Chapter 26
“Looks like the sleeping beauty finally woke up.” Gabriel commented upon seeing me as I descended, still mesmerised by the hundreds of lilies around me.
“How long have you been waiting for?” I asked in nothing more than a mumble, eyes still looking around. This was something right out of a fairytale.
It did feel a lot like I was still dreaming.
“Something a little over an hour,” he replied, not taking his eyes off me.
“All of this…” Finally taking my eyes of the flowers when I reached the table, I looked at him, “You did this?”
“Who else, freckles? There was a feeble smile playing on his lips. “Well, I paid for it. It’s the workers who did it, but eh.”
“Gabriel… this is… you didn’t have to.. I… I fumbled, unable to find the right words.
“I believe your note clearly said you aren’t as low maintenance as five‘ roses. They were fifteen, by the way. idea you didn’t like roses.” He cleared his throat. “This high maintenance enough for you?”
My smile reached my ears as I took my seat on the table next to it. “More than enough.”
And I had no
“Good. Consider this my thanks for meeting me halfway.” His smile was nowhere near as big as mine, but it was something. It was genuine. “And, I have taken the day off work.”
“To spend it with me?” My eyes widened.
“Yes, well, I figured I’d make it up to you for bailing on you the last time I promised to get to know you.”
I knit my eyebrows in confusion.
“At your grandfather’s, you know? Last weekend.”
“Ah.” I clicked my tongue, “When you got jealous of Sam and ran from there. And then hid yourself in work for the rest of the
week.”
He frowned. “I don’t get jealous,”
“Totally jealous,” I teased and he shook his head at me while I poured myself juice and then breakfast.”
I was just teasing him. I don’t think he was jealous of my history with Sam, but I think a part of me liked the thought of him caring enough to be jealous.
“Gabriel?” I called him softly after a few minutes of silence between us, “What will happen to all these lilies.”
“Well, I asked the gardener to do some gardening voo–doo to make sure they last a little longer.”
I laughed. “Gardening voo–doo? You mean he used some preservatives?”
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Chapter 26
“Whatever that is.” He rolled his eyes, “But when they do start wilting and you get bored of them and think lilies are no longer your favourite, I will call the cleaners to clean them up.”
My eyes
widen slightly. “You will simply throw them away?”
“Unless you want to dry press those flowers and make those lame paintings..” He paused, “Yeah, I was planning to throw them away.”
“No, Gabriel, I don’t want to make those ‘lame‘ paintings. And they’re not lame by the way,” I contemplated the urge to roll my eyes at him, “I was thinking make we could donate them to a hospital. I saw a children’s hospital a few streets away when I was getting back from work last week.”
Gabriel stopped eating, looking surprised. “Yeah, sure, we can do that.”
“Can we visit too?” I asked while pouring a little too much maple syrup on the pancakes I was eating, and when he didn’t respond for too long, I had to leave them and look at him to give him my puppy eyes.
Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “I took the day off work to get to know you, and you want to spend it by going to a hospital?”
I pouted. “You said you just wanted to know more about me and my life before you. You can do that anywhere.”
“Okay.” He shrugged, “Whatever you want then.”
I smiled in satisfaction, digging into my breakfast and more than once, I saw him stealing glances of me which I pretended to ignore, knowing I would’ve be able to for much longer if kept making gestures that made me weak on my knees.
“Favourite musician?”
“Travis,”
“Scott?” I asked.
Gabriel gave me a weird look. “The rock band.”
“So you like early 2000s music?”
“I like rock. What about you?”
“I like slow music. I smiled cheekily, “And hip–hop.”
“Shocker,” He teased.
I shrugged it off. “Favourite movie?”
“Anything that contains horror.” He replied, keeping his eyes on the road as we drove towards the hospital. “And I’m not saying basic horror. I mean, the scary stuff. With gore.”
“Ew.” I scrunched my nose. “That somehow brings you comfort?”
Chapter 26
“It does.” He replied, “Let me guess. Yours is something basic. The notebook?”
“Mean girls,” I mumbled under my breath with a small pout.
Gabriel laughed.
“At least I amuse you.”
“Oh Freckles, you have no idea how much,”
I frowned, moving on. “What did you want to be as a kid?”
“Astronaut. You?”
“Me too!” I slapped his forearm playfully. “I remember thinking I’m going to fly all the way up and get a few stars down in a jar to keep at my nightstand.”
“Damn. You went from low astronomy- the most fascinating subject to probably exist, to choosing mathematics. What
happened?”
“Life” I laughed. It was true though. Gabriel shook his head as silence spread upon us. “You know,” I added after a brief pause, “The person you are right now is so different from the man I had married.”
“The man you married thought you married for money,” He answered without reluctance.
“I kinda did,” I pointed out.
“For your grandfather,” he corrected me. “The man you married didn’t know you worked two jobs before even though my grandparents already placed the offer to you, and the only reason you accepted was because Jim had to get out of retirement and take a job to support his treatment.”
I wanted to smile at him. I controlled myself. “Why did you agree to marry me?”
“My grandfather conditioned me inheriting the Whitlock company to marrying a girl of his choice, which happened to be you.”
That was….new information. “When do you inherit the company?”
“Six months after the marriage.” Gabriel focused straight on the road, his voice monotonous.
Six months after our marriage. When the divorce was set.
Suddenly, I didn’t feel like smiling anymore.
