"What the hell have you done to my house?" She glared at him then at her messed up house.
"Hey, this is my house too," as soon as the words left his mouth, he immediately regretted.
"Great then live here alone! I'm out of here." She hissed.
"But grandy already took care of your house." He shrugged.
"'Took care of' what does that mean?" Rina glared at him.
Wow, my mouth! Can't you shut up? Seriously another suicide attempt? At this rate, I'll be dead in a minute. Rihito let out a nervous smile.
"Rihito!" She angrily marched towards him.
"hmm...that...umm.." with her each step forward he took his backward.
"I'm really sorry! I'll get the house back I promise! Please forgive me!" pleading, he folded his hands.
"Argh! I've had enough!" She shouted in frustration. "You" She glared at him, "First go and put some clothes on and come to the dining."
"For what?" He raised his brows.
She throws a murderous glare at him, "I'm sorry. I'll be right back" He hurried over to his room.
After a few minutes
"What is this?" He asked looking at a blank paper in front, he turned it over but it was completely blank.
"I can't live with you like this. I'll go crazy! And thanks to your grandy who 'took care of' my house, I've got no choice but to stay here so we're going to set up some rules. House rules." She announced.
"Heh? But I hate rules." He pouted sulkily.
"Great! I love them." Rihito gets goosebumps as she smiled creepily.
1. This fake marriage ends after 3 months.
"Isn't that too fast?" He complained, Rina glared at him, he cleared his throat, "I mean we got married just a month ago and just started living together, grandy won't buy it."
"So?" She raised a brow.
"We originally planned 6 months, let's stick to that?" he suggested.
"Fine." She rolled her eyes as she wrote it down on the paper.
2. You're not to roam around the house naked as you did a few minutes ago. She stated.
"But it's hot." He whined.
"That's your problem!" She shrugged her shoulders. "Do whatever you want inside your room but outside, it's my territory."
3. You're not to create a mess in the house, you'll throw the rubbish in the bins. Clean your mess before you get up from the place. She pointed to the living room where the packets of chips were lying around.
and Clean the house thoroughly once a week.' She added.
"We've got a maid for that." He intervened.
"Good for you but I prefer to do my own work so please instruct her not to enter my room or touch my things. House will be cleaned by the maid fine but you have to clean the mess you created on your own." She told him.
"What will she do then?" he frowned complaining.
"Is your maid going to come now? to clean that up?" She raised her brows at him.
"No," He shook his head, "She'll come tomorrow."
"And you plan to leave things like that until tomorrow?" She banged her fist on the table. "You're going to clean that now, Rihito."
Rihito flinched at her threatening tone. He vigorously nodded his head.
"As long as you understand." She faked a smile at him.
I forget how scary she can get when her house is not clean. He reminisced the days when he spent at her house when her ex Eros the gross was stalking her.
4. Cook your own food and clean the kitchen after using it.
"Wait! You're not going to cook for me?" He shouted.
"Why should I?" She shrugged.
"Can I get a divorce?"
"Excuse me?" Her brow quirked up.
"The only thing good about living with you, I thought that I'll get to eat your cooking but now you're telling me you're not?" He pouted sulkily.
"I heard you bragging about your cooking skills to Teresa so why can't you just cook your own food?" She narrowed her eyes at him.
"That's because in this big house cooking for only me, it's kinda lonely."
"What did you do when you were living alone?" She looked at him with curious eyes.
"I had those things for my dinner." He pointed at the living room.
"Those junk foods?"
"Yeah."
"Are you kidding me? What did you keep a maid for? Didn't she make you something?"
"but then I'll have to reheat the food, such a pain."
"You're the actual pain." She sighed. "Fine, I'll cook for us both."
"Really?" His eyes sparkled.
Rina was almost blinded by the brightness he was emitting, she slapped her cheeks to return back to reality. Don't lose it, Rina! Keep it together!
After writing the rules she hung one at the refrigerator and as for Rihito's copy, she asked him to hang it on his door.
A few days later
On the weekend they were fighting over the genre of the movie they were going to watch. Rihito had snuck up his few rules on her list as it wasn't fair that only she got to make rules. So as per the rule, they had to spend the weekend watching at least one movie together.
Their fight was interrupted by the doorbell.
"Who would come at this hour?" They looked at the watch it was 11:30 pm.
"Teresa!" They both said in unison.
The bell rang again.
"Coming!" Rina shouted as she walked to the door.
But when she opened the door, it wasn't her best friend but her brother.
"What are you-" Before she could complete, "I need a place to crash in," he said shoving her aside entering the house.
"Now what?" She rolled her eyes.
Closing the door she followed after him.
"Did you fight with Ryouma...." Rihito trailed off when he spotted his brother in law. "oh Ethan?" he blinked.
"Hi, Rihito." Ethan waved at him. "Sorry, but can I crash in for a few days?"
"Did you get in trouble again?" Rina asked from behind.
Ignoring Rina, he continued, "I've got a situation and I'm really sorry about this but I don't have anywhere to go."
"Of course, come join us we were selecting a movie but couldn't decide at all, why don't you choose one?" Rihito smiled at him.
"You guys carry on, I'm going to bed." Rina walked towards her room.
"Thanks but I don't want to bother you guys and I'm really tired so I just wanna sleep." Ethan walked to Rina and turning the doorknob he looked back at Rihito, "I'll take this room thanks, good night." He smiled before closing the door on her face.
Rina blinked standing in front of her room's door.
****
Entering the room Ethan's phone rang.
He had a terrified look on his face as he looked at the caller's name. "Talk about the timing!"
"hello." He answered.
"yeah I am inside....you want me to go and check on them?....I'm sorry but I've already embarrassed myself by barging in here, how am I supposed to face them?.....You do realize she's my sister?.... You're using me to hook her up with her husband!.... I'm still not clear on this fake marriage thing, why would they?... but--" Before he could argue the call ended.
"He is impossible!" Ethan shouted in frustration.
****
"Haven't you done enough? Can't you just let them be?" The ex-cop glared at her husband.
"Blame your grandson, wife. If he himself took a step forward, I wouldn't have to interfere at all."
"But this? blackmailing her brother into barging into their house? You're crossing your limits!"
"You know if I don't do this, God knows how much time they'll take to confess their feelings. We forced them to live together, I even sold her house off so that she won't have an option to run away but god their progress is too slow. I have no other option but to force them in one room now."
"I'm still against this!"
"You know how Rihito is, how he acts around girls but with Rina it's different, he's finally reaching out to someone, he's opening up to her, she's the only girl who was able to move his frozen heart and I know that she's the only one who can get him out of his dark past, teach him to reach out for his happiness and grab on to it. He's finally got a path to his happiness but he's straying, there's still fear instilled in his heart, needs to throw all of his fear out and believe that it's okay to let go, it's okay to be happy, he deserves it. My grandson finally has someone he wants to cherish and before he could push her away I'm going to intervene, I'm going to force them together until he himself is unable to let her go. And I'll do anything, Rose, anything and everything, even if you're against it."
"This is a crime! It's emotional blackmail! you haven't changed at all." She complained.
"Yes, aren't I the perfect criminal?" He winked at her.