He had beautiful eyes ,

The kind you could get lost in,
And I guess I did...

Scarlett's pov

I came downstairs. My heart was still beating fast after that encounter with Xander. His touch was so warm and lovely.

No, no, I shouldn't be thinking like this.

"Scar, you came. Where's Xander?" My mom asked.

"Oh, he... he'll be.." I was cut off by Xander himself.

"I'm here, Mrs. Williams." He said coming downstairs with a .....smile?
Wow! He can smile then.

"You needed me for something?" He asked. He's being so polite and nice.

My mom widely smiled, "yes, dear. We decided to come along on Sunday for Ring shopping. I just needed to know you are coming there, right?"

Her face was so hopeful. But alas, Xander won't be coming. I know as Maria said he's a workaholic so why will..
My thoughts stopped when I heard Xander saying, "yes, definitely. I will be there."

Wow! Wow!
Magic do happen!

He looked at me. I just rolled my eyes.

My parents then left after a few minutes to go to Uncle Raj's.

I went to search for Maria. She was in the kitchen.
"Maria." I called.

"Oh, Scarlett. I was waiting for you only. I know you'd come." She said looking at me.

"You knew?"

"Of course I did. And I also know what you want to ask."

"You do?"

"Yes, you want to know why I called your parents. It's because as you said they won't agree, I thought it's better if I talk to them myself. And why did I ask you guys to act like you are in love? Because it'll give them more reason to agree to this marriage." She explained.

"Hmm." I nodded my head. This all was too much.
Just two weeks back I was a normal college going girl with little to no problems in my life. And now I'm here,. going to get married, to a stranger whom my parents think I'm in love with.

Maria took my hand in her both hands.
She looked into my eyes.
"Scarlett, I know you are nervous about this. You also feel pressurised to do this.
You are not able to think clearly. But I promise you, Xander is going to be the best husband. He's a great person. And you are too. I can see you both are perfect for each other. Just don't give up so easily. You are going to realise it yourself."
Giving me a forehead kiss, she left the kitchen.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

Should I tell my parents the truth?
Should I tell them that I don't love Xander?
I saw the happiness in their eyes today. They were really happy. I don't want to sadden them.
I know they always dreamed of marrying me to a successful and respectful person.
And Xander is both, much more even.

I don't what I should do. But I hope I'll get the answer to this question by Saturday, before we go for ring shopping.

I came back in the living room. I needed to go back to my apartment.

Xander came downstairs dressed in his usual black suit.
I wonder does he have anything other than suits and colour black ones?
Hmm, probably not. I chuckled a bit thinking about him in a pink and red, almost like rainbow coloured suit.

"What's so funny?" A deep , velvety voice asked behind me.

I turned around to face Xander.
"Nothing, nothing at all." I said between my laughs

Now that he was standing in front of me, it was more easy to picture him in that suit. It was so funny
On top of it, him with a wide smile on his face. Oh god!! Haha!

I was so busy in laughing that I didn't realize when he came forward and put his hands on my waist. And just like that, my laughter also died.

He was so close to me. I could feel his warm breath on my lips.
I could feel his gaze on me.
I was looking at his suit clad chest.
It looked so hard and muscular.

The sound of someone clearing their throat reached my ears. I blushed red.
I immediately stepped back and so did he.

Maria was standing in front of us with a teasing smile on her face.
She pretended to clear her throat,
"I hope so I'm not disturbing you guys?"

"No, not at all."
"Nope."
Xander and I said at the same time.
We both looked at each other then.

Maria burst out laughing on us.
We just looked at her face.
There wasn't anything funny, right?

"Scarlett, I was coming to find you." She finally stopped laughing and said.

"Me?" I looked at her.

"Yeah. See it's raining outside. So I think it will be for the best if you stay here for the night. From the looks of it, I don't think so the rain's gonna stop anytime soon." She said , really concerned for me.

She's so sweet. She really takes care of me so much. And what was I thinking of doing to her, she just asked one thing from me, marrying her son. I guess I could do it.

"No, it's alright, Maria. I'm sure it will stop in sometime. I could wait. I don't want to trouble you guys."I politely declined her offer.

She shook her head, "Nonsense, you are family now. You can stay here as much as you want. Right, Xander?"

He just nodded his head a little.

She turned her head to look at him, "which reminds me Xander, you must be getting late to do you work for which you need to go to your house, right? So, go quickly. What are you waiting for?"

There was something going on in that head of hers. She had that mischievous smile on her face.

"Uh..no... I mean I already finished my work . So , uh.. I'll... I'll stay here only." He said scratching the back of his neck.

Maria raised her eyebrows and said, "really? I thought I heard you this morning saying how much work you have to do which might take two more days even if you work 24/7."

"Uh..no I don't remember anything like that." Xander said.
"Also, badima, it's raining outside, do you want me to get sick?" He said making a slight pout on his lips. He looked so cute like that. I wanted to pull his cheeks at that time.

"What? You won't get sick, Xander. You have a car. And I'm sure any of your house help can come outside with an umbrella so you won't get wet." She completed.

"But..but badima.." I could see he didn't know what to say.

"Yes, what ?" Maria asked.

"I don't know. I'm staying here so I'm staying. I don't need a reason to stay here. I'm going to my room. My room "
He emphasized on "my room".

Saying this, he stomped his feet upstairs.

Maria and I laughed after him. He looked like a little five year old child.

"Come, I'll show you your room. Bathroom is attached." Maria dragged me upstairs to show me my room.

After a few hours, it was 12 at night.
We all had dinner at 9 p.m. And then retired to our respective bedrooms.

Sleep wasn't coming to me. It was midnight and I was still awake. I thought of going out on the terrace which was on the top floor. Maria told me about it but I never went there myself.

I got up from the bed and went towards the terrace.

I sighed blissfully once I reached there. It was really big with white tiles having little flowers on them. There was a white swing too. It had fluffy pillows laid on it.

I went to stand beside the railing in the front. It had different patterns on it. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.
It felt so good standing there out in the open under the midnight sky.

The sky wasn't full of stars but still there were enough of them to make it look so beautiful and calming.
Whenever I used to be out in the night, whether I was travelling or coming home from work or going for a walk, I always used to look at the sky and feel it.
It always gave me a calming and soothing atmosphere. I love looking at the stars. And I always used to get lost in my thoughts.

This time was no different. I was so busy with my thoughts that u didn't realize someone else entering the terrace.
I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around and saw it was Xander standing behind me.
He came to stand beside me.

I thought of going back to my room but then decided against it.
Why should I go back to my room? I came first here.

With this thought, I continued staring at the beautiful midnight sky.

I could feel Xander looking at me. It seemed like he wanted to say something.

After a few minutes of him constantly looking at me, I turned to face him and raised my eyebrows.

He gulped a bit, "why?" He asked.

"What why?" I asked.

"Why? Why did you agree to marry me?"

Initially, I thought of telling him everything. That I don't want to marry you. I'm doing this because I feel obliged to do it seeing how much Maria has done for me and because my parents are surprisingly very happy with this arrangement. I wanted to tell him to say no to marry me.
He face had a soft glow of moonlight shining on it.
He looked more handsome with that.
But his face, nothing, no expression was there. I would wonder what might be going inside his mind.

"Why I agreed to marry you? Hmm.
Why would I not?" I asked playfully.
I was never good at serious conversations. And right now if I told him the truth,it would definitely lead to serious talk which I don't want. The night is do beautiful and the light wind is so calming to have a serious conversation.

"What do you mean?" He asked, turning around fully to face me.

"I mean why would I not want to marry you, the most handsome and sexiest man alive? You know I heard girls talking about you in my class but never bothered much. Now I see you, I know why they always used to talk about you in such a dreamy way." I stopped to see his reaction. He was looking surprised.

"So, who would not want to be your wife?" I said biting my lower lip and smiling a little.

He came close to me and put his arms around me from the back. I got trapped between him and the railing.
"Anything else I should know, any other reasons to marry me?" He huskily whispered.

I thought for s bit.
"Yeah, there is actually." I said squirming a bit.

"Yeah?" He rubbed circles on my waist with his hands on both sides. His lips were grazing my earlobe.

"Yes.....but I'm not going to tell you that." I said a bit dizzy. His lips were giving me different sensations.

He turned me around to face him. Now my back was facing the railing.
"And why is that so?" He asked with very minute smile on his face. It wasn't even a smile,just a shadow of it. But I knew that.

I kept looking at his eyes. They were so deep and captivating.
"You have to wait for that."

He looked at me for some time. He pulled me more close to him this time
Our noses were almost touching. I held my breath within. I don't know why I did it.

"Then, I'll be waiting, Triantáfyllo." He whispered looking into my eyes.
© Asterin

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