighbor, Noah, who leaned back on his shop door as he scrolled through social media.

Noah Wilder usually opened his shop last, but he was the first to open up today. This was because his two neighbors were closed throughout yesterday, and he was curious to know the reason why before they all got busy later in the day.

He owned the barbershop after Piper's bookstore. On that street, Ava Bakies was the first shop, followed by Piper's bookstore, and then Noah's barbershop.

Noah was the first son of the Wilder's, an equally affluent family in New Omicron. The Wilder's could be said to be on the same level as the Atticus's.

However, Noah was the prodigal son who never went back home. He used to be a teenage rebel, who did not buy the idea of being bound by the ethics and etiquette rules peculiar to the upper class.

Noah drew the last straw when he refused to succeed his father, and take over the family business at twenty four. He was done with college at the time.

In a fit of rage, Noah's father threw him out of their home.

Noah's finances were cut off from him, and his trust fund withheld. He was only allowed to come back home when he was ready to succeed his father as the new heir of the family business.

Fortunately for Noah, his uncle picked him up, gave him a shop, and some money to startup any business he deemed fit.

Noah's booming voice echoed across the street, "Ava!" He exclaimed as he walked towards Ava Bakies with an outstretched grin.

Ava smiled back at Noah, and greeted, "Morning, Noah."

They shared an innocent side hug.

"You weren't at the shop yesterday. Piper wasn't here too. Did both of you go on a mini vacation without me?"

It was only natural for Noah to notice that his neighbors did not open for business yesterday.

Ava chuckled, "Noah, you wouldn't believe me, but the craziest thing happened to me yesterday."

Eager to know what Ava's crazy story was, Noah asked, "Really? What happened?"

"Let's go into my shop first because anyone who hears what I'm about to say would think I'm crazy." Ava completely trusted her two shop neighbors, and she believed they would not yap about her sudden marriage to anyone if she told them not to.

Ava unlocked her shop, and went in before Noah. She didn't open for just one day, but it felt like she had been out of work forever.

Although Ava only had Liam as her customer, she would open her shop everyday as an escape from the reality of her father's death.

Across the road from Ava Bakies, a black luxury sedan parked, and observed the scene with Ava and Noah.

The car moved only when the pair went into Ava Bakies.

Mrs Atticus spent her night searching for information about Ava. Of course it was hard as no one knew who Ava was.

Mrs Atticus finally found something about Ava, and learned that she owned a dead business in town.

Mrs Atticus arrived Ava Bakies very early so that she could get a glimpse of what Ava looked like.

Mrs Atticus mumbled underneath her breath as the car drove away, "Ethan has got to be kidding me. I can't even introduce this Ava girl to the maids in our house.

"Look at her sharing hugs with men when she is a married woman. What if she's pretending to be helpless so that she can squeeze her way into the upper class?

"I'll have to warn Ethan to be weary of her, and keep his guard up. She might even be in a relationship with that man she just hugged."