Chapter 293

Elena “Here you go, dad!” I placed a cup of coffee on his desk. “Watch out. It’s hot.”

My dad turned on his lamp and closed his laptop to face me. He was still crazy, but he looked a lot better than he did two weeks ago. “You’re in a good mood.” He smiled. “Why are you all dressed up? Aren’t you going to bed?”

I spun around to show him my outfit and made a pose. “I’m going out with Rona, don’t wait up for me.”

He shrugged and took a sip from his coffee. “You deserve to have fun.” He spoke. It took a lot to gain back his trust, but I had somehow managed to do it. The poor man thought I had cut off all contact with Marvin, and I did not feel bad for lying to him.

I wasn’t the issue, and I didn’t do anything wrong, dad and Alex did.

“You know, Victoria misses you.” My dad mentioned her name. Since the wedding, the two of us had barely talked, and it was not that difficult to guess why. We clearly had different views on Marvin, and I didn’t need her to tell me how messed up I was for being by his side.

I shot my dad a reassuring smile. “Victoria and I are fine. We’ve just been so busy with work.” I told him. There was some truth to it because, as far as I was concerned, Victoria and her dad were too busy defending the Hernandez.

“Anyway, I have to go-and don’t stay up too late!”

Not long after, I had arrived at the cocktail bar by uber. It had been a few days since I last saw Marvin, but I was just as nervous as when I met him.

“Why are you all dressed up? Marvin has already seen you in your hideous state.” Rona commented the moment she had laid her eyes on me. It was her strange way of saying I looked good, and I appreciated it.

“You’re not even working any shifts tonight. I can’t believe you came all the way here for Marvin.”

She rolled her eyes. She could play all she wanted, but she was the one who had forced me to invite him in the first place.

“Are you going to stop now?” I raised my brow. Rona shrugged. “I guess.” She smiled. “As you can see, the place is fully packed as usual.”

Rona and I burst out laughing at our usual joke. The only time this place was packed was on the weekends “Did you send everyone home?” I asked Rona, noticing the bar was empty.

“Yes, I just needed someone to keep me company-and now I have you.” She spoke. “Anyway, when will they be here?”

“I actually don’t know.” I took out my phone and scrolled through my conversation with Marvin. “We didn’t really agree on a time, so-”

“Elena!”

I flinched at the sound of Panther’s voice, who walked up to me with open arms. I looked behind him to search for Marvin, but I could barely see him as Panther lifted me from the floor to pull me in a hug. “If you can put me down and let me breathe!”

“I’m sorry.” Panther apologized as he put me back on my two feet. He scanned his eyes up and down to look at my outfit. “You’re looking good.”

I know I did.

“Thank you.” I humbled myself.Being too confident was never a good thing. Panther chuckled. “And I see you’re wearing black for a change.” He spoke sarcastically.

“Haha, really funny.” I rolled my eyes.

“That’s what they say about me.”

This time I heard Marvin’s signature laugh and pushed Panther aside so I could look at Marvin. He showed me his two perfect dimples and tilted his head to look at me. “I think you look great.”

I flew into his arms and hugged him.

“Marvin, you’re here!” I almost yelled in his car.God, he must think I’m annoying.

“I am,” Marvin spoke in his usual calm tone. That was enough for me to know that I was overdoing it again. I had to remain calm. I couldn’t look like a fool while he was standing in front of me.

Wait a second. Was he standing?

“Wait, why aren’t you in your wheelchair?” I pulled myself away from the hug and looked behind him. “Don’t tell me you came here without it?”

Marvin opened his mouth to speak, but before he could. Panther had pushed him aside. “He did, but don’t worry about it.” He spoke. “Marvin does what Marvin wants, so you’ll only waste your time worrying about it.”

“What?”

“Exactly!” Panther slammed his arm around my shoulder. “So why did you invite us all the way here?”

I removed myself from Panther’s grip and looked at Marvin, who by the looks of it, seemed to be wondering the same thing. I thought I had made it obvious that I liked being in his presence. Why wasn’t he showing me the same attention?

“I haven’t seen Marvin in a few days…so I thought…

“Elena came here on her day off to spend time with you.” Rona spoke for the first time. Marvin’s eyes widened as he stared at me in surprise. “You did all of that, just so you could see me?”

“Yes, I did.” 1 admitted, observing his reaction. Marvin smirked proudly. “You didn’t have to do that, Elena.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it.” Panther laughed. “This place is always empty, so each day is like a day off to them-isn’t that right, seaweed?”

Rona folded her arms. “You know, other than following behind Marvin’s ass all day, you probably don’t even have a job.”

Panther blinked, unable to give a response, while Marvin patted his friend’s back. “That’s right, get him, Rona. Don’t let him disrespect you like that.” He praised her. It was so easy for her to get his attention. while I almost felt as if he didn’t notice me at times. Was it because my personality was too much for him? Was it because I wasn’t mature enought “Come on,” Rona motioned. “Let’s sit, and I’ll tell you all about why this place is so empty.”

“And that’s why this place is empty!”Rona complained after her fourth glass. She had dragged all of us to a booth and told us her entire life story. “It’s not because of me. It’s because the competition around here is tight.” She spoke with flushed cheeks. “I’ve done everything. I’ve put in every little cent-but the place..the place the place.

“I know, I know.” Panther rolled his eyes, comforting her. It seemed like I wasn’t the only one bored to death. I had invited them over to spend time with Marvin, but it became the Rona show.

The only one who did not seem annoyed by her rant was Marvin. He listened to each word as if he was trying to come up with a solution. “Don’t you have a distributor?” Marvin asked. Rona nodded her head. “I do, but it’s so expensive. Everything in life is just so expensive.”

Someone kill me.

“And how about staying with one brand?” Marvin suggested. “I think you might need to distinguish your bar from the competition—”

“Okay, that’s it.” Panther stood up. “I can’t take any more of this business talk, and poor Elena is almost falling asleep.” He pointed at me.

All heads turned to me while I looked down at my knees. I mean, he wasn’t wrong-but was it really necessary to put me on the spot like that?

“Am I tiring you, Elena?” Marvin asked politely. “N-no, of course not!” I raised my head to look at him. Yes, he was tiring me, and I couldn’t remember the last time I heard such a boring conversation-but I couldn’t show it to him.I could not come off as too stupid or immature.

“I think you made some good points. Doesn’t your family have its own liquor brand?” I added.

Shit.

“Yes yes, we do.” Marvin squinted his eyes.How was I going to explain myself?

“Did you google me?”

“N-no?” I began making up lies in my head. “It’s what we used at the wedding so I just assumed—”

“Of course, you’re right!” Marvin pointed out. I’m the one who told you about it, at our first meeting Remember?”

I took a relieved breath He did. “I’m sorry, my mind has just been all over the place.” He said.

“It’s okay”

Marvin smiled at me while I smiled back, but as expected, Rona had to ruin our moment. “That’s right Your family is loaded!” She gasped.It was time for her to leave us alone I couldn’t blame Rona, because that’s the kind of person she was. The person who could not read a room.

I pouted at Panther, who understood the hint and grabbed Rona by her arm “Yes, come on, and I’ll tell you all about it!” He dragged her away before the two started a conversation.

bit different from the hospital. It was like a redo of our first meeting, making me even more anxious.

“I’m sorry for boring you.” Marvin’s eyes found mine.He only apologized because he assumed my brains were too underdeveloped for the business talk.

“Don’t” I blurted. “I mean, you’re not!”

“Good.” Marvin chuckled, moving his hand to my ring finger. I blushed and shot him a surprised look. Was he making a move?

“Hey, I see you’re wearing your ring.” He commented. He wasn’t making a move. He was just interested in the ring. This wasn’t going anywhere.

“I am,” I spoke, embarrassed. After all that crap about not wanting his gifts, I had somehow ended up with the big diamond around my finger.

“What happened with the part where you didn’t want to accept my gift?” Marvin teased. I had quickly found out that Marvin loved getting on my nerves, and it was most likely because of my reaction—

but I wouldn’t fall for it this time.

“I’ve changed my mind.” I simply replied. Marvin, who seemed shocked by my newfound talent to remain calm, stared at me with a frown.

Was it a good frown?

Was it a bad frown?

“What?” I finally broke the silence. People staring at me without saying a word was my biggest pet peeve. I couldn’t stand it. Better yet-I hated it.

“What, what?” Marvin curled the side of his lips. He released a deep sigh. “Stop being awkward.”

“I’m not being awkward. You are!” I stated. I was awkward, and I hated changes. I was used to talking to Marvin at the hospital, but we were in a different environment, and now that I was out of my safe space, I didn’t know what to do anymore.

I took a sip from my cocktail. “So, what should we talk about?”

“I don’t know. You’re the one who invited me.” Marvin leaned back. “So you can lead the conversation. What doyouwant to talk about?”