"So... how are you and Danary?""...""I heard she met your parents already.""...""Are you actually... lovey-dovey with her?""...""It seems like something she would like, but I could never imagine you acting like that.""...""Come on, just a few words. That's all I need."I gave a highly irritated sigh and came to an abrupt stop mid-walk. For some reason, Benedict came to my apartment this morning right as I was leaving and insisted on accompanying me to work.Benedict held up his hands in mock surrender when I spun around with a harsh glare. "Look, I was just curious. It's been over two weeks since I found out, and I haven't bothered you once since then. The least you could do is satisfy my curiosity a bit.""...""Just a little.""We're... good..."He was staring at me with such big, round, questioning eyes that I was only able to bite out two words. I immediately spun around on my heel and started to make my way toward my office building again, unable to handle his intense sta
Brushing the light snowfall off my shoulders, I ducked under the tiny door frame of her front door and carefully shrugged my coat off. The temperature had suddenly fallen over the last few days in New York City, but Jane's home never failed to fill my body with warmth whenever I came over.I glanced down at the fretting little lady as she floundered around me in her adorable kitchen apron and a fluffy towel in her hand. She was extremely worried about all the snow that had melted on my head, but I could care less.I reached forward, lopping my arm around her waist and effectively halting her motions as I pulled her against my frame. Her cheeks turned a bright red color, as usual, mirroring the red ornament balls hanging from her ceiling.Her comforting sweet scent engulfed me as I lowered my head, leaning down closer to her until we were just an inch away from each other. I greeted softly, "I missed you, darling."Her face immediately flushed into a deeper red as she stammered, "I-I m
The little bell above the door rang as I entered the hole-in-the-wall boutique.I planned to propose to Jane today and worked extra hard to finish my work early, but she was nowhere to be seen when I finally left my office.But based on Joseph's information, my mother had run off with Jane in the middle of the workday to come to Amanda's boutique to try on her custom dress for the last time in preparation for tomorrow's gala.The moment I walked in, I was greeted with the familiar sight of gold detailing lining the shop's walls with rolls of fabrics scattered all over the place and the usual musky scent that clung to every inch of the wall. It was something I had often seen as a child whenever my mother insisted on dragging me here to play dress up."Oh, hello, Rafael. I wasn't expecting to see you today. Do you need to get something altered at the last minute?" pipped Amanda as she lifted her glasses off of her face and rounded the corner to greet me.I shook my head and glanced arou
"Achilles, am I really allowed no hints about where we're going?"I hummed in affirmation. "It's supposed to be a surprise, and surprises mean no hints."She pouted and pulled her head away from the car window. "I'm just curious. All you said was that we're going out of the city for dinner, but it doesn't seem like there would be any place to eat at out here..."I guess I shouldn't have expected to be able to fool her for long after driving on a small road through a dense forest for over 30 minutes already. I squeezed her hand reassuringly, "I'm not going to try to kill you out here if that's what you're thinking."She huffed and grumbled lowly under her breath, "It's not like anyone would find you way out here anyway."I chuckled at her adorable comment. She really has become more comfortable around me, enough to let out her little spunky personality hidden deep within her. "I picked this place because of its isolated nature. I know you're still not very comfortable around strangers
After I finished proposing, I carried Jane back down to the first floor and walked out to the car to collect all the blankets, pillows, and the large picnic basket I had packed.Even though the house was completely bare down to its walls, without a single piece of furniture, I thought it would be romantic to stay in the empty castle all by ourselves for the night. It was one of the few moments where it was just Jane and me, not that I didn't enjoy little Theo's presence, but it was a rare moment where we could be as intimate as we'd like with each other.It was pretty dark by the time we came down, so I decided to stay near the living room fireplace and set up a fire to keep us warm through the night. Jane's eye's sparkled as the flames grew bigger and bigger until they reached a roaring fire.Although she tried to keep her voice quiet, I heard her mumbling about how it reminded her of a scene in one of her romance books where a couple snuck into a barn to hide from the rain and start
To say that my mother freaked out when she saw the ring on Jane's finger was an understatement.Since we had slept through breakfast and would most likely be too busy to eat much during the gala, I took Jane out for a big lunch before bringing her back to my apartment and ended up arriving 30 mins past the agreed-upon time with my mother. She was fuming when we finally arrived and was more than ready to give me an earful, but all of her anger instantly disappeared the moment Danary stepped in front of me and anxiously waved her hands in front of my mother, trying to calm her down.In less than a second, my mother's eyes zeroed in on the giant diamond ordaining Jane's finger and released such a high-pitched squeal that dogs down the block probably could've heard it.She bombarded Jane with a series of non-stop questions ranging from where the proposal occurred to the exact words of my proposal. She spoke so quickly that Jane's mind was visibly spinning, but my mother paid no mind to it
"Are you feeling better now, Liam?" A hand smoothed over his head, eliciting a soft hum from the said boy. "You know that she didn't mean you any harm, right? She was just very happy to meet you."Liam let out a clearly disgruntled but incoherent muttering before turning his head away from his mother.Jane sighed and continued to calmly stroke his head. "Cheer up, honey. I don't like seeing you upset."She really was such a good mother, even if she was a bit too nice for her own good at times. She always listened to Liam's side of things and tried to understand him before saying anything.Trying to take his mind off my mother's overly friendly and nearly deadly display of affection toward her first grandchild, I lightly nudged Liam's cheeks and offered, "If you want, I can tell my mother to not bother you because you want want to stay by Jane's side tonight. She can be a bit overbearing at times, but she'll still at least respect your wishes."He looked up at me hesitantly before glan
As expected, I had already found myself separated from Jane, not even halfway through the night. I must've been only able to stay by her sight for a good hour before I was pulled away from Jane by a group of my company's board members, families that have been allied with Cordova Industries since my great-great-great grandfather's time. And it didn't help that my father was part of the group of old geezers who were trying to pull me away from my Jane.With much coaxing on Jane's part and a promise to stay within my sight, she eventually managed to get me to detach myself from her.I reluctantly left her side and followed the others to the reserved upper balcony of the hall overlooking the entire floor.The old geezers had brought along their successors in hopes of showing off their sons. Some were bragging about how well their sons did in college, while others were talking about how their sons already took over a portion of their company but not without kissing up to my father, saying