27. Memories, gifts and coming endings

I can not give you everything you want, but I will try my hardest to give you everything I possibly can give. Won't you stay? - Logan

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27. Memories, gifts and coming endings

Months until the contract become null? Seven months!!!

(Alexandra)

Alex stared at the calendar with wonder. She didn't know how fast the past three months had run, had disappeared on her. It was like time was wearing a jet pack, with the fastest fuel available and was passing by before she could even blink, even breathe.

She looked down at the sleeping man next to her. He looked peaceful, like he had no worries in his life. The usual knot in his brows whenever he was confused or thinking --which was most of the time -- or angry, was gone.

She smiled. She was smiling a lot these days, just as much she was worrying.

She didn't know why or how the three months had slipped by her sweaty fingers. She wanted more time.

Of course. It was the happiest days of her life, the most wonderful months, but she kept wondering when she would wake up. It almost felt like a dream. The happiness bursting inside her was only snuffed out by the reminder that this would not be forever. That they wouldn't be forever.

We are ending, but how can we?

As sun poured through the gap in her curtains, every morning, she woke up in Logan's warm embrace, just like today, feeling both happy and sad. Every morning she dreaded the coming train wreck.

And every night, she went to bed with Logan feeling like she belonged and when he slept, she closed her eyes with a twitch in her stomach that the day was over.

It was like torture, it was like she was a masochist, so hellbent on torturing and hurting herself, but she couldn't help it. She was her own enemy.

"Hey, stop looking at me, stalker." He smiled with a yawn. Even then, he looked handsome. It was illegal.

"I can't help it. I keep looking at you to find out what is really wrong with you."

"Nothing is wrong with me." He said with a frown.

"Well, I can't still believe it. So?"

"Whatever, Alexandra. Don't be so annoying. Oh, and be ready at six. We are going out to eat."

"What is special today?" She asked as she looked at him, wrinkling her eyes. He looked smug, like he knew something she didn't and she didn't like that. That cat just got the canary or whatever look he was sporting.

"Nothing. Can't I just take you out?" He asked, blinking up at her, looking all do innocent and cute, but she knew him. He was neither.

"No. You can't. So? Out with it already, Logan." She scowled.

"You haven't still gotten up from the bed already started fighting with me. You are unbelievable, Lex. Unbelievable."

"Yeah, I know. So tell me."

"It is a surprise."

"If I call Emma or El, will they know?"

"You are such a- such a child. And to answer your question, no, they won't know."

"You are such a tyrant."

"Me or is that you?" He said as he stood up and stretched and yes, fortunately --or maybe it is unfortunately-- for her, she had the pleasure of seeing his lean and glorious body every morning and it was a real feast to her eyes.

He smirked as if he could hear her thoughts and shook his head with a grin. "Naughty. Naughty."

"Walk away." She said and he stood there with a smirk stretching on his plump lips that she had kissed over and over again until they were red just the night ago.

"Lex, Lex, God. I can read every one of your dirty thoughts."

"Stupid jerk." She threw the pillow at him and it hit him on his chest and he shook his head with laughter, which tingled along her spine.

"You are so cute when you are embarrassed." He said as he patted on her already flushing cheek before he walked away, looking very, very pleased with himself.

Alex smiled as she curled in the bed and looked out the warm windows.

"Hey lazy, you gonna wake up or just keep lying there?" She heard Logan calling her and she stretched again before she stood up.

"I wish I can sleep in, but I am almost done with Mathilda's house and I need to finalize some finishing touches and all." She said as she walked to her room. "And Logan, I made scones. It is in the right side of where I keep the cookie jar." She said as she walked out.

"You are the best." He said and she smiled to herself.

When she was done showering and dressing, Logan was waiting for her downstairs.

"I can drive you to Mathilda's place." He said as he bit into a scone and closed his eyes. "This is delicious."

"Sure." She picked a scone and he waved at her to sit. She did as he asked.

"But I have something much much better. If you can just come to my office." He said as he put a glass of orange juice in front of her. "And drink this."

"Is that the surprise?" She smiled up at him with question in her eyes and he smiled.

"Not really. Just a gift." He said as she stood up.

"Okay. Okay. You are not going to tell me anything. I know. Can I just have the keys now, I miss driving."

"No."

"I hate you." She growled out. "I really hate you."

"You don't, but whatever."

"You are very arrogant and egoistic and I don't like it."

"You like it, alright. Now stop complaining and get in." He said and opened the door for her.

When they drove to his office, Tom was already waiting for them with a goofy smile on his face.

"Now I really have a doubt about that tracking device. Did you insert it in him when Logan was asleep or something, Tom?" Alex asked as he greeted her with a cup of steaming espresso, with cream and too much sugar, just as she liked.

"Oh yes, lady boss. I did. So if he ever did wander to places he shouldn't go, I will drag him back to you."

"Yeah?" Alex chuckled as Logan frowned at his PA.

"Tom, don't start this early in the morning. So where is she?"

"She is a beauty." Tom muttered and Alex narrowed her eyes at them.

"Who is the beauty? Does Alice know you are talking about other women?" Alex rolled her eyes as she punched Logan in the shoulders. He groaned. "And you, I am standing right here."

"Boss, lady boss is very possessive." Tom winked and Alex gave him a frown, to which he replied with another wink. It looked comical that Alex had to laugh at his silly smile.

"Are you ready to see her?" Tom asked her and Alex gave a jerk of her head with a shrug.

"Not really."

"Don't be envious. Green doesn't suit you." Logan said as he bent down and pressed a quick kiss on her lips. The kiss almost felt like a comfortable routine. Something you did, because you are familiar with it and you like it that way. Something you want to do, because it is supposed to be like that. Like sometimes how Dave would kiss Beth or Em and El would kiss their husbands.

And Alex liked it so much. It was just a simple press of his lips, it wasn't like the kisses he so deliriously bestowed upon her when they were alone, when they we're at the throes of passion, but this meant much more than sexy, hot kisses.

"Go on."

"Wait right here." Tom said as he walked away and after a while he came back, in a car.

"Wow." Alex gasped as she stared at the beauty in front of her. It really was a beauty. Body painted a gold, the Jaguar shone in the golden rays of sun, leaving her gaping at its mesmerizing body.

"You like her?"

"Of course." She said as she looked at it wistfully. "Oh God, you are torturing me." She grumbled moodily. He would show it to her and refuse to let her drive. So what's the point?

"Here." Logan said as he handed her the key with a wide smile. "Go on. Take her out."

"You are letting me drive?"

"It is yours. So..." For a moment Alex had doubts that she heard him right. Did she? Was he playing with her?

"Don't play games with me- I-"

"It is yours, Lex. You hear me. It is yours."

"Oh God, oh God, really." She couldn't stand in a place. She wanted to jump, she wanted to squeal, instead, she grabbed Logan by his tie and kissed him. Kissed him, like today was the end of the world, like tomorrow they would cease to exist.

His lips were familiar, just the taste of everything she had ever loved so much, a hint of butter and cinnamon from the scones he just ate and a whole lot of Logan, and she loved this much more than the Jaguar.

And she would miss it. God, she would miss it!

"Uhmm-" Alex jerked back when Tom cleared his throat. Her cheeks heated when she saw him giving her a wicked smile.

"Don't say anything." Logan warned.

"Nuh. Not saying anything, boss. If I am lucky, one day, I can buy a car like this for Alice and she will give me-"

"Not another word." Logan warned and Tom shrugged.

"Ok," He said and turned and walked away, but Tom wasn't Tom if he listened to Logan. He stopped half way there and turned back to look at his boss. "You can continue inside the car, boss." He smirked and threw a kiss at Logan, which Logan swatter away like a fly. She chuckled.

"It is not funny."

"It is." Alex said.

"Come on, let us check it out."

"You wanna make out?" She winked at him and he gave her a smoldering look and grabbed her hand.

"Yes, please." He said as he closed the door behind his back and pulled her to his laps and they made out, alright!

Later, that night, when Alex was driving to the restaurant, she had a dreamy smile on her face. She had the same one all through the day as she worked and Leo kept complaining about it.

"Stop smiling so much," He had said at one point with a pout. "It is kinda hurting my eyes."

"Stop being a pest, Leo." She had reprimanded as she hung curtains in the home theatre.

"Are you thinking about Logan?" He had looked at her with a kind of look she couldn't really understand and she had nodded and with a grunt, he had went back to hooking the curtains.

Alex shook her head as she stopped in front of the restaurant and handed her keys to the valet in the front. She looked at the Jaguar one last time before she turned away from her baby.

She really was happy, but it all felt like a strange dream and she wondered when it would end. She kept turning back, to look for the end.

Seven months! 30.4 weeks! 213 days! 5112 hours! 30620 minutes!

And then they would be over.

We will be so over. But I am afraid, I am so afraid...

Why don't you just tell him how much you love him?

"And, he will look at me with pity. I don't want that. I don't want him to look at me ever, ever with pity."

Maybe he won't. Maybe he will look back at you with Love.

"Will he?" She muttered to herself as she walked inside the restaurant. It was the one he had bought her the first time they met. How time had ran!!!

The voice was silent.

(Logan)

Logan couldn't contain the excitement as he waited for her. She was late, but he didn't let it affect his mood. He wouldn't let anything spoil this day for her, not even his impatience.

Today was all about Lex, and he would give this to her.

A going home present? The voice murmured with a smirk.

No. A gift to my best friend.

Here he goes, again, with that best friend Stupidity.

It isn't--

"Logan-" A voice cut him off.

"Barbara." He stood up. His irritation boiled and the bitterness he refused to seep in, burst out of him in waves after waves. Everything he ever wanted to forget come rolling down on him, once again, like a drowning wave.

He closed his eyes and clenched his jaws. His knuckles turned white. And his anger was like a hot lava, ready to burn him.

"Please, please don't walk awa-"

Someone touched his shoulder. He jerked away from the hand. He didn't want this woman's hand on him.

"Hey, it is me." Alex said as she grabbed his hand and wrapped her fingers around his. "You want to go?" She muttered next to his ear.

"Please Logan- I am sorry, sorry for everything and I know-how I don't deserve to even-even- please, just tell me how Eliza and Emma are and I - I won't bother you again."

He shook his head as he looked right into Alex's calming green eyes. They were dark now, full of understanding and love -and his heart stuttered.

And are you going to lose this because of the woman standing in front of you?

I am not losing anything. We are friends.

"Sit with me." He said to her and she nodded and followed. Her fingers were still wrapped around his and he Liked where they were. She gave his hand a squeeze as he looked up at the woman standing in front of him.

"Log-"

"Eliza and Emma are fine. We all are."

"Your dad-"

"Don't you dare." Logan gritted out. Barbara looked at him like he had just slapped her and took a step back.

"I am sorry. I am so sorry." She said before she walked away.

"Logan, do you want to go? I can cook at home." Alex looked at him with concern.

He wanted to say yes. He really want to, but...

Today was about her.

"No." He said as he composed his face and tried to forget everything about Barbara.

He closed his eyes for a minute and thought about Alex. Only her. About how she painstakingly made breakfast for him every morning. How she smiled whenever something pleased her-- it needn't be as big as cars, it could be just as simple as a bunch of wildflowers he picked on his way to the pool house. How she sometimes still blushed whenever he kissed her. How she was always there for him. And he wanted to be there for her.

He waved for the waiter. "A bottle of Bordeaux, mushroom cream soup, soufflè, and Lex, what else do you want?"

She gave him a smile, the one that could fill him up with warmth and wonderment. It was that smile, the one made of magic and Alexandra. Her smile. And he smiled back. How could he not!

"Ah-" She said out loud and he smirked. "Please be kind to my wallet." He told her with a begging look on his face.

"Don't be stingy." She said as she read her menu with the kind of look people looked at their medical reports and financial reports. He shook his head with a smile as he watched her.

"Coq au vin, Bouillabaisse, Mille-feuille. Thanks." She said to the waiter.

"Only you can eat like that!"

"Hey!"

"That is a compliment."

"Doesn't feel like one at all." She said with a scowl on her luscious lips and he had the urge to take a bite of it.

No desserts in the world tasted as sweet as her.

And soon somebody will be saying the same.

It was like a bottle of acid poured over his stomach, the thought, and he couldn't stop the feeling of betrayal and pain washing over him.

But how could he feel betrayed, when he was the one who came up with the stupid contract, and he was the one who couldn't love her like she deserved to be loved. It wasn't Alex's fault that he couldn't be the man she needed him to be, and it wasn't her fault that she would be happy with someone else soon after. How could he blame her for wanting to be happy? He wasn't that selfish.

"Hey, what? You okay?" It was her voice that pulled him out of his thoughts. "Here." She handed him the glass of red wine 🍷and he took a sip of it with a sigh.

He was spoiling this even before starting it.

"Now. Close your eyes." He said.

"What? Why?"

"Do as I say."

She grumbled as she closed her eyes. "So bossy."

"Wait. Ok. Now open your eyes."

She opened her eyes and blinked. "What?"

"Look down."

"Uhm-" She said with a confused look on her face as she stared at the file in front of her.

"Open it and read it."

"Is this your contract?"

"It is right before you, so why don't you open it and see what it is."

"Okay." She said as she opened the file. Her face was befuddled as she scanned pages after pages. Her brows were twined together and her nose was crinkled.

He knew the exact moment it all made sense to her.

Her face lit up. The gold in her winter green eyes glittered like the stars coming alive in the darkness of the gloomy nights and her smile, her smile was like a beacon for the lost hearts-- for his lost heart.

"You-I-" She stuttered as she stared at him. She didn't look down. She didn't hide. He could see tears rolling down her eyes and touching her smiling lips. She just looked into his eyes and he could hear everything she wanted to say to him. No words were needed.

"Don't cry." He whispered as he closed her hand with his.

"Happy tears." She smiled as he wiped the tears away.

"How did you-? I can't believe this. You did this. For me. "

"I did it, for you, but this is just the beginning, you know that, right?"

"I know. But this is everything to me." She said, her eyes shining with tears and sincerity.

"After digging a little, Michael found out-- Mike is our lawyer-- that Mr. Weston had a hand in all of it."

"Stacie Weston?"

"Good girl. I know you are smart."

"That was why you were with her the other day." She gave him a sheepish smile.

"And you were so jealous. I wanted to tell, but I wanted it to be a surprise and also, I didn't want to tell anything if I can't make it happen." He said and signed to the waiter, who brought in a chocolate cake with candles.

"Happy birthday, Alexandra." He said and she blinked.

"Today- shit, it is my birthday." She squeaked and he chuckled.

"You forgot?"

"Uhm, yes, I did." She squeezed her eyes shut with a sheepish smile.

"Only you." He said with an indulgent smile. "Only you."

Only her.

"Thanks, Logan. This is the best birthday present ever. Oh, and of course, the Jaguar."

"That isn't your birthday present. That is Emma and Eliza pestering me-"

And me not wanting you to drive around with Leo Shine. He didn't say that out loud.

"Oh."

"Yes. And you have to sign under this document, so that Michael can file the petition." He pointed to one paper. She nodded.

"So what did you give Stacie in return? She didn't look like the type of a woman who does things out of goodness of her heart."

"Yeah, yeah, I agreed to introduce her to an old friend of mine. He is a fashion designer. So..."

"That is all?"

"He is pretty famous and introduction with him, is not easier to come by. So that is all." Logan said. "We have some legal documents right here proving the discrepancies and Michael will ask the court once it is started to Subpoena the record of GS textiles Ltd, and I don't know how it all will be, but I am almost sure it will be in your favor."

"God. I don't know how to thank you, Logan. I feel like- I don't know how I feel like, but- but you are amazing. You did this all for me."

"Of course. Can you stay?" He looked into her eyes. Can't you stay? Won't you stay?

Why don't you ask her?

How can I? I am not that selfish!

"What? Of course, I am staying. I have to cut my cake."

"Yeah, lets cut your cake."

She cut the cake with a delighed look on her face --she looked like a kid lost in the candy store, she was that kid-- and fed him the first piece. "There." She said as she wiped the chocolate from the side of his lips and licked it with a sultry smile on her face. "I wish we were alone. Wanna sneak inside the restroom?" Her voice was a breathy whisper and it made him feel hot all over.

"You are a bad influence." He muttered with a sigh. "But no, we are not sneaking anywhere." He said as he smiled at her and jerked up when he could feel her feet sneaking way up his legs.

"So boring." She said, her eyes hooded. "But I like it here, as well." She said as her toes came dangerously closer.

"You never told me that when I am doing all those things to you." He winked and she flushed. "And get your leg down, woman." He said.

"Shush." She pushed a cake inside his mouth and the waiter looked at them, bewildered as he poured water in their glasses.

"Eat your cake, darling. I can eat mine." He said as he grabbed her hand under the table and she gave him a smoldering look.

"You eat your cake." She pouted and he laughed. "I wanna go home."

"I do, too. But let us finish this first. Don't be so impatient." He said as he slipped his hand down the table and squeezed her thigh. She moaned before she gave him a scowl.

"Don't tease me, Logan."

"You started first." He smirked and pushed a slice of cake inside her mouth. "Now, shush and eat your cake."

Me: what are those things he did to you?

Alex: *rolling her 👀* it is you. Again. And again. Don't you have somewhere you want to be.

Me: You are so ungrateful, Alex.

Logan: Oh, she is just tired. What do you want to know? Tell me, dear writer girl.

Me: *looking doubtfully at Logan* umm, did the Earth stop? Did the sky fall?

Alex: Umm, Logan, you don't have fever, right?

Me: Nah, he just wants something from me.

Logan: Can you come here? *dragging me away*

Alex: Heeeeyyy! You are not allowed to have secrets with her, Logan. Hey!

Me: Shut up, Alex. And Logan, what do you want?

Logan: Another wonderful night with her? *smirking*

Me: Nuh-uh, you are such a- such a- *walking away 🚶👣*

Ok. I know this chapter isn't really good. I am not really satisfied with how it turned out, but I don't know. I can't think much and it took me a lot of days to write this one. So don't be very disappointed. Maybe the next chapter would get better.

The story is coming to an end. Maybe after 4 or 5 chapters. Yeah!!!

After that, I am planning to write a new story with Leo Shine in it. (His Hired Girlfriend) Hope you guys give it a chance, too.