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"I want you to know that I fell in love with you when we first met, as you got my heart already. So, baby, once again, nice to meet you."
- Daniel L.C. Hartley.
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On waking up, Daniel scanned his environment, as he sat up on the bed. He had no idea how he got to his room, the bed, and remove his shoes. He knew he wasn't fond of taking off his shoes, not even when he was sober, as he found it very tiresome to complete.

The last he could recall was gulping down his seventeenth jug of beer at Jonas' weekend party. Of course, Jonas would not fail to make him lose a bet and jug down tens of beer. He had lost a bet on a football match, and his payment was to jug down fifteen pegs, but he had gone all the way to seventeen.

"Damn it, I was drunk again."

Daniel said to himself, as he rose from the bed with a compelling push to pee. On standing, he felt an intense pain crack through his forehead. He placed his palms on his head and stepped into the adjacent toilet to relieve himself.

When he got out, the headache seemed to have faded, but he still felt lethargic and parched. He perceived that all these were an upshot of last night's drinking, but he assumed he should be used to the hangover now. However, he wasn't. Getting used to alcohol wasn't his kind of thing, as every relic felt like the very first.

Owing to his parched throat, he walked out of his room in a desperate hunt for water.

On nearing the kitchen, he heard the delightful song of a female, and her voice was full of melodies. He stopped abruptly in his tracks, as he mentally slapped himself; he had forgotten that he was married yesterday, and she was in his house with him.

Her name was Aderinsola, but he heard the majority refer to her as Derin. His mom also preferred calling her Derin. At least, that was what she called her all the times she had talked to him about becoming a 'responsible' adult.

He peeked and noticed she had busied herself with cooking. From afar, he had guessed she was a splendid cook, and the aroma emitting from what she was cooking assured him of her superb talent. However, she relished what she was doing, and that was the most important aspiration of all.

She seemed to be exultant of this arrangement, unlike him. He did not loathe her, but that did not mean he liked her. Yes, he despised the fact that she was the one he was forced to settle down with, but he could not blame her for that, as she was also a victim of his parent's decision.

Lake, his father, thought being married would improve his lifestyle and probably make him more mature. Daniel was aware of his lifestyle, and he knew he was immature, but that wasn't sufficient reason to impel a bride on him.

"You're awake?" Derin exclaimed on seeing him at the doorway, and her voice drew him out of his thoughts.

He looked forward and saw that she was standing in his front.

His eyes danced over the epitome of beauty in his presence. She was a beautiful work of creation. Would he begin from the natural glow of her light caramel skin, or the gorgeous mirrors of her light brown almond eyes coupled up with her delicate pink lips?

She was beautiful, adorable, and elegant. However, he was determined not to have affection towards her, to force her to leave the marriage, and spare him from doing that. At least, he would not be faulted if she, the bride, call it quits.

"Are you still there?" She called to him, hauling him out of his thoughts, but he only bypassed her and strolled into the kitchen to pick up a glass.

Derin's forehead puckered. "Was he trying to ignore her?" She asked herself. Still, she wasn't jumping to conclusions. Maybe he was not used to having her around yet.

She smiled as she picked up a jar of lukewarm water and offered to pour some out for him. But Daniel glared at her, and she got the message that he wasn't interested in the water or her concern. He strode away from her and walked to the water dispenser, filling the glass up himself.

Did he just turn down her water? If he didn't want hers, he could have declined her offer nicely.

"You could've said no," Derin said as she pursed her face into a frown, but he only gulped down the water in the glass, slowly and annoyingly. He opted to sip the water with so much slurp just to annoy her.

Without a doubt, he was trying to get on her nerves.

"Aren't you aware that I don't drink contaminated water?" He asked, and Derin mentally heard a glass crack.

How could bottled water be contaminated? The water was unadulterated.

"Or you failed to know this because you're ignorant," he said, and her eyes popped in astonishment. "Maybe, dumb too." He added.

Her world mothballed as she stared at him in disbelief. He called her ignorant and dumb.

"Yeah, thought so," he said before waltzing out of the kitchen, leaving Derin, who remained rooted to the floor, still astounded at his words.

He thought she was dumb. Is that the very first impression he had of her? What had she done to make him have such an impression of her?

Tears had found their way to her eyes, but she blinked them back. She wasn't a weakling to break under his false words, and she was not a dumb person. He was just stupid, and he was a major menace.

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Throughout the day, Daniel remained in his room as he stood clear of the living room, the kitchen, and anywhere else she could be in. He wasn't avoiding her. He just chose not to see her. Unfortunately for him, he had an entire week off work, enforced on him by his very own father. Well, luckily for him, Derin didn't seem the kind of girl who will give him a lot of issues, as she stayed away from his chamber, and him.

She could have kept this the whole day but seeing that the arrogant man hadn't come down to eat a thing, caused her to mumble up the courage she had left to serve him dinner, or else he might just starve to death, all because he disliked his housemate.

She had given her word to Karen; his mother, that she'll try her best for him and a promise is a promise, even though her son is the greatest bane she had ever met.

She strolled to his room with the salver on her palms. She jogged the door open and glanced in; he was on the only chair in the room and on his lap was a red laptop, which he was focused on. From where she stood, she could guess that he was typing into the system, and noticed he was a fast typist from the way his fingers danced over the keyboard effortlessly.

She noticed that he was clad in short brown knickers that stopped midway to his knee, exposing his firm and airy legs. His physic was strong and quite daunting. Her eyes danced upwards to his slightly hairy chest, which was built up and quite muscular. To be honest, the Creator really took His time in carving his goodness, and He did make him into perfection.

If only God had removed his attitude, and probably made him less arrogant, then Daniel could have been perfect. Why is it that those with the looks always turn out to be those with the pigheaded attitude?

Taking in a huge inhalation of breath, she gathered her courage before walking in, and he noticed her without even looking up to see her.

"Geez Derin, can't you knock before entering?" He complained–his voice thundering in an upset tone, and she smiled as hearing her name from his lips was so golden, but his expression was nowhere cute.

"I'm..." she began, but Daniel cut her short as he brought his dark eyes up to her.

"Don't you know what a proper curtsy is?" He sought, but then laughed almost instantly. "Oh, pardon me, miss, I forgot you lack manners," He mocked as he looked at her, waiting for a comeback, but she remained quiet.

He wanted her to break; he wanted her to become helpless; he wanted to see her weakness, but she was not giving him such a prospect. She wasn't going to let her waterfalls lose, though they threatened to break through her eyes. She would not be weak, and so she blinked away the tears, firming her jaws in determination.

"Listen, I just brought you dinner, 'cause you haven't come down all day," she sputtered.

Daniel stared at her for a while before he chuckled and mimicked her exact words. After mocking her with his short abuse of words, he returned to the screen of his laptop.

Buffoon!

Derin hissed to herself as she rolled her eyes inwardly.

Patience Derin, patience. He is not worth your anger. She meditated to herself.

She straightened and walked to the table beside him; placed the tray on it and left without sparing him another glance or word.

As soon as he heard the door bang shut, he looked up from the screen.

She refrained from responding, despite what he said. Well, she was not who he had deemed.

His eyes went to the meal on the table, before glancing back at the door, considering going against his ego, and going for her food.

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Derin ate her meal in the living room, as she kept herself busy with a movie. She was comfortable; having crossed her legs and eating at her pace. There was nothing more refreshing than getting to do what pleased her. However, she was careful not to disturb the bag of attitude upstairs.

After a moment, she was done with her meal of meat broth and bread. She proceeded to the kitchen to clean the greasy, unwashed plates accumulated in the sink. But, as she immersed the plates in the foamy waters, her thoughts began to flow in:

"If I continue this way, I may just be called his maid, not that I want to be called his wife but, it'll stink to be called a maid to my husband."

"But does it matter? At least I'm out of my aunt's cage. I should be better off here."

"Derin!"

Shocked, she bounced out of her thoughts as her name echoed throughout the house; Daniel was awake and from the force in his voice, she could tell that she was up for another round of tongue-lashing if she did not respond in time.

"Yes!" answered Derin, as she walked out of the kitchen, only to be met with Daniel's glare at her as he sat on a couch.

"What kept you?" He asked–his voice a bit wacky due to him just getting up from sleep–and she smiled softly.

Noticing this, Daniel frowned.

"Why are you smiling? Are you teasing me?" He rolled out, causing the smile on her face to disappear, and she kept her face straight.

"Daniel, I was clearing the dishes, I wasn't teasing you," she stammered, even though she had tried to arrange herself to be more assertive.

"I was clearing the dishes. I wasn't teasing you," Daniel mocked her, repeating her exact words. Derin curled her lips at his childish attitude, but her heart seemed to admire the way her own words resounded from his lips.

"Come on, quit thinking about his lips, Derin." She reprimanded herself, but she had to come clean and admit that she admired everything about him–well, everything, save his attitude.

"I'm heading out!" His voice broke through her daydream, and she nodded absentmindedly. "If you could, kindly clear the dishes from my room," He included, finally tearing her out of her delusions of him, as she mentally ripped the image of him from her mind.

"Clear the dishes in my room."

"So that's what he thinks of me, a maid."

"So much for escaping aunt Bunmi."

Derin reasoned while her eyes darted over him and noticed that he was clad in a black turtleneck shirt, over blue pants, and black boots. He also had his hair perfectly combed backward.

At that moment, he could easily pass as a male supermodel.

Daniel walked to the center table and picked up a bunch of keys before making for the door, but a warm grip on his arm halted him. He looked down at the hand, his eyes trailing upwards before focusing on the owner of the hand, Derin. His eyes were bloodshot and held an intense glare that told her she had better retract her hand.

Derin swallowed hard and immediately withdrew her hand.

Daniel's glare was hard on her, and she felt like a candle wax melting away at the sight of heat. She knew he was just Daniel, and she ought to not fear him, but his look enough was powerful to tear anyone down, though instead of fearing him, she found herself standing up to him.

"Where are you heading to?" She asked,

"Somewhere, but not your business." He responded as he turned to leave.

"Hey, this attitude of yours is annoying! This is no way to treat anyone. What's with you?" She glowered; thrusting her question to him, knowing well that he might just ignore her and walk on, but he did the opposite–he moved to her, leaned in, and with his eyes sternly on her, he whispered,

"If you don't like my attitude, that is your loss. I am running late, and that is what's with me." His lips pulled into a small smile as he added, "Understood?"

Derin became lost for words and just stared at him–into his dark orbs that just seemed to have her locked in herself. Seeing that she did not respond, he straightened himself and walked out of the door.

On getting her tongue back, Derin spun to go after him, but the screeches from the car's tires, reversing out through the gate, showed that he had gotten away once more.

Derin clenched her fists as she watched him drive off.

She knew this meant she would be all alone in the house, but she had to like this. After all, she had the entire house to herself. So, he could stay forever out there, while she made her times pleasurable on the inside.

She smiled to herself and closed the door.

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"Who would have thought that a first-time disaster will turn out to be a beautiful friendship?"
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