Chapter 17 - Who Said I Don’t Love You?

At the restaurant, Alex was amazed, her heart pounding as excitement and anticipation grew in her mind. Ethan had prepared a lovely surprise for her. They were on the last level of the restaurant, on a terrace full of flowers and plants. Many lights hung, illuminating the whole place like twinkling stars. The view was breathtaking and Alex's eyes could not help but sparkle at the sight. There was only one table in the middle of the room. The floor was decorated with candles that lit the place romantically. There was a large bouquet of flowers waiting for Alex at the table.

She was overjoyed and could not hide it as her lips formed into a bright smile. It was the first time she had ever experienced such a surprise. It made sense because it was the first time she had ever gone on a date with a man, and she was genuinely touched by Ethan's gesture. Ethan by her side looked at her with loving eyes, he was happy to see such a wide smile on Alex's face, and he was even happier because it was a smile directed at him. His heart warmed when he saw her like that, and he unconsciously smiled as well. If the people who knew him well could see him with that loving expression on his face and that genuine smile, they would all think that he had surely lost his mind.

Without waiting any further, Ethan helped Alex take a seat at the beautiful table and handed her the flowers he had prepared.

"Wow, thank you for the surprise, it's beautiful!!!" Alex accepted the flowers with a smile. She had received flowers before, but this was the first time she felt so happy when she received them.

"My girlfriend deserves the nicest things" Ethan had a big smile on his face at this point, showing his deep dimples.

"I never said I was okay with being your girlfriend, like I said, that kind of relationship is with a person you love." Alex cheeks heated; she really did not know how to react to Ethan's insinuations.

"Who said I did not love you?" asked Ethan with a raised eyebrow, "and you didn't say you don't love me."

"Oh please, we have only known each other for a few days! How can you love me?" Alex could not believe this, even though she desperately wanted to know what it was like to be in a relationship, she was more interested in finding out what it felt like to be with someone you loved.

"You do not believe in love at first sight?" asked Ethan as he served her a glass of champagne.

"Please, you do not believe it either."

"Maybe not, but all I know is that I like you a lot, and this is the first time I have ever been so attracted to a woman, and I do not plan on letting you go. So you should get used to it because I plan on making you mine," Alex said firmly and seriously, looking Alex straight in her ocean blue eyes. His gaze was so piercing that Alex could not help but look away.

"What if I do not plan on being in a relationship?"

Ethan just gave her a small smile without saying a word. Alex did not know what was happening to her that day, but everything Ethan said or did touch her. It was probably because it was the first time she could be with a man like that. She blushed so much she was sure she looked like a tomato.

She had never been this close to a man before because she could not stand the physical contact, she did not find it necessary to accept dates when she could not stand being near men. But it was different with Ethan. The fact that he did not affect her the way other men did was very helpful; she felt free with him, she felt like she could finally breathe. She could be who she was and be close to him without thinking about the fear of physical contact.

In the short time she arrived in China, two men stirred feelings in her that she had never felt before. One was Ethan, who was the cutest man with his little dimples that popped up when he smiled at her, and her mysterious neighbour, who made her curious even though she had never seen him before, but who had left a deep impression on her with his voice alone, making her think of him all day. His voice was so seductive. She felt quite confused because her feelings were new to her, but strangely enough, she felt the same kind of arousal for both men. She does not know if it was love or like Fifi said, "Maybe Ethan was her destiny." But what was what she felt for her neighbour the?

Not far away, in another restaurant, Christopher, who was always in the company of his friends, kept looking at his cell phone. One of his friends was watching him closely, and after noticing his unusual behaviour, he reported it to the other friends. They in turn began to watch him.

One of them could not take it anymore and asked, "What is our dear Christopher thinking when he looks so intently at his phone? Are you waiting for a call? It can't be your boss; you usually leave your phone far enough away not to hear it when you come out of the office, so I assume it's a woman. Who's betting?" Everyone else was making fun of him, because it was the first time their friend was so anxious for a call that they got curious about who the woman was.

In fact, Christopher still had not recovered from what had happened with Fidelia. He did not understand how she could be so impassive. He had expected her to call him to ask him to take responsibility for that night, or just to see him again, but he had not heard from her all day. It was the first time something like this had ever happened to him. To be honest, he should be happy that a girl he had sex with did not bother him afterwards, but instead he felt extremely uncomfortable in this situation.

Suddenly he stood up without answering his friend's questions, took his car keys and drove away. he was not in the mood to have fun that night.

In a big house in one of the city's affluent neighbourhoods, Clyde strode angrily through the door. His parents in the living room looked at him worriedly. What in the world could have happened to him to make him so angry?

"Big brother, big brother, so you got my part," Aria could not care less about her brother's mood, she just wanted to know if he had managed to get her the part.

"That bitch is going to pay for her insolence, how dare she talk to me like that!!!" Angrily, Clyde slammed his keys down on the table, deeply annoyed.

Alan Porter, his father, lazily drank a glass of wine without bothering to look at his son, "Who are you talking about? I asked you to stop playing with women for a bit and concentrate on the business of the company!!!"

"That's exactly what I did! That bitch, Leila, busted me on the phone just because I asked for a part in RoyalStar's new movie. She's just the deputy manager but thinks she owns the company. what a joke!!!" he scoffed.

Shella, his mother who heard her son's whining was even angrier, "How dare she upset my child? Who does she think she is?" she cried, taking her son's face in her hand to calm him down.

At that moment Alan felt like his head was going to burst because of the stupidity of the people he lived with, "You are doing this on purpose or you are really stupid, how can a person who takes care of a company have so little information about potential clients... they are even our competition! Tell me what Leila's name is?"

Clyde just looked at his father with a blank face, not even remembering what her name was. Everyone in the business circle just called her Leila.

"Her name is Leila Jensen! She's Eli Jensen's daughter! RoyalStar is hers; you better not have upset her!"