His Contract Bride

Chapter 9 - The Twenty Questions

BEN POV

They are now inside the nearby pizza parlor and ordered their own preferred topping. Ben got Calzone it's made of dough shaped like a semicircle folded over and filled with my chosen ingredients while Courtney ordered Margherita it's with tomato sauce, fresh basil and mozzarella cheese.

"Thanks for bringing me here. I can't believe I haven't eaten here when in fact I used to pass by this place." She bites her slice.

"This was actually my grandparents favorite place." Ben took his piece.

"She did have a great taste bud for pizza." Courtney praised the old woman's preference.

"I second to that." He sounded happy while remembering his grandparents.

"I'm sorry for prying but how long was this?" Courtney suddenly stops eating.

"It will be Nonna's death anniversary next month while Nonno was every second of August with eight years apart." Ben informed her.

"I see, but on the bride side they now happy wherever they are." She gave a word of encouragement.

"I miss them, specially Nonna and her words of wisdom. She never fails to give us the right advices while Nonno on the other hand thought me the language of business." Ben narrated.

"I bet they are." Courtney wished she had a chance to meet them while they were still alive.

"Eric and I loved her like a mother. Nonna was the one who took the responsibility in taking care of us when our mother left us." He doesn't know why he shared that information but he did without a doubt.

Ben thought she has the right to know about his family and vice versa. Courtney can tell it was difficult for Ben to open up about it but he nevertheless did. She might as well tell something as heavy as that to be fair and make the conversation a bit lighter.

"I can see how much you longed for them. It's really hard losing someone you dearly love." She reached for his hand.

"That's true." Ben absentmindedly drew pattern on Courtney's dorsal.

"You mentioned your mother left you in care of your Nonna, but now demands that you marry, that got me a little confused." Courtney disregards Ben's action.

"When my father died from plane crash, our mother chose to mourn in different way. She pours her attention at the vineyard and left us then she came back in our lives when Nonna died. We started building our relationship with her again." Ben said without breaking an eye contact with her.

"I'm so sorry I'm too nosy, I know this information is too personal for you to disclose." She apologized.

"It's okay besides you will be my wife and you need to know those important details. Now it's your turn to tell me something since I only know your job." Ben drank his soda.

"Our family owned few businesses, my father mostly travels for business and he is a very strict man. I grew up with my mother and my Nonno." She suddenly withdrew her hand.

"How did you end up being a therapist? I mean was that really your passion?" I got curious.

"It was because of Nonno blessed his soul. He had a Dissociative Identity Disorder, a condition that involved disruptions or breakdowns of memory, awareness and identity. I went to study psychology and ended up being a therapist. How about you did you really want to be a business man?" She sipped her soda too.

"I guessed it was meant to happen since my father was a businessman. I busted my ass day and night to build this café while Eric was still in school and Nonna was in hospital. That's why I can't let this business go it has been my dream." Ben took a bite of the last pizza slice.

"Wow! I can imagine how hard it is for you back then." She commented.

"Tell me about it. So, how are you and Zac related again?" Ben selected another topic.

"Both our mothers are sisters." She took another bite of her pizza.

"And how are you exactly, since you haven't mentioned it to me yet." He thought it would the basic like her age.

"I'm twenty four." Courtney answered right away.

"What is your full name?" Ben almost forgot the important detail on their contract.

"Courtney Amber Montini. My parents are Carlos and Arianna, how about yours?" She questioned in return even though the information is on her mind already.

As soon as Ben heard the name Montini, he recognized that they do own chain of beaches and hotels in Europe. As a matter of fact they just recently open one in Thailand amongst two hotels in Malaysia and Singapore. Being in the business world, you get to know these facts just by reading the news on business section.

"Benjamin Clark Venoso. Mother's name is Liliana and my father was Alessandro." Ben gave his full details.

"Birthday?" Courtney wiped the crumbs on her mouth.

"March 11th, how about you my dear fiancé?" Ben playfully winked at her.

"Mine is December 18th." She fixed her table napkin.

"Favorite food?" Ben kept asking.

"I love any kind of pizza as long as its thin crust." Courtney demonstrated with her hands.

"Any food allergies?" He leans on the table this time.

"I can't eat any kind of nuts, what about you?" She shook her hands as disagreement.

"I don't have any favorite to be honest but I hate olives." Ben copied her action.

"I dislike pineapple. Do you eat spicy food since I can see you putting so much chili flakes on your pizza?" Courtney watched him attentively.

"Not much but I can tolerate it just in between mild and too hot." Ben just finished sprinklings his pizza with the said spices.

"I guess were on same page on that. Pizza is better with chili flakes." Courtney dusted her piece of pizza as well.

Their conversation kept going for an hour; they talked places they travel and past times. It was a smooth talk wand you can hear few laughs here and there.

"Here's my share." Courtney hand her card to Ben.

"I'll pay the bill don't worry about it." Ben saw her action.

"It's okay I can pay my own." She refused and wanted to do Dutch.

"It was on me; remember I invited you to make up the teasing." Ben signaled his hand to the nearby waiter.

"Fine you win, again." Courtney surrendered and returned her card into her purse.

After Ben paid their bill, they head back to the Café by walking since it is nearby. Courtney agreed to leave her car on their parking lot as it will save time and gas as well.

"Thank you so much for the treat." She unlocked her car as Ben walks with her.

"My pleasure and I enjoyed as well "Ben opened her car door.

"Ditto." Courtney gets in her car.

"Drive safely." Ben reminds her.

"Will do. Have a great day! Bye Ben." She waved her hand and drives off.

After Ben made sure Courtney was off the curb, he head back to his office and called the lawyer to finalize the contract. He wants to make it a real business deal and have Courtney sign it when they meet again. The lawyer of course agreed to keep the information confidential specially with his mother. Ben was in the middle of doing an inventory when he received the call and asked to meet her tonight. Ben eagerly confirmed that his coming out with an idea popped on his mind. 

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••••• MJ Cristine