Subtitle: Getting to know him
Written by: Marvy Hyacinth
"I love you."
Anderson said, barely whispering.
Alexa pulled away from his embrace and looked at him.
"What did you say?"
She asked, wanting to make sure she didn't hear things.
"Ughm... I said nothing."
Anderson denied.
"But... But..."
Alexa stuttered, her two index fingers cutely touching each other.
"But what?"
"I was pretty sure I heard you say 'I love you."
Alexa said, her eyes fixed on her index fingers.
"Ughm... No... No..."
Anderson stuttered, sweats breaking out on his forehead.
"Are you sure?"
Alexa questioned.
"Of course I am."
Anderson lied, but before Alexa said anything more, he pulled her by the wrists.
"Where are we going?"
Came Alexa.
"To the dining room, I prepared dinner for us three."
Anderson said, trying to get her mind off the awkward topic and into another.
"Wow. You cook?"
Alexa asked amazed.
"Of course, I can. I used to live alone, remember?"
Anderson asked as he locked her fingers in his.
Alexa looked at their joined hands and smiled.
It was always her dream to get married to a guy who could cook.
She hated doing the chores alone... That's why she'd taught Jace how to make certain dishes even if he was barely nine.
And it paid off.
He had normalized helping out in the kitchen, which made Alexa give him some time off sometimes.
Maybe getting married to Anderson wouldn't be as disastrous as she had thought it'd be.
She looked up and flashed him a smile.
Anderson's heart fluttered at her smile and couldn't help but flash her one of his amazing smiles too.
Was he falling for this girl?
Duh!
Not 'falling'!
He was in love with her already
"Alexa!"
Jace screamed and ran into her already open arms.
"Where did you go?"
"Somewhere quiet, Jace. You are loud."
Alexa replied half laughing as she ran her hands in his hair still in the embrace.
Jace turned to look at Anderson, still in Alexa's embrace, winked at him, and grinned haughtily when Anderson winked back.
"Alright, dinner's getting cold. OK, it was made cold."
Anderson laughed, Jace, laughing with him.
"But let's eat anyway, it's gonna be seven anytime soon."
He completed.
Alexa was about to seat on one of the chairs, but Anderson stopped her.
"Wait!"
Alexa froze, her heart thumping loudly, thinking she'd done something wrong and he was going to bully her again.
Anderson walked over and pulled out the chair, shocking both Alexa and Jace.
"For you, my lady."
Anderson said romantically and Alexa blushed as she took her seat.
Anderson sat down at the head of the table before he removed the lid covering the food on his plate at the same time Alexa and Jace did the same.
"Oh my! Fruit salad?"
Alexa yelped in surprise and happiness unable to believe her eyes.
"You likey?"
Anderson asked with a smirk.
"Of course I do!"
"I just found that out recently."
Anderson said.
Alexa turned to look at Jace and back up at Anderson.
"And I guess Jace must be responsible for that?"
"Of course no sis..."
"Yes, you got that right..."
Jace and Anderson said together, at the same time!
Alexa stared at both of them surprised. They both had gotten closer, so much for a few minutes.
"So who am I supposed to believe?"
"Me, sis."
"Of course, you know that should be me."
They both started again.
Jace turned to face Anderson who was already staring at him and they got into an awesomely nice argument while Alexa watched on.
"Dude, you know it should be me."
Jace pointed out.
"Why you? I'm her husband."
"Duh! Husband to be, and besides... I'm her sibling!"
"Sibling? I'm her fiance."
"Fiance? Bro! I'm her fucking brother."
Jace yelled forgetting he was too young to use a cuss word.
"Jeez, Jace!"
Alexa gaped at him.
Jace gave a nervous smile.
"I wasn't supposed to say that now, was I?"
He asked, making Alexa nod in the negative.
"I'm sorry Alexa."
Jace apologized.
"Not to me Jace. To Anderson."
Alexa redirected while Anderson watched as matured as Alexa was in handling Jace.
"No. He pushed me into saying that."
Jace said, drawing imaginary images on the tiled floor.
"Even if I said I'll find a way to get you some new books?"
Alexa smiled wittingly at him.
"Noo! Not the books."
Jace whined.
"Common Jace or some new books won't be finding their way into your hands. Don't you want to remind your brain what new books smell like?"
"Argh! You got me!"
Jace rolled his eyes before turning to face Anderson.
"I'm sorry Anderson."
Jace apologized.
"It's OK kiddo."
Anderson smiled.
"Now let's eat!"
Jace yelped excitedly and scrambled back down from his seat.
"This is delicious."
Alexa commented after eating a spoonful.
"I know."
Anderson replied curtly, indicating pride whilst slipping his spoon into his mouth.
"Whatever."
Alexa rolled her eyes and continued eating.
The three ate in silence until about 30 seconds later, Alexa remembered what she saw in the entertainment news on her phone.
"Ughm... Anderson?"
Alexa called out unsure and Anderson turned to her, his gaze fixed on her which meant 'Go on' while munching on some fruits.
"I saw something on the news yesterday."
"What was it about?"
"Why'd you go live saying you were getting married soon?"
Alexa asked, slipping a spoonful of fruit salad into her mouth.
"Because it's true."
Anderson replied.
"Were you the one that leaked those pictures of me from the CCTV camera?"
"And why do you think it's me?"
Anderson raised his brows and dropped his spoon.
"Because since I've been coming here, I haven't seen anyone else in this estate and the security here's pretty tight."
"Get to the point already."
Anderson sighed.
"There's no way those pictures leaked if it wasn't the command of someone in high authority here."
Alexa said with a hint of finalization.
Anderson's face darkened.
"So you think it's all me? Is that what you're insinuating?!"