Chapter 374: Officially Married

"Why do you look so shocked?" Hayden asked before offering me his arm.

I quickly looped my arms around his as I leaned in closer to him. He doesn’t just look good; he smells good too. Hayden looked down at me and caught me staring up at his angelic face.

"Are you ok…or do we need to get your brain checked?" Hayden asked teasingly.

"I’m ok! Let’s…go home…" I quickly replied before he made his joke a reality.

We made it back to the mansion without incident. The last time we left the mansion, we were headed to the church where we were supposed to get married. Who would have thought that it was more than a week after that before we could return back here again. Also, we didn’t get married at the church. I wondered how fate could be so cruel to me to have my church wedding fail two times in a row.

Thankfully, we were married already as far as we were concerned.

I glanced at Hayden who was seated leisurely on his sofa while I wondered what was supposed to happen next between us. Are we supposed to get our marriage registered? Is that required or expected?

What are the protocols that a girl needs to follow when she marries a mafia gang member?

Hayden was reading something on his phone, and he seemed focused on that. Nothing made me believe that Hayden was anywhere near inclined to tell me about what we were supposed to do.

"Hayden…" I called his name as I approached him.

Hayden looked up from his phone while I sat down next to him on the sofa. I knew that I should just ask him directly about it, but I just couldn’t find the right words.

"If you have something to say, you should just say it…" Hayden said as his eyes continued to watch my face.

Although his tone was more encouraging than stern, the way his eyes stared at me made me more nervous. He was right, I should get this over with.

"Umm…I was just wondering about what is supposed to happen now? We’re married but…if there something that we’re supposed to do?" I asked hesitantly.

My words felt weird even to my own ears. I wondered what Hayden thought about my questions.

"Is there something that you want to do?" Hayden asked instead of replying to my questions.

"No…not really…I was just wondering…" I mumbled in reply.

"If that’s the case then we don’t have to do anything. The boss will instruct us on what he wants us to do," Hayden replied passively.

"Oh…I see…" I mumbled.

I guess we really don’t have to do anything or think about anything at all. The boss will probably decide for us, and Hayden would probably just go along with whatever his father has decided.

"We’re married, Malissa. As far as I’m concerned, you’re my wife now. We don’t need to do anything else unless you want us to do something else to make our marriage more official, then you can let me know," Hayden replied as his eyes stared deeply into mine.

I could feel how earnest he was, and his words truly touched me. I guess I hadn’t realized how insecure I had been feeling until his words comforted me and assured me that we were really married. It was unfortunate that we didn’t get to have our wedding ceremony after all the planning that we’ve done. My mind immediately went to the wedding dress that Hayden got tailored for me.

In the end, I didn’t get to wear it and I don’t even know where it is right now.

"I don’t need anything else. I was just asking because I wasn’t sure if there are things that we needed to do or not based on…you know…the standard procedure of the gang," I replied honestly.

"The boss will tell us that soon enough. Don’t worry, they’ll be a bunch of things that we need to do. Unfortunately, that old man isn’t going to give up on the ceremony just because it happened to fail twice…" Hayden said while sounding very tired.

"Really?" I asked in pure surprise.

Does that mean that we’re going to make another attempt to get married in that church?

"It’s not just the ceremony. He’ll still want to have the party and all that. It’s for the business, Malissa. Cancelling the party last minute looked very bad and he’s got to make up for that with his business partners. As for us, we’ll need to get our marriage registered," Hayden explained while sounding slightly irritated.

"Oh…I see…" I mumbled.

"I wouldn’t mind a paperless marriage, though. I mean, the paper doesn’t mean anything to me. It’s just paper. It can’t hold us together or keep us apart…" Hayden stated his view casually.

I wouldn’t say that I entirely disagreed with him, but I didn’t agree with him totally either. The marriage registry is nothing but paper and of course, it can’t prevent people from falling out of love and getting divorced; however, I guess having it would make me feel like our marriage is a little more real and serious.

"I’m fine either way," I replied honestly.

Marriage registration aside, I was just praying that our church wedding wouldn’t fail on our third try. Third times the charm, right?

…

The next few days were really busy days for both of us. If I had feared that our lives wouldn’t change now that we had gotten married, I was so wrong. Life changed a lot, and it wasn’t because we wanted it to change.

"This way please…that’s it…put it there!" Auntie instructed loudly as she waved her arms.

Men with bulky muscles carried large pieces of furniture and boxes all around the mansion. It was a major mess, and I had no idea what was really going on anymore. Now that we were married, the boss wanted us to live like a real married couple, and for some reason, just me moving in to live with Hayden in his wing wasn’t enough.

--To be continued…