forum Pretending Hearts (O/O CLOSED)

Started April 05, 2019 by Deleted user

tune

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Arvil grinned, flicked her on the forehead before giving her her glasses back.

“As the lady demands,” he said cheekily. “Are you mad at me?”

“No, you just surprised me. I don’t care for being surprised like that,” Daisy huffed, setting her glasses in her nose and blinking at him once they were in place. “You should go order something now so that it comes soon.”

“You know, with your glasses on, you look even hotter,” Arvil said smoothly, giving her a wink before he turned around and walked to the counter to order his food.

Daisy groaned and buried her face in her hands. She took a deep breath, pulled her hands from her face, and shot Arvil’s back a glare. What was he trying to do to her?

When Arvil returned from the counter, Daisy’s face was set into a scowl. He chuckled to himself, drawing a chair and looking at her.

“So, love, what’s on our agenda?”

Daisy raised her eyebrows at him and took a sip of her coffee, which had cooled down enough that it was drinkable. “While we wait for our food to arrive, I was thinking we could go over a few questions. Do you mind if I record the conversation?”

“Absolutely not,” Arvil responded, leaning back on his seat and crossing one leg over the other. “Go right ahead.”

Daisy hummed and pulled her phone out. She opened up the recording app, pressed “record”, and set the phone in the middle of the table. Referring to the list she had on her laptop, she asked him a few questions, which he answered in his somewhat teasing way. At least he was serious in his real answers, though.

Thankfully, Daisy’s questions hadn’t been too prying. There was some information he couldn’t disclose, but otherwise what she asked him was something he could answer without a problem. He, of course, couldn’t help but make a few teasing comments here and there, but that was no surprise.

“So, is that it?” He tossed his one leg over the other, taking a bite out of the chocolate cake he had ordered for himself. “Or do you have more questions?”

Amber hummed and glanced over the screen. “There’s just one more, and this was an email from my editor. She wanted me to ask you to describe your proposal to me…”

Arvil blinked at her question. What was he going to say to that? He made himself think of several different proposal ideas and then settled on one that he thought fitted his personality the most.

“Well, if your editor wants to know, I can’t say no, can I?” He grinned cheekily. “It was a rather short and simply proposal. I took her out to dinner, and I thought things would go rather smoothly. Daisy here tells me things did go nicely, but of course, that’s not what the boyfriend thinks, right? I think I nearly chickened out when I picked her up from her apartment. She dressed in fairly simple clothes, but it was still enough to make me want to turn tail and abandon my plans. She looked extraordinary that day, but she does so every day. More so when she smiles, but we’re getting a little off topic here.” Arvil locked eyes with Daisy as he continued, “My Daisy doesn’t exactly like too much attention, and neither do I. I didn’t want to put her in a spot where she had no choice but to say ‘yes,’ so after dinner, I took her out for a walk in the park. This part is a little too simple for a proposal, but I let her walk ahead without her realizing it. When she did and turned around… I was on my knee, the box in my hand, proposing. So I didn’t chicken out, and Daisy said yes. I’m glad she did, too.”

Daisy blinked a few times at his words. The way he described the proposal that never happened… it made her heart ache. She would never get that, no matter how badly she wanted it. Even something so simple as what he had said, especially something so simple… She would never feel that feeling of a man asking for her hand in marriage.

Tears stung in the corners of her eyes, and she cleared her throat, blinking them away as if they had never been there. She grabbed her phone and turned off the recorder, gently shutting her laptop.

“That’s all. Thank you, Arvil,” she said quietly, pushing herself from her seat. “I’ll, um… be right back. Restroom. Don’t feel like you need to wait for me to come back to leave.”

And with that, she was gone. She had disappeared into the bathroom, locked herself in a stall, and slid down the door until she was sitting in the floor, burying her face in her hands with her knees tucked to her chest.

Arvil noticed the wetness in her eyes and he tilted his head in confusion. Why was she crying—she stood up and excused herself, walking away, leaving Arvil far more confused than he’d ever been.

Why was she upset? Wasn’t that what she wanted? He described the proposal, he made it as believing as possible. So why was she upset?

Unless… oh, of course… Arvil sighed. She was stuck with him. She probably wanted to have someone propose to her, but she couldn’t because of the mess they both were in. That day, when he had asked her about a lover, her eyes had turned cold. Of course, he wouldn’t understand those feelings. He’d never fallen in love before. He was a complicated male. His head always been in games and technology.

Arvil sighed. He didn’t move from his spot. He waited for Daisy to return even though he knew he should be leaving. Still, he wanted to make sure she was okay before he did so. After all, that was his job.

Daisy’s body trembled with the force of the sobs she held back. Tears slipped down her face, hot on her cheeks, salt on her lips. She sat that way for a few minutes, even as a few women came and went from the bathroom.

When she finally had a hold on herself, she wiped her cheeks and pushed herself up. Exiting the stall, she stood in front of her mirror and looked at her puffy eyes. Some cold water and deep breaths made the swelling and redness go down, though slowly.

Finally sure she was ready, she picked her glasses up from the counter and slipped them back onto her nose. She made her way back out to the booth she and Arvil has been sitting in, surprised to see that he was still there.

“You’re still here,” she murmured as she slid into her seat. “Why…?”

Arvil’s eyes flickered to her face the second he felt her return and his chest constricted when he saw the redness in her eyes. She’d been crying.

“You cried,” he said instead, reaching out unconsciously to touch her face before he regained control and pulled his hand back. “I’m curious, but I won’t ask why. Not unless you’ll tell me yourself. Come on, let’s do something to cheer you up.”

Daisy blinked. She thought she had gotten rid of the tears before he noticed, and her eyes must have been redder than she thought… So he knew, but not why. She couldn’t decide if she was okay with that or not…

“Well… I was actually just going to finish up eating and go home, but if you want to do something else…” she trailed off with a shrug. Maybe getting her mind off of it would be good.

“Well, I can’t let my fiancée go home all upset,” Arvil stood up and offered her his hand. “So I’m going to cheer you up. Where do you want to go? I’m at your disposal for today, or as long as you want me.”

Daisy’s gaze flickered to his hand uncertainly before she packed her things away, then slowly reached out to take it. Her things slung over her shoulder, she let him pull her to her feet.

“I don’t really care. Pick somewhere, anywhere,” she sighed, glancing away.

Arvil’s eyes flickered to their hands before he linked their fingers together, pulling her a little closer to himself.

“Ice cream, then?” He looked back at her. “May I hug you, Daisy?”

Daisy blinked again, taken by surprise at his simple question. She wanted him to. She wanted him to pull her into his arms and comfort her. And yet… she couldn’t bring herself to allow it, for fear that, if she did, she would break down again. So she answered in a soft whisper, hoping he didn’t take it the wrong way, “No.”

Arvil felt disappointed at her answer, but he didn’t let it show. Of course she wouldn’t want him to. They were in a fake relationship. She wouldn’t want him touching her any more than it was necessary.

Arvil just smiled. “That’s okay,” he answered just as softly. “I understand. Did you drive here, Daisy?”

I don’t think you do understand… But thank you for trying, anyway.

Daisy hummed, nodding. “I did. What about you? Did you drive as well?”

“I did,” Arvil nodded, furrowing his eyebrows thoughtfully. “I could have someone take your car home, if you’d like.”

“No, no. Why don’t we just leave it here and come back for it?” Daisy suggested, shaking her head and then shrugging.

“If you’re okay with it,” Arvil squeezed her hand, “We can leave it here.”