Chapter 69

"Athena, please…." Frank called back her attention and she stared at him, seconds passed as everyone waited to know what would happen. Sean could feel his heart breaking into a million pieces by the second. Leo and Gloria walked out to witness what was happening and Gloria gasped.
"What the heck, is this guy stupid?" She muttered to Leo who said nothing and glanced at Sean, he knew about Sean s proposal tonight but what he couldn t understand was why he would just stand there and do nothing. He glanced at Athena, silently reminding her in his heart about their deal and that he would not hesitate to carry it out and he would make sure that she and Frank lived in wretchedness.
What happened next shocked everyone, Athena took a step forward to Frank and Sean closed his eyes, he knew that would happen, guess he wasn t more important than her mother s wish. He was contemplating on how to walk out of there in his shame when he heard whisperings and gasping and opened his eyes to see her approaching him. What is happening? He wondered and looked behind her to see Frank still in his kneeling position, he looked at the woman approaching him and his heart lit up in a final hope on what she was about to do.
Athena stopped in front of him and sighed, then she smiled faintly, "remember what you asked me that night after the party, in your study?"
Sean nodded, how could he forget when he has been trying to live up to that since she told him she loves him? 'Do you even think you can ever give another person a chance, someone that would value you and not trample on you when he thinks you don t befit him anymore, regardless of your mother s wish?
Seeing that he remembers the question, she smiled, "and what was my answer?"
Sean didn t waver his gaze from hers, remembering it also. 'It depends on if he makes me forget about my mother s wish.
"That s right Sean," she smiled and reached up her hand to cup his cheek, "you have made me do that and now I m stuck with you for the rest of my life."
Sean didn t know what to say, all he knew was that he could feel his heart swelling deeply in his chest and he fears it might burst open for that fact. He reached out his hand and caressed her face with his knuckles and she leaned into his warmth. His hand trailed down to the back of her neck and he curled his fingers on it before leaning his face to claim her lips in a sweet passionate kiss.
Leo started applauding and Gloria joined after and in seconds, everyone was clapping, everyone except Frank who couldn t believe what just happened. He thought he heard TB telling Gloria that the only reason Athena would ever come back to him was because her mother made her promise that she would marry him, how could the effect be different? How could it have turned out like this? If Athena promised her mother anything, she would always try as much as possible to live up to it, why didn t she do the same now?
He could feel that no one was interested in him for now and he forced himself back on his feet, glanced at the two people kissing and walked away. He don t even know what is wrong with him, he is not even that in love with her, all along he just wanted to prove to Sean that there is one thing he wants that he could never get, he just wants to show Sean that her heart would always belong to him and no amount of wealth he threw at her feet would she choose him over him, her first love but guess he was wrong and Sean did finally win over him. Turns out, he would never be better than him in anything, and this hatred had started when he rejected all his designs and gave the contract to Augustus. He just wanted to take away the one thing he wants and his money could never buy to leave him in pain like he did to him when he rejected his designs, but guess, even his trump card against him wasn t his trump card anymore.
"Well," Leo walked up to the hugging couple, he patted Sean at the back and he looked at him, he raised his eyebrow, silently asking him if he was going to go ahead with his earlier plans.
Sean nodded and Leo looked around, the brothers understood each other very well. Leo was telling him that now was the perfect place to do that but Sean shook his head, there are things he need to talk with Athena first before popping that question and he needs a quiet place to do that. He looked at Athena in his arms, "do you still want to go to that sit out with me?"
"I have been looking forward to it," she replied.
"I guess this is where we would say goodbye to you two," Leo said, grabbing onto Gloria s hand.
"I m so proud of you," Gloria said to Athena, "for the record, I was planning on removing you on my wedding plans if you had said yes to that guy," she rolled her eyes.
Athena chuckled, "I may have been a fool before Gloria, but I won t be that again. It doesn t take much to know who truly loves you and I am not losing that over a wish. Someone told me that my mother wish was for me to be happy and I know wherever she may be now, she is happy because I made the right choice."
"I will love to see that person," Sean said.
"It s Fred, he is Frank s neighbor," she replied.
"What is he in to, he deserves a reward from me," Leo said.
Sean glanced at him and shook his head, "you mean from us."
Athena laughed, "he is an artist, and he has a lot of beautiful paintings."
"Good," the two men said in unison before walking out of the hotel with their women.
***
Sean pulled out a chair for Athena when they got to the restaurant he booked for them. He had booked the whole rooftop for the two of them, he wanted them to feel free and have a look at the beautiful starry night and not have any interruption, plus, he wanted her to feel free to react anyhow she wants after he told her everything he wants to say and not have to worry about her reputation and what people would think.
"Thank you," she smiled, sitting down and looking up at the night sky, "it s beautiful out here," she chuckled.
"I m glad you like it," he responded, taking the chair opposite her. He sighed and opened the bottle of wine, he poured half a glass for each of them and took his drink, cheering with her, he sipped it and looked away, wondering where to begin.
"It s everything okay?" She asked, reaching out to touch his hand that was on the table.
He looked at her and smiled, then he sighed, "yeah, everything is fine."
"You don t look fine."
He smiled and placed his hand on top of hers that was on his, "it s just…" he sighed, tracing the back of her palm with his fingertips, "there is something I want to tell you, something no one apart from Leo knows. Tobias only knows a fraction of it," he scoffed with a smile. He licked his lips and blew out a breath, "I feel like you deserve to know everything, so that we would know everything about each other and won t be strangers, well, I won t be stranger because you have hidden nothing from me," he gulped, licking his lips once more. "Athena, I have done a lot of things, some you would not be proud of but I want you to understand, I didn t have a choice," he looked up at her.