Chapter Two

He looked at her, and their eyes met, but Andrea looked away. She felt uneasy. She kept a straight face throughout the journey. “Could he be cheating on me?” She tried as much as possible to snap out of the thoughts. Daniel, on the other hand, felt unbothered. More notifications kept coming in, but this time, his phone was placed on the dashboard, just behind the steering wheel, at his eye level.

The waiter placed their food on the table. “Thank you," Andrea appreciated, but Daniel seemed to be busy on his phone. The waiter smiled, nodded, and left.

"Your boss is on a 3-month leave. Does that mean you also are on leave?" Daniel asked, picking the cutlery.

Andrea gave an irritated smile. 

“How many times do I have to remind you that Dr. Martinez is not my boss?” She sighed. 

“We’re colleagues. He’s just a senior colleague, and we happen to work together most of the time”.

"Oh...That’s cool," Daniel said, putting a small cut portion of steak in his mouth. “But do you have to go to work every day?” He asked, looking curious. "I mean, we should hang out more," he added before he could let Andrea talk.

“I still have to be at work three times this week before I finally get my leave approved.”

She swallowed, cleaning her bottom lip with a sheet of serviette. “I have to finish up some work for Dr. Martinez”. She felt the urge to cough and took a gulp from the glass of water the waiter had served earlier.

“I was hoping we could talk about our marriage…” Daniel looked up at Andrea’s face.

Andrea seemed to be more interested in the food than what Daniel had to say. 

“We need to talk. I didn’t bring you out here to just eat”, Daniel stated.

Andrea snorted. She was close to choking on her food.

"Dan, this is a date. We are meant to get to know each other, not jump straight into marriage talk", Andrea stated with a stern look.

"Our parents have agreed", Daniel protested.

"And what does that matter? This is about us, not them", Andrea states firmly, trying not to get Dan offended by her tone. "We’ve barely known each other… I mean, we just met four months ago."

“Four months is enough time, Andrea. My father is old. I am the heir to his company, and I need to get married fast, so tha…”

“I haven’t even forgiven you for the time you embarrassed me at the mall….” Andrea said, her voice shaking, trying to fight back tears. “And now you talk about marr..”

“Just stop overreacting? Okay?” Daniel roared. “That was about a month ago. And I apologized. What else do you want?!” He looked furious now. 

“I’m sorry, Daniel. I didn’t mean to…” She cried.

He looked at her disgustingly, stood up, and headed for the rest room. 

Andrea sobbed. She was scared of losing the one person who finally fell in love with her. Andrea had always wondered why no guy chose her, and now that she feels lucky to have someone who claims to want to marry her, she wants to do everything possible to keep him.

Andrea snapped out of her thoughts. Daniel’s phone was lying helplessly on the table. She looked around to be sure nobody was watching her. Her heart racing like it could escape through her mouth, she reached for Daniel’s phone. It rang. She quickly dropped it back. Curious to find answers to the questions in her head, she picked up the phone again. Samantha was calling. Her heart skipped. She only knew one Samantha—her sister. But there was no way her sister and Daniel could know each other. The phone stopped ringing. A text notification from Samantha came in. “Mr Lucas, please call me back when you get my text”. Andrea felt relieved. “If the person addressed him as Mr Lucas, then it’s probably work stuff”. She thought. “But why would a worker be texting at this time of the night? It’s past 10 pm”. Andrea was starting to overthink, forgetting the main reason she picked the phone initially.

She looked around again. She was focused on the phone now. She tried to guess his password with three different failed attempts. 

Daniel walked in and settled into his seat. She felt shivers run down her spine. She dropped the phone quickly. Her palms were sweaty. “Ermm…yes, no, no…” she stuttered. Daniel picked his phone. “Someone called”. She managed to find her voice. 

“It’s just my maid”. Daniel lied.

“But…” Andrea held back her words, looking confused. “That’s alright”, she said, forcing a smile. “Maid calling and texting at this time?” She wondered. “What if it’s an emergency?” She asked, feeling unsure.

“Leave me to worry about my business”. He replied.

Andrea continued her meal. She stopped abruptly.

“What’s with the attitude? Is this about the marriage talk?” She asked, looking into Daniel’s eyes, as if the answers were there.

“You know we can talk about this”. “We’re adults. We can sort this out”, she pleaded.

“I have more important things to attend to”. He signaled the waiter to come and paid for the food. The waiter left. “Marriage can wait”, he added, placing his card back in his brown wallet.

“You’re an adult”, he said with emphasis on the ‘adult’. “Sort yourself out.” Those were his last words before he abandoned Andrea at the lounge. She was dumbfounded. Everything looked like a movie. She pinched herself on her cheeks, arm, and leg, to be sure she wasn’t dreaming. It was real. What a chaotic date. “I wonder what dad saw in this guy”, she scoffed. Pained, but unbothered, she finished her food. She cleaned herself up, and booked a ride back home.

The ride home felt like eternity. She was lost in thoughts, but the buzz from her phone snapped her out of it.

“Andrea Morgan?”

“Yes”. She managed a nod.

“Mr. Daniel Lucas was involved in an accident…”

“What?!”

“He’s at St. Jon’s Hospital. Please come quickly”. The call terminated. 

“Why don’t I also give him a taste of his own medicine?” Andrea thought.