Chapter Seven: Wistfully Thinking and Wishing

Amanda felt flattered and touched by Emmett's special surprise for her. She can see his real effort.

"Yes, I will marry you, Emmett!" she finally gave her answer.

One of the reasons why Amanda accepted Emmett's marriage proposal is she wants to make her own parents happy. They clearly like Emmett as their future son-in-law and they have been encouraging her to finally accept him.

And just like what she usually sees at the movies, Emmett slipped the jaw-dropping engagement ring on her right ring finger, they gave each other a quick kiss, then they started calling their family and friends to give them the good news.

Both parties are extremely elated by the news of their engagement.

And now, she is meeting Emmett's parents to have a special dinner with them and talk about the details of the wedding.

After a few moments.

Amanda is currently listening to Mrs. Katherine Albreicht who's talking non-stop about her vision for the wedding.

"What do you think about a Victorian-themed wedding, Amanda? I can imagine you wearing a very classic wedding gown and everything at the church is adorned with elegant flowers! I'm sure your wedding will be the talk of the town and you will be headlined at the society pages!" Emmett's mother excitedly chatted.

Amanda just smiled in return, but she didn't say anything. Deep inside, she really wants to tell them that she wants a very simple and intimate wedding ceremony, with only 50 guests, which is a total contrast of having 100 guests that both of their parents wanted.

But she doesn't have the courage to tell them what's on their mind  because she doesn't want to hurt their feelings and she wants to be a dutiful daughter.

She has been hiding something for a very long time and she wants to tell her parents about it because it's slowly killing her inside... But she decided to just keep it a secret because the most important thing in her life right now is to make her parents happy.

Amanda snaps out from her reverie when she felt Emmett's hand on her own hand, and gently squeezing it as if he is giving her an assurance that everything's going to be alright. She just smiled at him in return, while giving him a small nod.

"Mother, it's too early for us to talk about the details of our wedding. and in case you have forgotten, you and father should be talking about your diamond wedding anniversary. It's your wedding next month, right?" Emmett reminded his parents.

Amanda is thankful to Emmett because he is trying to protect her, which was really sweet.

"Your son is right, Katherine. Let them plan their own wedding, and we should be concentrating on our own wedding anniversary." Mr. Albreicht finally spoke.

"You're absolutely right, darling. I sincerely apologize, dear. anyway, I'll be expecting you and your parents  at our Diamond Wedding anniversary. You are all our special guests." Mrs. Albreicht reminded Amanda, with a big smile on her face.

"Of course, Mrs. Albreicht. WE are very much excited and honored tp witness your renewal of vows. THank you very much for inviting us." Amanda politely responded.

She heaved a sigh of relief when Mr. and Mrs Albreicht talk about the details of the upcoming diamond wedding anniversary.

But as of the moment, she really wants to go back home, take a shower, hit the sack and call it a day since she needs to be at the Etoile Cosmetic company early in the morning, but she needs to be an obedient and dutiful daughter-in-law to her future parents-in-law...

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LARA SMITH.

It's currently her lunchtime at work, and as usual, she is eating all alone. She wants to have a moment of peace during lunch time, and she doesn't care what her co-workers will think and say about her.

She doesn't really like the idea of gossiping over lunch and talk about other people in the office.

Lara is now eating a hearty lunch provided by the company. What she likes about working at Etoile Cosmetics  is the equal treatment to each employees. It doesn't matter if your a Manager, a supervisor or a low-level employee, the employee benefits are all the same. The company gives fair and just treatment to all of them.

All of them are given bonuses twice a year, they have superb health insurance benefits, and their meals are provided by the company, free of charge.

Lara always carries a lunchbox and fills it with food from the company cafeteria, and she will eat it for dinner at home afterwards.

At the same time, all of her bonuses and half of her salary are being sent to the orphanage where she grew up. She has a sense of gratitude and responsibility to financially provide because she's thinking about the orphaned children's welfare, and she's thinking about the survival of the institution as well. They don't have many sponsors, so that's why she needs to work extra hard and save everything  so that she can send money to the orphanage every month.

If only she could take Amanda Montserrat's shoes. She's a beautiful, smart and capable businesswoman who owns a big company . Eventhough she is the only daughter of a rich family who belongs to the Top 5 Most Successful Families in the country, she didn't use her family's connection to make her own company successful.

Amanda Montserrat is a self-made woman. She built her own cosmetic empire with her own money, power, and connections.

Lara thinks that the CEO is living a perfect life and she doesn't have any problems at all. Aside from that, she is happily engaged with one of the sought-after bachelor in the country, which happens to be one of the richest man in the country as well.

Her Boss is bound to be married to Emmett Albreicht, an uber-rich hotel magnate.

And speaking of the devil, Amanda Montserrat suddenly appeared at the company cafeteria, along with some supervisors and other employees.

Their boss normally eats lunch at the company cafeteria twice a week, and she always initiates an enjoyable conversation with the other employees while eating lunch.