Chapter 62 - Appearance Of A Threat To The Future

Marcellus is grateful to Winter for many reasons.

Thanks to her, he was able to realize what a douche he was. Whether it's related to work or not, he shouldn't play around with others' feelings like what he'd always do. He should not treat people like playthings nor should he think that he can get everything he wants all the time.

She made him realize that one's true value wasn't on the outside. She made him realize that there's more to life than working, partying, dating women and breaking hearts. She made him realize what it's like to truly care about someone.

He admires her. He admires her dedication, her intelligence, her attitude, and even her antics. The list can go on forever. She's everything he never thought he needed and everything he never thought he wanted until he just realized he did - conveniently wrapped in the most perfect little package of kind, compassionate, beautiful, loving, pure, caring, crazy, smart, thoughtful, amazing, pure and so many other things that he was too busy being in love with to recall the proper word for at the moment.

To Marcellus, everything about Winter is still perfect despite her faults.

"Ms. Agreste..." he breathed out a little deeply, feeling his chest tighten from being too overwhelmed by all these strong, inescapable emotions that took over him. 

"Is that what you really feel? I'm really important to you?"

Feeling embarrassed for what seemed to be the hundredth time that night, she blushed for a bit and looked away from him - she really didn't want repeat herself. In her silence, he only smiled at her tenderly and began to stroke her hair gently. She almost melted at how warm she suddenly felt from that gesture.

"I'm telling you..." she then sighed and glanced at him, giving in.

"You're a very cool person. I enjoy being with you, and I feel bad for being mean to you sometimes. Even though I don't want to admit it, you're an important person to me. That's why I don't mind staying by your side."

That was it.

Marcellus can't contain himself anymore - not after hearing that he really does have a chance with Winter.

He reached out and held her cheeks, restraining her movements as well as her squirming. She was caught off guard, and though she could have pulled away, she found herself frozen still on her place. Right when she was about to ask him what he was doing, he leaned down to her and inched his face closer to hers, making her eyes widen even more in surprise and confusion.

'W-W-W-W-What the...?! Is he gonna kiss me?!'

Going by how he narrowed his eyes and stared down into her wide ones - looking so helplessly captivated that it was almost like he could see the moon and the stars in them, she knew what was about to come. Yet, she could not deny that she was allured by everything about him at that moment - his enticing scent, his appealing features, his endeared look, and his strong yet gentle grip on her.

'N-N-No! W-Wait! He can't do this! He shouldn't! Especially with all these people around!'

And with that, Winter backed away from Marcellus. 

Their lips almost touched right then, but with her pulling away all of the sudden, he ended up coming to a halt and snapping out of his trance. That's also when she got to see what's happening around them - and what she found had struck her stunned.

Apparently, they already gathered an audience. Some of the other guests are looking their way. However, that wasn't really what got her thunderstruck - rather, it was this certain someone. Among all these intrigued onlookers and fascinated spectators, there stood an all-too-familiar figure at the second floor's balcony.     

Winter saw Bianca's fiance, Jacob.

'Jacob Minerva?! What's he doing here...?!' she almost cried out loud, thoroughly nonplussed. 

'Wait... D-Did he... Did he see us doing that?' 

Out of everyone who could see Marcellus making an advance on her, it really had to be the future husband of her elder sister who apparently had an antagonistic role in her past. The Middleton's had not even found her yet, but he already knew that she had something to do with the head of the Lexington's, her future husband. This could be bad depending on what he'd do with that information -

Him knowing that they already knew each other this early on might affect the future. 

'Back then, it was the Middleton's who proposed to Sir Lexington that he'd marry me. Will this decision change if Sir Minerva is to tell Bianca that we have some kind of relationship? That arranged marriage was her revenge on me for replacing her as the head of our family business, after all. She chose a womanizer and someone older on purpose - all for the sake of messing with me...' Winter continued to ponder over, feeling conflicted about this.

'What if she and the others decide to marry me off to someone else? Though I can escape the talks of marriage for a while, they'll most probably do other things to mess it all up.'   

Marcellus was baffled to see Winter so deep in thought out of nowhere.   

She also acted like she was caught red-handed for a moment there. Not to mention, she appears kind of troubled. Although he's disappointed that she didn't let the kiss happen, he understood that it's probably too early for her - he should've waited for a little longer. But at this point, that doesn't seem to be main issue anymore. He can see that she's bothered about something else.

Concerned, Marcellus tried to ask Winter about it.

"Ms. Agreste, is everything alright-"

"May I excuse myself for a minute, Sir Lexington? I'd like to go to the restroom."

Not letting him finish, she went ahead and stepped away from him. She then started to walk back to the mansion in a bit of a haste. He could only watch her retreat inside, feeling more dismayed than ever. If he hadn't known better, he wouldn't think that she's in a hurry to get away from him.

'I must have pushed my luck too far tonight...' Marcellus brooded over as he came up with the impression that Winter was repelled by what he tried back there.     

'Can't blame her, though. That wasn't part of my plans, after all. Even I am surprised at myself.' 

He will let her escape for now. He has all the time in the world to take things slow with her, anyway. 

Winter, on the other hand, had other concerns to deal with. She had to part from Marcellus after she saw Jacob turn around and take his leave. If he hadn't smirked at her before he did so, though, she wouldn't be coming after him right now. She knew that look all to well - he's most definitely scheming something.

'He probably recognized me as the girl who bumped into Bianca last time. What if he looks further into my personal information and my relationship with Sir Lexington? The Minerva's have been wanting to rival the Lexington's for a long time, so it's not far-fetched that he'd be intrigued to do that...' she thought until she came to a certain realization that made her halt on her tracks.

'But even then, what is it that I can do, anyway? If I go and see him now... What, then?'

Winter thought that she could be dumb sometimes. 

It's not like she can do anything against Jacob even if she goes to him now. All she can do is hope that he doesn't get too interested in her that he might end up discovering that she's related to his fiancee - not like that'll ever happen. Then again, Marcellus himself wasn't able to learn about that even after all the in-depth investigation he did on her in the past.

"To begin with, this isn't supposed to be what I'm doing now. I should be talking with the other guests and making acquaintances like what I've been planning to do for days..." Winter said to no one in particular while pinching the bridge of her nose in exhaustion. 

"I got sidetracked for too long-"

"Ms. Agreste, is that you?"

At that call, she turned around and found the host of the party coming her way.

She perked right up the moment she saw George striding down that hall to approach her. Pulling herself together and putting the other matters aside, she then smiles and walks up to him. It's a good thing that he found her right when she thought that she should already go and find him. Now, she doesn't have to search all around that enormous place to look for him. 

"Good evening, Sir George. Thank you so much for inviting us," she greeted and beamed at him, feeling a little more at ease around him than when they first met.   

"Good evening, too. I'm glad to see you here. You look gorgeous tonight," he complimented with a small smile - which was kind of odd since he was not one to throw flattery.   

"Thank you. I'm also glad to see you again."

From thereon, Winter had to focus - with George finally appearing in the picture, she had to go down to business already.