Husband With Benefits

Antonio sipped at his coffee as he waited for Nora. She was late. He looked at the time again and wondered if she had decided to ghost him. Of course, he could not blame her for it, but he would definitely not think of her highly if she backed out of her promise to meet him just because of that. As he sat there, feeling out of sorts, he overheard someone from the other table complain to their partner," I never make you wait! And yet you always do that. This shows how much you value me!" Hearing this, Antonio paused mid-sip. He had never had to wait for her as well, he realized in shock. He remembered that every time they had met up, she had always been waiting for him. Even before he had fallen for Sara, Nora had been the one who had always been early.

Just when he was about to call her, he saw her approaching and his breath caught in his throat. She looked as beautiful as a flower. She was wearing a dress again. This time it was in some tones of pink and mint green, but it hugged her form in a way that was too enticing. He felt his heart clench. Since their wedding day, he had seen her a total of four times. And out of that, she had forgone her usual jeans and T-shirts for a dress three times.

Why had he ever thought that she was not classically beautiful like Sara? He'd always thought of her looks as simple. She could be pretty and cute in a girl-next-door kind of way. But seeing her now, like this...

While he was lost in thought, she sat opposite him without a word. "Hi." he spoke inanely.

Nora raised her brow at the greeting and instead spoke directly," I do not have the time for chit-chat, Antonio. Say what you want and be done."

"Why did you hire an actor to act as a priest at our wedding, Nora?" Antonio leaned forward. That was the one question that had been hammering at him repeatedly. The entire day of his wedding, he had been feeling guilty towards Nora and grateful to her because she had stepped aside for him and Sara to be together. His parents had never liked Sara, but they had adored Nora. Because the wedding had become a spectacle, they had not objected to the marriage, but her mother had made it clear that she would never accept Sara as her daughter-in-law.

Even so, he had fought with them and even assured Sara that now that they were married, she would be able to win her over. With that, they spent together a blissful night together and consummated their marriage.

But the next day, they discovered that the marriage was never legal. Sara had been distraught, but he had driven her straight to the civil affairs bureau to marry her. However, his parents had also heard the news of the fake marriage and threatened to kill themselves if he really married Sara. And now, everything was a mess.