The Unwanted Bride

Chapter 5

"Alexander. What are you doing here? Where's Shawn?" Amelia surprised at the man in front of her.

"You know a simple hello would be nice," Alexander said a little hurt at the mention of his brother. "And to answer your questions, Shawn asked me to accompany you since his idiot ass can't make it because of work." He says with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Oh, I apologize for my greeting. You know you don't have to go with me if you don't want to. I am sure that Shawn forced you to accompany me."

"Actually, Shawn never forced me to come. I was glad to take the offer if it means spending time with you," Alexander pauses. "So where are we heading today."

" I guess to the nearest art store."

............

" So what exactly are we doing here?" Alexander asks at the same time as his eyes laced with fascination at the unique art store. "You know when you said the nearest art store I thought maybe Michael's. I didn't think that you would lead me an hour away to go to a shop like this."

"Yeah, I should've been a little more specific at where we were going," Amelia responds with amusement at Alexander's reaction to the little art store. Ever since finding the little art shop in her high school years, Amelia found herself drawn to the exotic art supplies they offer. "This is the only shop I go to when I need art supplies. I was just going to transfer my supplies from my parent's house to Shawn's house but my mother found it in herself to clean out my room from unnecessary things." After Amelia found out her mother had gotten rid of her art supplies, she could not help but feel annoyance at her mother. She had meant to confront her mother about the incident but did not find the voice to do so.

Wanting to change the subject and to cheer Amelia up, Alexander drags her to the nearest table showing interest at the different paintings on display. "Can you paint like some of these paintings here?" Holding up a painting of a cherry blossom tree overlooking a lake.

"Actually, I painted that. I gave that to the owner as a gift for helping me with my art over the years. I would introduce her to you but I don't think she's here." Amelia says as she looks over at the stranger at the cashier.

"I guess you can say I have an eye for beautiful pieces," Alexander says as he stares directly at Amelia. Alexander admires the painting of the tree but has an even strong admiration for the painter of the piece.

"Or you just picked up the first thing on the table," Amelia responds as she looks away from Alexander's gaze. 

...............

"Thanks for shopping here. Please come again soon," the cashier says as she hands them bags upon bags of supplies. 

"If you want, I can just call Shawn's driver to come and pick me up here. You don't have to take me home." Amelia not wanting to bother Alexander any further and in the process of taking her phone out. 

"Nonsense," Alexander grabs her phone and puts it in his pockets, "since I accompanied you, you should return the favor and accompany me somewhere. I'll give you your phone back at the end of the day."

"I guess it's only fair, but we should probably take these bags back to Shawn's house and at the same time, I can change to something more accommodating. By the way, where are we going?" Amelia looks at Alexander with curiosity. 

"The location is a secret, and changing is not necessary. Your attire is perfect," he says as he glances at Amelia's garment.  It is not the first time today that he found himself glancing at Amelia, for any man in his shoes would not help but feel an attraction to the black haired beauty in front of him.

.....................

Not soon after arriving at Shawn's house,  Amelia found herself again in Alexander's car on a windy road. Curiosity clouded Amelia's mind at the thought of where they might be going. However, every time she poses the question to Alexander, all he would say is that the destination is a secret. The road suddenly turns into gravel and once again Amelia asks where they are going. 

"I told you, Amelia, that it is a surprise. You just have to be patient, anyway, we're only a few minutes away. We'll get there soon enough." Alexander answers with an amused expression. 

"Sorry, I just really don't like surprises. I guess it's a fear of the unknown."

The gravel road suddenly turned into a driveway and in front of them stood a beach house. The beach house stood on top of a small hill and overlooked the ocean. Seeing that there was no one at the beach indicated that the Princeton's must own the whole property. Alexander finds Amelia looking down at the beach and drags her down the hill until their feet hit the sand at the bottom. 

"Wait here. Let me just get some things from my car." Alexander declares as he heads back up the hill. A few minutes later, Alexander walks back down the hill with a picnic basket and blankets in his hands. 

"So is this the surprise you were talking about," Amelia grabs one of the blankets to lay on the beach, "When did you even have time to prepare all this," she grabs the sandwiches from inside the basket and hands one to Alexander.

"I can lie and say that I made them while you were changing at Shawn's house, but the truth is, I got someone to make them and take them here. They were just in the fridge inside the house." As Amelia giggled at his comment, the wind picked up and Alexander finds Amelia struggling with her hair. Without knowing it, he finds his hands moving the strands of hair out of Amelia's face. Even when the last pieces of hair were tucked behind her ears, his hands still lay caressing her face. 

"I hope you know that you are so beautiful," Alexander says barely audible, but Amelia was still able to hear. Her cheeks flushed red and a silence soon followed. 

"We should probably head back. it is getting dark," Amelia gazes up at the sky not able to meet Alexander's eyes. She hurriedly gets up and heads toward the car soon followed by Alexander.

As they reach the top of the hill, they were greeted with another car pulling up to the driveway. The car seemed familiar to Amelia, and when the owner came out of the car, her suspicions proved to be true. "Shawn, what are you doing here?" Shawn was about to answer but then Amelia's attention was diverted to the shutting of a car door and footsteps that approached them.