{"id":11653,"date":"2026-01-22T13:36:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T13:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/married-at-first-sight-chapter-1\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T13:36:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T13:36:26","slug":"married-at-first-sight-chapter-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/married-at-first-sight-chapter-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Married at First Sight Chapter 1"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
In October, the heat was relentless, but the coolness of the late autumn breeze provided some relief in the mornings and evenings. Serenity Hunt was the first to wake up, eager to prepare breakfast for her sister\u2019s family of three before quietly gathering her birth certificate and slipping away unnoticed.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom now on, we\u2019re going Dutch on everything\u2014living expenses, mortgage, and car loans! Your sister should contribute since she\u2019s living with us. Sure, she pays two thousand dollars a month, but that doesn\u2019t go very far. It feels like she\u2019s just mooching off us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Serenity had overheard her brother-in-law\u2019s heated words during an argument the night before, and it became clear: she needed to move out of her sister\u2019s home. Yet, the only way to ease her sister\u2019s concerns was to get married.<\/p>\n

With a desire to wed on short notice and no prior romantic experience, Serenity decided to accept Grandma May\u2019s proposal. She had fortuitously saved the elderly woman, who was now eager to marry off her grandson, Zachary York, a man struggling to find stability in his personal life.<\/p>\n

Twenty minutes later, Serenity made her way to City Hall.<\/p>\n

\u201cSerenity.\u201d<\/p>\n

A familiar voice called out just as she stepped out of her car. It was Grandma May.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrandma May.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Serenity rushed over, she noticed a tall, somewhat aloof figure standing beside Grandma May. This must be Zachary, her future husband.<\/p>\n

Upon drawing near, Serenity was taken aback by Zachary\u2019s appearance. Grandma May had described him as unfortunate in love, despite being thirty years old, and Serenity had always imagined him to be less than appealing. After all, she had heard that Zachary held a well-paying corporate job. But now, seeing him up close, her preconceived notions began to shift.<\/p><\/div>\n

After meeting face-to-face, Serenity came to a surprising realization: she had misjudged Zachary. He exuded an attractive charm, paired with a certain aloofness that made him seem distant. Standing next to Grandma May, who wore a sour expression, he appeared standoffish, sending out clear signals for others to keep their distance.<\/p>\n

Serenity\u2019s attention drifted to a black MPV parked in the vicinity. Noticing the logo, she recognized it as a national car and not a luxury vehicle, which led her to conclude that the economic gap between herself and Zachary wasn\u2019t as vast as she initially thought.<\/p>\n

Together with an old school friend, Serenity had opened a bookshop right at the entrance of Wiltspoon School. During her spare time, she also enjoyed knitting small trinkets to sell online, which had turned out to be quite lucrative. Each month, she managed to earn a steady income of around twenty thousand dollars. In Wiltspoon, that kind of money would elevate her to the ranks of white-collar workers, allowing her to generously support her sister with five thousand dollars for living expenses.<\/p>\n

However, her brother-in-law remained unaware of her financial success. Serenity had advised her sister to keep three thousand dollars for herself and to only tell her husband about the two thousand.<\/p>\n

\u201cSerenity, this is my oldest grandson, Zachary. He\u2019s thirty years old and still struggles to get out there. While he may not be the warmest person, he\u2019s thoughtful and caring. You saved my life, and we\u2019ve known each other for three months now. Trust me, I wouldn\u2019t recommend a bad man to you,\u201d Grandma May proclaimed.<\/p>\n

As Zachary absorbed his grandmother\u2019s description, he glanced at Serenity with a skeptical expression, remaining silent. Perhaps he had grown accustomed to her grumbles.<\/p>\n

Serenity was aware that Grandma May had three sons, each of whom had given her three grandsons, resulting in a total of nine grandsons. With no granddaughter in sight, Grandma May felt a connection with Serenity, whom she hoped could fill that void.<\/p>\n

Despite feeling a bit bashful, Serenity confidently extended her right hand to Zachary and introduced herself with a warm smile, \u201cHello, Mr. York. I\u2019m<\/p>\n

\u201cSerenity Hunt.\u201d <\/p>\n

Zachary\u2019s intense gaze swept over Serenity, taking in every detail from head to toe before he broke the silence. With Nana clearing her throat beside him, he extended his right hand for a handshake, his voice carrying a cool edge. \u201cZachary.\u201d <\/p>\n

After their handshake, he glanced at his watch, then turned to Serenity. \u201cI\u2019m a busy man. Let\u2019s get this over with.\u201d <\/p>\n

Serenity acknowledged him with a soft hum. <\/p>\n

Grandma May quickly interjected, \u201cGo on inside to sort out the paperwork. I\u2019ll wait for you here.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cGran, get in the car. It\u2019s quite hot out,\u201d Zachary replied as he assisted Nana into the vehicle. <\/p>\n

From his actions, Serenity began to understand Grandma May\u2019s point that, while Zachary might seem indifferent, he did have a good heart. <\/p>\n

Though they were strangers, Grandma May noted that Serenity could move from her sister\u2019s home into a house that Zachary owned outright after the marriage. This arrangement would put her sister\u2019s mind at ease, ensuring that Serenity was well cared for and potentially quelling the arguments that often arose in the household because of her. <\/p>\n

In essence, her married life wouldn\u2019t differ much from her single one. <\/p>\n

Before long, Zachary returned to Serenity\u2019s side and said, \u201cLet\u2019s go.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cSure,\u201d Serenity replied softly, following him into City Hall. <\/p>\n

Inside the registry office, Zachary urged her gently, \u201cMs. Hunt, remember, you can change your mind if you\u2019re having doubts. It doesn\u2019t matter what my Nana thinks; marriage is a significant commitment and shouldn\u2019t be taken lightly.\u201d <\/p>\n

He secretly hoped Serenity would reconsider, as he had no desire to marry a woman he had only just met.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In October, the heat was relentless, but the coolness of the late autumn breeze provided some relief in the mornings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-married-at-first-sight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11653\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}