Why did he buy the house?

Chris had never figured out the reason.

Joanne thought that she had perfectly hidden her secret crush on Brian when the rumors about his relationship with Rosalyn went viral a few years back. It was widely believed back then that the pair would have a happy ending.

Joanne had read all the reports about those rumors back then. However, she still went to work as usual every day with a smile on her face.

Chris had known Joanne well since she was a child. He didn't think that she was happy.

One day back then, Chris invited Joanne to dinner after work at a western restaurant near the villa district. He found that Joanne had been looking outside the restaurant when they were waiting for their food. So he asked, "What did you see?"

"The houses are beautiful here!" Joanne looked sad and cheerful at the same time. "If I don't get married in the future, I will buy a house here to spend my old age. I don't mind living alone in such a beautiful house!"

Chris saw the house he would buy that day as he followed Joanne's gaze.

The western-style house made of red bricks looked elegant and chic in the sunset that had covered the house quietly with its warm golden light.

It was a sweet little house with a low-maintenance garden. Anyone could enjoy his old age in a house like that, even if he lived alone with his pet.

However, Chris wasn't thinking about Joanne's future back then.

Because that was the house where he had met Freya for the first time.

Chris forgot who had held a party in that house, and he couldn't remember why he had attended the party. The only thing he had ever kept in mind was that it had been the place where he had met Freya for the first time.

Freya was in her teens at the time. She looked full of youth and vigor with carefully-combed fluffy black long hair. She skipped toward him with hands overlapped behind her back and greeted him as if she were his old friend.

He was six years older than her. He could tell from her bright eyes that she had feelings for him.

However, he was busy with his studies and businesses back then. He chose to ignore her, although his world was enlightened by Freya's sunny disposition.

Not long after, Freya confessed her love to him.

Freya was fearless enough to do that. She thought that she should express her feelings to the person she liked.

While he thought that it was naive for her to do that, he also thought that it would be unlikely for him to fall in love with a young and rash girl like her.

Therefore, he repeatedly refused her advances. However, she confessed her love to him time and again, as if she didn't know what the words "give up" meant.

He couldn't ignore Freya who appeared in his life from time to time, while he didn't realize his feelings for her back then.

He simply kept everything about Freya in mind.

Chris remembered what it was like when he met Freya for the first time; he remembered her birthday; he also remembered how she confessed her love to him for the first time.

He thought to himself, "The reason why I remember all the moments about her is that I felt genuinely happy because of it, isn't it?"

He asked his assistant to buy the house after the dinner with Joanne that day.

The assistant, who was as curious as Freya, asked, "Boss Scott, why do you want to buy the house? I don't think you're going to use it for investment or residence."

The image of meeting Freya there for the first time flashed through Chris's mind. However, he simply said, "Joanne likes the houses here."

It dawned on the assistant in an instant.

The assistant knew better than anyone else that Chris would get whatever Joanne wanted. He would even buy a villa district without hesitation as long as she liked it, let alone a house.

However, Joanne didn't move in the house, nor had Chris been there again after he bought it.

Freya realized that Chris had been lost in his thoughts. She poked him in the shoulder and asked, "Why are you taking so long to answer my question?"

Chris smiled. "I've been thinking about it for three years."

"..." Freya looked at Chris in surprise, as if she were saying, "I don't believe it."

Chris thought for a moment and said, "I once thought that I bought it because Joanne liked it. But now I think it was because this was the place where I met you for the first time."

"Wait, I see!" Freya gazed at Chris. "Three years ago, you bought it, and you wondered why you did that. Now you got the reason-because you met me for the first time here. That is to say-you fell in love with me back then, didn't you?"

Chris simply said, "Well, I guess you could say that."

"I was right!" Freya tutted as she gazed at Chris in disbelief with a proud look. "Well, I never! You fell for me three years ago. Anyway, we're very much alike. I wanted to have you more than 10 years ago."

Chris wrapped his arms around Freya's waist. "Now, it came true."

The lamps in the little garden were turned on as soon as his voice died down.

The small lamps filled up the garden like stars in the night sky with a warm and soft color, as if they would light up the softest part of her heart.

Freya, who had always lacked tenderness, felt warm in her heart at that moment.

She looked up into Chris's eyes, realizing that it was all because of him.

Chris was her husband, the one who would spend the rest of his life with her.

Freya closed her eyes in the lights, and then she felt a familiar touch on her lips, which brought her peace and gratification with gentle warmth in the cool breeze of the summer night.

"It's said that the right person in your life is the one who can calm you down. You will never worry about the future since you know that he will always be with you, although you don't know what tomorrow will bring."

Freya held Chris's waist, lost in her thoughts. "Chris is my Mr. Right. The point is that he's handsome!"

Chris released Freya after a time.

Freya compressed her ruddy lips, while her eyes looked as bright as stars. She looked into Chris's eyes with a coy smile. "Are we going to stay here tonight?"

"We'll have to go back to the hotel if we don't live here." Chris asked, "Do you want to go back?"

Realizing that the game of playing in the bridal chamber was waiting for them, Freya shook her head without hesitation. "No, I don't!" She didn't want to be disturbed by their friends on her once-in-a-lifetime wedding night.

Chris smiled as he brushed a lock of hair from Freya's cheek and tucked it behind her ear with his warm fingers. "Me neither."

Freya listened to him, entranced by his pleasant and charming voice. She compressed her lips in order not to laugh aloud.

Chris suddenly bent over and carried Freya in his arms.

Freya was surprised. "Ah!" She stared at Chris and asked, "Here?"

"I met you here. It's where our love began. What's the matter?"

Chris sounded as if he were supposed to do that. He wouldn't care even if Freya said there was something wrong.

Freya had to shake her head. "Nothing."

Chris's face beamed with satisfaction. "Good."

With that, he carried Freya into the house.

Not long after, the house dimmed with only a wall lamp in the bedroom on. The warm and faint light shone through the curtain onto the window, stirring the imagination...

In the hotel...

Chris guessed it. All of his friends had returned to the hotel after 8:00 p.m. to hold a party to celebrate Freya and Chris's wedding.

One of them began to look for Gavin as all the others reached the place, because the sociable Gavin had never missed parties.

However, he didn't see Gavin anywhere after looking around for him. He felt quite puzzled. "Didn't Gavin come?"

"Impossible!" one of Gavin's good friends immediately said, "He'll never miss a party like this. Maybe he got caught in traffic. Let me call him."

Gavin was playing games in his big apartment at that moment. He knew what was going on as soon as he saw the caller ID. He leisurely answered the phone, "Hello?"

"Where are you?" his friend asked quickly, "The party is about to start. Where are you?"

"I'm at home. I'm not going." After a pause, Gavin said, "I'm busy now." He meant that he was busy with his games.

"You're busy... at home?" His friend thought for a moment and then laughed. "You took Wendy to your house, didn't you?"

Gavin simply smiled.

His friend immediately thought that he was right, so he said, "Go on. Don't worry about us! By the way, you'd better turn off your cellphone. It's annoying to be disturbed."

Gavin smiled as he hung up in silence.

"I didn't say that Wendy is at my house. Those guys are thinking too much."

"But Wendy will come to my house tomorrow morning!"

With that, Gavin tapped his keyboard. He was rewarded greatly in gaming currency after eliminating his biggest enemy at his private zone in the computer game.

After the game, he went to the refrigerator and took out a bottle of water from it. Only then did he realize that it was late at night. "No wonder those guys said that the party was about to start."

"But they don't know Chris well."

"How could Chris stay in the hotel to be disturbed by them on his wedding night?"

However, the reason why Gavin didn't go to the hotel was because Wendy would not go, not because of knowing that the newlyweds would escape.

He would feel bored without Wendy, so he thought he might as well not go to have fun at the hotel.