CHAPTER 6

Anthony finally looked back at Lerisa's face, and he said to her, "I have to go home now, Lerisa. I hope that you're truly feeling fine now."

Anthony drank from the bottled water in his hands again, looking directly at Lerisa's face. She replied, "Yes, I'm fine. See you later in the evening."

Lerisa's pretty, fair-complexioned face turned sad again as she remembered that Anthony would definitely propose to Clara that evening. Anthony and Clara have been dating for three years or more.

Anthony noticed the change in Lerisa's mood due to how her face automatically reddened. He immediately asked her, "What's wrong with you again?"

Lerisa snapped out of her trance and replied, "Nothing, I'm fine."

"Hmm, you keep telling me that you're fine when you are not fine... Tell me the truth, Lerisa. What's bothering you? You can share whatever the problem is with me. You know that I care about you, and I know that you don't have any other friends aside from me." "You don't have a boyfriend, or probably you do, but I don't know him yet, and I haven't met him. However, that's not why you should be looking sad," Anthony advised.

"I don't have any boyfriends, Anthony," Lerisa admitted, and Anthony looked at her face again and asked, "Why? Why don't you have one? You're very beautiful, Lerisa, and I want the best man for you. How about my friend, Ben? He has been disturbing me about you. Why not consider dating him?"

"No. I'm not interested in Ben," Lerisa replied, quickly rejecting the idea.

Anthony's eyes squinted in suspicion, and he smiled and asked her, "Then who are you interested in? I don't know anyone who's your boyfriend or love interest that could have made you look sad."

Lerisa gazed up at Anthony's face. She met his blue eyes, and her lips parted to speak, but no words came out, as she couldn't tell him the truth that she was in love with him. She gulped it down and stared downward.

Anthony sighed and told her, "It's okay, Lerisa. If you don't want to tell me about the guy that you like... But you should know that I care about you very much and see you as more than a friend."

"I have to be on my way home now, as I had already promised my mother that I would be home early for breakfast with her, after I've completed my exercise. If not, I could have joined you and your mom for breakfast here. How about your dad?" Anthony inquired.

"He has gone out for the weekend meeting," Lerisa said. Anthony sighed and advised her, "Be good, okay. Take care of yourself."

Lerisa finally escorted Anthony to the exit gate. She pulled the gate open for him and locked it from within after Anthony left their compound. It was unknown to her that her mother stood by the kitchen window and eavesdropped on their conversation, as she was staring at them too.

Lerisa wiped her teardrops away and turned to walk back into the house, not knowing that her mother was also secretly rooting for her and Anthony to marry too.

Upon stepping into the living room, her mother immediately got out of the kitchen and asked her, "What's going on between you and Anthony, Lerisa?"

Mrs. Antonia was carrying a tray of fried eggs in her hands as she walked up to the dining table and placed the tray of fried eggs there on the dining table.

Lerisa walked towards the dining room to join her mother there. She replied, "Nothing, mom."

Lerisa sat on a chair, her face still red, and she continued to remember the diamond engagement ring that she had seen with Anthony the previous day.

"You keep saying 'nothing, mom' when you look as red as a tomato. Didn't you see your reflection in the mirror, Lerisa?" Her mother asked.

Lerisa sighed and replied, "I'm fine, mom."

"Okay. If you say so, but I hope you know that I like Anthony too, and I don't want you to chase him away with your reddened face," Mrs. Antonia teased, but Lerisa only shook her head as she picked up a piece of the fried eggs from her plate and ate it.

"Now, go and wash your hands first, and let's have breakfast together since your dad is not yet home. Have you selected the clothes that you will be wearing to attend Anthony's birthday party this evening?" "Your father and I will also be attending it, as you know that I like Anthony very much, and I want him to marry you, but that's when he's also ready to settle down. At least to seal our family's bond with his family."

"Mom, Anthony has a girlfriend, and you and Dad should stop thinking about me becoming Anthony's wife. He will only remain my boss and family friend," Lerisa said, with a saddened face. She stood up from the chair and walked up to the kitchen door to wash her hands in the kitchen sink.

"Hmm..." Mrs. Antonia frowned and went into the kitchen to meet her first daughter.

She said, "Why would you say that, Lerisa? Anthony cannot marry whichever girl he's dating. His parents won't support him marrying anyone else except you. His dad and your father are best friends, and the same goes for his mother and me too."

"Hmm." Lerisa shook her head and finished washing her hands under the running tap water. She carried her teacup and said, "Mom, I'm hungry first, and I still need to go outside to shop for the new clothes that I will wear to attend Anthony's birthday party tonight."

"Okay," Mrs. Antonia sighed, and finally allowed Lerisa to pass. Lerisa walked out of the kitchen with her teacup in her hand, and went to the dining table to sit and have her breakfast.

Mrs. Antonia stepped out of the kitchen and joined her first daughter in the dining room, and they had their breakfast together.

Lerisa didn't want to tell her mother the truth—that she saw Anthony with an engagement ring. Anthony would propose to his girlfriend, maybe in the event hall, as he was preparing to settle down with another lady.

Lerisa knew that her parents would be extra heartbroken when they witnessed Anthony going down on one knee and proposing to Clara to marry him.

She resumed eating her bread with the fried eggs, but her mother only stared at her in silence and continued eating her breakfast too. As they drank and sipped from their teacups.

After her breakfast with her mother ended, Lerisa cleared the used cups in the kitchen, washed them out. She went to her bedroom to freshen up. Since she wanted to go out of the house to shop for a new gown that she would wear to attend Anthony's birthday party in the evening.

Her mobile phone rang out, startling her, and she wondered who the caller was. She didn't have many friends' mobile numbers stored in her phone.

She walked up to her phone, where she kept it in the drawer. She picked up the phone and saw that it was an unknown caller.

Lerisa picked up the call and sat on her bed, then said, "Hello, who is this?"

"Hi Lerisa. How're you doing this morning?" She heard a deep, masculine voice ask her.

"I'm fine; who is this?" Lerisa questioned, but she immediately recognized the voice as Ben's voice.

She frowned, wondering how he got her phone number.

"Ben, how did you get my mobile number?" She asked him.