Marriage is not something you can fool with. It's the celebration of love between two people. It's the knot that ties two people to become one forever. And it is the only bond that I had been haunted with since childhood. From the time my parents were almost getting divorced till today, I had feared this bond. And now here I was, letting the debate in favor of marriages win for the sake of my family. It was not like I didn't want to marry Noah, it was like why should it be all forced? Earlier I wasn't even sure about marriages in particular now I was thinking about its impact on Noah and my relationship. We have known each other since we were kids. But the last time we talked openly was when I was 8. He was a year elder and even then he was a weird person. He loved books and music and he would roam around with his big headphones plugged into his ears. He was never nice to anyone, but he was never rude to anyone too.

Martin boys were too particular about their traditions, customs, relations and promises. No matter what, they'll never get back on their words even if it meant they'll have to die. I was still tucked into my fluffy bed when mom knocked at the door.
"You have a visitor." She said entering the room with an old box.

"Who is it?" I asked as she placed the dusty box on the table.
"My future son-in-law." She replied unboxing it.

I jolted up from my bed and went to the window to find a narcissistic idiot standing under my window,
"Jade?"

"What? No, Noah." She sneezed cause of the dust.

"Bless you," I said checking again.

Well, Noah sure was there, lost in his book. I turned to find mum bring out a beautiful white gown from the box. It had a pastel texture while its sleeves were a cold shoulder look. The depth of its neckline was more than of my dreams. She walked towards me and measured the length.

"It's yours?" I asked touching the soft cloth.

"Yes, it was my wedding gown. Now it's yours. I'm sorry sweety, I know it's not the time to get super emotional but I guess, this is the least I could do." She said hugging me keeping the dress aside.

I glared at the dress and hugging her back said, "I'm glad it's this one." She gave a faint chuckle before kissing my forehead.

"But on a serious note," she smiled wickedly and leaned closer to my ears, "I've ordered a couple of aesthetically seductive night suits."

I pushed her away as my cheeks heated up for no reason in particular at her words, "you better be kidding me? I'm taking no such thing with me!"

"Oh sweety, I'm not kidding, your future husband does not know how to smile." She sighed holding her head in between her hands forcefully, "it's impossible for you to win over him without these things."

"He smiles, not often, but he does." I defended authoritatively.

"Stop moving!" I heard Mimin yell unknowingly as she saved me from getting my body being played with.

"I would rather die with its sting than take orders from you." Jade yelled back.

"These two!" I slapped my forehead staring at the two of them from the balcony. Jade had got a poisonous spider on his shoulder from somewhere which I was guessing was a gift from Mimi and now she was giving him orders while pretending to help him. Noah was sitting just a few steps away from them unbothered, lost in his old books. Suddenly he looked up closing his books and stood there staring at my face.

"Get ready fast." Mom reminded me, pushing me inside the washroom.

---

"I'm sorry I'm late. I didn't know you were coming." I apologized rushing out of the house.

"So what did you decide? Will you marry me or not?" He asked getting straight to the point. I was expecting to answer a little later today but the preparations were already going on. Wasn't he supposed to take it as a yes already?

"I..I..." I stammered. He turned away to open the door of his car without waiting for my answer. I sat inside without saying anything trying to avoid the awkwardness.

"Where are we going?" I pulled up the seat belt closer to my chest and fixed it properly after struggling for a while.

"Where do you want to go?" He asked repeating my actions. Why would he ask me that? Wasn't he supposed to plan all this?

"Anywhere," I replied looking at my hands. He started the car and pulled it out of the parking lot carefully.

"How is your arm now?" He asked focusing on the road after 5 minutes of utter silence.

"It's much better now." I touched the bandage, "How did you know, I was at the hospital?" I asked adding.

"I was on your last dial. The hospital authority called me." He said changing the gears.

"And yet you came." I smiled mumbling.

"Why did you stay all night long?" I questioned after a lot of thinking.

"I was leaving after they gave you the ivy to sleep but you grabbed my hand and didn't leave it till morning. Your arm was already injured, so I had no choice." He said calmly while my heart jumped out of my chest as my eyeballs popped out of their sockets.

"What did I do?" I howled catching hold of his hand in a state of shock. He lost his control over the steering wheel as he met my eyes for the first time still trying to control the car. The tires squeaked as he finally applied the breaks after a lot of effort. He gasped heavily before turning to face me leaning on the steering wheel supporting his head from one hand all the while glaring at my face.

"Warn me next time not tell you such things while I'm driving." He said holding back his smile, pretending to be calm again. I blinked a few times hiding my face behind my palm.

"Did I snore?" I questioned promptly hiding my embarrassment, forgetting all my previous worries.

Upon getting no reply for a while I slowly peeked through my fingers to find something impossible happening. The Noah Martin, known for not changing his expressions and remaining calm was actually trying to control his smile. I removed my palms from my face and slowly blushed to look at his face. So I was able to make the tiger smile. Good Job!

"Are you trying to control your smile?" I asked looking down as my cheeks kept on heating up.

"No." He said and I speedily looked up.

"I'm trying to control myself from laughing at my fiancee on our very first date." He added smiling sheepishly.

He started the car again and the tires rolled over all my leftover dignity after yesterday's incident. Now I was confused about what to be embarrassed? He had just called me his fiancee, he had just mentioned that we were on a date and he had just told me that he wanted to save me from embarrassment so he didn't laugh at me on our very first date. Ironically, I was more embarrassed now than ever.

He kept on driving peacefully as I kept my mouth shut all through the ride. I didn't want to lose face in front of him anymore. Suddenly my eyes fell on a few books kept on the back seat. I turned to find they were all pretty old.

"You like to read?" I asked trying to initiate a sensible conversation.

"No, I just like the smell of old books." He said coolly. I realized I had again asked a stupid question and he was again making fun of me so I pouted looking out of the window.

"I'm serious." He said taking a shaky right turn.

"What?" I asked trying to understand.

"I get suffocated around people, their scent drives me crazy and makes me insane, so I use these old books to help me stay calm." He said turning towards the left.

So Noah was not actually rude, he just couldn't get into the crowd no matter how much he tried. I stayed quiet and wondered how he managed the people in public transport and railway stations? And that is when it hit me, he stayed in the hospital with me one whole night, how did he manage that?

"How did you manage to stay in the hospital that night? Did you carry a book with you?" I asked anxiously. He didn't respond to my question until he pushed the breaks. I looked around to find the place a little familiar.

"I didn't. At first, I was reluctant but then I realized I wasn't that horrified. It wasn't that suffocating. For a while I was confused why was it not troublesome anymore? Then I noticed, it was because of you." He confessed rolling up the glass of windows.

"Because of me?" I raised an eyebrow.

"You have the scent of old books." He said hitting my forehead with his index finger before getting out of the car.

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