Marriage by Law (31 page)

It was absolutely freezing. The change in temperature caught me off guard as I stood under the Eiffel tower shivering. Where were they?

Darius and Adrian both left early this morning about some business meeting and said they would meet me at the Eiffel tower at noon. It was now half past one and I wasn't even sure if I should still be waiting.

I looked at all the other tourists as they took photos and looked up at the sky. Please don't rain.

Maybe I should just head back, ask the driver to take me back. Maybe I will do that, this sweater did nothing to keep my body warm. But then I came this far. I wasn't going home without looking at the Eiffel tower.

I walked across the road to the small stores to kill time. I walked into an antique shop, the bell jingling to notify that someone came in. It was quiet, too quiet as I looked around. Everything looked old and fragile.

"Bonjour!"

I looked up at the old woman standing behind the counter and smiled, raising a hand. I went to the other shelves looking at the leather books and pulled one out, flicking to a random page and staring at a random word and then froze.

Perfect. If he was going to give me annoying nicknames, I was going to give him one back.

I put the book back and waved goodbye as I walked out the store and into another. 

I watched as the clock struck two and sighed, getting out of the store looking both ways at the traffic and people rushing. Looks like they have a purpose in what they were doing, and then there was me, just waiting. 

Crossing my arms under my chest, I ducked my head hurrying to the car on the end street. We can go another day.

The driver climbed out upon seeing me approach and bowed as he opened the door.

"Thank you," I said, climbing in.

"Aluminium!"

I stopped from getting inside and turned around but saw no one. Was I just hearing things? Or maybe it was the wind, it was pretty strong. But it wasn't. The second time I heard it, I looked across the green grass to see Darius running with Adrian behind him.

"About time," I told the driver who just smiled and stepped onto the footpath. I shook my head as the children came.

"Sorry we're late," Darius said, holding my shoulders as he leaned over and kissed my cheek. "This guy wanted to change before we left." He glared at Adrian who was fixing his hair as he joined us.

"Not everyone wants to wear suits all day," snapped Adrian, pulling his shirt down angrily. I shook my head when Darius muttered something, grabbing my arm and tucking it into his. He pulled me, nearly making me trip over.

"Hey, what's the hurry. Don't take her away from me!"

I looked over my shoulder to see Adrian just standing there glaring at Darius. When he realised Darius wasn't going to stop, he ran to catch up with us, tucking my other hand into his and forcing me to stop, and as a chain reaction, halting Darius.

"Gosh. If you didn't want me here you didn't have to invite me," he grumbled.

Darius raised an eyebrow, stepping back and taking my other arm out of his. What the hell was I, some tug of war rope?

"I never invited you, remember?" Darius retorted. 

"Well, then, you're a rude boy for not inviting me."

I rolled my eyes, though they were not looking at me. "Can we just go and see the damn tower? I've waited long enough."

Both pairs of eyes turned to me then to each other before Darius tugged me along. 

Finally.

It was beautiful.

We were there for hours. People came and left but we stayed, looking at everything we could. I didn't realise how long we were here till I saw the sun in the distance.  The timing was perfect. You can just see the sun setting in the distance, shooting colours of orange and light blue into the sky over the city.

If anyone was scared of heights, they wouldn’t be up this high overlooking this spectacular view. There was too much to see that you would forget about panicking. The wind picked up the longer we stayed there. Adrian was off in no time, chatting up single ladies and I laughed at him. Then I turned around to look at the sun setting in the distance.

Just like a perfect picture, a flock of birds cut through the air.

I felt something warm wrap around my shoulders and turned to see Darius slipping his jacket on me. I raised an eyebrow.

"Only this once?" I asked, remembering what he always said when I forgot to bring a coat. Not that he even lent me his then. He just let me suffer, apart from a few rare times like now. He laughed, removing his hand from my shoulder and joining me by the rail. 

It only hit me then that I knew nothing about the guy next to me. Not 
his
 
favourite colour, or 
his
 
friends, or his school or anything. I turned to ask him something, because now is my turn to ask questions. I met his green eyes, already searching my face.

"Come to dinner."

"What?" I asked, looking at my watch for the time. Isn't it a bit early to have dinner? 

"Shouldn't we wait till at least six to have dinner? And please, I'm always at dinner," I said, shaking my head. Like I would miss out on good food. 

"No. I mean," he said, staring behind me and I looked over my shoulder to see Adrian waving at us holding his phone up, probably taking more selfies. "
Dinner.
" 

"
Dinner
?" I asked with the same tone he used. He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"He means a date," Adrian explained, earning a scowl from Darius. I looked between them, laughing.

"Are you kidding me? Have you seen this ring? We don't need a d –" And then I stopped, meeting Darius's eyes and then looking from one to another.

"Are you serious?" I asked, confused and excited at the same time. 

"I was getting there." Darius snapped at Adrian, ignoring me and speaking to his cousin who was looking way too smug.

"Well, you looked like you needed help."

"I didn't."

"Next time I won't offer."

"I never accepted."

 I sighed, shaking my head at these two. It was like being with two kids. 

"I'll go," I muttered, a giddy feeling at the pit of my stomach. He asked me out on a date, a freaking date. I felt like a lovesick teenager.

Wait, lovesick?

"What?" they said at the same time, looking at me.

"Huh?" I looked up, lost in my own thoughts.

"You can't go out on a date with him!" snapped Adrian.

Darius smacked the back of his head. "Too bad."

"What am I supposed to do?" asked Adrian as Darius started walking and pulling me along.

"Jump off the tower." 

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

"Where are we going?" I finally asked as the taxi pulled to a stop. Darius decided this would be faster than the limo and would fit through wherever we're going.

"To eat"

"But where?" I asked as I got out. It didn't look like a posh place to eat at all so I was anticipating where we were going. Was it a secret restaurant, or was it disguised? All I could see were tall buildings.

He paid the taxi driver and beckoned for me to follow him. 

"Is it a far walk?" I asked as we crossed the road. He laughed, shaking his head. Good, because I had more exercise than I needed this year in the past few days. The taxi ride was incredibly short so I was really confused what can be found here in the quieter streets of France. 

"Ready?" Darius stopped walking suddenly that I ended up colliding into him when he turned around.

I rubbed my head, looking up at him. "Yea, I guess," I said, not liking the look in his eyes. What did he plan after all? Please don't tell me he was going to make me eat snails again.  

"Do I need to close my eyes or something?" I asked when we continued to stand there. He furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head to the side, looking confused.

"Why?" he asked. 

I shook my head. Of course, Darius didn't know the art of surprises. Well, at least I didn’t have to close my eyes or wear a blindfold and then get a shitty surprise at the end. James was perfect at failing in surprises.

"Never mind. Let's go," I said. He smiled, turning around and placing a hand on my back to guide me forward.

"Turn left."

I didn't let my hopes up. James always managed to do it and then took me to McDonald’s or somewhere stupid. His idea of the perfect 'date' was cheap and quick and I wasn't someone who ate fast food on a regular basis. And so when I turned around the corner, I was surprised.

It was safe to say my jaw dropped as I looked at the lane that seemed to go on for a solid kilometre. 

My first thought was, 
Do I have to walk that?
 
But then I looked at all the multicoloured carts, some owners wearing traditional flag colours while the others were dressed up and then there were just normal ones in a chef suit.

I looked at Darius who seemed pretty happy with his choice, and I would be, too, if you just got a reaction like that.

"Wow," was all I could say as the aisle was lit up by lanterns that were hanging between the apartments.

"Every single type of street food you can find in France is in this lane," he said.