Chapter 4

　　I so was not going to have that conversation again. It always breaks my heart when Edward ends up rejecting me not-so-conscious about my feelings towards him.

　　"Mom! Dad! Not again. You know we can't do that. Just let me marry the girl I like okay?” he pleaded.

　　"Don't you like Emily?" Mr Jones asked.

　　He paused.

　　"I do! But dad-"

　　"No. We have a reputation, Edward! You are the CEO of the Jones company. People look up to you. What would they think if you marry some chick who wears dangling tops and chews bubblegum while talking to your parents? All she cares about is her manicures. She doesn't even have the decency to show any love to you in front of your parents. I will never approve of such marriage!!" Edward's dad almost yelled at him, his temper rising.

　　"Okay. Nobody gets married. Not me. Not Edward. Topic's over. Let's go, Eddie. We have to play rockpaperscissors, right?" I said, telling him to leave the topic for now.

　　I pulled him with me hurriedly to the next room.

　　"Seriously, rock paper scissors, Lily!?" Edward half-joked.

　　"Then should I tell them that I was going to break their son's neck off and sew it back over his leg? " I said, narrowing my eyebrows.

　　He just glared.

　　"Then what are we supposed to do now?"

　　We? There was a ‘we’? I never wanted him married in the first place.

　　"You do the action. I am going to my karate classes," I said, waving at him only to be pulled by him, back at the place.

　　Five minutes later:

　　We were sitting in the cafe. Trust me, as much as I love him and want to either kiss him or strangle him, I hate his habit of tagging me along in his problems equally.

　　I know I won't be able to help him because I am a horrible liar, a horrible planner as well as a horrible walker who can't even walk properly.

　　Thinking of not being able to walk properly, I think I tasted some clotted blood in my mouth. I guess I hurt my jaw badly. It ached now that I thought about it.

　　I just glared at him nevertheless. In the need, I started to sip my coffee. Three cups of coffee in a row. This much of diuretics is gonna burst my bladder soon.

　　"So, what's your plan? Any plan B?" He asked.

　　"That was plan A? You didn't tell me. I would have done better then," I said rolling my eyes.

　　"You know how much I love Lara. You said you would help me! What now? "

　　Ouch. Don’t say the L-word in front of me, dude.

　　"I will help you," I reassured him, my lips twitching upward, unwillingly, but my heart twisting painfully in my chest.

　　He stared at me intently, as I continued to fidget nervously under his penetrating gaze and in my discomfort, I started to sip coffee.

　　"Then marry me."

　　"What?!" I choked on my drink, coughing violently as I stared at him in blunt surprise.

　　"I said marry me," he repeated.

　　"I heard what you said but it's-" I inhaled deeply, trying to calm my raging nerves, before looking at him. "Seriously have you lost your mind, Edward?! This is really..." I trailed off, looking at him incredulously.

　　"You said you'd help me. I am merely asking for your help."

　　"But you love...but why?" I narrowed my eyes at him, my mind going frenzy thinking of what he asked me just now.

　　"Because it's the only way I can get off with this marriage thing and can have my love, Lara!"

　　"What? Are you crazy? This is... so not fair to your parents!"

　　"But they want me to marry you. You know that. This way I get Lara, my parents get you as their daughter-in-law. This way everyone is happy." he said, assuring me.

　　But I am not. His plan was illogical anyways.

　　"Please, Lily?"

　　"But still, it's too much to-"

　　"You know I would do it for you."

　　Quickly, I looked at him, no words shared between us as we locked eyes with each other for a brief moment and I realized he was saying the truth after all.

　　It's not that I doubted his words in the first place.

　　Indeed, if I were in his place, he would've done it for me.

　　He would do much more crazy things for me.

　　For us.

　　For our friendship.

　　And this time, he needed my help.

　　Urgently, that too.

　　To support his love.

　　Gulping nervously under his penetrating stare which was asking me for his answer, I averted my gaze to look at the nearby couple laughing loudly at some joke before the man bent forward to kiss her. He slid a shining ring on her fingers to which she squealed in delight and hugged him.

　　I smiled subconsciously at the sight.

　　"Besides you can leave this marriage anytime you want. I am not forcing you. But I assure you as long as you are my wife, I will be a goodhusband and a friend to you. I will do everything to make you happy." Edward took my hand, squeezing them a little. His eyes bore into mine, reflecting honesty and the promise of a better future with me.

　　I nodded looking down at our joined hands, feeling those lazy butterflies doing somersaults in my stomach.

　　"So? What do you think? Will you marry me then?"

　　"I really think it's not right to betray-"

　　"I assure you, Lily, that we'll be fine." He intertwined our fingers and I stared at him, and then at my hands which fit perfectly over his large calloused ones. "If only you were to agree to this."

　　"I..." Words got stuck in my throat as I found my voice too heavy with emotions to even respond properly to him. My eyes pricked with tears, seeing his eyes reflecting hope.

　　The hope of his bright future with someone else.

　　With my help.

　　"I will, Edward. I will marry you," I smiled at him through the unshed tears.

　　I felt him hug me almost immediately, my feet floating in the air. He ducked his head at the crook of my neck before kissing my forehead, his lips lingering longer than usual.

　　"Thanks a lot, Lily. I promise you I won't do anything which we both will regret. I will make you the happiestwife and woman of this world!"

　　I rolled my eyes at his dramatic character.

　　You can never give me the happiness which I want Edward because you already gave it to someone else  a long time ago and I am not that much of a villain to ask for it when clearly this is the only thing which you smile and laugh at!

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