Juvia went out of the house, her hand holding her bag and preventing it from slipping away from her shoulders. She was startled when he saw Gray at the porch, fixing his shoe. Normally, he would still be sleeping when Juvia and Silver went for work. It was unusual for Gray to be awake early that morning.

"Good morning, Gray-sama. Are you going somewhere?" She asked curiously, stopping for a moment.

He looked up at her for a bit. "Morning. Yep, need to check some site," he replied and returned his attention to his shoe.

Juvia smiled. "I see, take care!" She waved him goodbye before running to Silver's car. The latter was already on the driver's seat.

"Looks like your relationship has improved." Silver said with a smile.

"It has. He's not ignoring me anymore," she responded cheerfully. She had told Silver about her first encounter with Gray and their lunch together. He teased her saying he wouldn't mind if she ended up becoming his daughter-in-law after all this fiasco. She pouted at him in return.

"Good to know. You still need to stay some more weeks with us."

"I know."

After their marriage, nothing really changed in the office. No one knew about it so everything was normal. But well, there were rumours that Silver was housing her or something since they were always coming to the office together. Both she and her boss just shrugged and laughed it off over lunch.

It hadn't affected their work so they didn't think too much about it.

Not until news broke out that they got married. The information was printed on a gossip magazine that was famous for their reliable sources. Businessmen weren't celebrities but there were magazines in Fiore that focused on them. Readers? Everyone from the business world.

Silver had a tremendously good reputation. He was never associated to any scandal after his wife died and reporters were dying to get a scoop about him and his family. He had been really private, well not anymore considering his recent marriage was leaked.

The first thing Silver did when he found out was summon her to his office.

"Silver-sama..." she called out, her voice worried. He looked troubled.

"It's fine, Juvia-chan. Everything will be fine. I just needed to tell you that Gray is picking you up later. If there are any paparazzi who will try to interview you, decline them and don't say anything until I sort this out."

"Understood."

After they talked, she walked out from his office and suddenly everyone was looking at her with judging and confused faces. She wasn't used to it so she looked down and walked over to her cubicle.

Time passed uncomfortably. There were some people who tried to approach her and asked her if the news was true. But like Silver told her, she didn't tell anyone.

"Juvia," someone called.

Juvia looked up from her computer and saw Gray standing near her, dashing as always. Her eyes watered. She had been feeling so stressed the whole day she felt relieved to see someone familiar to her. Silver had been busy trying to fix it that she hadn't seen a shadow of him except at lunch when she delivered his food.

"Gray-sama," she uttered as she wiped her tears.

He sighed. "Let's go home."

Juvia nodded, turned off her computer, grabbed her bag and followed him out. People were staring when they passed by but when Gray glared at them, they stopped and she never felt so much better.

There were two reporters who managed to get inside the building. Gray commanded the security guards to apprehend them when they tried to talk to her.

Juvia breathed in relief once they were inside his car. The sun had almost set, giving the scene a pale tint of orange with a tinge of red. It should've been a beautiful view, had it not for the distress she was feeling. She had never expected something like this would happen. She thought no one would really know about the marriage.

"Are you okay?" Gray asked while he drove.

"Yes. I can't thank you enough, Gray-sama. You saved me there."

"I bet. Their eyes were like sharks I'll make sure to tell my dad about it, so don't worry." Gray answered, feeling angry at those people.

When he received the news, he was at first not worried. After all, his father had lived for years, this scandal was nothing but an insect trying to take a bite out of an elephant. But when Gray saw Juvia crying, her face distraught, he felt like someone landed a punch on his gut.

Gray had only known her for a couple of weeks but he had been aware of what kind of person she was. She must be the one who was greatly affected, after all society was harsher on women.

"It's my fault. Now, Silver-sama's peaceful life has been disrupted," she said in a low voice.

"Don't say that," Gray said. "It doesn't bother my father, he's more worried about you." Which was the truth, anyway. When Gray talked to his father over the phone, he was in panic not because his private life was revealed just like that but because Juvia was involved in it.

Juvia didn't respond and stayed silent as she looked vacantly outside.

Gray allowed her the time to think. When they got home, he asked her if she was hungry but she just shook her head.

"Go change upstairs and if you feel like it, come down. I'll be waiting here with a bottle of wine on hand," Gray told her.

Juvia finally turned to him with a grin. "I'd love that."

Gray smirked feeling a bit proud that he made her smile. He wasn't used to seeing her down like this and he felt bothered by it.

When she came down, everything was already prepared. They sat on a stool behind the bar, side by side.

"I was an orphan," Juvia broke the silence. "My parents died when I was seven, and the only family I have was my Uncle. But he didn't come for me until I was ten, so for three years I was alone in the orphanage. Kids wouldn't talk to me because I was kind of gloomy which couldn't be helped because I just lost my parents." A smile broke out from her lips after a while. "It's thoughtful of you Gray-sama to accompany me in a day like this. I feel like I'm not alone anymore."

Gray pursed his lips before drinking some wine. "We're now family after all," he said thinking a huge burden would be lifted from his shoulder by finally acknowledging that. But for some reason, it felt... heavier.

"I'm very grateful, Gray-sama, to you and to Silver-sama for accepting me. I hope after everything is alright, you'd still treat me like this."

"Of course," said Gray, assuming she was talking about the scandal. "Dad told me you need to stay at home for a few days."

Her expression turned sullen. "B-but I'll be so bored here since both of you would be at work."

Gray chuckled, she was like a kid who was too attached to her parents.

"We come home before dinner though."

Juvia pouted. "Yes. I'll ask Silver-sama to bring one of the office laptop here so I can at least work the whole day."

"Why don't you find something else to do? It's rare for you to be home so you should take advantage of it and rest. I'm sure my Dad can find someone to do your work at the office."

Her eyes flickered. "You're right, Gray-sama. I haven't stitch in a long time so I guess I'll do that."

"You stitch?"

"Yes!" she replied cheerfully. "Gajeel told me it's weird since I can kick some balls and punch but I stitch."

Gray laughed. "Unexpected but not weird. Who's Gajeel again?"

There was nostalgia that flshed in her eyes. "My best friend. We grew up together in the orphanage. He was the only one who wasn't bothered by my presence so I kind of tagged along with him all the time. We separated when Uncle brought me home but we stayed in touch. We went to the same high school and now he wouldn't deny that I'm his bestfriend."

"Same with me and Natsu. You have met Gildarts, right?" Juvia nodded. "Well, he was Natsu's godfather. We practically grew up together, fought and bicker most of the time. Now that we're both grown ups, we now treat each other as bestfriends. Though we still fought like kids."

Juvia looked touched. "That's the beauty of friendship. They say if you don't fight at all then you're not really friends."

"I guess. I..." Gray's face was solemn. "I lost my mother in an accident and Natsu lost his only family, his father, as well. We were broken. Fighting was kind of a realease for the two of us. Although the pain was still there, we forget it momentarily when we fight."

"I understand." Juvia said, her face devoid of pity, but her smile was sad. "Boys like to act tough when everything's a mess. Gajeel was one, too. Deep inside though, everyone was just dealing with their own pain. So I had learned not to judge everything based on appearance."

Gray agreed and sipped from his glass. "You seemed to really understand that friend of yours. You're that close with him?"

"Yes. We're like siblings. We even sleep together." Juvia grinned and Gray blinked at her. "Oh I mean on the same bed, platonically. He has a girlfriend."

"I get it. I slept, literally, with some of my childhood female friends when I had no choice. Wouldn't dream to do it again," he made a face.

"Eh why?"

"Erza, the one I've talked about to you before, almost killed me because I accidentally kicked her out of the bed. And Cana, ugh, spilled her alcohol on the bed and I woke up smelling like a drunkard."

Juvia put her palm on her mouth to prevent laughing out loud. "Your friends are really interesting," she remarked.

"They are," he groaned. "Right, we'll have a little reunion in a week. One of our friends, Lisanna, will come home from abroad so we planned a get together. Would you like to come?"