The Accidental Wife by Sara Islam

years, Alexa, Dave's girlfriend, Comments. She cfifteen minutes ago, and | learned that she is studying

psychology.

that

"That's right. We met because of our siblings. They becfriends around six years ago and they're basically

why the two families know each other," | explain as | prepare the quinoa salad, something Mum taughtto

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, | 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 informswhen he

seesstaring at the chicken in front of me.

"Can't let my girl starve now, can I?" | feel Silas wrap his arm around my waist and | 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." | turn to face

him and kiss his cheek.

When | learned that we were going to a barbecue, | didn't ask him to getsomething special because I didn't

want to bother him. | know that the purpose of the outing is forto meet his friends, but | still didn't want to

bother anyone with a special request

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Chapter 101

from the very first time. | 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 sembarrassing 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,

makinggiggle.

"I don't know about that, especially since you insist on callingcupcake," | point out, wiggling my eyebrows

playfully at him.

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

asks.

"It's a nicknmy mum gavea long tago when | was a toddler because | was obsessed with cupcakes.

They kept callingwith the snicknand when Silas heard them, he decided to use it for teasing me," |

explain, then turn to look at Silas with a smirk, "My sweet boyfriend here wasn't always the sweetest?

"Are you seriously going to outto 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, makinglaugh.

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

"There's nothing here to tell really," | 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 fromwhile | was reading or pushinto the

pool. Nothing major. | had my comebacks though." They don't need to know the extent of our friendship or

relationship in this fake-dating case, so | 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!" | exclaim. | 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, | thought that | wouldn't have fun

with them since they are a group of people whom | have never met before, except for Knox. However, they

turned out to be very nice and I'm having a great twith them. They're very friendly and | don't feel like I'm

the newest member

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Chapter 101

who has just been introduced to them.

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"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 pullingon his lap and | furiously blush. We

have never done that before, but | know that it's supposed to be something normal between couples, so | do my

best to act like I'm okay with it. "Look at how red your cheeks are," Caroline teasesand | 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.

| try to shift a little while we're watching the movie, which makes Silas look at me. "Sorry I'm a bit heavy," | shyly

whisper, looking down. His legs must be numb because of my weight. | 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. | lift twice your weight

at the gym," he murmurs and | find myself sinking back into my original position comfortably. As we're watching

the movie, | untie my bun because it's beginning to givea headache. | can never keep my hair up for a long

tbecause of how heavy my hair is, but | like how my face looks when it's pulled away from it. "Headache?"

Silas

dance in my chest.

whispers and | slowly nod, looking at him. | catch his brown eyes staring atand | 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 | place my head on his shoulder, completely ignoring the movie.

i}

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

"Not strong," | 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 | can't help but wonder if maybe | made a

huge mistake when | suggested the

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