Married at First Sight - Season 1 Episode 5

“You said it yourself, Liberty. It’s his prenuptial property. It doesn’t make sense to add my name to the title deed since I didn’t pay a penny for the house. I think we should forget about it.”
Zachary did Serenity a huge favor by handing her the key to the house the moment they got married. She could move in right away, solving her housing predicament.

Serenity was not going to request that of Zachary. Of course, she would not refuse if Zachary added her name on his own accord. Now that they were husband and wife, Serenity made up her mind to spend the rest of her life with him.

Liberty had to at least bring it up. Knowing that her sister was self-reliant and not driven by greed, Liberty did not dwell on the matter.

After a series of interrogations, Serenity successfully moved out of her sister’s place.

Liberty wanted to drop her off at Brynfield, but Sonny happened to wake up. The little guy was crying for his mama the moment he opened his eyes.

“You should attend to Sonny. I don’t have a lot of stuff. I can move them myself.”

Liberty needed to feed her son and get a start on lunch. Her husband would call her out for doing nothing at home should he return with no food on the table.

Left with no choice, Liberty said, “Be careful on the road. Are you coming here for lunch? Bring your husband along.”

“I need to get to the shop in the afternoon, so I can’t make it for lunch. My husband has his plate full at work. He’s going away for business in the afternoon, so it might be some time before I can bring him to meet you.”

Serenity lied.

She knew nothing about Zachary, but Grandma May mentioned that his life revolved around work. He would sometimes go out of town for business, away for days on end. Without a concrete idea of when Zachary would be free, Serenity did not make a commitment in case she could not keep it.

“He’s going on a business trip the same day he got married.”

Liberty found Zachary to be inconsiderate toward Serenity.

“We’ve only got our marriage license and not the wedding. The way I see it. He should go on these trips and make more money since the expenses will pile up. I should get going, Liberty. Go and feed Sonny.”

Serenity waved her sister and nephew goodbye before hauling her suitcase down the stairs.

She had heard about Brynfield but never entered the neighborhood before.

She hailed a cab and went straight to Brynfield. Once there, it then occurred to Serenity that she forgot to ask Zachary the floor his place was on.

Serenity pulled out her phone to call Zachary, but he might not pick up since he was at work. Still, she decided to call him through WhatsApp.

Zachary was in a meeting. Everybody in the conference room had set their phones to silent mode as no personal calls could be taken during this time.

He had also muted his phone. As his phone was put on the table, Zachary quickly noticed the incoming call from Serenity.

Zachary did not save her contact when they exchanged numbers. With Serenity’s profile name, “Mermaid in the Deep Blue Sea” popping out on WhatsApp, Zachary canceled the unidentified call without a second thought.

He then blacklisted Serenity’s number.

In the dark about Zachary’s act, Serenity went on to try messaging since he was not picking up.

She asked, ‘Mr. York, I’m at Brynfields now, but I don’t know which floor your place is on.”

Serenity typed the message and tapped send, only to find out that her text could not reach the number.

She stared blankly at the screen of her phone.

“Why can’t I reach his number? We exchanged numbers at City Hall. Did I get the number wrong?”

Serenity mumbled to herself as she thought hard and long about whether there was a gap in her memory.

Having determined she got the right number, Serenity arrived at one possibility – Zachary had blacklisted her number.

Did he forget that they just got married?

Truth be told, Serenity would not last two days before she drew a blank about her husband had she stayed put in her sister’s house.

Serenity later called Grandma May. After reaching Grandma May on the phone, Serenity uttered, “Nana, I moved out of my sister’s place, and I’m now at Brynfield, but I don’t know Mr. York’s… Uh… Do you know what floor Zachary’s place is on?”

Grandma York, “…”

“Hang on, Serenity. I’ll call Zack right now.”

The old lady had no clue either.

The house and car were bought recently so Zachary could vet Serenity out. Grandma May only found out now that her oldest grandson bought a house at Brynfield after the couple got their marriage license.

Grandma May ended the call and wasted no time getting ahold of Zachary.

After blacklisting his bride’s number, Zachary put the phone back on the table and carried on with the meeting. Less than three minutes later, his mobile screen lit up. Seeing that it was Nana, Zachary accepted the call.

“I’m in a meeting, Nana.”

Zachary’s husky voice came through. “Anything can wait until I get home.”

“Zack, what’s the unit number of the place you bought at Brynfield? Serenity’s there now, but she doesn’t know where the place is specifically. Don’t you have her number? Go and tell her.”

Zachary raised his sleek brow. Oh. Now he remembered.

He got hitched today to a woman he had never met but Nana was deeply fond of. He believed her name was Serenity. Moments ago, Zachary had blacklisted his wife’s number.

“Nana, tell her it’s apartment 808 on the eighth floor of Block B.”

“Sure. I’ll let her know. Carry on with your meeting.”

The old lady was a brisk character, hanging up the call and passing the message to Serenity.

Zachary stared at his phone in silence for a moment before taking Serenity out of the banned contacts.

He saved Serenity’s contact and sent her an apologetic text message.

“I’m sorry. I forgot who you were earlier.”

Serenity did not take the incident to heart.

Grandma May’s sons and daughters-in-law thanked Serenity personally when the latter saved their mother’s life. By the time the grandchildren made it to the hospital for a visit, Serenity was long gone. Hence, it was hard for Zachary to keep track of a stranger like Serenity.

Even though Nana had mentioned Serenity more than a few times, Zachary paid no mind and attached no importance to it. He could barely remember Serenity’s name.

Serenity texted back. ‘It’s fine. Just do your thing. I’m moving my stuff up the stairs.’

“Do you need help?”

“I only have a suitcase. I can move it myself. Besides, are you going to come back and help if I really need it?”

Zachary was honest in his reply. “No.”

He had a busy schedule.

How could he find the time to help her move?

Serenity responded with a cry-laughing emoji before going radio silence. She did not want to get in the way of his work.

Zachary had also quit the messaging. There was nothing to talk about since they hardly knew each other.

His only hope was for a docile wife who would not trouble him over the pettiest things. He had no time to give her the time of the day.

Placing his phone back on the table, Zachary lifted his head and noticed that all eyes were on him.

Chapter 5
With his game face on, Zachary said, “Back to the meeting.”
Sitting nearest to Zachary was his cousin, Callum. Among the cousins within the same age range as Zachary, Callum ranked second.

Callum drew close and whispered, “Zack, I overheard your conversation with Nana. Did you really marry that Ser- girl?”

Zachary shot him a glare.

Scratching his nose, Callum straightened his back and ended the probing.

Even so, Callum had nothing but sympathy for Zachary.

There was no need for the York boys to secure social and financial standing through marriage, but Zack and his new bride were not a match in every single way. Poor Zack. He merely married the girl because Nana took a liking to her.

Once again, Callum offered Zachary condolences through his thoughts.

Thank goodness Callum was not the oldest in the family. Otherwise, he would have to step up to the plate and marry Nana’s lifesaver.

Unaware of all that, Serenity got the location details and was busy dragging her suitcase to get to her new home.

She opened the door only to step into a spacious house. The place was bigger and more decked out than her sister’s house.

Putting down her suitcase, Serenity started by looking around the place. This was her home from now on.

It had two living areas, four bedrooms, one kitchen, two bathrooms, and two balconies. Each space was broad and wide. Serenity estimated the entire house to be at least two thousand square feet.

The place was barely furnished as there was only a sofa set with a coffee table, and a wine chiller in the living room. Two out of four bedrooms were equipped with a bed and wardrobe while the other two were empty.

The master bedroom had en-suite facilities, complete with a walk-in closet, study, and bathroom. Despite the divided space, the master bedroom remained huge like the living hall.

This must be Zachary’s space.

Serenity chose to live in the other room with a bed. The sunlight that came from the balcony brightened up the room. As this was a bedroom down from the master bedroom, the new husband and wife could enjoy their personal space.

Although they were married in the eyes of the law, Serenity would not propose spending time as a married couple unless Zachary asked for it.

After dragging her suitcase to the bedroom, Serenity went into the kitchen.

The kitchen was squeaky clean without kitchenware in sight. Both balconies were also bare but gave a roomy feeling due to the vast space. Serenity intended to spruce up the balcony with some plants and a swing. Nothing beat reading a book and taking in the botanic view on a swing during her free time.

It appeared Zachary was rarely home for dinner.

Now that she was occupying the space, home-cooked meals were a must. Serenity started with the kitchen by purchasing kitchen utensils online. As for plants on the balcony and other furniture, she wanted to get Zachary’s take on it when he got home from work.

It was his house after all while she was simply crashing here.

After placing an order on kitchen tools, Serenity looked at the time and needed to return to the shop.

Picking up the keys, she grabbed her phone and rushed down the stairs.

Serenity made it back to the shop in time for the afterschool rush.

Her best friend, Jasmine, inquired out of concern. “What were you up to in the morning, Seren?”

“My sister and brother-in-law have been in constant argument because of me. I thought about it and decided to move out.” Serenity shrugged. “So I moved out this morning.”

Her best friend’s brother-in-law was something else. Jasmine sighed. “Men love to tell women that they would take care of them, but when it comes down to it, they’re the ones nagging and finding faults. After marriage, we, women, have to put family above all while grinning through misunderstandings. It’s so unfair. I think your sister should find a job! Women must always be financially independent so we have a say in the household.”

While speaking, Jasmine suddenly furrowed her brows and gave Serenity a confused look. “I can’t believe your sister let you move out.”

“I got married.”

“Oh… What? You got married? You don’t even have a boyfriend. Who did you marry?” Jasmine’s mindless nodding was ensued with shock as she stared at Serenity wide-eyed. Her voice went high-pitch too.

Knowing that she could not keep the news from Jasmine, Serenity came clean about the whole thing.

Jasmine glared at Serenity for a while before poking the latter’s forehead. “I don’t know where you find the guts to marry someone you met for the first time. You could’ve stayed with me if you couldn’t find a place. I have extra rooms at my place. You could’ve also picked my cousin if you were looking for a husband.”