Chapter 46. The Final Decision

On the third month they had known each other, Sienna finally found the courage to call his phone number. On the first weekend of the month, she was feeling hugely nervous to hear his voice again after such a long time.
The last time they met was when he gave her the diamond ring. And she still kept the ring in her bedroom. She did accept to keep the ring after he proposed to her in a mega restaurant in the city. But she had not given him the real answer yet.
And this time, she had thought thoroughly about it. She was settled with her decision. She knew there was no turning back once she told him what she wanted.
As she was ready to disguise herself with a pseudonym name of Carmelia Rozewood again, she dialed his phone number. She had to be prepared to bring up the topic she tried to avoid the last time they talked to each other.
When the beeping sound took pretty long, she started to feel hopeful. She began to think differently about this. She thought there for a second, maybe Daniel had changed his mind suddenly. Maybe he didn’t want to wait for her. Maybe he bailed and walked away from her. She felt agitated just by thinking about it.
“Please, pick up my goddamn phone call…” she muttered restlessly while still holding her phone to her ear.
And while sitting on the edge of her bed, she kept stamping her foot on the floor. Her eyes kept rolling around the room nervously.
But he didn’t pick up her first phone call, instead, she heard the female robot said, *“The number you have dialed is not answering, please try again later…”*
“Damn it… Daniel...” she muttered peevishly. Her mind started to think anxiously about him. She thought maybe Daniel intentionally hanged up her phone call to avoid her. Maybe he had changed his mind after a few weeks he had not heard the news from her.
But then she wanted to try one more chance. And if he didn’t answer her this time, she would let him go. She didn’t want to deal with him anymore. And she didn’t want to engage with him in the future. She would be settled about it. And maybe it was for the best anyway. That what her dad and her mom would say to her if they knew her secret affair with that man.
After she had desperately waited for the unanswered beeping sound, she was about to give up. But then suddenly, she heard the familiar deep voice on the phone finally spoke to her.
“Hello? Carmelia?” It was his voice for sure.
As she immediately recognized his voice, her hands shivered. And her whole body almost felt numb.
“Ugh, hello… Daniel? This is me…” her heart pounded faster. She suddenly felt restless to tell him. She suddenly wanted to retreat and avoided him.
“Carmelia, I’m sorry, my love,” his voice spoke gently to her. “I’m on my way to the office right now… I have just got back to my car. I was in the gas station… but if you want me to see you now…”
The pop music obscurely was heard in the background. He was driving.
She bit her lips nervously. She couldn’t possibly tell him about her final decision when he was in the middle of driving his car on the road. It was not safe for him to receive a phone call while driving.
She needed to think about her plan B. She should have just left unnoticed and pretended as if she never met him. She was in a huge dilemma. She couldn’t think clearly for a second.
Soon, he noticed her silence felt somewhat odd. He immediately started the conversation again. His voice sounded worried this time, “Carmelia, are you alright? Where are you now? Let me pick you up. Are you feeling well now?”
Sienna blinked her eyes agitatedly. Then she shouted after, “I… I am fine.”
Why would he suddenly ask if she was feeling well or not? She certainly felt uneasy to talk with him at the time.
Then she quickly shouted out before he made more assumptions about what she felt, “Listen, Daniel, about your proposal…”
She held her breath and paused for a second. She felt awkward the moment she mentioned the word proposal like she was about to do a business with him.
Thereafter, she pretended to clear her throat and said, “I mean your marriage proposal…”
“Carmelia,” he cut her off. His voice still sounded gentle and patient. “Did you know why I intentionally didn’t call you until you call me now?”
She went silent for a second when she reminded her. Obviously, she had been thinking about why he didn’t try to pursue her after she left him quietly the last time.
Afterward, she needed to hear his reason, “Why?”
She could hear his deep breath when he exhaled. Then he told her, “Because I don’t want to make you scared of me. I want to give you a space to think about our relationship thoroughly.”
“Oh, Daniel, about that…” she slightly licked her pink lips as she spoke on the phone, “I want to tell you about what I feel. And about my decision now.”
He paused, then murmured, “Go on, please.”
“I think I’m in love with you too,” she said, finally.
Soon after, she heard the car brake was being pulled harshly.
“Hello?” She was worried for a second. “Daniel, are you alright?”
Sienna hoped she didn’t make him got a heart attack after she confessed to him boldly.
“Can… can you repeat what you just said?” He begged her.
She blinked nervously. Then she told him again, “I said I’m in love with you, I think.”
“Does it mean you accept to marry me?” He asked wonderingly. Although his voice sounded calm, Sienna could feel his unspoken raging emotion from the inside.
Then she talked stammering, “Can… can we just meet face to face to talk about this?”
“Yes, fricking yes, Carmelia!” He sounded so excited about meeting her. “Let me just pick you. Tell me where you are right now, please.”
She instantly raised from the bed and snapped him anxiously, “No! I mean, just let me come to you… or maybe we can just meet in the city park…”
She couldn’t let him pick her up right in front of the house. Her family could be suspicious of her later if he did.
“Carmelia, seriously? We need a private space to talk about this,” he reminded her.
“Oh, you’re right…” and she couldn’t risk exposing this relationship to anyone, except Cora that already knew all about her secret affair with Daniel.
But then she suggested to her, “How about I come to your house? I’d like to meet your parents and talk about our future…”
“No!” She was panicking when he suddenly asked for the most forbidden thing that she shouldn’t do with him. That was too dangerous to introduce Daniel to her parents, especially to her dad.
Daniel asked bafflingly, “Why? What’s wrong?”
Sooner or later, she knew this question would come up and she had to face it.
Whatever it took, she couldn’t tell him about her family background. If she did, he would find out that her name was not Carmelia Rozewood. And she couldn’t tell her parents either about his marriage proposal. This was just too complicated to deal with.
She intentionally hid this relationship she had with Daniel because she knew that her dad wouldn’t approve of her marriage with a mafia billionaire. Her dad would despise Daniel if he became her husband in the future.
Afterward, she agreed when he told her that he would pick her up near the coffee shop, which was the first place where they ever talked to each other two months ago.
Soon after they hanged up the phone call, she took her burgundy oversized cardigan from the bed and wore it quickly before she left her bedroom.
***
After Sienna saw a black sedan car honked in front of her, she noticed it was Daniel’s car.
He half rolled down his car window as he shouted out at her, “Come on, get in!”
As her heart trembled, she smiled awkwardly at him. And then she opened the car door to sit next to the driver seat.
Once she sat beside him and closed the door, she asked curiously, “Okay, so, where are we going now?”
Before he stepped on the pedal, he grinned at her mysteriously. Then he whispered, “I’d like the two of us to talk somewhere quiet.”
Sienna watched him well-warily for a second. Somehow, her whole body got shivered just by seeing the shape of his almond dark eyes.
But she had to question him once again. Her heart was feeling a bit restless whenever he was acting inscrutably in front of her.
“Come on, Daniel, tell me, please?” Her voice sounded demanding when asking him. “I need to know where we will be going now.”
He chuckled and said, “You’ll see soon.”
As she pinched her eyes suspiciously at him, Daniel drove his sedan car fast on the asphalt road. Sienna felt her heart was throbbing. And it felt so pretty bad.