"Welcome home." Arthur greeted me warmly with an affectionate tone after opening the door. "It's been such a long time."

I came directly from my job. My friends would come separately.

"Oh, I missed you!" I hugged his muscled hard tummy tightly and vainly tried to squeeze him out. I settled with his tummy because it was hard to reach his face with my short height. "Ugh! Stop sprouting! Will ya?" I glared at him. "Next time I think I have to bring a ladder!"

"With your height, I think a crane will do." he smirked playfully.

"What did you say? What did you say?" I poked on his waist with a little extra force. "Take this! Take that!"

"Ouch! Ouch! Ha ha ha! Stop! It tickles!" He started to wriggle as a wave of laughter shook his body.

"Stop playing at the door, you two butternutsquashes!" mom yelled from the inside.

"Yes mam!" We quickly stopped and answered together. Arthur took my backpack and hung it on the coat stand. I squinted my eyes.

"You are weird today." I stated, while looking up and down at him.

"Stop before I toss it outside!" He warned me unamused. I laughed.

"My princess." Dad hugged me and kissed my hair. "Congrats. I am so proud of you."

"Thanks dad." I hugged back his waist.

Dad held my both shoulders and checked me from head to toe. "You look good."

"Of course I am," I said with a cherry tone. "What do you think of me?"

"Ha ha ha! Good to hear that." Dad laughed merrily.

"Did you bring the ice-cream?" Mom asked as she put down a large ceramic pot with a roasted beef brisket. My mouth watered with that irresistible aroma. Gosh! I started to feel super hungry.

"Yup! Two boxes of rum raisin ice cream." I lifted up the Sainsbury's plastic carry bag. "I had to make rounds in two Tesco stores, one Co-Op and then I finally found it in Sainsbury's." I pouted my lips. "I want the biggest serving."

"Of course, ofcourse." Mom took the carry bag from me. "You are the guest of honor afterall." I looked at Arthur with a smug face.

"Did you hear that?"

Arthur rolled his eyes in answer.

A few minutes later Ani, Rose and Oli came together. I opened the door and welcomed them heartily.

"Welcome! Welcome!" I bowed a little in a dramatic way. "We are waiting for your arrival."

"Shut up and move your ass." Oli pushed me away and entered the house. Rose and Ani in tow.

"Hi, James." I waved my hand at James. He tipped his head a little and smiled.

"Good evening Mrs. Ryan."

My hand paused in the mid air. I stared at him for a few seconds. I wasn't sure if he was involved in those Ron's sneaky games. I didn't find anything against him, so I was going to let him go.

"Yeah good evening." I smiled back at him slowly.

"Let me help you." Oli took the wine glasses from mom.

"Oh my, thank you." Mom smiled at her gratefully. "I will bring out the napkins."

"You are welcome." She started to place them near the plates.

I squinted my eyes and counted the plates on the table. Weird. I called out my mom.

"Mom," Mom looked up while placing the napkins on the table. "Why are there eight plates? Are we expecting someone else?"

DING, DONG!

"I get it." I started to walk towards the door.

I opened the door and froze on my spot, when I saw the person at the doorstep.

"Hi," he smiled at me affectionately. "Congrats for getting your dream job."

"Hi," I bit my inner gum lightly, "Ron."

We stared into each other's eyes. Forgetting everything around us. We were brought back to earth when mom called out for me.

"Liza, where did you go?"

"May I?"

"Oh right! Yes Please." I scooted a little to give him a way to enter. He passed through me as he entered the house. I could smell his breath and a tingling sensation tickled me innerself.

"Oh Ron, how lovely to see you again." Mom's face started to sparkle with an overwhelmed joyness. I calmed myself down and closed the door behind me.

"This is Château Pétrus. I got this bottle directly from Bordeaux, France. Last week. I just thought it would fit with your taste. This wine is entirely produced from Merlot grapes which are hand harvested for two-three years and aged in pure oak barrels. And this bottle is from the first batch which was aged since 2010." Ron finished his speech and handed over a vintage looking wine bottle to dad, which dad gladly took as if he won the world cup.

"Oh, thank you so much."

I sighed tiredly. Again another expensive bottle with a boring long description. Why did that man was so obsessed with those stretched-detailed-bottles?

"Oh how lovely!" Mom clapped her hand happily. "Please sit down everyone. Dinner is ready."

I pulled out a chair and sat down. Oli pushed Ron to sit beside me. I glanced at him and he smiled at me indulgently. Dad poured that expensive wine to everyone delicately. I lifted my glass up and sniffed a little. Hmm, expensive things sure smell nice. Dad raised his glass on the air.

"To my lovely daughter who never failed to make me proud."

"Dad you are exaggerating." I chuckled lightly. Everyone followed him. "To Liza."

"Stop it!" I glared at everyone and they started to laugh.

"Right," dad put down his glass and looked at me curiously, "but what about your college? How are you going to manage everything?"

"It is going to be my second semester." I sipped my wine a little. "There will be mainly lab work and project assignments. And I chose all morning classes so there won't be any problem. I just have one lecture class in the afternoon every wednesday. I will talk with the professor. I am sure he will understand my situation."

"Yes, let's hope for the best." Dad smiled indulgently. He then focused his attention to Ron.

"So Ron how is your work?"

"I am doing fine sir, thank you." Ron answered politely.

"And what about you girls." Dad turned to my friends. "How are you doing?"

"Fabulous." Rose batted her eyelashes cutely.

"Great." Oli made a rock sign with her fingers.

"Yea, good," Ani answered while busy eating some stir fried hoisin chicken.

"Isn't it lovely?" Mom said happily. "Having all the close ones together."

"Indeed." Dad agreed with a contented voice.

Ron leaned a little on his chair and locked his eyes with mine lovingly. "Yes. It is indeed lovely."

THUMP!

My heart beat loudly against my rib cage.

I quickly averted my eyes and started to play with the edge of my glass while cursing at my damn heart silently.

"Fuck you!"

*~*~*~*~*~*~

I was at my lunch break on Thursday when I got a call from Anna.

"Why did you jump off from the building?" That was the first thing she asked after I received the call, without a 'hi' or 'hello'.

"Yes, I am fine thank you." I said sarcastically. "Only got a few fractures."

"What I am saying is you should've jumped from a ten storey building instead of two," She said with a serious tone. "If you were really planning to die."

"Ah, thanks for the advice. I will keep it in my mind for the next time."

"Anytime dear," She said smugly. "Friends should always look out for each other. You know what I mean.

"Oh, really," I said dramatically. "What could've I done without your help. But sorry to disappoint you, I didn't jump off. I slipped."

"You slipped?"

"I was drunk and slipped my step."

"Haa, you never failed to amuse me," She said in disbelief. "So, how are you?

"Yeah, everything is just great," I tapped my finger on my lunch box. "Actually I just got a job."

"Wow, congrats." She seemed excited. "Where?"

"ZSL."

"Woooow! And you are telling me now?!"

I laughed merrily.

"Enough about me." I scratched my nose tip. "What about you?"

"My Side is also going well too." Her tone changed into a tired one. "You remember I told you that my family owns a farm."

"Yes of course I remember. And I also remember you were very excited to take it over. You know I am quite impressed when I learned that you want to go back to the countryside instead of rejecting the tempting job offers in a big city. What was the name of the farm again?"

"It's Fairyland farm."

"Right. So how is the renovation going?"

"Well, I am still working on it. I am replacing a few items and adding some new attractions. You know how costly it is to change something. I have a few local investors whom I almost pursued to invest in my farm. It is such a pain in the ass to make those people trust in a small business."

"Yeah, tough life." I tried to comfort her. "But please don't hesitate if you need my help in any way."

"Actually there is something you can help me with" She suddenly seemed a little nervous. "I need a small favour from you."

"Sure, what is it?"

"I am arranging a small opening party on upcoming halloween, and," she sounded super nervous, "I am thinking about inviting you and Ron to my farm."

I blinked.

"Inviting Ron?" I was confused as fuck. "What for? I am sure he doesn't even know how to spell the word 'Farm'. What kind of help would he possibly give to ...." then it suddenly clicked my mind, "Right! Investing!".

"Oh no no no," Anna quickly cut me in, "I am not going to ask him to invest."

"Why not?!" I was surprised. "He is rich as hell. Don't worry I will talk to him."

"Listen to me, will you?" She stopped me with a scolding tone. "I don't want you to talk to him about investing. The local investors I am talking about, I want to blow off all their uncertainty. If Ron shows his face in my farm they will automatically think that he is investing in my farm and they will start investing in my farm without a second thought. They are businessmen so they keep news of the business world and thanks to Ron who is already in the top position of the business kingdom I am thinking about using him as a bait for them."

"Wowwww!" I lost words. "You are a damn hell of a business woman. I didn't know you took a management course secretly along with Zoology."

"Liza dear, this is called natural talent." I was hell of sure she flipped her hair like a drama queen while saying that. "I don't need a certificate to show my talent."

"Fuck you!" I said unamused.

"So can you ask Ron about that matter?" She hurriedly added. "Of course I will invite him personally after. I mean, of course it would be very hard to spare some moments to come to our farm."

I bit my lip lightly. Anna was really a nice friend of mine. She was there for me when I was so vulnerable and alone. She owned me a big one. And the thing she was asking was nothing compared to what she did for me back then. I hate to ask anything from Ron but I had to do it for her. She was working so hard. And all she asked from me was a little help. I should forget about my pride and help her out.

"Of course I will." I said confidently. "You do not worry about this matter at all. Just focus on your work. We will see you at your halloween party."

"Oh Liza, Liza, Liza!" she wasn't able to cover her overjoyed happy voice. "I don't know what to say."

"Umm, let me think." I grinned. "I think a thank you will do."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you."

"Well, three will do as well too." I laughed.

"Okay, I will send you the proper address."

"Yes, thank you."

"Bye. "

"Bye. See you at the party."

I ended the call and stared at my phone screen blankly.

Right! Next was the hardest thing to do. I had to call Ron. Okay, for Anna.

I pressed my speed dial 1 as it was saved for a particular person whom I never wanted to call again.

Ring...Ring...Ri-

"Hello," and as usual that person answered my call with the same affectionate voice before the third ring ended. "Liza."

"Do me a favour." I demanded. "Will you?"

"Anything for you." Damn my heart who started to flutter by those few ordinary words. "Just ask."

I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. "Have dinner with me tonight."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N

Husband = Free money

So Simple.....

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