She stared blankly at the paper that had both their signatures on it with mixed feelings.

"Having second thoughts?"

"No"

"Are you ready?"

"For what?"

"We need to register our marriage. This contract doesn't cut it"

She knew that.

"But are we going to do that now?"

"You don't want to?"

She shook her head. "You have to wait a little. I need to freshen up"

"Alright"

She came back a little later in a short pink dress. Her hair was let down, and she had on a deep red lipstick. For a moment, he was lost in her beauty.

"Let's go"

Her voice brought him back.

They arrived at the marriage certificate bureau. It took Cedric a while to realize she wasn't beside him anymore. He looked back to see her standing rigid, hesitation obvious in her eyes. She visibly sighed and stepped into the building with him.

They approached the counter and identified themselves while they presented their documents.

The clerk checked their application and asked a few customary questions.

"Cedric Sinclair and Cressida Jones. Am I correct?"

He nodded. His expression was calm.

Cressida could bet on anything that the clerk had no idea who Cedric was. Like Amy had said, he barely appeared in public, and he was mostly represented by someone at public events.

"You are" Cressida answered.

She handed them a form to fill. Cedric took it before Cressida could make an attempted to accept it.

The filled the form and returned it to the clerk. She stamped it and asked them to wait a little, that their certificate will be issued immediately.

They sat in silence. Usually, when couples come here, they are full of smile and bubbling with excitement that they are about to become legal married but theirs was the opposite.

Out of habit, Cressida picked her nails, signifying her nervousness. She was going to be tied to this man for the next one year the moment the marriage certificate was issued.

In an attempt to reassure her, he tried to hold her hand, but she moved away, creating even more distance between them.

The clerk returned with two certificates and had them sign on both. She held on to one and gave them the other.

"Congratulations Mr and Mrs Sinclair. This is your marriage certificate"

Cedric and Cressida exchanged a look as the clerk congratulated them.

"Thank you" Cressida smiled slightly.

By the time they walked out, the sun was high up in the sky. She blinked in the bright sunlight, holding on to the certificate.

With saying a word to each other, they got into the car.

Halfway through, Cedric asked. "Do you want to keep that, or should I?"

"I think you should"

"There is a briefcase at the back seat. You can put it in there"

She turned and grabbed the briefcase. It was a black leather briefcase which had a polished surface with his initials written on it. The briefcase was too big for her small hand. She opened it, but a second later, it slipped from her hand and every single thing inside it fell.

"I'm sorry" she grabbed the paper trying to put them in order when a picture slipped out. It was that of him and a girl, probably about her age. She had a gorgeous smile.

His hand was around her neck as he kissed her on her cheek.

She looked away and packed it with the other stuff. She zipped it up and returned it to the back seat.

The car stopped, and she realized they were at her house.

"Where are we? This is not my house"

"You are right. It's mine"

"What are we doing at your house?"

"We are married now. You don't expect we live separately, do you?"

"We just finalized it today. I didn't make any preparations"

"I'm not asking you to move in today. You can do that tomorrow. I just want you to take a look around"

He alighted the car, and she did the same.

She got a good look at the mansion before her, a little dazed. It was thrice the size of her father's. It was a three-storey villa. There was a long, wide, and straight road leading in. The exterior was a mixture of cream and gold colored stone walls. A dark gray roof and a thick, huge wooden door. She noticed there were armed men guarding the door

Before she became lost in the house aesthetics, she came to her senses.

"I need to leave now. I have a lot of things to do at the gallery"

He wanted to convince her to stay for a while, but he already knew she wasn't going to listen.

He drove her to her house.

"Wait" he stopped her as she was about to open the door and handed her a small box. She opened it. There was a beautiful diamond ring nestled in the velvet box.

"Put it on" his voice was husky and smooth.

"Why are you giving me a ring? This marriage isn't real?"

"If we want to make it look real in the eyes of others we need a ring"

She thought about it for a second and nodded before getting out of the car. He was a little disappointed. He had wanted to see how good it looked on her.

There were two armed men at her door. They weren't the same ones she had seen when she left with Cedric in the morning, so she guessed they changed shift. They bowed to her and she responded the same way. She wasn't comfortable having these men in her space, but at the same time, she needed protection.

That night, when she was about to go to bed, her gaze drifted to the small box on the vanity.

Cedric's words played in her mind.

'If we want to make it look real in the eyes of others, we need a ring'

She opened the box again. The ring sparkled in her dimly lit room.

She set the box down and slipped the ring into her finger. It felt so light and comfortable and was exactly her size.

She thought she heard a thudding sound. She forgot the ring on her finger. The sound got louder as she approached the door. Her heart rammed against her chest.