Chapter 3 Lilian’s Wedding

“William!!!!” Lilian said out of loud, quickly hugged him

“I miss you,” She added as she kissed him 

“I miss you too baby!” William replied her

“Let’s go!” Lilian dragged his hand and they left the prison

“I want to go to the cemetery first!” William said to Lilian

“Sure! We can go there first then to the penthouse later,” Lilian replied quickly and they drove the car to the cemetery to see Willian’s dad who was laid down there last year

They spent less than an hour there, Lilian stayed next to him, looking at William’s face. His face was cold and expressionless. She understood, he is sad, his family business fell apart and dad passed away, now only him and his mom. During his time in jail, Lilian is the one that takes care of his parents. His mom is living with Lilian as his family business left nothing except debt and Luke had helped them to pay it off. William only can rely on the Miller family to survive and marrying Lilian sooner will be better to make Miller officially tightened with the Cruz family. 

As they entered the car, William finally asked, “How’s the wedding preparation?”

“About that, don’t worry, me and your mom handle it well, so all set for next week. Your uncle and his daughter will come tomorrow,” Lilian informed him

“I can’t wait to be your wife, Will!” She smiled happily 

“Baby, you have no idea how much I love you and howe grateful I am to have you,” Willian squeezed her hand 

“So, uncle Oliver will come with Cleo?” He asked 

“Yes! I had a call with Cleo a couple times to arrange their arrival. I can’t wait to meet her!” Lilian was excited   

“Oh, did I mention to you that they will move to New York next month? That’s why I am so excited to get close to Cleo,” Lilian added

“Oh, I see….” 

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Luke stared at his reflection in the mirror. He wore a black suit and put a white small rose on his pocket. Today is a big day, it is Lilian’s wedding. She insisted on marrying William today, despite William just getting out of jail after a scandal on illegal product and tax issues hit his company, which made him stay in jail for almost 3 years. It was Martin who did this to William and he tried to help William but he could go as far as to reduce his sentence, not to set him free from the charges. He didn’t really like William and thought Lilian would find someone new after William went to jail, instead she waited for him faithfully until he got released. He fixed his suit and walked to Lilian’s make up room. As he walked closer, he saw Lilian’s bright smile as she chatted with a woman her age. 

“Lily, I’ll wait downstairs!” Luke’s voice was deep 

“Okay!” She replied quickly and within seconds, Luke disappeared  

“Cleo, tell me you’re not falling in love with my brother!” Lilian turned to Cleo who looked surprised seeing Luke

“So, that’s your brother, Luke?” Cleo asked and Lilian nodded

“I saw him many times on the news but never saw him in person. He is hot,” Cleo turned to Lilian

“Don’t fall in love with him. He is a player, he never serious with women, except two women, Patricia and Stephanie,” Lilian told Cleo

“I heard about his reputation but I never knew he could be loyal and had loved someone,” Cleo was surprised

“He is a good man actually, just no luck in romance. He will do anything for woman he love,” Lilian explained

“Do you think I have a chance on him? I mean, Lilian, I couldn’t help. It was like love at the first sight,” Cleo smirked 

“Let see how I can help you later,” Lilian smiled at Cleo

“Thanks Lily. Now, it is the time! This is your moment, let’s go!” Cleo took Lilian’s hand to exit the make up room.

Luke walked to the altar as he held Lilian’s hand. Cleo kept her eyes on Luke. 

‘I really want him. He should be mine, at any cost!’ She whispered to herself

The holy matrimony ended in less than half an hour and now they continued it with a wedding party. Luke was talking with William and Oliver Stewart, William’s uncle. Lilian dragged Cleo’s hand to introduce her to Luke. 

“Luke! This is Cleo Stewart, uncle Oliver daughter,” Lilian spoke up

“Oh, hi, Lucas Miller. You can call me Luke,” Luke extended his hand as he smiled at Cleo

“Hi, nice to meet you!” Cleo seemed shy

“Luke, she has a crush on you! You two should start to hangout, who knows if you two are fit each other,” Lilian said bluntly 

“What? Wait?” Luke was surprised 

“Lily, you made me embarrassed!” Cleo’s face turned to red

“Dad, William, sorry, it….” Cleo tried to explain but Oliver cut her

“Well, daddy has no objection if you two be together. But, all this depends on you, daddy won’t intervene,” Oliver told Cleo 

Luke didn’t say anything, he just smiled, just like William. Suddenly, Luke’s phone rang and he said, “Excuse me!” and left them. 

“Lily, why did you do that?” Cleo acted shy, but deep down in her heart she was happy, especially Luke’s reaction didn’t show rejection

“Well, don’t be shy! You should go for it! Follow your feelings, just like me! See, I ended up with William. I was the first one who told him I like him,” Lilian winked her right eye

“Yeah, true! Who knows if the two of you are meant to be,” William added

Cleo smiled, she said to herself, ‘He is mine! Mine only…..’

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Oliver went back to Seattle while Cleo stayed in New York because Lilian succeeded in persuading her to stay with her. Cleo lives in Lilian’s penthouse, which currently becomes her home with William and his mother. As the four of them are living together, while Luke is staying in his own penthouse, in the past week, Lilian tried so hard to bring Cleo and Luke together on any occasion, like dinner, lunch or a post wedding clubbing party. Luke understood his sister was trying to make him be together with Cleo, he didn’t really reject it because he doesn’t want to hurt Lilian and he also felt empty inside since Patricia was gone and Stephanie had moved on. However, sometimes his thoughts were thinking about Stephanie, he couldn’t get rid of her from his mind and heart. 

‘It’s been years, why can't I let you go, Rei?’ He asked himself 

A week has passed, Lilian asked Luke to accompany Cleo since she is new in the city as she and William will leave the city to travel to Seychelles for their honeymoon. 

It was a fine Monday. Luke went to the hotel meeting room excitedly because he couldn’t wait to see Stephanie and the twins if they came in with their mom. However, when he entered, he only saw Nathan there and he couldn’t help but feel disappointed. He took his phone and quickly typed a message and sent it to Stephanie. 

‘Why didn't you come?’

‘Is something happened?’ 

‘Are you sick or are the twins sick?’

It was odd knowing Stephanie didn’t come to an important project meeting. He was worried but then within minutes she replied him

‘I am fine, the twins too! Just, Martin wants me to spend more time with him and the twins. We have plan to have another child, so I decrease my work until I gave a birth later on, maybe’

His mind went blank after reading it. 

It was around 6 pm after work, Luke entered the CX Bar. It is his favorite bar and he usually comes with Liam. However, this time he didn't want to ask Liam to go with him because his mind is full of Stephanie and it sure Liam is one among others that doesn’t like her and keeps telling Luke to move on and forget about her. ‘If…...If those people know how it feels and how hard to do as they said’ Luke laughs, he laughs at himself. He started to drink, alone. It was around an hour later, little that Luke knew, Liam entered the bar with his girlfriend. He was surprised to see Luke there, drinking alone. He was about to go to see him but then he remembered, if Luke wants to go with him, he will ask him to go. But if Luke went alone, it means he wants to be alone.    

‘I shouldn’t bother him!’ Liam told himself

‘But seeing him like that, he seemed miserable,’ Liam thoughts 

He suddenly smiled and took his phone, texting Cloe. 

‘Come here to the CX Bar. Luke drinking alone, it will be great if you can accompany him’ 

He pressed send and it only took seconds for Cleo to reply to him, ‘Thanks for the info! I’ll go there.’ 

He smiled. He knew Cleo was after Luke and he thought by helping Lilian to make Cleo get closer to Luke will help him to forget his past heart breaks, both from Patricia and Stephanie. It was around half an hour later, Liam saw Cleo enter the bar, his eyes looked at her and so did she. Cleo smiled and nodded, then walked around to find Luke. 

“Luke! You’re here….” She smiled at him

“Oh, Cleo! Why are you here?” Luke asked directly 

“What? Oh I want to have a drink and stop by. Saw you’re here, so I walked here. You don’t mind if I am joining you, right?” Cleo took a seat on the sofa, next to him

“Oh….but I do want to be alone this time. Sorry!” Luke said directly 

Cleo was angry hearing his reply, so she called him out. “I don’t get it Luke! You shut off people who want to be with you, who want to love you because you are still thinking about your old love. Luke, it is time to move on and start over.”

“I want nothing from you, I just want to love you the way you deserve to be loved. You’re a good man and please, believe me, there're many good women out there, with good intentions, nothing but just to love you!” She added

Luke went silent hearing what she said and seeing he didn’t say anything, Cleo pushed further, “Give me time! Give me time to prove it! To prove my love for you and to make you happy.” 

Luke took a deep breath, her words surprised him but then her next move made him even more surprised. Cleo moved closer to Luke and she kissed him. She could feel his cold lips but she continued to kiss him and tightened her arms around his neck. It took a while for her to wait until in the end, Luke, finally, replied to her kiss. 

‘Start over and forget Stephanie……...I should try!’ He told himself as he continued making out with Cleo