CHAPTER 101:
TEN STEPS AHEAD
Liam’s P.O.V.
Dayanara:
Hey, still there? Are you okay?
14:16
Liam:
Yup, don’t worry about me. Just finishing some presentations for the afternoon’s meeting.
14:18
Dayanara:
Will you still be the one to do that? Isn’t it Trixie’s job?
Anyway, will you drive me home later? Denise has been anxious to see you. ♡
14:20
Liam:
These are some confidential documents that even Trixie doesn’t know about.
Hmm… can you just ask Lorenz if he could drive you home later, sweetheart?
After the meeting, I still have to prepare for tonight’s call from France.
I promise I’ll soon make things up.
14:25
Dayanara:
Hmm, is that so? Okay, I understand.
14:30
Dayanara Clariz Rivera went offline.
Sleep deprivation caused me to massage both of my temples. Along with my blurred vision, my head was aching so bad right now that I couldn’t focus anymore. I knew that Diane was mad at me and abruptly setting her chat status from active to offline was the proof. I couldn’t help but think that I might have hurt her for not agreeing to drive her home.
She chatted that she understood me, but I was sure that it was the other way around. I might have disappointed her. I couldn’t blame her, though. It had been nine days already when we had our dinner date together. After that, I never made an effort.
For that, instead of continuing the new strategic product approach that I would present to the investors at four in the afternoon, I browsed through the internet and purchased an online order. It was too late, but still, I managed to have those chocolates and flowers delivered to Diane—with my codename, Mr. Handsome.
Cutting my flashbacks while I was perspiring inside the box due to a lot of heat, I couldn’t help but be emotional when Diane was slowly unwrapping me.
I even heard their small talks about Spider-Man’s life-sized action figure that she preferred and was expecting to see. I just hoped that all of me would be way much better than her Spidey—because all of me solely belonged to her, and no one could ever change it.
With all the stress and burdens that I had been dealing with over the past few weeks, I must admit that taking care of Diane became less of my priorities. I just had something to prioritize for the time being, and it was all about my different companies.
Dad called me two weeks ago, so I only had two weeks left to stay here. An extension was what I needed, and I was sure that Dad wasn’t selfish for not giving that to me. He was strict, but he was not greedy.
In the later part of that week, I successfully signed four deals with different investors. Those were some billion-dollar-worth contracts coming from international companies. Dad was so happy, but he still wanted me to go back to the States.
Exhausted, I was damn too busy handling everything. I didn’t know what happened—why one of the L.A. Gadgets International branches in Boston suddenly went bankrupt.
Viewing it on the larger picture, I was sure as hell that it wasn’t because of our high-skilled code developers. They were still there, so why declare a sudden bankruptcy? There was more than what meets the eye, and that somehow puzzled me. But whatever the reason was, I should go there and obey Dad. I should focus on what was significant.
It was then followed by another disaster because the D’ Jewelries in New Bedford had been sinking too. Of all my companies, that was the one I could not afford to lose. It was only established in January last year, and it was even named after Diane—the reason why it started with the letter D. I named it after her when I got the chance to know her name from Steve.
Strategic plans had been placed, and I would be ready to go back to America. Only the L.A. Gadgets in Boston had to suffer bankruptcy alone because I would do everything in my power for others to still hit the top.
On the other hand, Mom had been calling a lot, asking about the person I loved. It was quite odd because all my life, she never got nosy and never had the chance to pry over my personal stuff. Just now. She even suggested bringing my girlfriend with me to America. Actually, Mom gave me the idea, and I loved that.
Therefore, before flying back to America, I decided to finally propose to Diane and I would do everything for us to get married soon. That was the main reason why I talked to Shey’s younger sister, Neyrah, who also happened to be my first cousin. She was the one I used to talk to most of the time these past few weeks.
Neyrah was currently one of the best and competent wedding planners in Italy. Despite being so young, she was passionate, dedicated, and already in-demand.
She was even having a big project in Italy, but she had to reschedule that one for me, given the urgency, and I couldn’t thank her more for doing that. I was completely in awe. Neyrah had always embedded her heart into everything she does; thus, resulting in great and magnificent wedding portfolios.
Being a business tycoon, I didn’t have any ideas when it came to wedding preparations aside from my preferred tuxedo, so I trusted everything on her. Grateful, I wouldn’t have any worries at all because of Neyrah. The wedding would surely be a successful one.
Last night, Janno, Neyrah, and I went to Balesin Island just to make sure everything was in the right order. Beach wedding would be the theme and setting of my surprise wedding for Diane, which I had been preparing in less than a month. I just really hoped that my girlfriend would say ‘yes’ to my wedding proposal.
Although I hadn’t slept yet, I came back here in Quego del Mar this morning. Neyrah checked the last-minute details and took the afternoon flight, while Janno had to stay there until tomorrow night. Earlier, I immediately approached Diane’s family, together with her close friends, and worked with them in cahoots for her surprise birthday party.
In barely three weeks, I spent most of my time synchronizing the wedding planning, parallel with the hectic managing of EGC, so I had to make it up for her. And I would, of course. After all, Diane would be my wife tomorrow, and the thought could make me damn so eager. I was over the moon.
It was even beyond perfect that I was able to send Karen back here, Diane’s best friend, who already resided in Cebu. Blissful, I was able to get in touch with her no matter how sneaky she was. Her presence was important to Diane, so I was sure that my sweetheart would be really surprised at seeing her.
Contrary to Cebu, I was able to contact Karen in Palawan. I phoned her almost three weeks ago regarding my plan, and aside from Neyrah, Karen also had been helping me a lot despite how busy she was.
Instinctively, I was sure that she would be Diane’s maid of honor. So, I wasn’t ashamed to ask Karen about which color motif Diane would prefer. She had been sending both Neyrah and me a bunch of stylish photos. Although Karen was preoccupied lately, she had always been so cooperative.
Diane’s favorite color was red, but contrary to that, Karen affirmed that Diane would choose light colors for the wedding. Thus, Neyrah decided that we should go with a pastel or a blush peach motif and a rustic beach theme.
As for the color palette that my cousin gave, I chose teal blue for me. It would be for me and Samuel—my best man. He was my stoic teenage buddy, far different from Steve and the rest of my previous friends. Additionally, my groomsmen would only be Janno and David.
The wedding would happen tomorrow at sunset if Diane would accept me in a few minutes. She wouldn’t probably reject me, and I was one hundred percent sure of it. We would be having an evening flight right after our dinner tonight using my private plane, with all the people surrounding us here.
Contented, I guessed everything was perfectly planned for the wedding. Diane’s sweetest ‘yes’ would be the only item that was missing.
That was how fast I would have wanted the whole thing to happen. I didn’t want to rush everything, but if Leandro already planned something that would break Diane’s trust in me, I would make sure that my plan would be ten steps ahead of him.
After the wedding, I knew that I would be able to tell Diane everything—all in bits and pieces. I was only hoping that she would never change how she looked at me—that she would still love me despite the terrible and heinous crime that I did.