Tristan's POV

Arriving at my parent's house has always felt like a huge drag on me, specifically why I made most of my arrivals unannounced, unlike this one, considering I never knew what plan they were hatching up next.

But my visit here today had a purpose, and because of that, every fibre of my being wasn't completely dreading this visit.

The maids greeted me in. I continued walking down the hall, meeting my father in his usual habitat, the bar. He had a drink in his hand, staring worriedly at his phone.

He welcomed me with a weary sigh, and then nodded toward me in acknowledgement. "I wouldn't be anywhere near your mother, if I were you I'd just do everything she says," Dad warned.

"Good evening to you too," I answered sarcastically.

I'd swear that my mother had some super hearing because right at that moment, she walked in.

"Tristan," her eyes widened at me in excitement. She greeted me with a unexpected hug. A wide grin on her face the entire time.

"Honey, why don't you leave that phone of yours? Our son is here, you should spend a little time with him." Mom said.

She made me sound like I was twelve.

"I used to see him every day for twenty years. Wasn't that enough time?" Dad asked looking up from his phone.

"It was just seventeen," I corrected him.

"It was that long?" He chuckled.

This was the reason I spent so much time in therapy.

Maybe I should just make the announcement already and leave.

"Well..." I said, grabbing both of their attention. "I have someone I'd like the two of you to meet," I announced.

They were both quiet, just staring at me like some lunatic. I thought they'd be happy about it, maybe not too happy since the last time I brought someone it was Madison.

"You mean an actual woman can stand to be around you? That hopefully isn't a mad person?" Mom laughed.

I couldn't answer that without saying something that would possible land me in the hospital.

"Maybe you might get the grandchild that you so desperately want." I hinted at it.

Mom continued staring at me as if I'd lost my mind.

"You don't have to try and get my hopes up, I already know that you've insisted on not giving me any grandchildren." She answered.

I wonder where the change in attitude came from. Not too long ago she was ready to pair me up with almost anyone just so I'd have a child.

"We should be happy about this," Dad said. Finally, someone with some reasoning. He walked over to me to pat my back. "If you are really having a baby, I hope that kid ruins your life as you ruined mine," Dad said. He sounded serious. "All the diapers you are going to have to change. Not to mention all the stupid football games you are going to have to attend. Even if they suck you have to support them and keep encouraging them despite knowing how dumb they look running across the field."

"You came to every one of my football games," I reminded him.

He chuckled. "You are old now, you can take it," Dad answered.

"Did I hear anyone mention that I'm going to be a great-grandmother?" Grandma asked as she walked into the room, thanks to one of the maid's help who was holding her hand.

"No, your grandson is just being delusional," Mom answered dismissively. "We should all prepare for dinner, we have a guest arriving soon." She smiled.

I wonder who was arriving. But I wasn't keen on asking.

Mom rushed us all out and led us to the dining room.

The table had already been set and the food ready.
I took my usual seat next to Grandma.

Just as we had settled in at the table, one of the maids walked in to announce that the guest had arrived.

Soon, a woman stepped into the room. Long silky black hair, around my age and with a bright smile, she looked like she could very well be my mother's potential victim.

From the devious smile on my mother's face, I knew that this was part of her plan.

"Susanna," Mom yelled cheerfully as she pushed out of her chair.

She went and greeted Susanna, pulling her into a hug. Her excitement lasted a while as she introduced every one of us to Susanna.

"Tristan sweetheart, aren't you going to stand up and properly greet our guests?" Mom said.

It didn't sound like a request, more like a threat.

"I'd love to but I have a bit of the flu, I wouldn't want to get any of my germs on her," I answered. I wasn't playing into her trap.

"He was coughing terribly. I'm only sitting next to him because I'm old, I don't mind dying soon." Grandma sided with me.

Mom stared at me murderously.

Susanna took the hint as she gracefully accepted a seat across from me at the table.

I should have known mom would try and set me up. She even used her special plates from Europe for tonight.

The maids began serving us dinner.

Mom carried the conversation, drilling answers out of Susanna and occasionally mentioning me.

"Tristan, why don't you tell Susanna here a bit about your business? He just scored a new business deal. "He is very successful and talented at what he does," Mom added.

"That new deal?" I asked sarcastically. "In fact, it almost failed spectacularly. I still don't know how I managed to get it through." I answered.

"You must be one lucky person if you can get a deal for more than a billion dollars." Mom laughed.

"That's widely exaggerated," I answered. Maybe a little bit.

Mom let out a fake laugh, hinting at her disapproval of me trying to ruin her plan.

"He can be too modest at times." Mom laughed. "That's one of his wonderful characters among many. He can be so sweet, I've always thought he'd make a great husband." She continued.

She was already jumping into marriage, she needed to be stopped.

"Layla dear, if he was so perfect, he wouldn't still be alone." Grandma jumped in.

Grandma looked at me with a smile, assuring me, as if to say she was there to support me.

Grandma seemed to have silenced mom. We continued to have the rest of our dinner in silence.

"Why did you just help me?" I whispered over to Grandma.

"Because I already found a wife for you. You are going to love her." She whispered back with a smile.

Not her too, I thought she was the only sane one in this family. It seems everyone is trying to find me a wife.

I turned away from grandma, continuing to eat my food in silence.

"Tristan, what would you think about a wedding in the summer?" Mom asked.

I nearly choked on my food. I don't know why my mother continues to surprise me. These are all things I'd expect her to do.

From everything, at least now I knew she planned to get rid of Madison and then find me a wife. She was trying to get her way again.

"Didn't you and dad have three weddings? Why would you want another one?" I asked.

Mom stared at me murderously.

I sighed. "I think I'll excuse myself, I'm already full and I'd like to get some fresh air," I said pushing out of my chair.

"Oh, why don't you take Susanna along with you? Take a stroll in the garden. The evening is quite lovely. I'm sure the two of you will have some fun together." Mom smiled.

Susanna stared at me pleadingly; I figured the poor girl was hoping to escape this madhouse. This wasn't her fault.

"Okay," I answered hesitantly. "But I prefer to have my walks in silence."

Susanna nodded gratefully as she rose from her chair.

We set off for a walk outside, circling the garden in silence.

It was refreshing taking the time to breathe in the fresh air without anyone trying to find a wife for me.

I just wanted to escape my mother for as long as I could. I'd leave the house right after this.

Susanna cleared her throat. For once I was forced to notice that she was here.

"I know you said you prefer to walk in silence but, how would you like to get married to me within the next two weeks? We can have a strawberry cake for our wedding, preferably lots of flowers, red roses in particular. You can wear any colour tux you want on the day except white because that would be my thing. And then we can honeymoon in Dubai and get straight to babymaking. In just less than ten months, we'd have a baby, maybe twins if we are lucky then we can live happily ever after." She rumbled.

I nearly choked on my breath.

She was crazier than my mother.

She turned to me and laughed. "Your face looks like it's about to turn blue. I can tell you are not too keen on this either." She said.

She was just joking; I was relieved she wasn't a psychopath.

"You think?" I answered sarcastically.

"Look, you are cute and all that, but I don't want to marry you either." She smiled.

"You are the first one to turn me down. I'm quite hurt." I laughed. "You just missed out on my billions." I joked.

"You know, last month alone, I made a deal for half a billion so I'd say my financials are pretty good." She answered. So, she was smarter than she let on. "As for all this," she pointed at my face. "I can find another pretty face like you so I'd say that I'll be just fine." She added.

"Where are you going to find another face like mine in Wonderland?" I asked sarcastically. "You know where Alice is," I added.

"I got it," she answered. "You are a little bit funny. I might decide to marry you after all. Your mother offered me your hand-in-marriage on a silver platter later." She joked.

"As hard as it might be for you to accept, I'm not as flawless as I look," I answered pointing to my face.

"Is it that your hair looks terrible without your hairspray? I knew it was too pretty to ever be natural." She asked.

"I use about ten." I joked. "So, I think we can both agree that we are never going to get married?"

"Never, I'd never marry someone who uses more beauty products than me." She answered.

Not true at all.

At least we could agree to disagree.

We turned around and made our way back to the house. Even from a distance, I could see my mother peeking through the curtains.

The rest of our walk was in silence as we stepped back into the house.

Mom was the first to greet us as we stepped back into the house.

They had already finished dinner and were now in the living room.

"You two looked so happy from a distance. I hope you enjoyed each other's company." Mom said.

Susanna nodded happily. "Your son is something special," she commented. "On that note, I have to let you know that I have to leave now. It was lovely meeting all of you."

"You are leaving already? Please tell me that you will be back soon." Mom said.

"Of course, I will, you'll get tired of my face soon," Susanna answered.

Susanna smiled as mom pulled her into a hug.

"On that note," Susanna said as she pulled away from mom's hug. "I think that your son is very smart and capable of making his own decisions," Susanna said as she smiled back at me.

I nodded with a small smile, showing my appreciation.

Mom shot me a glare. She masked her disapproval, returning her attention to Susanna. "Maybe you shouldn't think at all," Mom said, masking her insult with a fake laugh.

What followed were awkward laughs as we thought of a way out of this situation.

Dad and I stepped away from the awkward situation as we walked to sit on the balcony.

I sighed taking a seat on the bench. "Dad, you seriously need to stop your wife from constantly trying to intervene in my life. I'm going to have to start doing something drastic." I said.

"Why would I do that?" He chuckled. "Thanks to you, she gives you all her attention. I could have a lover if I wanted to, and she wouldn't notice." He joked.

"Mom is a psychopath. She would kill you. I'm pretty sure she has the scents of all your five-hundred-and-something perfumes memorized. If she noticed even a slight difference, she would know." I joked.

"You are right. She can be a bit extra. If I had one more woman in my life, I'd go crazy." Dad laughed.

"I hope you are teaching your son how to be a good husband," Mom said. She took a seat on the arm of dad's chair.

"Quick question mom, if you found out that dad had a lover, would you leave me alone and stop trying to run my life so you could fix your marriage?" I asked.

Dad's smile dropped and he glared at me murderously.

"Who would he leave me for?" Mom laughed.

"You didn't answer." I insisted with a smile.

"I'd leave him that way I'd have more hours in a day to try and run your life." She answered.

It was official, she was a psychopath. I'm pretty sure there had to be some mental institutions that had issued warnings saying she was a danger to society.

"Well, since you insist on continuing to be an idiot and you know for a fact that I'm insistent and would never stop until you are married and I can't risk the chance of you getting married to a mad woman, I think that the two of us need to come to a compromise." Mom suggested. "I'll agree that you can marry whom ever it is that you are seeing now. I can see she has her effect on you. I give you my approval." She added.

"Let me get this straight, you are going to support me in making a decision that I don't need your permission whatsoever to make?" I asked.

She nodded. "I'm beginning to think you'll never be able to do any better. I just need a wedding date, preferably for this summer." She answered. "You can't leave, I have so many ideas to show you for your wedding," Mom said excitedly. She stood up and ran back into the house.

"Good luck, she's been planning your wedding since you turned fifteen. She has a lot to show you." Dad warned.

"And you allowed her?" I questioned.

"I just wanted you out of the house. Besides, it was either you or me. Otherwise, she'd have started planning our next one." He laughed.

I sighed leaning into my chair.

This was one of those moments where I wished that a meeting would just magically pop up on my schedule.

I can't begin to describe how relieved I felt when I received a text from Vincent. He invited me to join him at a bar, along with another friend. Under normal conditions, I would have declined but today I was desperate for any excuse whatsoever.

******

I twisted my arm, hoping it would relieve some of the pain I felt in my upper arm.

In all my years, I've taken karate and kickboxing and even boxing, but I've never met a woman that strong. How did Ashley survive all those years?

Through my drive here, I'd gotten to the purpose of this trip to the bar.

One of my friends, Aaron had recently gotten married without as much as a warning to his parents who were on the verge of disinheriting him. To celebrate, he said he wanted to go out.

And of all the places he could have gone to, he said he wanted to be in a place where he wouldn't be recognized or have the paparazzi snap his pictures. So we ended up here. At a small bar that I'm pretty sure no one knows anything about.

Both Aaron and Vincent were pretty easy to track down. Just find the loudest spot in a bar and you'll find them there.

"I guess I should congratulate you for getting married," I said as I greeted Aaron.

"You know me dude, I'd be divorced before you know it." He answered raising his glass.

Why did I still hang out with these losers?

He handed me a glass. I raised my glass too, taking a shot of liquor.

"Vincent is about to take on the drinking challenge."

"I think I'll take a seat there," I pointed at an empty table. I didn't want to be around if anything was to happen.

Aaron shrugged, returning his attention to Vincent.

I walked over and settled at the empty table and ordered a bottle of one of their strongest liquor.

I was on my fifth drink while I watched Vincent make a fool of himself. He was a functional alcoholic; chances are he'd be alright for work tomorrow.

Sitting on my own left me with very little to do which meant I was looking around the bar, trying to predict most people's conversations.

A woman came storming toward me. She looked infuriated as she pulled up a stool at my table.

"What are you looking at?" She snapped. She slammed her handbag on the table, nearly hitting my face in the process.

I slip my drink to my side, pushing my chair away from her to widen the gap between us.

"I'm so sorry about that." She whispered as she took her final deep breath. "It's just that I don't get it. Why are men, such conceited idiots?" She almost yelled.

She continued to stare at me, expecting an answer from me. Was I going to regret this? I sighed and then took a sip of my drink. "That's what happens when you choose a guy who continuously tries to ignore you. Besides, he looks like he probably has a wife and kids at home." I added.

She sighed, her eyes widening in realization. "That's why he kept hiding his ring finger the whole night." She paused.

I shrugged.

"Okay Mr expert, how would you recommend I speak to next?" She asked.

When did I agree to have a long conversation?

"How about that guy on the far right?" she asked.

"I think you can do far better than a guy who only likes you when you are drunk just so he doesn't have to listen to you speak." I pointed out.

"There are plenty of guys like him around here." She admitted. "How about that one?" She pointed to another guy.

This felt a bit predatory. This wasn't the way I'd recommend meeting people, but it was her funeral.

She didn't wait for my response; she was already walking toward the guy.

At least I could just sit quietly and enjoy a few drinks.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and fiddled with it, indecisive about whether I should call Ashley or not.

It was after hours, she probably didn't want to be bothered. I tossed back and forth deciding whether I should call her or not. I couldn't let this urge get to me. I wasn't always going to be able to see her all the time.

"Hi, guys. This was the guy I was telling you about." I heard a loud voice behind me.

It was the woman from earlier. She had now brought along her herd of friends. "Some guy just asked me out and he is that first guy I'll be going out with who doesn't live in his parent's basement." She added.

The girls stared at me; their eyes were filled with excitement.

Before I even had the chance to respond, stools were already being dragged toward my table as they gathered around me.

What did I get myself into?

"I have so much to ask you," the girl next to me began.

I drank the remainder of the liquor in the glass in one shot as I listened with as much attention as possible to her story.

I needed to move away from this madness.

Nearly an hour must have passed by. It felt that long. At that point, I was emotionally numb just listening to them.

It was much easier to slip away without being noticed when the girls were arguing back and forth, each claiming to have the world's greatest dating advice.

I stepped away, taking the chance to breathe.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you are an a-hole? I just lost three girls because of you." Vincent commented, slapping me on the shoulder. "I was happy just trying to ignore them till you came along." He laughed.

"Maybe they are finally smart enough to realize there is nothing in that big head of yours," I answered.

"On that note, I think I'll pay a visit to a special someone tomorrow. I know you know who I'm talking about. She said she worked for you. How is she anyway?" He asked.

He was trying to get to me. "I'd forget that idea if I were you. I know you love that face of yours. Accidents just might happen." I answered.

Vincent chuckled, ignoring me as he finished the rest of his drink.

I found my gaze slipping away and into the crowd.

Among the crowd, I think I might have seen Ashley slipping into the crowd and heading to the exit.

The hair and facial features were the same. I was almost tempted to run over to her.

"Are you okay? You don't look too well." Vincent asked snapping me out of my thoughts.

"I don't know, I think I saw Ashley," I answered hesitantly. I was still staring at the crowd.

"You are being delusional. Why would she be in a place like this?" He answered.

I looked away from the crowd.

He was right, Ashley would never step foot in a place like this. I was hallucinating now. Maybe it was time for me to go home.

I pushed away the thought as I took a shot of my last drink.

*****

I woke up with my head pounding from the hangover. I fumbled for the painkillers in my drawer right next to my bed. Despite knowing my limits, why do I always make the stupid decision to drink?

My phone buzzed repeatedly next to me, one message following the other.

After swallowing the two pills, I unlocked my phone, reading the messages from Vincent. He sent several pictures and videos along with it. I can't believe this was the way I was starting my morning.

'Last night was fun. I can't believe I took on that drinking challenge,' his message read.

I proceeded to watch the videos that followed.

There had been a person recording while Vincent drank uncontrollably, probably Aaron since he wasn't in any of the shots. I watched the videos, my eyes barely able to stay open while losing a brain cell as the seconds slipped by.

Nevertheless, something in the background caught my attention. It was a certain someone who almost slipped unnoticed.

My brain was in a panic. I rewatched the clip and then focused on the remainder of the videos and pictures Vincent had sent me.

It was her, clear as day. Ashley was in the background, clearly pouring liquor into a glass before taking the shot. I watched the videos terrified. It wasn't just one drink because Vincent had sent several clips, all with different time stamps and there she was, clearly drinking. I hadn't given much attention to it yesterday because I was drunk. I thought I was just hallucinating.

She was wearing the same clothes I'd seen her in earlier yesterday.

My brain froze. I still couldn't believe that this had happened. How could she?

I wanted to believe that the bottle was filled with nothing but water but the evidence was clear.

I can't believe she dared to.

_________________________________________
A/N: Thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

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What do you think Tristan is going to do?