Chapter 94 - Wasted A Lot Of Time

Daniel thought for a moment before answering her.

"There was no particular moment that I fell for you, when I was treating you in those three months, I guess that is when I started caring about you and since you had no one to look after you, I spent more time around you and when Andrew wanted to see you without any proof I became protective of you and never left you alone with him, maybe that's when I started developing my feelings, I realized it when we started our journey from Peebles to London because by the time I dropped you at your home, I was already in love with you"

Rachel felt an unexplainable joy to know how mutual their feelings were, "Wow so we liked each other for a long time and we still didn't confess. I feel as if we wasted a lot of time"

"You know what? We wasted even more months than you think"

"How?"

"If we followed our grandpa's wish then we would have met each other way back and probably would have been engaged by now." Daniel laughed recollecting the time when he denied his grandpa's suggestion to marry grandpa James' granddaughter and spent most of his time in Peebles to avoid meeting the girl.

Rachel immediately covered her face, "Please don't remind me, I ran away from my home to get away from you."

"And then you ultimately landed at a place where I work, what an amazing coincidence, right?"

"Yes but you know what, that sunday when we all met, that's when I got to know it was you that my grandpa fixed the alliance with, that day I really regretted my decision of running away from home."

"Wait, what do you mean by that? Didn't you already know it was fixed with 'Danny'?" He highlighted his own name.

Rachel hesitated for a moment but decided to tell Daniel everything without hiding anything from him, she doesn't want to start their relationship with lies or by hiding the truth, "Actually, there was a misunderstanding"

"I am all ears"

"So, my grandpa didn't directly tell me about this marriage alliance, I heard our grandpas discussing it and grandpa Anthony mentioned his grandson, I didn't know at that time that he had two grandsons, so..." She hesitated how to say it.

"So?"

"Please don't get angry"

"Okay I won't"

"So, I thought Jimmy was the only grandson he had and I assumed my grandpa wanted me to marry Jimmy, I met him at a meeting once and I didn't want to marry him so after an argument with my grandpa, I ran away"

Hearing her story Daniel laughed loudly.

"Hey stop laughing" Rachel was damn embarrassed. 

"So, you thought Jimmy was the one you will be married to and you thought it is better to run away from your home rather than marrying him" Daniel couldn't stop laughing.

"Yeah I am sorry, your brother is nice but…" Rachel was unsure how to complete this statement.

"But he is not good enough for you?" Daniel continued laughing.

"Hey please don't say that it is more like he is not the one for me, he is amazing but not for me, I am sorry" Rachel again covered her face.

"Didn't your grandpa clear your misunderstanding?"

"Actually we had an heated argument and I didn't mention Jimmy and neither did he mention you and that night itself I ran away"

"Oh god Rach, I never thought someone would despise my brother so much that they would run away from their home to avoid marrying him." 

"Daniel please, I don't despise him, it is just that i was very annoyed that my grandpa was discussing my marriage alliance without asking my opinion first and when I saw his choice, I got more annoyed, later when I met Jimmy I realized my opinion of him was not right, he is a good person but still he is not right for me"

"True, anyway he knew that my alliance was fixed with you and he was damn excited about it"

"Really?"

"Yeah, because he wanted you to become a part of my family and look after our business, releasing him from that responsibility"

"Hahaha, Jimmy and his thought process" Rachel laughed.

"Yeah but then I told him about me falling for you, at that time I just said I met a woman in Peebles and fell for her Jimmy was the first person I shared my feelings with."

"Oh and I guess during that brunch he must have found out the truth?" Rachel asked, recollecting that sunday brunch where she found out the entire truth.

"Yes, he and my grandpa had so much fun that day, I actually lied at home that I am meeting my friends and came to your house"

"Oh shit"

"Yeah and when I saw my grandpa, I was so embarrassed, I got caught so quickly." 

Rachel laughed a lot, "Why did you lie?"

"My family was excited about getting us married and you expect me to inform them I fell in love with a girl in Peebles?"

"Got it, did Jimmy and grandpa tease you a lot later?"

"Obviously they did, grandpa too understood that I like you"

"Wait then why was he planning to set you up with Jessica today?"

"He was apparently trying to provoke you and I guess it worked as you were so aggrieved today"

Rachel felt embarrassed, "No I wasn't, I was upset about the slave thing, as you cheated"

"Are you still gonna stick with your ridiculous lie? Rachel, you are really bad at lying."

Rachel wanted to dig a hole, Daniel saw through her yet he acted along with her lie and there she thought she successfully fooled him.

"So you knew it already?"

"Yes, didn't I immediately scold my grandpa for you."

"That was bad, please don't scold him again"

"Yeah if he doesn't poke his nosy nose in my business, I won't scold him"

"After that when I made up that slave lie, you believed me right?"

"I was just giving you some face as you would feel bad if I knew about your jealousy."

"I am so embarrassed that you saw through me"

"Don't be, it is a good thing, we can avoid having misunderstandings in future"

"True"

"Rachel, will you now finally answer something for me?"

"What?"

"What was that milkshake dream about?" Daniel very well remembered that dream and again asked her.

"Can you just not give up on it?" This dream still makes her red in the face.

"We already kissed each other, so why are you embarrassed? Did we do more things in your dream?" Daniel was smirking.

"You look like a rogue"

"Don't change the topic"

"Fine, I had foam around my lips and just like today you wiped it clean"

"How?"

"Using your thumb."

"That's it?" Daniel felt very disappointed.

"Aww look at you being so disappointed about my dream" Rachel patted him on the head.

"No worries, the real Daniel would satisfy you better than the dreamy one" Daniel shamelessly blurted out.

"I thought you were a gentleman, who knew you were a shameless monster" Rachel murmured.

Daniel laughed at her words.

They then finally reached their destination.

"So, technically we started this journey as two single people and are ending it as a couple" Daniel was smiling when he said these words to her.

"Yeah who thought this would happen" 

"I was planning to do a proper confession after a few months" Daniel informed her of his plans.

"Thank goodness today happened, delaying it for another few months is so annoying."

"Yeah so impromptu today was, didn't expect things to turn this way."

Then Daniel and Rachel got out of their cars, he held her soft and small hand in his large hand and led her to the spot. 

She really liked the feeling of holding his hand and she entangled her fingers with his, he then brought her to his favourite place, she could see lush green garden ahead of her and a few large trees planted at the end of it.

"Sit here" Daniel instructed and they sat on the ground. Daniel checked his watch and told her, "After around an hour you will see something really beautiful"

"I'll wait for it"

Daniel was sitting with his legs spread in front of him, he leaned back and took support of the wall behind and Rachel sat next to him with her legs crossed, they both were still holding each other's hands. 

Although the clothes were warmer, Rachel still felt chilly and her teeth were chattering and her hands turned cold but she still tried to bear with it.

Seeing her trying to bear with the cold, Daniel smiled and pulled her closer towards him with his hand around her petite waist. 

Then he adjusted her position in a way that his left arm was holding her at her shoulders and pulled her closer, she leaned on him with her head resting on his left shoulder, she hugged him with her left hand and her right hand was entangled with his. She felt warmth flowing from his body.

"Is it better now?" Daniel asked, rubbing her right hand palm.