"Thank you for the blanket." Christopher said once they reached the corridor of the hotel, standing awkwardly between their two rooms.
"Well, it's not mine. I took it out of my room." Emilia smiled at him, still looking concerned. She was worried about Christopher and him just running into to sea fully clothed. She saw him in a distance, diving into the water without a second of thought. It was a clear sign of an upcoming mental breakdown. Not even once did she think that she could've been the reason.
"What time are you coming down to the restaurant for dinner?" Christopher asked hopeful to spend more time with her.
"I am going to Mr Brown's gala dinner tonight, sir."
"Yes, I forgot. The flight took it out of me. I will go too." Christopher was disappointed that he couldn't keep Emilia to himself that night.
"I'll see you there, Mr Hayden."
"I'll see you soon, Emilia." Christopher agreed watching as she retreated into her hotel room which was across from him.
Emilia readied herself for the gala in her hotel room thinking over her recent interactions with Christopher.
Once dressed up in a glamorous dress, it didn't even cross her mind that Christopher might want to go to Mr Brown's building with her so she departed on her own.
This was, of course, disappointing to Christopher once he found out, but it was a reassurance for Patrick.
Christopher walked into a hall with multitudes of round tables with buzzing sounds of conversations, immediately searching for a familiar face among them.
It didn't take long to notice the shine of Emilia's blonde hair and her bright smile.
Without hesitation he started walking towards the table where she sat with her back to him, speaking with someone beside her rather enthusiastically.
"Oh, no, absolutely." Emilia seemed to be agreeing with the person beside her. "I hold him in a very high esteem."
"Who?" Christopher asked directly as he stood right beside her. Emilia's face changed as she turned around sideways. Her cheeks turned beetroot red and her eyes landed on him, something twinkling deep inside them.
"I spoke of you, Mr Hayden." She admitted, which in turn brought the faintest pink to Christopher's cheek. Mrs Brown was quickly distracted by someone else leaving Emilia to Christopher. "Mrs Brown asked me about you and I was telling her that you are the most kind-hearted person I have met, and I spoke of your incomparable intelligence, and philanthropy." Emilia continued.
"I believe that you might be exaggerating all of these as you are truly the one who holds those traits and should be praised for them."
Emilia froze, her eyes widening at his very open compliments of her.
When Christopher sat down she turned around to face him instantly, still speechless. It was a very different interaction than months earlier where she subconsciously kept her body pointed away from him when she first met Grace and Jacob.
"You shouldn't hold me in a high esteem." Christopher spoke to her.
"I have only said what I believe to be true, Mr Hayden."
Christopher's eyes met hers, melting her to the core and breaking the last of his resistance. He made up his mind earlier that day. He wanted his wife to be truly his and only his and he wanted their relationship to be much more than those brief interactions. He was terrified of the pain and rejection that could come with it but he couldn't bear it to be anything else.
"You told me of hammerhead sharks and fossils earlier today. What other wonderful knowledge do you have hidden?"
"Perhaps you could share something with me instead?"
"Hmm…" Christopher tried to come up with a fact or something that wasn't obvious or work-related. "Quodlibetarian is a person that discusses any topic at leisure."
"That's a fun word." Emilia nodded, her smile somehow brighter now. "Although it reminded me of ultracrepidarian. It is a person who is presumptuous and offers advice or opinions beyond their sphere of knowledge. I feel like it might be a very fine line between these two." Emilia picked up her glass of champagne and started sipping it. "And then we have an epistemophiliac who strives for knowledge in extensive manner. Also, I feel this is the kind of a word only an epistemophiliac would know."
"That sounds more like a compliment than insult."
"But then, who likes a know-it-all?"
"I rather a know-it-all than a muttonhead or a clodpate."
"You are truly an iconoclastic on that matter."
Christopher chuckled and his face twisted in a smile that was so radiant that he drew attention from everyone at a table.
"There's a Chinese proverb that says Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere."
"George Horace Lorimer once said that 'if there's anything worse than knowing too little, it's knowing too much. Education will broaden a narrow mind, but there's no known cure for a big head. The best you can hope is that it will swell up and bust."
Christopher's another chuckle seemed to draw further attention. But neither him do Emilia realised as they spoke together as if they were in a bubble protecting them from the rest of the world.
After dinner, during the networking, they still spoke together.
For Christopher it wasn't a shock to spot the dreaded lawyer and his father's friend during the gala dinner at Mr Brown's new site opening. Nevertheless, he wasn't prepared to speak with him. He never quite liked the man but he wasn't sure why, whether it was because Mr Thompson was his father's friend or a lawyer.
Once Mr Thompson approached him, Emilia managed to find an excuse to wriggle out of the awkward conversation.
"Good evening, Mr Hayden." Gregory smiled at Christopher.
"Good evening."
"I haven't seen you in a while. Not since the conference."
"Uh-huh." Christopher sipped on the champagne, trying to hide his discomfort.
"How have you been?"
"Well."
"How's married life?"
"Good."
"Are you even married?" Gregory asked sharply as if he suspected Christopher of lying just to get his father's inheritance.
"What do you mean?" Christopher asked in return. His gaze shifting from the crowd to the lawyer. His fingers tightened on the glass of champagne that he held.
"You do keep quiet about the mysterious woman. People started theorising that you made her up." Gregory calmly took a sip of the champagne as if his words weren't accusing Christopher of faking the marriage.
"Why would I?" Christopher shrugged.
"Being married might bring some benefits in terms of how much you're bothered by certain people in our circles. From my perspective, to get the inheritance."
"You have met my wife!" Christopher grumbled as he furrowed his brows not comprehending Thompson's ignorance and stupidity.
"Have I?" Gregory raised his bushy brows in the most comical of ways.
"You met Emilia at the conference a few weeks ago and you literally just saw her." Christopher explained feeling a different kind of annoyance.
"Emilia?"
"Her maiden name is Vincent, which she uses professionally. It's Dr Emilia Hayden." Christopher smiled as he spoke of her. "You conversed with her after the conference where she presented on sustainability in business. And she's just by Mr Brown."
"She's your wife?" Gregory's disbelief was a bit annoying but also a quiet compliment to Emilia.
"Why are you so surprised?"
"She's…"
"Be careful, Mr Thompson. You are speaking of my wife."
"She is intelligent?"
"Again, why are you so surprised?"
"What woman in her right mind…"
"She married me willingly and I did not bribe her. She does not know of the inheritance either. And she has showed no signs of willing to divorce me yet. Nor did I ever try to do anything to make her divorce me."
"The , why did she marry you?" Gregory asked. "Why did she marry you so quickly?" He corrected himself.
"I am yet to know that. I suppose a financial gain might've been one of the motivators."
"Aren't you bothered about it?"
"I thought I would be, but I'm not. Emilia is truly amazing and she gave me no reason to regret my decision."
"That is highly unexpected."
"Probably. I never thought I will be able to find someone as likeminded as me."
"Congratulations." Gregory said much more sincerely. "You genuinely seemed to be happy with Dr Vincent."
"Who wouldn't be?"
"She has the kind of intelligence that many men are terrified of, but looks wise… I can't imagine any man would look away from that pretty face."
"I am not terrified of her intelligence but rather intrigued by it. The expanse of her knowledge is enormous."
Gregory's chuckle made Christopher look back at him.
"Kid, you're so deeply in love that you cannot hide it. Your entire face is beaming with a smile when you speak of her." Gregory placed his hand on Christopher's shoulder. "You must bring her over for dinner one night."
"What? Why?"
"Because I was impressed by her before but now I'm even more in awe of her knowing that she managed to melt the ice around your heart."
Their conversation was interrupted by someone else coming up. But Gregory's words still were ringing in Christopher's mind.
Many things bothered him. One of which was that he lost the sight of Emilia during the event and secondly, because he truly wanted to know why she chose to marry him.