I love you, Lucas!
Since her dream, she could not stop thinking of him. Those words still haunted her. She knew she had a crush on him when she was young, but love?
It was impossible.
But why would she say that?
She was in love with Jeremy, not him.
"That was just insane!" She mumbled as she sat drinking her wine while waiting for his answer. But he seemed to take his time before responding.
She admitted she could not remember much about what happened to her before and after the accident. They said she had lost many of her memories.
Was loving him one of those memories she had lost?
The doctors said the memory loss might have been caused by the head concussion from the car collision or the trauma of losing her family. There was no telling if it was permanent.
But thankfully, she slowly regained some fragments of her past through flashbacks or sometimes through her dreams or nightmares.
What else has she forgotten about her past?
She would not know until the memories came back. In the meantime, she had settled to what she could recall about her past.
Still, the question remained. Did she forget loving this man as she stared into his familiar face? What about him? Did he love her?
Why did you marry me, Lucas?
She could not help but struggle with his reason for tying the knot with her. She knew why she married him, but why would a man who could have any woman he wanted agree to marry her?
It still did make sense to her.
What did he get for marrying her? She doubted she could offer much to him. Moreover, she believed Daddy Frankie could not force him to do something he did not want.
Was it because he also loved her?
Don't be foolish, Andy!
Of course, he did not. How could she even fathom the idea? How could a man like him love someone like her?
"Does it matter why I married you?" Finally, he answered after a few minutes of silence. He did not look in her direction but still felt her undeniable presence.
He knew he could not reveal the other reasons for their union nor express his true feelings for her. The only thing that mattered was his obligation to protect her until she was ready to fend for herself.
Then, they could part ways.
"It does to me." She hesitantly responded, looking slightly apprehensive as she looked down at her entwined fingers resting on her lap.
He knew he owed her an explanation, but he regrettably could not tell her the truth. At least, not the entirety of his reasons for marrying her.
"Excuse me, Sir. Should I bring the dessert?" The crew server appeared on their table as they took the empty plates and refilled their glasses with wine.
"Sure!" He could not decline the generosity of their host. He could not offend his friend since he needed his business. Besides, he had asked for his help to set up this trip in the first place.
Soon, the servers returned with fresh plates of chocolate cakes, which were pleasing to the eyes and delightful to the palate. In addition, a bouquet of red roses, which they handed to his wife.
But that was not all, as an exceptional violinist followed closely behind, serenading them with his expert rendition of a classical love song.
"Wow! Did you arrange all this?" Andy could not believe it as she felt overwhelmed by his surprise. "That is very thoughtful."
She never saw him as a romantic as she smelled the perfumed scented flowers.
In truth, she viewed him as an arrogant CEO with cold blood running through his veins and a heart made of stone.
While he might be kind, generous, and fair to his employees, personally, he could be as cold as ice.
"Technically, Chase did." He confessed that it was his friend's handiwork.
Although he had arranged this, he did not require the entire date experience his Casanova friend had prepared for them. But he guessed it was too late to cancel them.
"Oh! Then, I guess I should be thanking him instead." She smiled as she dreamily listened to the classical song.
Most women her age preferred pop, r & b, and the new trending songs, but not her. She still enjoyed occasional classical music and old songs.
"I am still the one who asked him to do it." He quickly retracted, not liking that his friend was taking the credit. "So, if you need to thank someone, it should be me."
He took one bite of the cake before returning his fork to the plate. He was not exactly a sweet lover in every possible meaning of the word.
"Aren't you going to finish that?" She suddenly asked as she eyed the sliced delightful treat. "Can I have it?"
Again, he did not expect that from a slim-figured lady like her, who probably was counting the calories she ate. But surprisingly, she did not seem to care about going fat, which was amusing and refreshing.
"Sure. Go ahead!" He did not see the point of good food going to waste. He gladly pushed the dessert in her direction.
He watched her with fascination as she attacked the cake with gusto while listening to the captivating music in the background.
"About earlier, did you marry me because your father forced you to do it?" She finally asked, wanting to clarify the matter since he did not answer her question.
She believed she could conclude that he did not love her if their marriage was all about his father. Then, she could forget all about that nonsense about love.
"You know I can talk to Daddy Frankie. Then, we can have a divorce. I am sure he would listen to me." She could also not stop thinking about his ex-fiancee, who had returned to be with him.
If she had been standing in the way of true love, she would not hesitate to set him free so they could be together.
"Don't worry about that. Let us concentrate on making my father happy until his health condition stabilizes. Then, we can talk about divorce after."
He was uncomfortable talking about his reasons. It would be better if they just dropped the subjects for now.
In time, he promised he would come clean and tell her everything. But in the meantime, he believed it would be best to keep her in the dark.
"Hey! You have something on your lips." He noticed the icing on the side of her lips.
When she tried to clean it up, she accidentally missed it. "Let me get it for you." Then, he leaned over to wipe the brown cream that clung to her red, moist lips with his napkin. "Got it!"
As they stared at each other's eyes, a thought came to his mind. He didn't know what came over him, but he suddenly felt the fervent urge to do something unusual.
"Come on, this is a good song. Care for a dance?" He asked as the violinist played one of his favorite classic songs.