Chapter 1

Rachel's POV

Unlike an early growing abdominal cyst, the Volvo XC 60 that pulled up in front of my house was clearly standing out to my naked eye. My neighbourhood was vainly posh yet when I spotted the extravagance on wheels, I was strangely taken aback.

The little chunk of hope lingering in my heart pumped itself out upon the sight. Dismayed, I turned away from the window and sighed to myself. As my chances of escaping this situation were slimmer than finding a cure for racism, this was bound to happen. I had clearly been a fool to have hoped for a miracle.

Unsurprisingly, I heard my mother’s voice from below, “Hurry up, Rachel, he’s here!”

“Give me a second!”

Stealing a last look at myself in the mirror, I acknowledged that there was no way I’d have bothered to dress up so well if I weren’t forced into it. I’ve never appreciated fancy dinners, more so for first dates, as my inclination was more on the casual side. Naturally, picking out a red cocktail dress was a rare event in my life.

I was already regretting leaving my hair open midway on the staircase, but it was much too late. With beads of nervous sweat trickling along the back of my neck, I muttered to myself, “You got this.”

Who was I trying to fool, right?

A view that I was once quite fond of entered my field of vision. Seemingly familiar, residing beneath his dark hair, a pair of brown eyes smiled at my figure. Below, his thin lips have curled at the edges, thus attempting to lure me into his long-gone charm. Years ago, it was this same smile that placed the butterflies in my stomach, and ever since then, I had been more cautious of the detrimental effect he was bound to have on me.

Nothing had changed from the past, except that he was now sporting a tempting stubble, and was no longer off-limits to me. Clearing my throat, I said,

“Hi,” Was that weird? “I mean, hello.” This definitely was.

Humoured, he took a step towards me, “You look different,” He stated, and I quickly looked around to see where my mother had disappeared to, “Prettier than the last time I saw you.”

I couldn’t help but snort. I was surprised at the sight of a man, who had once brutally rejected me, flirting with me. But before I could say something bitter, my mother came to the rescue.

“Honey, I thought you were wearing beige.” My mother said as she pulled her cellphone away from her ear. After hanging up, she gave me a disappointed look.

“I changed my mind.”

“Clearly,” she stated, distastefully. According to her, the dress I was currently wearing was too slutty for a sophisticated dinner date. But my intention of going against her approval was not to spite her but to disenchant my suitor.

“Well, for what it’s worth, I fancy red over beige,” Alan said. Upon hearing him, my mother’s previous concerns had just about vanished and she looked at me, waiting for a response.

Resisting the urge to roll my eyes at him, I begrudgingly said, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Smiling, he turned to regard my mother, “Is Mr. Windsor not home?”

“I’m afraid not. He’s still at the office.” My mother said, regretfully.

“That’s alright,” Alan said, and then, after peeking a glance at the time, he looked back at me, “Well, we better get going. Reservation’s at 8:30.”

“Yeah, don’t let me stop you. Have fun, kids.”

Once outside, I quickly spotted his car. The entire metal of the car was matte black, and that made the task of spotting the door handle embarrassingly difficult. But soon enough, Alan’s chivalry put me out of my misery as he opened the door for me. But before either of us could step inside, my mother’s voice halted us.

“Will I be seeing you tonight?”

At first, I thought that was a dumb question to ask because Alan was obviously expected to drop me off after dinner. But when a small hint of redness crept to his cheeks while he looked expectantly at me, I realised that she was posing the question at me.

My mother was asking me if I’d spend the night with him.

Oh, my God.

My mother was being my wing-woman.

“Of course!” I yelled back at her in embarrassment and quickly climbed into the car. Oh, my God, that was the worst thing she’d said to me in front of a guy I was supposed to impress. How long was it going to be before the evening ended?

My cheeks were still flushed when Alan buckled his seat belt and started the engine. Stealing a quick glance at me, he gave me a chance to see the emotion in his eyes. I couldn’t detect what I’d seen in them.

“It’s been long since I last saw you.” He mumbled once we’d hit the road. “How have you been?”

“Great.” I wished he noticed the sarcasm in my voice.

I caught him nodding to himself knowingly, as though he recognised what I had implied with that tone. “What have you been doing these days?”

“Um, attending blind dates set up by my father.”

I refused to see if he was annoyed. “Are you still in college?”

“I’m doing my residency.” The last time I saw him, I made him aware of that. Funny how he thought I was still in college.

“Impressive.”

“Thanks.”

“Still not a fan of small-talk, I wager?”

“Extra points for splendid memory.” I cheered him, tilting my head to catch a glimpse of him. “I wished you’d remembered everything about me, though.”

“I do remember.”

“I highly doubt it,” I said, shaking my head in disagreement. “So what are you up to these days? Apart from offering marriage proposals to old acquaintances? Essentially after giving them a fair warning that you weren’t into that sort of thing?”

“I wasn’t giving you any—" He cut himself off mid-sentence. “I have changed my mind.”

“Sure, you did.” I scoffed, “And decided to chase after the one girl who you knew didn’t have a say in getting married to someone. You have no idea how impressed I am. Now I see what my father saw in you. Both of you are exceptional in manipulating people.”

“Manipulating?” He scoffed, “That’s a bit of a stretch.”

I was reluctant to respond to him from there onwards. I was not even remotely interested in picking a fight with him when I could predict my inevitable defeat. I didn’t like being this passive-aggressive but I wasn’t given a choice. Thankfully, Alan seemed to understand that I craved some solitude, and he respectfully gave me some space.

Deathly silence possessed us until we placed our orders, and I was naturally grateful for his consideration. I suspiciously watched his eyes, hoping to see them fly to the waiter’s retreating butt upon her departure from our table, but I was let down. The decent gentleman inside of him hadn’t changed through the years, and I was relieved for that.

Since he was a mere acquaintance to me, I did not possess enough information to judge his character. Apart from the fact that he wanted to marry me, there was nothing I could find to hold against him. His flawless personality was what had attracted me to him years ago, and that was something I was preventing from happening this time around.