C H A P T E R 1

Lily's POV

Two Months After the Situation

For the past two months I had been super busy planning the Charity Ball that was in a week. It was the first Charity Ball that I had had planned without any help from my mum and I wanted to show her I took the charity serious enough for her to trust me to be in charge of it.

I had everything planned to the T. I had the decorations ordered, invitations sent out, I had hired a very highly dependable catering company and now we were going to set up the day of the Charity Ball. This ball was raising proceeds for UNICEF, Hart Coorporations had been a sponsor for UNICEF for as long as she could remember and this ball was specifically for that. For fundraising there was auctioning of jewellery and all proceeds made were for UNICEF.

In the past two months I had tried to keep as busy as possible she didn't really want to think about the whole Damien and Emily thing. I had deleted posts of Emily and I or Damien and I off of any of my social media accounts. I had planned on just doing this quietly but I was highly followed on social media and when people noticed this they started asking questions amd so I had my publicist write a statement, in the statement it didn't say anything about cheating it just said we had decided to go our seperate ways. I realised that Damien was a public figure and the backlash he would receive was not necessary and I didn't want to be the reason for the backlash. The response from both our fanbases were understanding.

When I had told my parents and my older brother Kendall they had been furious. I played it down to them and somehow convinced them that it was okay and I was okay. My best friends Jane and Noah weren't as kind about it and made it clear that when they saw any of them Emily or Damien it meant war.

Today I had lunch with my parents and I think my mother had said their friends. I wasn't too sure why I had to go lunch with them and their friends but my mother hadn't given me any space to argue about it. I was sitting in my office in my penthouse and I was working out numbers for some of the charity events that were coming up. I had a masters finance degree and a masters marketing degree, it was something I had ways been interested in and something that came in handy with the charity work.

I finished and went to get ready for the lunch. I put on very light makeup and didn't dress very formally because after lunch I was going shopping with Jane just for a little retail therapy.

Lily's Outfit

I got to the restaurant and gave the valet my car keys and walked into the restaurant. I walked towards the maître d and said Mr Hart and he nodded and motioned for me to follow him. We were at my father's favorite Italian restaurant.

The maître d took me to a private room and I stepped in and say my mum first and she stood up as she saw me. I smiled and walked towards her she was grinning like a cheshire cat and said ,'Hi baby, you look amazing, oh my.'

My mum never failed to lift my self esteem and make me feel good about myself and I was so thankful. I whispered and said ,'Thank you mum, you look gorgeous as always.'

My mum was gorgeous and she was always glowing and I only hoped to be even a little close to her beauty because she was gorgeous. I saw my dad waiting with a smile on his face and I smiled at him and walked to him and said ,'Hi dad.'

He grinned and pulled me into a teddybear hug which I relished in. As much as I was twenty one years old now, I was the baby of the family and liked it , being the baby had always been fun for me.

I peeked over my father's shoulder and saw my parent's best friends Mr and Mrs Hamilton. I let go of my father to greet them and Mrs Hamilton pulled me into a hug which I returned with a chuckle and Mr Hamilton did the same. Mr and Mrs Hamilton had always been so kind and nice to Kendall and I growing up and so it was impossible to not warm up to them. I hadn't seen them in a while now so it was always good to see them. When we were younger I had a crush on their older son, Adonis, who was three years older than me, I had always found him so attractive, thinking back I probably really annoyed him. He had also always been nice to me in his own way but then he went to high school in England and had not seen him since.

When the hugging was over I smiled at them and said ,'Mr and Mrs Hamilton it's so nice to see you, how've you been?'

Mrs Hamilton replied with her smile still on her face and said ,'We've been great honey, but look at you all grown up and gorgeous.'

I smiled and then she said ,'We always see you on the news at this fashion event and the other.'

I chuckled and then noticed a really tall guy behind them with dark brown hair and blue eyes. Those eyes were so familiar but this man was so hot and mysterious with his serious face.

Mrs Hamilton saw me looking and said ,'Oh yes, I hope you remember my son Adonis.'

My eyes widened when I heard her but quickly recovered and replied saying ,'Oh yeah.'

I then looked at Adonis who was looked at me and I said ,'Hey, long time.'

He nodded and then said ,'It sure has been.'

My mum then ushered us into the booth and I ended up sitting on the end with Adonis next to me. Everyone was chatting and catching up except Adonis who was quiet and only speaking when a question was directed at him.

The waiter came to the table and smirked as he saw me and I suddenly felt uncomfortable with the attention he was giving me. He had taken everyone's order and then when he got to me his voice got huskier and more suggestive and I shifted uncomfortably as I ordered. He smiled and walked away and I sighed.

My mum chuckled and said ,'Well sweetie, someone seemed quite interested in you over there.'

I narrowed my eyes at her playfully and then laughed shaking my head.

My dad then cleared his throat and with a serious tone ,'Well we brought you two here for something.'

Suddenly the mood at the table had become very serious. I looked up at my dad and I saw his eyes looked very serious.

Mr Hamilton then started and said,'Well we've been talking and we were thinking that you two should get married.'

Everything stilled for a moment and all I could think was WHAT. They want Adonis and I to get married when we haven't seen each other in years. I looked at Adonis and he looked just as stiff as I was.

Mrs Hamilton then said ,'We really think you guys would be perfect for each other,it's something we've always said even when you guys were kids.'

My mum then said ,'We would never do something that wasn't best for you, I promise.'

Adonis and I remained silent and our parents were just staring at us waiting for a reaction. I was waiting for Adonis to react because I had nothing to say and right now I had no reaction.

Mrs Hamilton said ,'Lily you are gorgeous, smart, caring and a strong woman someone I want for my baby and Adonis needs someone like you in his life and I don't think there could be a more perfect fit.'

After a few seconds my mum gushed and said ,'And the grandbabies would be s gorgeous and smart.'

Mrs Hamilton giggled with my mum as if they were already imagining it.

Adonis finally spoke and said ,'It's all up to Rose.'

Adonis had never called me Lily when we were younger and whenever I asked him why he just shrugged.

Everyone turned towards me and looked so hopeful and I thought, well first of all I don't want to disappoint them and second of all I didn't mind marrying Adonis it was my dream when we were kids. I turned to Adonis and said ,'Are you sure okay with it being me.'

He stared at me and said ,'Yeah I'm sure. I don't say things I'm not sure of.'

Well that was rude I thought and his face didn't even change. I turned to our parents and I said ,'You guys know I got out a relationship two months ago and I can't just come out engaged because it will looked very fishy.'

I saw their shoulders drop a little, I laughed on the inside they were like little kids. I continued and said ,'It means we'll have to date for a bit then the other stuff, if thats okay with Adonis of course.'

They had hope back in their eyes as they turned to Adonis and all he had to say was ,'I'm okay with that.'

When our parents heard that they broke out smiling and started talking among themselves. I could hear Adonis mum and my mum talking about the wedding and all that whilst my dad and his dad had moved onto other things.

I laughed and turned to Adonis and said ,'Didn't they just look like children.'

He looked at me and nodded but I could see a smile at the edge of his mouth. He went back onto his phone amd I decided to do the same. The waiter came with food for our parents and gave it to them and then came back with two plates which I assumed were Adonis' and I's. He very harshly put Adonis's plate in front of him and then said ,'And for the beautiful lady,' with a wink after. I felt uncomfortable again and looked at my plate with a frown. I really didn't want to make a scene but that was unprofessional of him.

The waiter was about to ask if there was anything else and Adonis harshly asked the waiter ,'What was that?'

The whole table kept quiet and the waiter seemed not so confident anymore. Adonis asked even harsher when the waiter didn't reply ,'What the fuck was that!?'

I heard Mrs Hamilton hiss language at Adonis which he ignored and stared at the waiter. Again the waiter didn't reply, 'Can't you tell you're making my girlfriend uncomfortable.'

The waiter started stuttering and said ,'I had no idea sir. I didn't know she was your girlfriend.'

Everytime someone said girlfriend my cheeks were turning more and more pink.

I could tell Adonis was seething next to me and said to the waiter ,'Even if she wasn't my girlfriend that was highly inappropriate, in fact where is your manager?'

I knew I had to stop this so I put my hand on Adonis' thigh and looked at him and said ,'It's okay Adonis, please don't.'

He looked into my eyes and I think he could tell how uncomfortable I was and sighed and said ,'Go.'

The waiter scurried away and as soon as he was out of the private room Mr Hamilton started with ,'Atta boy.' This earned Mr Hamilton a punch in the shoulder from Mrs Hamilton and he shrugged. We all started laughing at Mr Hamilton and then I noticed my hand was still on Adonis' thigh, I quickly removed it and my cheeks set aflame and I picked up my fork and started eating.

After the lunch I had gone to the shopping strip that had Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Fendi,Chanel and stores of that stature. We had gone through every store and I had told her about lunch and my "marriage" to Adonis. Ever since I had told her she hadn't stopped talked about how cute her godbabies were going to be and how hot Adonis was. She was not wrong because if the babies came out looking like Adonis I was doing to have good looking babies.

After the shopping I had gone home amd relaxed because I was exhausted.