Chapter 4
Halfway through dinner, Mavis made an excuse and left.
Andrew kept his head down, acting like a shy kid, sneaking glances at me every now and then.
"Andrew," I called out softly.
"Yes." He shot up, standing ramrod straight.
"You know we're getting married, right?"
"Yeah, Mom told me. You're my fiancée."
I swirled my wine glass and asked casually, "Andrew, would you ever cheat on me?"
"Ch-Cheat? What does that mean?" Andrew stammered.
This guy was so adorably clueless.
"It means you'd treat another woman like your fiancée, too," I explained.
"I'll never do that. You're my only fiancée, Hannah," he said firmly.
I didn't take it quite seriously.
Men's promises were all empty words. Justin had made the same promise to me back then.
My phone buzzed, and I checked the message. It was from Justin's friends' group chat.
There were a few videos in the chat.
In the videos, Justin was proposing to Erica, and the ring in the red velvet box was the very one that had once slipped off my finger.
Another message popped up. This time, the ring was already on Erica's hand in the video.
I knew this was Justin's idea of "punishment", and the consequence of my stubbornness.
I scoffed and put my phone away.
That night, I got totally wasted, acting on impulse.
Half-aware, I only knew it was Andrew who carried me home. Everything else was a blur.
When I woke up the next morning, I found Andrew lying straight on the couch in the living room.
He was still fully dressed. Even in this sweltering heat, he hadn't taken off his suit jacket.
There was a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead.
I walked over to loosen his collar for him.
With weather like this, he could get heatstroke if he kept that on. I'd never hear the end of it from Mavis.
As soon as I touched Andrew, he jolted awake and scrambled away.
I was baffled. "What are you doing?"
"Shy," Andrew blurted, quickly turning his head away. His cheeks were burning red.
"Don't let yourself break out in a rash wearing that in this heat," I said.
I reached over again, trying to help Andrew take off his jacket.
He shrank back, clutching his collar tightly.
Seeing how puzzled I was, he finally mumbled, "Last night, you kept trying to take off my clothes. But we aren't married yet, so we can't have any physical contact."
"Last night?" I repeated.
I searched my mind, but everything about last night was a blur.
While I was still lost in thought, Andrew suddenly ran away.
As he left, he said, "Hannah, since you're not sick anymore, I will head home first."
I hurried to check the living room's security footage from last night, and sure enough, I was totally wasted, chasing Andrew around and trying to pull his clothes off.
I was practically slobbering and even loudly announced that I wanted to touch his abs.
But Andrew didn't relax for a second. He kept his jacket wrapped tightly around himself.
This fool. I wasn't even scared of him, but he was the one freaking out.
*****
Mary asked me to come back to the residence to talk about the wedding, and that was when I realized the Rowe family had been rushing to get everything ready, even after Justin and I broke up.
Mary was well aware that my fiancé now was Andrew.
I couldn't understand why everything was moving forward like our breakup hadn't changed a thing.
Mary answered my confusion that day. "Hannah, the wedding's still happening. The Rowe family and the Lynn family are still joining together, no matter what."
"Does Justin know about this?" I asked.
"You don't need to worry about that. We'll talk to Justin ourselves," Mary said, glancing at me and giving a subtle wink.
She went on, "You already know Justin's heart belongs to Erica now. If you let him go and marry Andrew instead, he'll be happy, honestly."
Since Mary put it that way, I honestly didn't care anymore.
The wedding was going to happen anyway, so what did it matter when it was?
After we finished talking about the wedding plans, Mary took me over to Andrew's room.
As soon as I opened the door, a light lilac scent hit me.
Andrew's room was spotless and tidy, totally matching my first impression of him.
He was sitting in front of a canvas, painting a lake that lay at the foot of the mountains outside his window.
It was like he was painting with a magic brush—so beautiful that it almost felt unreal.
"Andrew," I called out.
He was wearing a crisp white tank top, and his arms were seriously ripped.
No wonder I kept trying to strip him back then.
The thought made me chuckle without even realizing it.
Maybe Andrew heard me, because he turned around with a gentle, innocent smile.
His dimples seemed to belong on his pure, clear face. They fit him perfectly.
"Hannah, you're here," he said, setting down his paintbrush and scratching his head with a bit of a shy look.
"You like painting?" I asked.
"Yep," Andrew replied.
He passed me the brush and then pointed at his arm.
"What do you want me to paint?" I asked.
"Your name and mine," he said.
I wrote "Hannah" and then "Andrew" on his arm.
I could tell he was over the moon.
Andrew said, "Hannah, I could never cheat on you.
"With your name on my arm, I'm yours from now on."
So this was basically Andrew signing himself over to me.
I teased him, "You know, this can be washed off. It's not permanent, and you won't be stuck with it forever."
Andrew got lost in thought, staring at his arm, and I could read every emotion on his face.
He made me laugh with how seriously he was thinking, so I gave his forehead a playful flick.
He didn't get upset. Instead, he shot me a fond, indulgent grin.
I deliberately teased him, reaching out to touch his abs. To my surprise, Andrew just stood there, not moving an inch. His ears were so red that they looked like little cherry tomatoes.
I said, "So, why aren't you dodging me this time?"
Andrew answered, "Like I said before, I'm yours now."
For some reason, my heart softened, like I was sinking right into the lake he painted.
Who said Andrew was a fool? I'd never met a fool who could make my heart flutter like this.