Chapter 4

• She didn’t know if she was the one who warmed up too easily to them or they were the ones who just found her interesting. Either way, Natalia liked it.
• “Why? You don’t like it?” the second guy asked as Natalia chuckled.
• “Too stereotypical. Can’t we do something else?” she asked as she watched them laugh again.
• “What’s your name? I’m genuinely intrigued” the third guy said. Natalia smiled widely.
• “I know but I’m honestly curious about him. He hasn’t a word since I got here” Natalia said as she finally turned to look at the guy clad in suit. Her eyes had been straying way too much to him and she just wanted to get a proper glimpse of him besides, she wanted to make him talk. She met his eyes as soon as she turned and although she had no idea what the color of his eyes seemed like under the multi coloured lights, those pairs of eyes held her down for a Nano second as he withdrew them almost immediately as he chuckled.
• “You are curious about me?” he asked, his deep voice providing goose bumps on Natalia's arm. For the first time since Natalia had started wearing that shirt, she was grateful that the shirt was long sleeved and covered her arms.
• She couldn’t see it but she could easily feel it, the goose bumps that ran all the way from her arm to the back of her neck the moment he spoke.
• “Are you a voice over model?” Natalia asked almost immediately as the guy reclined in his seat chuckled lightly.
• “No” he replied as Natalia swallowed her saliva.
• Corey had of course seen the girl dart glances at him several times but he said nothing. his ego had never been inflated nor had he felt proud of his face before but he suddenly realized that the more the girl turned her face; he couldn’t help but be proud of his face.
• “You don’t want to tell us your name?” Peter asked as he sipped out of his wine as the girl turned back to them with a smile.
• “Ariel” she replied as Leon nodded his head.
• “Ariel, nice name” he said as Ariel nodded as she glanced at Corey again meeting his eyes.
• Corey stared back at the girl who apparently found it increasingly hard to take her eyes off him and then chuckled. Till he died, Corey never forgot that what he did that night was the craziest thing and the craziest decision he had made in his entire life but he didn’t know that he would even be taking crazier decisions in the future, well for now he thought he was taking the craziest yet ever.
• “Will you marry me?” he blurted out as the table went quiet.
• “Corey, what the hell are you talking about?” Peter asked, genuinely mortified.
• Corey held Ariel’s eyes as he continued to stare at the girl expecting her answer. Whether he realized that his heart was beating at a faster pace or that he wasn’t actually anxious at that point in time.
• “Do you have money?” Ariel asked as Corey chuckled.
• “A lot” Corey replied as she flashed him a bright smile as she sat down beside him while wearing a small smile.
• “Let me reintroduce myself. Natalia Deville, third year student of Mechanical engineering. I’m your new fiancée. Nice to meet you” Ariel said as Corey raised an eyebrow at her.
• “Didn’t you just say your name was Ariel?” Leon asked as Natalia shrugged her shoulders.
• “Don’t tell me you actually fell for that?” Natalia asked as Leon chuckled and nodded.
• “You looked serious so I feel for it” Leon replied as Natalia turned back to Corey.
• “Dear Future husband, you won’t introduce yourself?” Natalia asked as a small smile spread across Corey’s lips.
• “Corey Amante” Corey replied as he watched Natalia freeze for a second as she narrowed her eyes.
• “You are Corey Amante?” she asked as Corey’s smile got bigger.
• “You don’t want to marry me anymore?” Corey asked as Natalia smiled at him while tilting her head to the side.
• “Why not? You have a lot of money” she replied as Corey chuckled lightly.
• “So you are marrying me because of money Corey said as Natalia nodded at him.
• “Should there be another reason why?” Natalia asked as Corey shook his head.
• “Not at all” he replied as the other three men stared at the dup with shocked and horrified expressions.
• “What are you two doing?” John asked as Natalia shrugged.
• “Getting married. Is that so unbelievable?” Natalia asked as Peter chuckled.
• “You don’t mean it right? Whatever is happening right now, I’ll take it as a well prepared drama and that’s what it is” Peter said as Natalia laughed.
• “Does this look crazy to you guys?” Natalia asked as Leon chuckled.
• “This is crazy” he blurted in reply as Natalia nodded her head.
• “Exactly, so get crazy enough to believe what’s going on and I know you guys are crazy enough” Natalia said as the three guys turned to Corey.
• “Corey, what do you think you are doing?” John whispered as Corey shrugged his shoulders.
• “Getting married” he replied as he dropped his already empty wine cup and grabbed Natalia’s palm covering her small hands with his.
• “Let’s go” he said as he pulled her up and dragged out of the club without another word.
• “What the hell is going on?” John yelled.
• “They are not actually going to get married are they?” John asked again as Peter shrugged his shoulders.
• “He doesn’t even know her!” Leon said as Peter nodded.
• “Yeah, I feel you bro. Corey literally snatched the girl who was trying to hit on for the past thirty minutes. You must feel betrayed” Peter replied as John burst into laughter while Leon sighed softly.
• “Is that the point right now?” Leon asked while glaring unhappily at Peter and John who wouldn’t stop laughing.
• “Corey is going to marry some girl he picked up at the club” Leon added as John shook his head.
• “Your club Mr Gaetti” John replied as he and Peter burst into laughter again.
• “Or perhaps, would you rather him marry Stephanie?” Peter asked as she chuckled.
• “Does Natalia know the kind of family she’s even getting into?” Leon asked again as he pursed his lips as John stopped laughing.
• “Did she look normal to you?” John asked as Peter laughed.
• “She’s pretty confident if you ask me” Peter replied as Leon sighed while rubbing his forehead.
• “Do you guys think Corey is serious with the marriage thing?” Leon asked as Peter turned to Leon and wore a full smile that didn’t in any kind of way look like a smile.
• “You’ll know very soon” he replied as Leon sighed while grabbing his own wine cup.
• Natalia didn’t miss the stunned and surprised looks on the faces of the bodyguards when she appeared with Corey. She had changed out from her waitress clothes back to the black jeans and round neck she had worn from school.
• “Where’s your house?” Corey asked as he opened the door of the car for her and Natalia got into the car and Corey got into the car after her.
• “Downtown. It’s not far; just a few minutes” Natalia replied as Corey nodded while reclining into the chair and slowly rubbing his forehead.
• “You look like you are regretting your decision” Natalia said but her voice came out softer than before as Corey opened his eyes to meet her gray eyes.
• “My decision of asking you to marry me I presume?” Corey asked, allowing his own eyes to hold hers as Natalia swallowed her saliva and nodded.
• “Don’t do it” she replied as Corey raised an eyebrow at her while staring at her face once more.
• When she wasn’t wearing those waitresses' clothes and was clad in every other young adult's clothes, she did look young, beautiful and attractive. A small smile tugged at his lips as he raised his eyes to meet hers again. The both of them stared at each other without a word.
• Two strangers who had no idea of what the future had for them or what secrets the past held or what was going to happen in the next minute or how much their lives were going to change after making those crazy decisions. Many years later whenever the both of them remembered this particular time, they would just laugh and that was a story for another time.
• “Am I that pretty?” Natalia asked quietly as Corey’ chuckled as he reclined back in his seat.
• “What do you think?” he asked as Natalia scoffed playfully.
• “I’m pretty. Very pretty” Natalia replied as Corey nodded.
• “You know it so why are you still asking?” Corey asked as Natalia pursed her lips in a way that suddenly made Corey want to plunder her lips but he was quick to restrain himself.
• “I just wanted to hear you say it” Natalia replied as Corey chuckled.
• “Sir, we are here” the bodyguard in front said as the door was opened and Corey got out of the car offering a hand to Natalia as he helped her out of the car.
• He turned to the apartment complex in front of him as a small frown creased his eyebrows.
• “You live here?” he asked as Natalia nodded.
• “I’m not as rich as you are. You can’t blame me for living somewhere as bad as this” Natalia replied as Corey turned to her.
• “I didn’t mean that” Corey said as Natalia smiled.
• “I know” she replied as another moment of silence ensued between them.
• “Give me a call when you finish with classes tomorrow” Corey said as Natalia nodded as she pursed her lips.
• “My room is one the fifteenth floor, room 308” Natalia said as Corey nodded his head, committing the details to heart.
• “Okay. I’ll be going up now. Goodnight husband to be” Natalia said as Corey chuckled while the bodyguard standing beside him stared at the both of them shocked.
• “You can call me Corey. You know that right?” Corey asked as Natalia nodded.
• “Goodnight Corey” Natalia whispered but Corey heard and he slid his hands into his pockets.
• “Goodnight Natalia” he said as he watched the younger girl walk away from him slowly.
• “Natalia” he suddenly called as the girl turned to him quietly with a blank look on her face.
• “You are pretty. Very pretty” Corey said as a huge smile broke out on Natalia's face illuminating her beautiful features.
• “I know,” she replied as she laughed and jogged into the building.