Erica’s POV
“Erica, will you…will you make me the happiest man and marry me?”
He held my hand tenderly.
I sat staring at the ring that was just a few centimeters from my fingers. My heart was pounding in my chest.
How long had he had this planned? Was this why he was acting all funny these past few days?
I felt the tension in the room multiply. All eyes were on me. Everyone was expecting me to say ‘yes’.
My insides churned. I felt so uncomfortable.
I saw the deep brown of Lorenzo’s eyes. Something about them was off.
I had watched movies and had seen the glee and bundled excitement that was in the man’s eyes when he popped the question. He was happy and it almost felt like the happiness radiated all around and even out of the screen.
But now, I was here. It was my turn and all I could feel for this man on his knees before me was…
Nothing.
I felt nothing for him. No love, no affection. Part of me felt that I could tell that he had no real love for me either. His beautiful brown eyes were plain, the same brown eyes I had seen since the day I met him. There was no magical sparkle or glint.
I sighed in my heart.
Maybe there was but my lack of affection blinded me to it. I couldn’t see the love in him because my heart belonged to someone else, a man who had no regard for me, the man who threw me out of his life without looking back, who was the father of my triplets and was the one groping for me now, after he lost his chance six years ago.
I was such a fool. Why did my heart want Dante? What did I see in him?
Was it his dazzling green eyes, his powerful aura and voice, the way he touched me?
What was it that kept me tethered to him? He rejected me six years ago but my wolf still reached out to him.
He committed the ultimate act of betrayal in the werewolf world and yet, I still wanted him.
I really was a fool.
I felt tears form in my eyes. I was crying, crying about how stupid I was, about how weak I was.
Who would still want the man who made one’s life a living hell over the one who saved you from that hell?
I looked around the room. All eyes were on me. There were expectant looks on everyone’s faces.
Women eyed me enviously and looked at their dates. Every woman was looking forward to being in the position that I was in: Having a man on his knees asking for you to marry him.
The tears flowed down my cheek.
How could I explain that I didn’t want this, that I didn’t want to be married to this man? I didn’t love him.
I turned to look at Clarissa and Javier. Clarissa was crying, crying tears of joy for me and Javier was nodding with a pleased look on his face, urging me to say something.
I was still getting over the fact that Javier was Clarissa’s mate and he had tried to kiss me.
I had been thinking about it almost all day. Why didn’t any of this make any sense?
I looked at Lorenzo again. His brown eyes hadn’t left me. He knelt there patiently waiting for my answer.
Every inch of my body wanted to tell him ‘no’, that I couldn’t marry him and that I didn’t love him.
But I couldn’t. My tongue was glued to the roof of my mouth.
I hated that I couldn’t say yes to him. I hated how glaring the truth was; if Dante had been the one to ask me, I would have said ‘yes’ without hesitation.
I would have said ‘yes’ to a man that my father would never accept.
He knew the truth about Dante and I. What father would give his daughter to a man who didn’t cherish her to begin with?
“Lorenzo, I…”
“Erica, I know that this is a shock to you. I’m shocked as well. I wanted to wait a little longer but I can’t. I want you. I want to be with you and the kids. I know that for the past few days, I have been acting a little strange. I’ve been bothered about this and I have been weighing it in my mind. We haven’t been talking a lot but I want to connect with you. I want to have you in my life. Please. Please say yes, Erica.”
He squeezed my hand even tighter. His touch irritated me. I didn’t want him. I didn’t feel the same way he felt about me.
Everyone in the room was still staring at us. The pressure was steadily increasing.
I could hear people murmuring, asking why I was taking so long to reply.
“Erica…”
“Yes.”
The answer came out a little too hastily.
“Yes, I will marry you, Lorenzo.”
He smiled and slipped the ring on my finger. It was a perfect fit. It was beautiful. If only the feelings were mutual so that it could match it all.
There was thunderous applause throughout the restaurant and everyone was smiling and happy for me.
I was the only one who was crying, crying tears of regret and pain. I never thought that this would be the saddest day of my life.
Lorenzo pulled me off the chair and pulled me into a hug. The feel of our bodies against each other made me feel sick.
I wanted to pull away from him but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to make a scene.
He hugged me tightly and rocked me side to side gently.
I had my eyes closed and more tears streamed down my face. I was crying in pain but everyone thought it was happy tears.
He pulled away from me and pulled me into a kiss.
More tears.
His arms wrapped around me and I could do nothing but play into it all.
I never thought that I would hate a kiss this much.