Chapter 28

On Monday morning, after a long hot shower, Tris stepped out of her bathroom wrapped in a towel. She was still contemplating on what to wear for her first day in the office. Sauntering over to their closet, she caught sight of her gorgeous husband putting on a T-shirt with basketball shorts and running shoes.

Tobias grinned when she came nearer, slightly leering at the sight of her wrapped only in a towel. He shook the dirty thoughts away from his head. We definitely don't have time for THAT right now… God, it's crazy how much I want her all the freaking time.

Tris chuckled and tip-toed to place a chaste kiss on his lips, being extra careful not to touch him. "Seriously, Tobias? Yesterday was not enough for you?" They had spent their entire Sunday wrapped around each other in bed, trying all sorts of different positions that they can think of and moaning or screaming each other's names.

"I'll never get enough of you, Tris." Tobias replied with a smirk, and continued. "I'm heading off to the gym to squeeze in a short workout before work. Can you drive to the office in your car and I'll meet you there later? It'll be easier if you drive, you can leave earlier instead of waiting for me until the end of the day."

"Sure, babe. You go on ahead, I'm still early, and I'll take my time getting ready." Tris responded while rummaging through her row of clothes searching for ideas on what to wear.

"OK. Once you reach the office, just proceed to see Dad first. He'll bring you around for a short introduction and hand you the employment documents. When you're done, come to my office, I'll brief you on the upcoming projects, and we will have a meeting with a German client that we want you to sit in." Her husband explained in detail while packing his duffel bag and inserting a clean suit into a garment bag.

Tris gulped, she didn't expect that she will already be required to sit in on a meeting on her first day. Tobias sensed her hesitance, and walked over to her. He tilt her chin up to look at him. "You'll be great, love. Don't be nervous, you're only sitting in to have a feel of the meeting, not much translating to be done as they are very fluent in English."

He kissed her gently, and bit her lower lip. "I'll go off now, see you soon. Drive safe!" Tobias reminded her, she smiled in return.

Tris turned back to the row of clothes staring back at her. Now what to wear?!


As the elevator glided up to the top most level of the high-rise building, Tris looked at her reflection and smoothed down her skirt. She decided on a dark red button down blouse, tucked into a high-waisted black pencil skirt. Red heels and a Louis Vuitton Kensington complimented her outfit. She also paired a long pearl necklace draped around her neck that reaches the top of her skirt. Her hair was in an elegant bun, her shorter fringe swept to the side, tucked behind her ear. Small pearl studs in both her ears completed the look.

Before Tris left the apartment, she took a full body selfie shot, and sent it to Christina, who replied with an approval. She was still getting the hang of dressing elegantly to keep up with her new family name, and was glad that her sisters are always around to provide their opinions or approvals.

Exiting the elevator, she marveled at the beautiful view from the glass window at the lobby, before proceeding through the glass doors to her father-in-law's company. A brunette woman was sitting at the massive reception desk, and behind her was a wall with the company's logo on it.

Tris walked up to the woman with a friendly smile. "Excuse me, good morning. I'm here to see Marcus Eaton."

The woman looked up at her, and returned her smile warily. "Do you have an appointment with him, Ma'am?" It's not often that someone just walks in into the office requesting to see their CEO.

"Just inform him that Tris is here, he'll know what it's about." Tris replied politely.

"Why don't you take a seat on the couch first, I'll contact his PA." The receptionist replied, while picking up the handset and dialed a 4 digit extension number.

Tris went over to the sitting area at the corner, and sat on one of the plush leather couch. She looked around the lobby, since it is her first time coming going to the office.

After a few minutes, she felt a presence on her right side, and turned to see the receptionist from earlier hovering over her, looking quite uncomfortable and apologetic.

"Erm, Mrs. Eaton? I'm so so sorry to make you wait, Ma'am! Let me show you to Mr. Eaton Sr.'s office." The woman blurted out nervously. She did not want to get fired just for failing to recognize one of her bosses' wife.

"Don't need to apologize, it's really quite alright. I don't expect any of the staff to recognize me, the wedding was a few months ago and this is my first time coming here." Tris reassured the panicky staff. Smiling warmly, Tris got on her feet and followed her through into the huge office, heading straight to Marcus' room.


Her meeting with Marcus concluded within an hour. Introductions to the project managers were done, and they have resolved a small conflict pertaining to the employment terms.

Tris insisted that the company wanted to pay her too much, and that she does not have the experience to deserve that kind of salary. Plus, she does not need the money either, her husband earns more than enough to support the both of them. Marcus put his foot down on the matter, and he was backed by their HR, that since she's technically hired as a consultant, they will be paying her an average consultant's salary. She unwillingly agreed, not wanting to prolong the matter, and thought that perhaps she can donate a percentage of it to the needy instead.

Hugging her father-in-law, she thanked him profusely for the opportunity, and headed out of the room. She had to meet up with Tobias, and headed down the long hallway to his room at the other end of the office as per the directions given by Marcus' PA.

As she approached the other end of the office, she spotted a dark-haired woman seated on a messy table filled with files outside an opaque glass door, the door similar to her father-in-law's. Peeking at the name plaque pasted on it, she saw her husband's name and sighed with relief. Her heels were starting to kill her.

"Hi there. I would like to see Tobias Eaton please." Tris asked politely, a warm smile still plastered on her carefully made-up face.

"I'm sorry, but he's busy at the moment. Please make an appointment before coming to see him." The woman replied, typing furiously on her keyboard without even raising her eyes to look at Tris.

"I'm sure that he's expecting me right about now. My name's Tris." Tris kept her tone even, taking pity on the woman who's probably busy finishing up a report that her husband requested.

"Sorry, your name is not listed in his schedule." The woman answered brusquely.

Tris let out a small sigh and stepped away from the secretary's table, letting the woman work in peace. Taking out her phone from her bag, she scrolled to her husband's name and slide her finger to call the number. Within a couple of rings, Tobias answered the phone. "Babe, where are you?"

"I'm right outside your door." Tris replied with a smile. She's unable to stop smiling nowadays when she thought about her husband, or when she heard his voice.

Within a few seconds, the door flew open, and she caught sight of Tobias' tall frame that was almost reaching the top of the door. She walked over to him and place a soft kiss on his lips.

"Myra! Why didn't you let my wife in?!" He barked at the poor secretary that was staring at them with shock and horror.

"It's OK, love. She looked so busy that I didn't want to bother her, so I called you instead." Tris cut in and pulled him further in into his office. "Come on, Tobias, let's get on with the briefing before the meeting starts."


Tobias briefed her on many important points pertaining to the company, such as their business model, basic clientele, biggest clients and he also ran through the terms and jargons used in their proposals and communication so that Tris will be able to understand and translate better.

At 11am, the rest of the team that was handling the project met up in the conference room, waiting for their German guests to grace them with their presence. As Tris was only overseeing the meeting, she opted for a seat at the end of the long table, while Tobias took the middle seat seeing as he was heading that project. Next to her was a nerdy project manager named Ferdinand, who looks extremely nervous to be seated next to the boss' wife.

Once their German counterparts were there, she was introduced to the team as a new associate, only overseeing the meeting today as it was her first day. She smiled shyly while shaking hands with their team of 5. The rest of their team require no further introductions as it was not the first time that they have met with one another.

Eric Coulter, the CEO of the German company, greeted Tobias warmly with an excited handshake and a big smile. Tobias returned his smile. Tris was not surprised to see that, as Tobias had earlier informed her that they had become sort of friends, going for drinks together when Eric was in the city.

Eric was a tall man, almost at Tobias's height, and he's muscular like Tobias, but more on the bulky side, while her husband is more on the lean side. Tris caught sight of a neck tattoo coming out from the side of his shirt. He had smirked at her when she shook his hand earlier, and looked at her appraisingly. It made her slightly uncomfortable, and she quickly sat back down on her seat with a notebook and pen on hand to take notes. Much to her displeasure, Eric had opted to seat at the corner as well, directly opposite her, while giving the rest an excuse that it was his team's meeting anyway, that he is only there to supervise and oversee.

The meeting droned on, Tris avoided Eric's constant stares in her direction, concentrating instead on the conversation that was on going in the room and taking notes to discuss it with Tobias later. Tobias definitely noticed that his friend has been paying close attention to his wife, and he's not liking it one bit. He could sense that Tris was also getting uncomfortable, she was sitting nimrod straight in her chair, and angled it so that she will not catch any sight of the blonde man across from her. Tobias aimed to quickly finish the discussion to ease his wife, plus, the contract is pretty much a done deal anyway.

Once the discussions were concluded, both teams decided on a future date to follow up, and slowly they filed out of the conference room. Tris had lingered, hoping that Eric would head off first so that she would not collide into him and be forced to have a conversation. But instead, he had lingered as well, waiting until no one was close enough to them.

"It's Tris, right?" Eric had cornered her while she was packing her things from the table. He spoke English extremely well, but Tris could hear the heavy German accent behind his words.

"Yes." She answered curtly.

"Can I take you out sometime? Say, dinner tonight?" He asked confidently, straight to the point, with a smile on his face.

Waving her left hand in front of him, she replied gently, "Sorry, I'm married."

"Well, it doesn't have to be a date. You can inform your husband that it's a business dinner, I'm sure he would understand…" He suggested. Tris had the urge to smack the cocky smile off his face. A typical class-A douchebag…

Tobias, who was standing near the door of the room waiting for Tris, had caught on the conversation. He decided it was time to step in.

"Now, Eric, I believe the lady had said no." Tobias interrupted in a teasing tone. He's beyond pissed that his friend had hit on his wife, but he still had a reputation to uphold and a business relationship to maintain.

"Come on, Tobias. Help me out here." Eric pleaded jokingly.

"Well, normally I would, you know that. But I can't help you here since you are trying to hit on my wife." He finally reached to stand beside Tris, and placed his hand on her small waist, pulling her closer to his side.

Eric's eyes widened, and he looked down to see their matching wedding rings. "Well, shit. Sorry. I didn't know she's your wife." He chuckled and held out his hand to Tris, "Sorry about that." Tris returned the hand shake and grinned.

He then held out his hand to Tobias. "Sorry, bro. Congratulations on the wedding, and for the record, you are one lucky bastard." Tobias returned his hand shake with a smirk. "I know. And Eric, try not to hit on any of my staff please?"

"I promise not to hit on your wife, but I can't promise about the rest of your female staff." Eric replied teasingly, walking out the door. Tobias and Tris chuckled at his response, and followed him out.


AN: Sorry for the slow updates, as mentioned, life is crazy, and getting crazier. The next chapter shouldn't take too long, probably by this coming weekend. The outline is already done.

As for Eric, he's only a minor character in this story, he won't be appearing again in a while, so nothing to worry about. I actually enjoy fics that portray Eric and Four being friends, so that's why I wanted to add it here.

And to be honest, as much as I love FourTris, I'm loving Eris as well. I'm contemplating for my next fic to be Eris instead. What do you think?

Thank you so much for all your support, and please don't give up on me. I will definitely be finishing this fic as soon as I can. =)