Just like clockwork Tristan woke up at six. Ava slept beside him like she had no care in the world.
Her legs were tangled in his and she was lying on his chest with her hair sprawled out.
For a while, he laid there and watched her sleep. Tracing her cheek with his thumb, he thought, this is a nice way to wake up every day.
It was still early and she did not look like she was waking up anytime soon so he decided that he should go workout.
He untangled their legs and covered Ava with the blanket that she had kicked off in the middle of the night.
He tried to move as quietly as possible so he wouldn't wake her.
It was 8 am by the time he finished, and he thought it was time to wake Ava up so they could have breakfast. He was on his way to take a shower when he heard someone in the living room.
He came down and saw it was his grandparents.
He had mixed feelings about their arrival.
On one side he was happy to see them, but on the other side, he was apprehensive about their reaction when they saw Ava.
"Grandma, Grandpa, I did not know you were coming," Tristan frowned.
Tristan's grandparents came early so Tristan could not run away from them.
They knew that if they came later in the day Tristan may have already gone out.
"Look at him, he's not happy we're here," Grandma complained, feeling like someone has wronged her.
She was happy to see Tristan looking good, after all, he was the apple of her eye.
"Tristan, since you did not come to see us, your grandmother got worried, so I took her to see you," Grandpa said.
Tristan always gave her excuses, he always told her that he had a heavy workload so he could not come to see them.
He avoided the visits because they always pressured him to get married.
"Tristan, since you did not like Natasha I have a few other girls in line," Grandma said.
"Grandma," Tristan said in a warning tone.
"I told you I was giving you a year, but I don't see you putting any effort into it. I haven't seen you date anyone," Grandma cried frustratingly.
She thought that Tristan was just being a workaholic like before and was ignoring her requests. She hasn't even heard any news about his dating life.
Tristan had kept his love life very private and even his friends were not aware he had one.
"Let's have breakfast, we can talk later," Grandpa said to Grandma.
Grandma agreed since she planned to spend the whole day with Tristan anyway.
"Tristan, Tristan….," Ava called out while running down the stairs.
Ava woke up to an empty bed. She was surprised, she thought he might have left,
She did not see him upstairs so she came down.
She did not notice that there were other people in the room and they all stared at her when they heard her calling out.
Ava got to the bottom of the stairs and was shocked to find two elderly people with Tristan.
She was scared and petrified, she did not know what to do.
She stood rooted to the spot. She did not notice that Tristan's grandparents gave her the same shocked look.
Grandma could not believe her eyes.
Her cold, aloof grandson had a woman in his house.
Her grandson had carefully hidden a woman from her and if she did not come here today she probably would have never known about it.
Tristan had no plans of introducing Ava to his Grandparents but since the cat was out of the bag he had no choice.
Grandpa on the other hand had a serious expression as if analyzing the situation and was gazing at Ava.
"Why are you not wearing slippers?" Tristan frowned and took a step toward Ava.
Ava came out of her trance and went to stand near him.
"I was in a hurry to find you," Ava said meekly.
"Little one, I am not going anywhere," Tristan said helplessly.
This time both Grandma and Grandpa could believe what they were witnessing in front of them.
They have never seen Tristan talk so softly to anyone before. He never showed any expressions, it was always like he was face paralyzed.
They never knew Tristan was capable of showing any emotion.
On top of that, he called the girl using a nickname.
Grandma saw that the girl looked very young, perhaps someone who was still in school.
She was beautiful though and she had very nice features. She had a body of a ballerina, tall and thin.
The most important thing was that she looked like she was a nice girl. She radiated innocence.
She was wondering how her grandson found such a sweet girl when she noticed that she was wearing her nightwear and it was still early in the morning, it was 8 am when they got to his place.
Did that mean that she spent the night with Tristan?
"I am dreaming or can anyone pinch me," Grandma said dramatically. Grandpa was keeping quite seeing his wife's antics.
"Grandma, Grandpa, this is Ava," Tristan introduced her.
Ava gave them a small smile, she was freaking out inside.
These were Tristan's grandparents, she wanted to make a good impression.
Grandma was so happy that she held Ava's face between her hands and said, "Tristan she is so pretty."
"Grandma, enough, don't scare her," Tristan said pointing to her hands.
"I don't mind," Ava said. She thought Tristan's Grandma seemed like a nice person and she did not mind her friendly touch.
"Come, let's have breakfast," Grandma said, removing her hands.
"Ava, go get ready and we will have breakfast together," Tristan said to Ava. Ava nodded and went up to change.
"Tristan, explain this to me, what is this?" Grandpa asked sternly.
"I love her and I'm going to marry her," Tristan said directly.
"Oh my god! Finally, my wish has come true," Grandma put her hands on her chest seeming relieved. Her happiness was overflowing hearing Tristan utter those words.
"Tristan, she looks very young. Did you force her to be with you? How about her parents? Are they okay with it?" Grandpa asked.
Grandpa was a logical person and thought clearly.
Once they had chosen the wrong woman for his son and everyone suffered because of it.
He did not want Tristan to make the same mistakes.
"Old man, what are you saying?" Grandma was irritated by Grandpa's interruption.
"Our grandson has finally fallen in love. Don't you want him to have his own family?" Grandma's voice escalated.
"His happiness matters to me the most. That's why I want to know what he's getting himself into", Grandpa said. Grandma understood what he was trying to say so she just kept quiet.
"Grandpa, Ava is not like my mother, she is very kind and innocent. I know we have a huge age difference but I don't see any problem. It's not going to affect our lives.
I liked her first and I never forced her. I courted her for a while and later she accepted me.
As for her family, they don't know about our relationship yet. I will do my best to convince them that I love their daughter," Tristan said, with grim determination.
"Who are her parents?" Grandpa asked.
"She is Mr. Wesley's daughter. He owns the business we recently had a collaboration with," Tristan said.
"Mr. Wesley," Grandpa nodded.
He had known that Mr. Wesley was a very rich and ethical businessman. He met him a few times in parties and official gatherings.
Many businessmen got themselves into a lot of scandals but he had never heard one from Mr. Wesley.
He had heard Mr. Wesley loved and cherished his wife a lot. He always brought his wife to all the parties.
He refused to marry his daughters for business alliances. It showed how much he treasured his daughters.
Now he felt a little better knowing that Ava was the daughter of Mr. Wesley.
"Tristan, she is too young and she shouldn't be staying the night here," Grandpa trailed off.
Grandpa was old fashioned and respected traditions a lot.
"Tristan, am I getting a great-grandchild soon?" Grandma asked sheepishly. She was over the moon. She was imagining she won the lottery.
"Grandma, Grandpa, it's not what you're thinking," Tristan said.
Grandpa was satisfied with his response but Grandma was a little bit disappointed.
"Tristan when is the wedding?" Grandma asked curiously.
"Not in the near future," Tristan replied curtly.
"I know nowadays you youngsters want to date first but there is no harm in getting married first then dating later," Grandma said. She was very eager to see Tristan get married.
"Grandma, she is still studying, after she graduates we will get married," Tristan said.
"Good, good," Grandma said, she was happy, at least she got something.
"Let me check on her," Tristan said and went upstairs.