Chapter 221: Reader.exe Stopped Working

"Does that mean you want to marry him?" 

… EverleeHart.exe stopped working. 

Eve had to hand it to Ambryan. At least, he stopped thinking it was Mikael on her mind. 

"Sir Hathaway," she began to say. "I know you're curious but haven't we just established that I can't confess my feelings to his face yet? The idea of marriage is not even in the equation."

He considered her argument. "Fair enough."

But his secretary was on a roll. Her mouth continued to run off, elaborating her point. "You see, liking someone or dating someone doesn't automatically mean one already thinks of marriage. Take you for instance, Sir Hathaway. Have you already decided whether to marry Ms. Reed or not?"

Ambryan stared off into space. This almost felt like déjà vu. These thoughts weren't unfamiliar and it wasn't because his mother constantly asked for a grandchild. They had occurred to him in this office not too long ago.

Or was it somewhere else? 

"Uh, don't answer that." Eve turned her head away and scratched the back of it. She bit down on her tongue. How could she ask that? It was like requesting for a trainwreck. 

Noticing her awkward behavior, Ambryan smirked. He placed his cheek on his knuckles. "How about this? I'll tell you if you tell me who you like."

"Not a chance!" Eve defended a little too loudly. Her eyes widened towards him as a warning. When he titled his head sideways, she cleared her throat and lowered the volume of her voice. "I need to get back to work."

Ambryan watched her escape. Then, he chuckled and resumed the report. Moving the mouse, his knuckles touched the candy box. He picked it up, opening the purple side. Rock-shaped candy poured out of the opening. He popped a good chunk into his mouth.

The flavor of sour grapes coated his taste buds. 

He let the candy melt until the sugar crystal was left to contrast the taste.

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After the long and winded day, Eve stopped by another convenient store on the way home. She bought two pints of ice cream: fudge brownie for her and chocolate mint for Andie. The latter stormed their pantry for some biscuits. Their conversation continued while being separated.

Eve sat on the couch, licking a spoonful of ice cream. She wore fuzzy pajamas and had her feet up. Her story had just reached the end when something crashed in the kitchen. A blonde blur of a head ran into the living.

"You what?!" Andie shrieked, pointing the pack of digestives in her direction. Accusation reflected on her facial expression. "You asked him if he wanted to marry you?! GuRL! You proposed!"

She plopped down the couch and reached for her tub of ice cream. One scoop equalled two pieces of biscuit thus, creating an ice cream sandwich. She bit into it before it could melt.

"You're exaggerating." Eve snorted. She took a digestive and did the same thing except with half a scoop. "That wasn't a proposal. It was an embarrassment."

"I'd still hold it over your head until death do us part." Andie beamed. Cream, chips and crumbs covered her teeth. She chewed quickly before taking another bite. "But, wow. The both of you actually talked about marriage. Months ago, neither of you even wanted to think about dating. Oh, how time flies. My heart aches."

Eve finished her first biscuit and washed it down with a large bite of ice scream. Her eyes gaped at the ceiling. "Can we please change the topic?"

"Sure." Her best friend shrugged. "I'm getting married."

"Very funny." 

Andie snapped her fingers, saying, "That's what I said!"

"Wait…" Eve snapped her head and looked at her. "You're serious?!" 

Andie half-scoffed and half-snorted. She avoided her best friend's gaze while lifting up her left hand. "You would know if you actually looked at people's hands."

Eve gasped and put her ice cream on the coffee table. Grabbing the hand, she took a closer look at the ring. It had three studs: a diamond in the middle with two sapphires on either side. The band was gold and it looked perfect on Andie's sun-kissed skin.

"YOU'RE GETTING MARRIED!" Eve yelled, shaking her best friend's hand.

Andie squealed along with her. "I'M GETTING MARRIED!"

Both girls spent the next few minutes screaming their lungs out. They even joked that their neighbors probably called the cops, thinking they either had gone insane or had been robbed. No matter which it was, it hardly mattered. 

This was a special moment that could not be brought down. 

"Wait, you are engaged to Jarrett, right?" Eve wanted to clarify. He was the most likely person to have proposed but still, a part of her wondered if it could have been another guy.

Andie shoved her shoulder playfully. "Who else?"

"I don't know. I was hoping you found some other bloke at the last minute."

"Ha-ha."

"Wow, Andrea Beatrice Crawford," Eve tested on her lips. She shook her head and ate another mouthful of ice cream. "When that happens, I won't be able to tease you about the summer season anymore. Is it too late to reverse this?"

"Yes. It's late. No exchanges, no refunds, no returns—especially not with a ring like this."

"So what made you guys decide to get married now?"

"We're not getting married now per say," Andie cleared up. There was so much to be done. Extravagant parties weren't her thing but she wanted to do it for her mom. "And I don't know really. But for me? I already had my answer before he even asked."

"Please don't spare details." Eve sank into the couch and laid her head on Andie's shoulder. 

Her best friend chuckled and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "As you know, the house Jarrett bought is almost done. It just needed a bit of finishing touches. It also needs some furniture. We were going back and forth on ideas: whether to go for wallpaper or paint, the color of the bathrooms, designs on the curtains and etc."

She took a deep breath, reminiscing that day. The cement was finished and dry. The flooring was also done. The workers were waiting for the next instruction. Jarrett had informed her about it and they visited the site together. Her imagination went to work.

The finished interior materialized before her eyes. 

"We never explicitly stated that it would be our house but from the moment he broke the news, we had acted like it was," Andie continued. In her head, she was back at the house with Jarrett beside her. "And there we were—talking about the next step. Our future. Marriage just came naturally. To me, the celebration is more like a formality than a necessity."

She sighed deeply, breathing through her nose. Years of memories replayed in her head. Life had changed their paths many times. They attended high school together. They chose different colleges. Work schedules could be unpredictable and dates could be cancelled.

But they had gone through it all.

And, in all of those days, they picked to love each other.

"I had made up my mind to spend the rest of my life with that man a long time ago," Andie breathed out. Her lips curled up at the corners. "I had been fulfilling that vow ever since."

"How sweet~" Eve cooed, giving her a side hug. "It's sickening."

Her best friend laughed and smacked her head, using light pressure. "Hey, do you think that you and Ambryan could attend the wedding as a couple? Like… he already knows and you're living happily ever after?"

Eve fixed her posture. She scraped the spoon around the inner lining of the tub. Melted ice cream flowed downwards and coated the last portion or so. When she spoke, her voice came out in a whisper. "I don't want to make promises."

Andie stopped chewing the chocolate chips. She folded a leg under her and placed her arm on the back rest. Her spoon stabbed the digestive biscuit, mixing it into the ice cream. "Why not?"

"Because I would be the most disappointed?" Eve admitted. "I figured it's best not to hope."

"It'll work out," Andie encouraged with a nudge. Was there to worry about? Ambryan knew she had a secret. He still chose to be with her. Finding out that one's girlfriend is also their secretary wasn't the worst case scenario possible. 

Hell, did it even belong on that side of possibilities?

"Thanks for still believing that." Eve smiled as she finished her last bite. Her stomach bulged out of the waistband of her pajama bottoms. She pulled it off and let it cinch around her hips. 

"Both of you are strong. I have faith that you'll make it through this." Andie offered her some leftover chocolate mint. Eve picked up a broken piece of the biscuit and used it as a spoon. It tasted much better than she thought it would.

"So…" her best friend drawled. "He still thought you and Mikael were dating, huh?" 

"I certainly hope that idea of his has stopped permanently." Eve laid her head on the backrest and closed her eyes. "If I hear one more word out of his mouth that I'm interested in someone else, I will staple his lips."

Andie snorted, taking the change to place her head on Eve's shoulder. "Why staple his lips when you could kiss them instead? Bippity-boppity-boo! Problem solved. He'd magically recognize your soft lips like Snow White did even in her sleeping death."