Married at First Sight – Episode 09
Summer spent the rest of the afternoon pretending that moving into Christian Norton’s home was an ordinary item on her schedule. Around her, the office celebrated the interview and speculated about the mysterious Mrs. Norton. Every theory made her more aware of the marriage certificate hidden in her apartment and the man who expected her to pack a bag before nightfall.
Penny assigned the transcription to another employee and ordered Summer to surrender all raw footage. She claimed senior editors should shape a story of this importance, but Summer heard the threat beneath the explanation. Penny had failed to make the interview collapse; now she intended to control its meaning and deny Summer the professional credit.
Jess waited until Penny left, then rolled her chair beside Summer’s desk. She had seen the way Christian looked at Summer and refused to believe a casual acquaintance explained it. Summer tried to laugh off the suspicion, but Jess asked whether the mysterious bride might be closer than anyone realized.
Lying to her closest friend felt worse than lying to the office. Summer admitted that Christian was the stranger she met after leaving the café, though she stopped short of confessing the marriage. She explained that she had helped him with a family problem and he was returning the kindness. Every word was true, and together they created a deception.
Jess warned her that kindness from powerful men often came with expectations. The advice echoed Summer’s own fears, but Christian had not behaved like Vincent. He had offered money without demanding obedience, accepted dangerous questions without blaming her, and protected her when revealing the truth could have benefited him.
At the end of the workday, a black car waited at the curb. Christian stood beside it rather than sending a driver upstairs, attracting attention from everyone leaving the building. Summer approached quickly and asked why he insisted on making the arrangement look suspicious. He replied that picking up his wife after work was not suspicious at all.
She reminded him that no one knew she was his wife. Christian opened the car door and observed that people would eventually discover it. The calm certainty in his voice made Summer pause. Their agreement had begun as a temporary performance, yet he behaved as if revelation were inevitable rather than avoidable.
They stopped at Summer’s apartment, where five years of compromises fit into a space smaller than Christian’s office. She packed clothes and necessities while he waited near the doorway, taking in the secondhand furniture and stack of overdue bills she hurried to cover. Shame touched her before she could suppress it.
Christian did not comment on the apartment. Instead, he noticed a photograph of Summer and Jess celebrating the publication of Summer’s first article. He asked about her writing, and she admitted that she wanted to become an author, not spend her life chasing interviews assigned by Penny. It was a dream Vincent had always dismissed as impractical.
Christian treated the ambition seriously. He asked what she wrote and why she had stopped. Summer told him there had never been enough time after work, side jobs, and supporting Vincent. The explanation made Christian’s jaw tighten, but he did not offer the pity she would have hated.
When her suitcase was ready, he took it before she could object. Summer locked the apartment and felt an unexpected pang. She was not giving up the lease, yet closing the door seemed to mark another ending. Within days, she had lost the future she planned and entered a life she could not have imagined.
Christian’s home occupied the upper floors of a private building overlooking the city. Glass walls framed the evening skyline, while elegant rooms stretched farther than Summer’s entire apartment. The luxury was breathtaking, but the silence beneath it felt almost lonely. Nothing appeared misplaced because little seemed personally touched.
Christian showed her a guest suite prepared with new clothes, toiletries, and a desk positioned beside the window. Summer immediately accused him of planning the move before she agreed. He admitted that preparation was not the same as certainty. Still, the desk made her wonder whether he had remembered her dream from a conversation held less than an hour earlier.
Before she could ask, the intercom announced Grandma Norton’s arrival. Christian glanced at Summer’s suitcase, then at the wide hallway separating the guest room from the master suite. His grandmother would notice that distance immediately. They had seconds to transform two strangers into convincing newlyweds.
Christian moved Summer’s suitcase into his bedroom and placed her coat beside his. The domestic gestures were efficient, but seeing her belongings among his made the marriage disturbingly real. Summer warned him that sharing appearances did not mean sharing a bed. He promised she would set every boundary.
The elevator doors opened before either of them could say more. Grandma Norton entered carrying flowers and enough enthusiasm to fill the quiet apartment. She embraced Summer, congratulated Christian on finally making one sensible decision, and announced that she intended to stay for dinner.
Summer smiled through the inspection that followed. Grandma Norton admired the flowers, checked the kitchen, and asked where Summer had placed her things. Christian answered smoothly, but the older woman’s bright eyes missed nothing. When she requested a tour of the bedroom, Summer felt the lie tightening around them.
Inside the master suite, Grandma Norton spotted Summer’s suitcase and looked satisfied—until she opened the closet and found every shelf unmistakably arranged for one person. Her smile vanished. She turned to the couple and asked in a dangerously gentle voice, “Why does it look as though my new granddaughter-in-law doesn’t live here?”
