13

Iris Williams

I started by laying out three matching outfits, ones that we recently just bought. They were all a matching black shirt and white stressed jeans. I know, stressed jeans for kids' fashion? But hey, they were cute.

I wanted the triplets to look proper, but not too formal. They were going to meet their grandparents, not going on a meeting.

Yes, my in-laws were visiting today. As soon as news reached their ears that I was back in Venialgo, well, they immediately decided to come. It was nanay Grace that told them and she might not have gotten the memo that we wanted a bit of time to settle in first before seeing anyone else.

"Don't worry, Iris. I didn't tell them about the triplets. I'll let them be surprised as I was." she chirped happily as she was setting down the plate of lasagna in front of Jamie.

So here I am, hastily preparing the clothes that the triplets will be wearing when they meet them. Liam was on his way home and as I kept looking at the time, my heart grew more anxious by the minute.

Alfred and Wendy Parker are my in-laws and although they are famed for being rich and mean, they never acted that way to me. In other words, they were more than nice to me. They really treated me as their daughter and I was eternally glad when I found out that they were also victims of Liam's lies.

I remember how mama would take me to her trips around the world and we'd visit places as she shopped. I'm not that into shopping and I would never go to the extent of going to another country just to buy something, but I guess that's where a small part of their wealth goes. She's a lovely woman though.

As for Alfred, he would always tell me of how he's always wanted a daughter. He and mama would always send me gifts of any sort, as long as they thought that it'd look good on me.

Yes, they spoiled me and as much as I appreciated their affection, I was worried that they were going to do the same to the children. I don't want them to grow up having everything. I want them to work for it.

I sighed a long sigh after I put down the shoes that the triplets were going to be wearing.

The triplets were currently napping and I have to take advantage of this moment to prepare myself.

I took a shower and dressed up. I wore a white dress that has a nice flow to it. The very hems of the dress were lined in a dark brown, but matched the dress nonetheless. I wore a lipgloss and some mascara. I debated whether I should tied my hair up, but finally decided that it was best to let it down. As I was looking at myself in the mirror for the last time, the door opened and Liam entered.

He stopped as he saw me and stared for a while. I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks and I had to take small fast breaths to make it seem like I didn't care whether he was here or not.

"Welcome back home." I tried to say to fill the silence of the spacious room. He seemed to have noticed that I talked to him because he met my gaze and nodded.

He silently walked over to the bed where the triplets were sleeping and I watched as he kissed all of their foreheads. Jace bolted up awake at the touch and screamed.

In an instant, Jace was at the arms of Liam as he was trying to calm him down. I also went up to Jace and rubbed his back as I was shushing him down.

My heart broke a little. Although Jace was here with us and is perfectly safe, he had nightmares. Memories of the kidnapping and the torture done to him crept into his dreams and caused him night terrors. Good thing that Liam and I were always around to calm him down.

"It's alright, it's alright." I kept repeating as Jace slowly shushed down. Liam was gently rocking him and all I could do was place small kisses onto Jace's small hands.

When I looked up, I hadn't noticed that Liam's and my face were already so close to each other, taking me aback. It must have been the same for him since he raised an eyebrow at me. I slightly pouted and took a step back.

"I'll wake the other two up. You should also get ready, your parents will be here soon." I said lowly. His clear green eyes didn't show anything. It was the same glassy eyes that I've come to discover, the one that displayed no emotion.

With that, I turned away and made my way to the other two. I kissed their foreheads at the same spot where Liam had and they slowly stirred up awake.

"Wakey, wakey, honey." I said to Jamie and shook him lightly. He opened his eyes and upon seeing me, he smiled widely.

"Mommy!" he screamed and got up, hugging me. Jacob who just woke up also did the same. I chuckled happily at them and hugged them back. By my side, the bed sank and I saw Liam sitting down and putting Jace down the bed.

Jace looked cranky and went back to Liam's arms.

"Hey! No fair! Jace, you're hogging daddy all to yourself!" Jacob complained crossing both his arms. Soon, Jamie copied his complaint, but Jace didn't care. He still clung onto Liam.

"Mommy! Jace doesn't want to share daddy with us!" Jamie whined, looking at me for help.

I sighed and shook my head.

"Jacob, Jamie, come here." Liam finally said and smiled at them.

My heart skipped a beat at his smile and soon, it was racing. I knew that I was starting to blush because I started feeling hot. Why does his smile always do this to me? It's frustratingly unfair.

The two ran to him and hugged him.

"Okay, okay. It's time to get ready, you three." I said as I stood up.

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It took almost two hours to get the three ready and as I finished, I was already feeling really tired. I sighed as I got out of the bathroom.

I found Liam in front of the mirror trying to straighten his tie. I watched him for a while and he seemed to be thinking of something because he ended up just messing his tie up even more. He was like that when he was deep in thought. A small smile found its way to my lips as I mustered the courage to walk up to him.

Again, he only noticed me when I was in front of him and I couldn't help but wonder what was on his mind.

I gently took the crooked tie from him and undid it. We both stayed silent as I fixed it, but I could feel his heavy stare on me. My heart was at it again, but I knew how to function well even when my insides were in shambles.

After I was done, I patted it and smiled cheerfully up to him. "There." I said, retreating to a safe distance from him.

I was expecting a thanks, a nod, a small curt appreciation, but I received none of that. Instead, the corner of his lip curled up as he smirked. He came nearer and I was about to move away when I found out that my own strength had abandoned me. My feet were planted on the ground and I couldn't do anything as he lowered his head to meet mine.

Being this close to him, I realized that I still wasn't used to it although I felt like I belonged right here with him.

"You shouldn't do that kind of thing, Iris." he whispered close to my ear.

"D-do what?" I asked in confusion. I only fixed his tie. What was so wrong with that?

The colour of his eyes darkened and he smirked even more, but this time, a bit more smugly.

"Look at you, you don't even know what you do--" he was cut off when the door opened and we both looked towards the door. It was nanay Grace.

"Oh my! I'm so sorry for interrupting!" she apologized and turned away. I mentally groaned, but I shook that thought away as I pushed Liam away from me.

"You weren't interrupting anything." I smiled at her. I almost jumped when I felt a strong arm being wrapped around my waist and the same time, getting pulled. I was practically on Liam and it was only my hands that kept a small distance from my face to his.

My heart has gone to a point of no return, my cheeks were as warm as the sun and my mind went blank.

"Actually, nanay Grace. We're in the middle of an important business." Liam said and he held me closer. Wh-what was he saying?!

Nanay Grace perked up even more and smiled widely.

"Alright, you two. I'm so happy that you are getting along very well, but sir Alfred and ma'am Wendy will be here in a few minutes." With that, she turned away and left.

As she left the room, I pushed myself away from Liam's grip and turned to him absolutely angry. I was supposed to look menacingly scary, but instead, he started laughing.

"What's so funny! Don't do things like that again, Liam." I warned. However, it wasn't working because he took a step nearer.

"Why not? Am I not allowed to hold my wife?" he spoke sardonically. He just called me his wife?

"N-no! I-I'm not your--" Before I could even finish my sentence, he was already in front of me, his index finger against my lip.

"I wouldn't dare finish that sentence if I were you." he paused, putting his finger down as his hand gently lifted my face to look up to him. "Whether you like it or not, you're tied down to me, Iris Parker."

And with that, the next thing I felt was his soft lips on mine.

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A/N:

SO.

Hey everyonee!!! Thanks so much for the support that you all have shown lately! I really, really appreciate it, you guys have no idea. 😭 I'm honestly so grateful that I didn't give up on this story because I was so close on doing so.

Oh and I seemed to have forgotten to say it at the last chapter, but nanay means mother/mom in Tagalog.

Stay tuned for the next chapters because here we are! Here comes the roller coaster! 😫

Much love,

sky