Millie was dumbfounded. He would not let her hands go nor stop thanking her.
"Ewan, I… I don't think you understood clearly. I'm not Emma. I deceived you. We deceived you."
"You're right. I can't be happy… yet. So first, before I feel victorious, I need you to tell me why you did it. You're saying we and you also said you're her friend, so I assume Emma was part of this, right?" he could not stop smiling.
"Yes. She did not want to have a date with youꟷ" Immediately, she wanted to correct herself, "I mean, it's nothing against you. You're great and really handsomeꟷ" she stopped there for a moment, "anyway, I think she just didn't want to date anyone."
"That's great! That's awesome!"
His smile was wider now. He even loosened his tie a little, feeling relieved, as if she had taken the weight of one or two worlds from his shoulders.
"So, you're not angry, I guess?"
"Angry? Of course not. On the contrary, I'm feeling great. I didn't want to date you eitherꟷ" He listened to himself and also felt the immediate need to correct himself, "no, I mean, not you. You're really cute, and interesting, and beautifulꟷ" he stopped there for a moment, "I mean, Emma, or anyone in general."
"I'm so relieved. I'm so sorry about this. Let me start again, okay? My name's Millie, Millie Esperanza." She said smiling.
"My name's Ewan, Ewan Ulrich." He let out a short laugh.
"I'm… actually a singer, though. But I sing at a bar. Not any of Emma's hotels', however. It's a small one. You wouldn't know about it."
"Oh, come on. Let's not assume things. Which one? Maybe I've been there."
"Oh, you haven't."
"Come on." He tilted his head a little.
"The Drunk Mice?"
"Okay, I don't know it."
"Of course, you don't, Your Highness."
"If you're friends with Emma, it has to be a very nice, high-class place, anyway. One with a terrible yet kind of funny name, nonetheless."
"Oh, no. She just tolerates the place because I sing there."
They took some wine and did not say a thing for a moment. They looked at each other briefly, before Ewan broke the silence.
"You know? What I said about your dream… I don't know if you were serious about it, but I was."
"Thanks, Ewan."
For a moment she thought her dream could shine, maybe even brighter than the golden chandeliers above. Her eyes were on the table, but she was not seeing anything in particular, then they moved to Ewan, who looked bewitching, like a secret waiting to be unearthed. She smiled at the thought, but suddenly another one crossed her mind: her parents; so she shook that interest in secrets off her head. She drank some wine and asked him:
"So, why did you come, if you didn't want to date Emma?"
"Well, to be honest, it's my grandfather. He wants to force me into marriage. Otherwise, he won't let me continue being the CEO at the company."
"Wow, rich people's problems."
"Yeah."
Millie shook her head and laughed a little at his apparent cluelessness, but, strangely enough, she didn't find it irritating at all.
"But now he can leave me alone," he continued. "He'll know he can't set me up with Emma and, hopefully, let me be. That old man? That old man won't make me marry."
The next words left both, but especially Ewan, paralyzed, as these words were not pronounced by Millie, but by a husky voice that came from behindꟷa husky voice that even surprised Millie who, up to that point, had all her attention on Ewan.
"Well, this old man had never seen you blush for anyone, let alone twice in a row," said Anthony Ulrich, Ewan's grandfather, now standing next to him.