Claire had been at home almost throughout the day. She had nothing to do, but she was still there. She wasn't planning to go to her office today. She remembered what Joshua had told her in the morning.
In our frustration, she stood up and hurriedly went downstairs. "Ann! Are you busy?" She screamed her name out loud. Ann heard Claire calling her name and then hurriedly went to meet her.
"Did you call for me, Miss?" Ann responded immediately. She got in front.
"To be very honest, I'm sick of hearing you call me Miss. It sounds different; just call me by my name." Claire corrected herself. Ann wasn't okay with it, but there was nothing she could say or do.
"I am going to Joshua's grandfather's house today for the so-called dinner, but I don't even know anything about their family. It seems you have been here for a very long time. It seems to me there are some things I should know." Claire questioned her, while she hoped that Ann was going to talk and not gatekeep anything.
"Yes! I'll tell you what I really know about their family." She assured Claire that she let out a soft smile and then followed Ann gently as she walked towards one of the chairs in the sitting room. She sat on one side, and Claire sat next to her while she waited for her to start talking.
"Uhm! I'm not supposed to be telling you this. You should have asked Joshua yourself, but it seemed you guys were not on favourable terms." She started with that sentence.
Claire was pleased that she changed her mind and decided to tell her what she needed to know. She chuckled slightly at what Ann had just told her. "Thank goodness, she knows," Claire muttered under her breath.
"He has a stepmother, and his real mother abandoned him when he was little." She started with that heartbreaking sentence. "Oh! So was he not brought up properly? No wonder he had been acting like someone who wasn't loved at home." Claire thought while she nodded her head to what Ann said.
"So? He wasn't treated right, like those types of stepmothers in dramas. Movies?" She questioned Ann, and then she heaved a deep sigh.
"He grew up in tough conditions and environments. It wasn't easy for him to be very honest. He has two siblings, but they are from his other stepmother."
"I guess they're not on good terms, then?" Claire asked with a squinted eye, and she nodded. She had never talked with her in-laws for a long time, but she wondered how things were going to be that night.
"I guess he would have to be very careful, knowing full well that his family doesn't like him. That means you must really hate me, too. I just wanted to be on my own and not have a lot of enemies to the ones I already had at work." She thought while she rubbed her hand against her forehead.
"Can you help me pick a suitable dress? I don't know what his parents would like." Claire begged her while they changed the topic entirely.
"Sure! That isn't a problem at all." Ann answered her and stood up while Claire led her to her room so she could help her pick out all the dresses that she was going to wear that night.
"I think they'd love this on you. You should look presentable." She took out a long pink floral dress that had a slit towards the thighs. They were very beautiful, and it was going to look perfect on her.
Claire loved the dress; it was something she never knew she had in her wardrobe.
"Thank you very much." Claire appreciated her while she went out of her room. Claire went to the bathroom to have her skin care session. She just wanted to look attractive that night.
Immediately after she was done dressing, she got a text from Joshua at that moment: "You should get prepared. I am on my way." That was what he sent to her.
"Should I put on make-up or not?" She questioned herself while she stared into the mirror.
"I am going to make it very light." She took out her make-up box and applied a little bit of it. She applied a little bit of makeup to her face, and she loved how she looked before and after the makeup.
Immediately after she was done, she heard the horn that came from the compound. "That must be him." She grabbed her purse and then walked out of the house immediately.
She went to the place where he was waiting for her and got into his car. Joshua, who was already dressed up for dinner, went straight home immediately to pick up his wife.
Even though he didn't want to attend the dinner, there would be nothing that he would be able to do since that was the first dinner that his family would be hosting after his marriage.
He watched as she walked out of the house in the beautiful floral dress that she was putting on. He loved the fact that he fitted her perfectly, and it matched the shape of her wonderful body.
She opened the door of the car, as that made him come back to his senses. "Good evening." She greeted him immediately when she entered his house. Joshua didn't bother to reply to her, instead paying less attention to her greetings.
Claire regretted the fact that she greeted him at first, and she regretted doing that badly. She wished she had not greeted him at first. "Remember how we are supposed to act, so they won't suspect anything." After a few minutes of him driving, Claire broke the long silence, and no one said anything.
"I wanted to remind you about that instead. You should act well, since I'm not your first man! I'm talented at acting." He told her, while she was stunned by his assumption.