Page 22 (1/2)
“What?” I lean in so I can look into his eyes
“Nothing,” he says, s “It’s fine I know my responsibilities”
“You feel like you’reout,” I fill in for him
“Right,” he replies “That’s just it I wanted so s But now that our parents have decided, it means we’ll be steamrolled into the business so we can take it over one day”
“But it doesn’t make sense to me why they would pick me,” I reply “Jasmine has always shown s All I wanted to do was—”
“Escape,” Liam interjects with a smile on his face, and it makes me blush
We both laugh a little and look away for a second But after a few seconds, his hand threads through ood that it feels like my heart was lit on fire
“I guess we have no choice then,” I say
I don’t want to appear like I’ this on us, but at the same time, this has always been my dream I alanted to marry Liam
But when I look at hi but solemnness, and it twists at my insides
“They just pick whoever they prefer No choice for us whatsoever,” he mutters
I can’t help but feel overwhelmed with all of this
I kneas coined our parents would pick hih he wants nothing more than to run away
And he’s right Running aould solve all our problems We wouldn’t have to be forced to marry, and Liam would be able to see the world And maybe, just maybe, if I ith him, he’d finally fall for me For real Not in a forced way
“We could run away,” I say
He snorts “What, for real?”
“Why not?” I shrug
“Our parents would never let that happen,” he replies “Like you said, we have no choice”
I place“Would you have wanted one?”
“Of course Everybody does”
“Who would you have picked?”
I closeI’m not ready for the answer
Because deep down, I knohat he really wants
Who he’d really choose
And it isn’t me
“Hey,” Liam says, and he turns to me
I lean up again and blink away a single tear frorabs my face and makes me look at him
“Just because we had different ideas or wants doesn’t mean it can’t still work out,” he says
“You want Jas—”
He places a finger on my lips
He closes the gap between us His face is so close, and ins to race
“Letmy face