The Accidental Wife (Emily and Julian)

Thu, Sep 19 G

"I was worried you'd be a stuck-up **h to be honest," Caroline says. One thing I've learned about her in the past forty-five minutes is that she's very blunt, but nice at the same time. "was worried about that too," Natalie admits, and I frown. Why would they think about that? "Why? Have you heard something about me?" I can't help but ask.

"Oh no, we haven't heard anything. Knox actually told us you're very nice and the fact that you're the only girl that managed to win ***s's heart says that you're a good person. One can't help but worry though. I mean, you're the daughter of Emily and Julian Kensington, so we thought you'd be full of yourself," Caroline explains. But my parents are nice, so why would they think like that? I smile at her

"I

although I don't totally get it. I'm kind of used to people thinking that I would be c** *** **y when they first meet me because of who I am, but it's honestly exhausting. "Theard that you and Silas have known each other for years, Alexa, Dave's girlfriend, Comments. She came fifteen minutes ago, and I learned that she is studying psychology.

that

"That's right. We met because of our siblings. They became friends around six years ago and they're basically why the two families know each other," I explain as I prepare the quinoa salad, something Mum taught me to make around two years ago.

After

a while, we take everything we prepared and place them on the table in the backyard. To my surprise, I find chicken breasts on a separate plate. "Silas reminded us three times to get chicken breasts because he knows you don't like meat except for hot dogs and didn't want you to be stuck with them," Knox informs me when he sees me staring at the chicken in front of me.

"Can't let my girl starve now, can I?" I feel Silas wrap his arm around my waist and I instantly smile. The thing is, the smile isn't an act and neither is the way my heart is hammering inside my chest. "Thank you." I turn to face him and kiss his cheek.

When I learned that we were going to a barbecue, I didn't ask him to get me something special because I didn't want to bother him. I know that the purpose of the outing is for me to meet his friends, but I still didn't want to bother anyone with a special request

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from the very first time. I felt like that would leave a not-so-good first impression.

We all sit down once the table is ready and start to eat.

"Since you've known Silas for a long time, Rosie, why don't you tell us some embarrassing facts about him?" Dave says, earning agreements from everyone around except Silas.

"Cupcake, I'm the one who takes you on dates, remember? You're dating me. You should be on my side," he says, making me giggle.

"I don't know about that, especially since you insist on calling me cupcake," I point out, wiggling my eyebrows playfully at him.

"You don't like getting called cupcake?" Alexa a

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"It's a nickname my mum gave me a long time ago when I was a toddler because I was obsessed with cupcakes. They kept calling me with the same nickname and when Silas heard them, he decided to use it for teasing me," I explain, then turn to look at Silas with a smirk, "My sweet boyfriend here wasn't always the sweetest?

"Are you seriously going to out me to my friends now?" Silas feigned being hurt.

"Your lunch is on us for five days, Rosie, if you tell us how bad he was," Karl offers, making me laugh.

"I get her lunch already, so your offer isn't valuable to her," Silas says.

"There's nothing here to tell really," I tell them, wanting to put poor Silas out of his misery. "He just used to get on my nerves when we were young. He used to s**ch my books from me while I was reading or push me into the pool. Nothing major. I had my comebacks though." They don't need to know the extent of our friendship or relationship in this fake-dating case, so I just tell them very superficial things.

"What did you use to do?" Justin wonders.

"She once put bleach in my shampoo," Silas replies, making others laugh.

"You put hot sauce in my smoothie!" I exclaim. I had the right to take revenge.

"Okay, you deserved it," Karl points out.

We stay at the table for a while as we eat and chat with each other. At first, I thought that I wouldn't have fun with them since they are a group of people whom I have never met before, except for Knox. However, they turned out to be very nice and I'm having a great time with them. They're very friendly and I don't feel like I'm the newest member

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who has just been introduced to them.

"Do you guys want to watch a movie?" Aaron suggests as we all clean the table. We all agree, so we end up gathering in the living room after cleaning the table and preparing enough snacks for everybody.

Since there isn't enough space for everyone to sit, Silas ends up pulling me on his lap and I furiously blush. We have never done that before, but I know that it's supposed to be something normal between couples, so I do my best to act like I'm okay with it. "Look at how red your cheeks are," Caroline teases me and I hide my face with my hands.

"Leave her alone, Car," Silas playfully whines. "We're still not used to acting like that around people."

"As if you weren't like her when we started dating," Justin reminds his girlfriend, making her roll her eyes, but her smile doesn't escape my notice.

I try to shift a little while we're watching the movie, which makes Silas look at me. "Sorry I'm a bit heavy," I shyly whisper, looking down. His legs must be numb because of my weight. I try to lift myself to sit on the armrest of the recliner, but Silas gently tightens his grip around my waist. "You weigh nothing, Rosie. I lift twice your weight at the gym," he murmurs and I find myself sinking back into my original position comfortably. As we're watching the movie, I untie my bun because it's beginning to give me a headache. I can never keep my hair up for a long time because of how heavy my hair is, but I like how my face looks when it's pulled away from it. "Headache?"

Silas

dance in my chest.

whispers and I slowly nod, looking at him. I catch his brown eyes staring at me and I look away, suddenly feeling shy. We may have kissed before, but this is entirely different. We're intimately close and the way he plays with my hair is making my heart I place my head on his shoulder, completely ignoring the movie.

!!

"Close your eyes for a little bit if your headache is strong, he murmurs.

"Not strong," I say in a very quiet voice, not wanting to annoy the others.

We stay like that for over an hour with my head on his shoulder and his hand in my air. This all is supposed to be an act, yet it doesn't feel like that at all. This all seems so real, and I can't help but wonder if maybe I made a huge mistake when I suggested the