CHAPTER 1

"Honey, wake up." Serena was awoken to playful kisses to her face and neck.

"Okay, okay. I'm awake." She grumbled.

"Good," he pecked her on the lips and got up from their bed. She looked over at the clock. It was 7:00 am.

"Darien," she whined, "why did you wake me up so early? It's Saturday."

"I've been awake since 6:00 lying in bed next to you so I was getting bored and restless."

"Ugh. You have the strangest sleeping patterns. It's a real inconvenience for me you know."

"Well, you married to me so get used to it," he teased.

"Come on! Let's go out for a morning walk or something. I have so much energy right now!"

"You can go, I'm going back to sleep."

"Serena! Come on!" He whined to her. "Please! Let's go. It's really nice outside right now! You don't want to waste a beautiful morning sleeping it away."

"Ugh… Fine. Since you won't be quiet I guess I have no choice." She got up from her bed and changed into a pair of cropped leggings and a blue tshirt hoodie. Her long golden hair was tied up into a ponytail. Darien put on a pair of burgundy sweat shorts and a white vneck.

Serena yawned about ten times since they left their cozy apartment. Darien laughed at the fact he got her to go out this early. He felt somewhat bad, because he knew that she liked her sleep but for some reason he couldn't sleep as long as she could. He was an early riser and couldn't help it.

They passed a café and Darien offered to get her a drink. He ordered two cups of coffee. His was black and Serena's had extra creamer with a pack of sugar. He watched her as she indulged in the smell before taking a sip. The cup of coffee seemed to brighten her spirits. She didn't look as tired and some color rushed to her face instead of looking so pale.

"It was a nice idea to go out for stroll." Serena began.

"I'm just full of nice ideas," Darien said cockily.

Serena smiled at forward. She adored her beloved so much, even when he started to get a little annoying. It has been almost six months since their wedding and the flame of their love for each other hasn't even begun to die out. They were in the process of looking for a nice house. Both agreed that it was time to move on from Darien's apartment, even though so many wonderful memories were shared there.

Darien was making good money from his shifts at the hospital and Serena's tuition pretty much made her schooling for free. It was her final year and she was excited to be graduating soon. Her hard work was soon going to pay off. Darien was really proud of her. She went from that lazy, immature underachiever to an intelligent, goal driven college girl. Sometimes, while she was studying, she would sit at her desk wearing her reading glasses and a pencil behind her ear. For some reason, Darien found this side of her really attractive and would purposely try to distract her when he would want her attention, like a needy puppy would.

He found game in trying to test her. When he would come home from work and she'd still be up studying or writing a paper, he would hurry to the bathroom and take a steamy shower and emerge from the bathroom. His hair and torso still somewhat wet and a towel around his waist. He would seductively call her name, causing her to turn around and catch glimpse of him. And when she wouldn't, he'd walk over to her and lean in really close, pretending to try and help her. He would notice her tense up and he'd guiltily use that to his advantage. She was more easily to manipulate when it was study week before final exams but he would not dare try to do that, even if she'd hint to him.

"Honey, want to go look around for houses?" Darien asked.

"I guess, since I'm already up because of a certain someone," she sipped from her cup.

"That's the spirit!" He chirped. Darien grabbed Serena's hand and the couple walked to the nearest place where there were model homes.