Chapter One

It was a beautiful morning in Chicago, United States. Lex had woken up to his schedule. After making breakfast, he had been cleaning and doing the dishes for the past few minutes.

Pop music was blasting from the sitting room, and when he rearranged himself to leave the kitchen, the door flung open, revealing a mature woman of about 5.7 feet tall.

“Good morning, Mom," Lex greeted, but the woman ignored. She rolled her eyes over him with great displeasure. She was Mariana Diaz, his mother-in-law. 

Seeing her reaction, Lex knew he had to leave the kitchen before things went south. 

“Aren't you going to work today?" Mariana suddenly asked out of the blue, and by then Lex was already heading out. He stopped and turned around.

“Of course I am, I was just going to prepare myself," he stated, and Mariana nodded.

“Do you have another job? Or you're still working downtown?" She asked, and Lex furrowed his brow.

"Umm… I'm working downtown for now. However I'm searching for a better place, you know," he responded and Mariana sighed deeply. 

She turned facing the other side.

“Such a useless man. I wonder how this child managed to bring home such a person. Husband my foot,” she mumbled to herself, and Lex quietly turned around and walked out of the kitchen. 

Mariana was always like that towards him because he was not the dream man she wished for her daughter. Lex on the other hand had learnt to avoid conversing with her to avoid constant troubles

He approached the bedroom and pushed the door open. A lady was sitting on the bed with her cell phone in her hand. She was beautiful, with long blonde hair and skin as smooth and spotless as petals. She was Stella Hutchinson, his beloved wife, and the woman in the kitchen was her troublesome mother. 

On seeing Lex, she flared up and threw her cell phone underneath her pillow. Lex let out a deep breath and entered the room. His gaze met with hers, and he winked at her. 

“Hey, beautiful, what's up with you?” He asked as he approached her on the bed, and she smiled, exposing her perfect set of sparkling white teeth. 

He kissed her lips, and then down to her neckline, making her giggle following the tickle on her neck. She lay back on the bed while he lay between her legs, and they fell into a deep kiss. 

After a while, they broke the kiss. Lex sighed and sat upright.

“Can you believe it?" He asked, and Stella raised her brow expressing her confusion.

“Believe what?" She asked, and Lex chuckled. 

“Your Mom came to me in the kitchen a few minutes ago. She tried to stir up another fight, but guess what, I said to myself “NOT TODAY”.

Stella burst into laughter, and Lex followed suit, only to cut her short with a serious expression.

“You know what, I think it's time we hold a family dinner. Tonight, I'll make it happen. Everybody has always wanted it, but nobody wants to call for it. I'll do it tonight," Lex said, and Stella raised her brow.

“Wait, what? What about my Mom? Will she be present too? She'll ruin the whole fun and you know it. I suggest you forget that for now,” Stella cut in, but Lex patted her cheek.

"Your Mom may not like me, but she's still my mother-in-law. She'll always be. Nothing is ever gonna change that. So I think it's time we learn to accept that and find a solution together,” Lex chipped in. 

Stella was quiet. After a deep thought, she exhaled deeply and looked at Lex seductively.

“Thank you," she whispered inaudible words that could only be understood by staring at the movement of her lips. 

A disturbing ring from Lex's cellphone cut their conversation short, and when he glanced at the screen, it was a call from his boss at work. 

“Oh shit!" He exclaimed and dashed into the bathroom. In a minute, he was out. He hopped on his neatly ironed clothes lying on the side of the bed. Without wasting further time, he kissed Stella one more time and rushed out of the room.

“Have a nice day," Stella's feminine voice screamed, and he waved without looking back.

Outside the house, just in time, a cab came running by, and Lex waved him down. They drove away, and Stella was standing by the door, watching them leave. She let out a deep breath with both hands on her chest as if to free her mind from a big tension. 

She shut the door behind her and returned to the bedroom. She raised her pillow and picked up her phone again. A text message was left unanswered, and after scrolling through the message, she giggled with a shocked expression on her face. 

She looked out the window and threw the phone back in the bed before running outside again. As she opened the entrance door, she almost bumped into a tall muscular figure standing by the door. 

Their gaze met and she let out a beautiful smile. The man was Paul Asher, a business Mogul in Chicago. Behind him was a Lamborghini Aventador SVJ which he had rode down to the place. 

“Hey,” Stella said with a smile and jumped on him. She giggled childishly, resting her head on his shoulder, and he kissed her earlobes.

He carried her into the house and shut the door behind them.

"I've missed you, baby," Paul whispered in her ears, and Stella chuckled. She held his hand and led him to the bedroom for privacy because her mother was still at home. 

***

About a few meters from the house, Lex checked his bag but he couldn't find his journal where he had documented the activities of his workplace for the previous day. 

He worked as a supervisor in a little company downtown. He ransacked his bag with confusion all over his features, thinking he had misplaced it, and then suddenly a thought struck him. 

“Oh damn! I didn't take the journal before leaving the house. Ahhh shit!" He exclaimed. He stole a glance at his wristwatch, it was past 9 am already.

“Driver," he called, and the cab driver mumbled ignorantly.

"Please turn around. There's something I must get at home. Don't worry, I'll cover the expenses,” he said, and the driver nodded. As instructed, he turned the vehicle around and they drove back home in silence.