Chapter 57 BONUS CHAPTER #1

Melody returned back home after a long time of ceaseless ramp walk assignments and fashion tours.
She decided to give her parents a surprise and without any warning burst into Dmitri"s office after the receptionist winked at her and let her go without informing the Head Doctor.
However, she was the one who was in for a surprise when she saw a dashing young man in scrubs in her dad"s office. Handsome was too mild a word to describe him.
Brown intense eyes looked back at her through sandy brown locks before plum pink lips asked, "I am sorry but do you have an appointment ?"
"No !" Audrey breathed out.
"Do you want to meet a gynaecologist ?"
"No."
"Then you are in the wrong room, Miss. If you did not notice, this is the room of the Head of Gynaecology."
"I am not in the wrong room. I am exactly where I am supposed to be !" Melody indignantly replied.
"Is that so ? Any emergency ?"
"No."
"Do you have any heath problems ?"
"No."
"So only mental problems ?"
"Yes. I mean no ! Hey stop questioning me and tell me where is my Dad !!" Melody exclaimed, feeling annoyed at the handsome doctor who challenged her sanity. People were right, beauty is skin deep, Melody thought.
"My baby !" Dmitri exclaimed from behind as he entered the room and was engulfed in a huge hug.
While Dmitri and Melody settled down and talked about Melody"s sudden arrival and surprise, Ethan, Isabelle"s son, stepped outside of the room when a nurse asked for his signature on a few documents.
"I see that you have already met Ethan. Remember him, dear ?" Dmitri asked Melody.
Ethan had come back to his hometown after studying abroad for a long time and practicing there for a long time.
Hence, Melody and Ethan were meeting each other after a long time.
"Oh yes, curly sandy brown hair, brown eyes, smooth skin. Prickly," Melody spat out the last word with some venom.
"I beg your pardon. What am I, a rosebush ?" Ethan asked as he entered the office and Dmitri grinned while Melody turned crimson-red.
Since that incident, the two of them had become inseparable friends and not just two people who were Sarah"s brother and best friend.
"You come to my office more often than ever, that too when I have operations scheduled or have board meetings," Dmitri teased Melody when he found her in his office waiting for Ethan one day.
Melody loved Ethan"s company. He was smart, witty and a fun person to hang out with.
However, only one thing irked Melody. It was clear as day that Ethan loved her but the young doctor was unwilling to admit his feelings, even when Melody proposed the idea of marriage which he merely brushed it off as a practical joke by her and refused to even consider the idea that Melody was serious.
"I know it is said all too often, your highness, but your beauty robs my very breath from my lungs," Ethan had sarcastically said when Melody had asked him to imagine her in a white wedding dress and him as a groom in a black tux. "However, I am just a mere doctor and you are a supermodel. I will look like your tailor beside you so no thanks for the wedding proposal," Ethan had point blank refused to imagine their future together or even consider anything between them.
Ethan refused to think about it, not because he hated the idea but because it hurt him too much to think and then remind himself that he had no chance against better and richer suitors who came to ask for Melody"s hand. She was the heiress to her mother"s family diamond empire after all.
So Melody came up with a plan and decided to force the truth out of Ethan.
"Melody ?!" Ethan"s breathless voice came through the phone. "I am running a few minutes late for our meeting. I will be at the cafe in another twenty minutes or so," he hurriedly informed.
"Oh !" Melody replied. "But I called you to cancel the plan, Ethan."
"Cancel ? But why ?" Ethan asked dejectedly. He always looked forward to their weekly meetings.
"Someone is coming to our house," Melody answered.
"Ah, I see ! Someone important ?" Ethan asked.
"Hmm," Melody hummed. "For asking my hand in marriage," she added like an afterthought.
"What ? Why ?" Ethan questioned. "I thought that you said that you were not interested in anyone," he quoted her.
"Yes, I am not interested but my parents are," Melody feigned sadness.
Ethan did not remember cutting the call but he did remember racing down the stairs and frantically grabbing a small, velvet box from his office"s desk before he hurried to her house.
The doorbell to Dmitri"s house rang and he opened the door with a surprised look on his face.
"Ethan ? Son, what are you doing here and why do you look like you raced all the way here ?" Dmitri asked.
"Sir, please don"t give Melody to anyone. I promise to be a good friend, lover, partner and husband to her. I love her and can not imagine my life without her. Please don"t force her in an arranged matrimonial alliance. Please give me a chance, Sir," Ethan begged. "I love her. I really do," he added with pleading eyes. "Please give me a chance to show that she will be happy with me."
Dmitri looked at him with mixed emotions before he cautiously said.
"Son, I am glad you love Melody and you can always tell her that but what are you exactly talking about ? We did not force our Melody into any marriage," Dmitri revealed.
"B-uh buh b- but she told me that someone was coming to ask her hand for marriage," Ethan stammered, his previous confidence waning away.
Before Dmitri could negate Ethan"s statement, Melody squeezed under Dmitri"s arm and gave a tight hug to a shell-shocked Ethan.
"Oh yes ! You finally came to ask my hand for marriage !! I thought you never would," she excitedly said.
While Dmitri laughed at Ethan that he had been tricked, Ethan first breathed out a sigh of relief and then formally proposed her with a ring in Audrey and Dmitri"s presence after good-naturedly chiding the trickster for almost giving him a heart attack at such young age !
"You were so dense about my feelings and constant hints to you ! You deserved it after what you put me through," Melody huffed with crossed arms, making Ethan chuckle and quickly peck at her pouting lips.
"I am sorry but you are my heartbeat, baby. If you would have gone, I would been lifeless," he replied and that is when Melody melted in his embrace.
Even the song on the radio at that time sang out the lyrics-
"When you hear my heartbeat, baby
You give me a new life, you give me a new birth ... "
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