Chapter 114: Will You Be My Boyfriend?
’You should have just told me.’
’I’ve been worried sick these past few days.’
But then again...
Caroline Whitman’s cheeks flushed slightly as she looked at him with a hint of playful annoyance. "Since you figured out how I felt long ago, why didn’t you just say so? Were you waiting to watch me make a fool of myself?"
Adrian Grant sat down and naturally reached for her left hand, only to find it held down by a firm force.
He turned to look. The hand was buried under a throw pillow. He tugged lightly but couldn’t pull it out.
Adrian Grant looked at her, confused.
Caroline Whitman pulled out her right hand. "Take this one."
"..."
Adrian Grant stared at her right hand for a moment before taking it. "This works too."
Their fingers intertwined.
Caroline Whitman felt the warmth of his palm and the secure feeling of his large hand enveloping hers. Lowering her eyes, she asked, "You still haven’t answered my question."
"I wasn’t."
"You weren’t what?"
"I wasn’t trying to watch you make a fool of yourself," Adrian Grant said in a low voice. "You hid it too well at first. I just wanted to be more certain of my assumptions. I don’t act on things unless I’m sure."
"..."
’That does make sense,’ she thought. It was only recently, when Adrian Grant started inviting her out alone, that she began her offensive, starting with holding hands.
"Oh." Caroline Whitman stared at the back of his hand, mulling it over for a while.
"Can you—"
Adrian Grant had just started to speak when Caroline Whitman’s words rushed out, a step ahead of his. "Can you close your eyes?"
"..."
Adrian Grant stared at her for a few seconds, then glanced down at their intertwined hands. After a moment of contemplation, Caroline Whitman mustered her courage and repeated herself.
"Can you close your eyes?"
"..."
As if he had an inkling of what was coming, he gave in with a compromising smile. "Alright."
He closed his eyes. The next second, he felt his fingers being pried open, and then a warm, hard object was slipped onto his index finger.
It was a little tight.
The ring was pulled off.
Soon, the familiar sensation reappeared on his middle finger, but it got stuck around the middle knuckle, unable to go on or come off.
"..."
’Oh, come on!’
’Seriously, universe? Do you have to mess with me like this?!’
Caroline Whitman broke into a sweat.
She had only thought the ring looked nice and guessed the size seemed about right, buying it on a whim. And now it was pulling a stunt like this on her.
Her face flushed red as she yanked the ring off.
A pinkish mark was left on his fair, slender finger where the ring had been stuck.
Caroline Whitman glanced nervously at Adrian Grant, who was still obediently keeping his eyes closed.
She silently tried it on his last option, the ring finger. If this didn’t work...
...she had a face-saving excuse all prepared.
Thankfully, it slid on smoothly. Not too loose, not too tight—a perfect fit.
Caroline Whitman let out a sigh of relief. She cleared her throat, psyching herself up. "Will you..."
Adrian Grant suddenly opened his eyes.
In that instant, the words on the tip of her tongue got stuck as his sudden gaze startled her.
"You—why did you open your eyes?" Caroline Whitman instinctively covered the back of his hand, hiding the ring.
’This is the first time I’ve ever done something like this! I’m allowed to be shy, you know!’
"I—" Adrian Grant had just started to speak when Caroline Whitman lunged forward and covered his mouth. His breath felt slightly hot against her hand.
Caroline Whitman snatched her hand back as if she’d been zapped. "You’re not allowed to speak first."
She knew what he was going to say.
’I’ve already put myself out there this much, and now he’s trying to steal my line? How is that any different from kill-stealing in a video game?’
Adrian Grant raised an eyebrow slightly. "Alright. You talk."
"..."
"Close your eyes."
Hearing this, Adrian Grant obediently listened and closed his eyes once more.
In the darkness behind his eyelids, his hearing became exceptionally sharp.
The air was quiet for a few seconds.
Then, Caroline Whitman’s clear, lovely voice slowly drifted over:
"Since you like me, and I like you... will you be my boyfriend?"
Adrian Grant lifted his eyelids. He simply turned his hand over, looked at the ring now revealed on his ring finger, and stroked it with his other hand.
"So, just my boyfriend?"
He looked up, a hint of disappointment in his voice. "I thought you were going to ask if I would marry you."
Caroline Whitman: "..."
"Then again, you beat me to the confession, so I can’t let you be the one to propose marriage."
He then took a completely translucent, pink diamond ring from his pocket and took her hand.
Caroline Whitman’s heart skipped a beat.
’Are we fast-forwarding to a marriage proposal?’
She suddenly remembered her pajamas.
’Wait, he’s proposing just like this?’
’Isn’t this a little too fast?’
She tried to pull her hand back, but this time Adrian Grant held it firmly, giving her no chance to retreat.
He slid it perfectly onto her middle finger.
"..."
She had already been shocked when Adrian Grant had unexpectedly put a necklace on her.
Seeing him pull out a ring now was even more shocking.
’Seriously, how are our minds so bizarrely in sync?’
The main point was, his ring was the perfect size for her finger.
Not at all like the embarrassing fiasco she had just gone through.
"I am willing to be your boyfriend," Adrian Grant paused, looking directly into her eyes.
At that moment, Caroline Whitman’s heart was in her throat.
A slight smile touched his lips as he asked, slowly and deliberately:
"So, will you be my girlfriend?"
Caroline Whitman quickly looked down, staring at the blindingly sparkly pink diamond on her finger. Her lips moved slightly.
She answered in a quiet but clear voice:
"Mm, I’m willing."
The next second, she felt a warmth on her waist as a large hand settled there, and then she was pulled into his embrace.
A shoulder strap slipped down, revealing the red diamonds on her lingerie against her fair skin.
Adrian Grant’s gaze darkened. He gentlemanly hooked the strap with his index finger and slid it back into place on her shoulder, his palm resting on her rounded shoulder without moving.
"..."
Feeling a little guilty, Caroline Whitman explained, "I didn’t know you were coming tonight. You knocked so soon, I didn’t have time to change."
She wanted to explain she hadn’t worn these pajamas on purpose.
But unexpectedly, Adrian Grant replied in all seriousness, "From now on, you can just be yourself. You don’t need to worry about what I think."
"..."
Caroline Whitman gave him a strange look. ’Is he sure he’s not just saying that for his own benefit?’
She settled onto his lap and changed the subject. "When you called me, were you downstairs or right outside my door?"
Adrian Grant reached up to brush the hair from her forehead. His fingers gently caressed her earlobe before moving lingeringly to touch her soft lips.
’Finally, I can touch her openly like this.’
He smiled. "Right outside your door."
"..."
Adrian Grant moved his hand from her lips and, finally unable to resist, leaned in to kiss her. Just then, the phone on the coffee table rang.
The sudden noise made Caroline Whitman jump.
She started to turn to get the phone, wanting to see who would dare interrupt her moment, but Adrian Grant firmly turned her face back toward him and kissed her.
Their lips and tongues tangled until the ringing finally stopped.
The pause gave Caroline Whitman a chance to catch her breath, panting heavily.
Just as she was about to reach for the phone again, Adrian Grant cupped her face in his palm. "It didn’t ring a second time, so it must not be urgent."
With that, he leaned in to kiss her again.
"..."
Again and again he tried, until finally, a breathless Caroline Whitman had no choice but to put a hand over his lips. She was suddenly reminded of the scene at the birthday party, when Adrian Grant had pushed her away.
Her day to strike back had finally come.
"Mr. Grant, please have some self-respect."
Talk about being on the same wavelength. Adrian Grant instantly understood who had first spoken those words.
He leaned back against the sofa, laughing as he raised his hands in surrender. "Alright. I’ll have some self-respect."
Only then did Caroline Whitman finally have a chance to turn and pick up the phone.