Chapter 17: Chapter 17

Liam rang the doorbell and they both waited for someone to open the door for them. Soon one of the mansion's helpers opened the door for them and then greeted them with a smile. Liam nodded at him with a smile while Celeste greeted the middle aged man enthusiastically.

Hearing their voice, Clarissa who was working in the kitchen came out to check. Her face immediately bloomed into a beautiful smile when she found her son and daughter in law moving in the living room.

"Celeste! Liam! You guys are here!" She beamed in happiness. Celeste turned back hearing Clarissa's voice, smiled immediately and ran into Carissa's arms to hug her.

"Mom! I missed you so much!" She said while hugging Clarissa like a baby. Clarissa smiled while hugging her back.

"I missed you too. I'm glad you guys came." Clarissa said while breaking the hug.

"Hey mom." Liam moved forward to hug his mom. Clarissa smiled brightly while hugging her son back and giving his back a light slap.

"You have become so busy these days. I'm so angry with you. You Don't even have time to visit your own mother." Clarissa scolded her son lightly. Liam just chuckled while breaking the hug. Celeste looked at the mother-son pair with a smile on her face.

"Where's dad and Rafael? " Liam asked while they all took a seat on the sofa in the living room.

"They are in your dad's study roo-" Clarissa was about to finish her sentence when Amy with Rihanna came down from the stairs and greeted Liam in an overly excited voice.

"Oh Liam! You came! I thought we won't be seeing you this weekend too." Amy said the last part with a pout while taking a seat beside Liam. Liam smiled at her before replying.

"I was busy, Amy." He said casually as his eyes landed on his cousin. He was about to greet her when Celeste greeted Amy.

"How are you Amy? " Celeste asked with a soft smile. Amy looked at her and pretended as if she just noticed her.

"Good. You?" She asked Celeste casually. Celeste nodded and replied with a simple fine, not wanting to engage in further conversations with her.

"How have you been, Rih?" Liam asked looking at Rihanna who had made her way towards Celeste with a huge smile on her face.

"I have been good. How have you been?" Rihanna replied and asked him with a smile.

"Good." Liam replied with a shrug while Rihanna nodded before turning towards Celeste with a huge grin. Celeste who was silently sitting beside Clarissa while observing everything smiled brightly at Rihanna.

"Celesteee! I missed you so much." Rihanna said while moving towards Celeste with an open arm. Celeste got up from her seat and hugged Rihanna back with a smile.

"I missed you too. How have you been?" Celeste asked while breaking the hug. They both sat down beside each other before starting to talk.

"Been good. I have finished all my exams a few days back and now I'm all free." Rihanna informed in happiness. Celeste chuckled.

"Congrats miss soon to be graduate." Celeste teased her a bit while pinching her cheeks. Rihanna laughed. They both almost forgot everyone present with them. Liam looked at him from the corner of his eyes while pretending to be busy with his phone. He was astonished how in the short span of time that woman had bonded with his family so well. Everyone was crazy about her. While Amy looked at them with bored eyes like she didn’t care about them.

Meanwhile Andrew and Rafael came down from the study room.

"Celeste dear! How have you been? You forgot about this old man." Andrew said while coming down. Celeste who was busy talking to Rihanna looked up and smiled before running to hug Andrew.

"Dad! I have been good. You? I'm sorry I was just caught up with my office work. Please forgive me this time." Celeste said while hugging Andrew softly. Andrew laughed and caressed her hair before pulling away.

"I have been good. You can only be forgiven if you make me my favourite Chicken Alfredo." Andrew said with a grin while Celeste laughed and nodded.

"Don't worry. I will make it for you." Celeste replied with a smile as she turned back to greet Rafael with a smile.

"How are you Rafael? I heard you just came back from the Philippines a few days ago. How was the trip?" Celeste asked with a smile. Rafael chuckled before replying.

"Been good and you heard it right. It's a beautiful country. You must visit one day. I have brought you a birthday present for you from there. Hope you will like it." Rafael said while giving her a side hug. Celeste was shocked to know that Rafael knew it was her birthday tomorrow. He smiled at him and nodded before saying

"Thank you."

Liam who was looking silently at them was a little confused. He didn’t know it was Celeste's birthday that day so he voiced out his thoughts.

"I didn’t know today is your birthday." He said looking at Celeste. Celeste looked at him with black face. She didn’t know what to say to him. It was clear that he didn’t remember her birthday and it made her a bit disappointed. Though she didn’t expect much, she still expected him to remember her birthday at least. But unfortunately reality disappointed her.

Before she could reply Rihanna opened her mouth and said,

"It's not today but tomorrow. Don't tell me you don't know your wife's birthday." Rihanna said with narrow eyes. Liam didn’t speak but kept mum. Everyone looked at him with a shocked gaze. Celeste tried to smile and make everything look normal but suddenly Amy opened her mouth.

"Oh come on! It's just a birthday. It's normal for Liam to forget her birthday since they had an arranged marriage. It's not love marriage and they didn’t know each other from before so It's not his fault." Amy said those words causally while smiling sweetly at Celeste. Even though what she said was true, Celeste felt humiliated.

"Shut up Amy. Don't speak nonsense. " Rafael scolded Amy with a glare who just shrugged.

"I didn’t say anything wrong. It's true." Amy said with an eye roll. Rafael was about to scold her but Celeste stopped him and smiled at him.

"She's right. It's just a birthday and It's not important." She said and looked at Liam who was already looking at her. She gave him a smile and he nodded. Celeste was happy that Andrew and Clarissa weren't present there or else they would have been disappointed by Amy's behaviour. It's true birthdays weren’t important but to her it was important. Remembering someone's birthday meant you loved and cared for that person. Their happiness meant something to you. Liam didn’t say anything to Amy when she said those words which meant he didn’t care about her and it hurted her cause she already loved him.