I Do Series: Betrothed

Chapter 8

“Are you serious?” Andrea asked the man in front of him.

Andrea’s eyes widened, her jaw almost dropped on the floor after hearing what the man in front of her stated.

“For real?” she confirmed as she stared at him with a questioning look on her face as if Andrea heard and saw the weirdest thing she could hear and see in this world.

“It’s not like we can escape this situation no matter how we try, aren’t we?” Alexander answered without changing his expression.

He was sitting comfortably in his chair; his legs were crossed like his hands. In contrast, sitting comfortably, Andrea suddenly leaned a little closer upon hearing his reasons.

“I don’t have any reason to decline our grandparents' plan. Besides, I can’t lose my position in exchange for going against them. I didn’t work hard to reach my current position for nothing,” he continued, while Andrea silently listened to him.

“But, are you really sure about that?” Andrea asked with a confused expression on her face.

Andrea still couldn’t believe that Alexander asked her to have lunch together, to tell her that they should follow and do what their family wants them to do. She hasn’t sorted out her feelings about her true identity. Now, out of nowhere, the man whom her family wants her to marry -for the sake of each family’s business and partnership- suddenly wants to marry her.

Just an hour ago, she was in her office busy with the number of workloads she needed to do. And all of a sudden, Alexander appeared and asked her for lunch outside her office. Now here they are, sitting across from each other in the private room of one of the famous restaurants near their offices. On her right side, there is a vast glass window where you can clearly see the breathtaking view of the port where Servante’s and Zamora’s businesses are located. The blue ocean that stretched out looked like it was meeting the blue sky somewhere along the long stretch of the sea.

“Alexander, it’s a marriage that we are talking about. A freaking marriage, a wedding we both never imagined to happen,” she said in a firm tone, but the man in front of her showed no change in his emotions.

His face remained stoic.

“A few weeks ago, you were firmly against this crazy idea, and now you are here telling me that you are now willing to do what our family decided for us. Are you serious about this? For real?” she asked him for confirmation about his previous statement.

“I’m serious. It’s not like we can’t get along well as time passes by, right?” Alexander said right before the waiter arrived with the foods they ordered. “And, it’s not like we are obliged to act like a real husband and wife.”

“I know that-”

“We already both lost our main reasons to decline, aren’t we?” Alexander cut her off. “So, we’ve got nothing to lose in this marriage. Instead, both of us will gain hugely from this marriage. Our families will get the biggest profit out of this crazy marriage deal.”

Andrea didn’t speak a word for a few seconds. Instead, she just stared at the food in front of them while contemplating Alexander’s offer and reasoning about their betrothal.

After contemplating for more than a minute, Andrea lifted her head up and stared at Alexander. They are waiting for her response to his proposal. While Andrea hesitated a few times to drop her answer.

Andrea heaved a deep breath as she sat up straight and stared at the man in front of her.

“I don’t have anything to lose anymore, but, are you really sure? You already knew that I-”

“Technically, you’re still a Servante,” Alexander cut her off when he got a hint of what Andrea was about to say.

After all, Andrea had already told him her biggest secret and the reason for the uproar she created at the Servante’s manor a few days ago.

“I’ve taken that into consideration to come up with this decision. And, no matter at what angle you look at it, you are still a pure-blooded Servante. It was just that you have a different mother. And you’re still the sole heir, aren’t you? No one would manage the Servante Containers International other than you? Isn’t it?” he asked her as memories of the day while they were in his condo flashed back into Andrea’s mind.

She lost her voice again; she got lost in her deep thoughts while the word marriage kept ringing in her ear.

“This is insanely ridiculous,” she mumbled before she stared at Alexander, straight into his eyes.

Alexander smiled faintly after hearing what she mumbled to herself because he also found their situation insanely ridiculous. He never dared to imagine himself getting married to the lady before him. But, here he is now, dropping the idea of getting married to secure his position, their company's future. And to stop his grandparents from non-stop nagging, and most of all for his broken heart.

“Okay, I agree. Let’s get married,” Andrea agreed, as if she had just finished reading a report from her employee. But Alexander didn’t mind her tone, since he didn’t care about that.

“Let’s work on this together,” he said as he laid his hands on her, which Andrea gladly accepted.

They shook their hands as if they had just sealed a business deal. Which is most likely the same as that. Their marriage is nothing but a business deal and insurance to their companies for the two of them.

“Yeah, we should,” Andrea agreed.

“We’ve got nothing to lose anymore. Instead, we should focus on the positive portion of this arrangement,” Alexander said before pulling away from shaking their hands like a business partner who finished sealing a business deal.

“Let’s eat now. The food is getting cold,” Alexander added.

And just like that, the planning for their wedding continued. Both Alexander and Andrea’s grandparents are the ones who are mainly doing all the preparations. While the bride and groom are just being dragged along. Their grandparents are excited about preparing and working on every detail of their wedding. There’s nothing left for Andrea and Alexander to do. All they just needed was to tag along with their grandparents for a test tasting of the menu for their wedding, fitting of their wedding suit and dress. They couldn’t pitch in what they wanted for the day they would seal their agreement. Even Andrea, she couldn’t describe and tell them her dream wedding, the dream she once had but shattered a few days ago. The guest list, menus, theme, venue, and date of their wedding are all decided and planned out by their family.