How to Get Your Crush's Number

I shook myself out of his arms and searched for his eyes. His gray eyes had become dull all of a sudden. They were bright and sparkly whenever he teased me; for them to become dark like this, it felt strange to me.

Richard leaned against the handrail of the bridge and chuckled. "Was not something you thought you'd hear, no? But it was true—I was really not a part of their family for thirty-four years. It was a huge shock, even to me, that there was a billionaire's blood running through my veins—my biological father."

"Were you an illegitimate child?"

"A writer's mind is wild," he laughed. "I knew you'd think of that; but sorry to disappoint you, I was not. I was told that something had happened in our family and they needed to send me away. I grew up in an orphanage; was adopted and brought back in after a couple of months. That's how it'd been for me, until I reached eighteen and decided to live by myself. That's all I could remember about my childhood; and there was one thing that sister Margaret had told me about myself: I had a weak heart when I was young, and had to be operated on. However, the healing process as well as the medications I was taking made me lose some of my memories. Now that I think about it, that's probably why I was not able to recall any of my childhood memories."

"I never thought that was possible."

Richard turned himself to look at me and smirked. "Pretty unique for a story plot, don't you think?" I hit him on the stomach as he groaned in pain.

"I'm not that bad of a person! Do you really think I'd use your story for my job? How disappointing!"

Richard giggled as I watched his hand come up to my head, and I knew he was going to mess with my hair, but it did not come. Instead, he gave me a pat, like a grownup would do towards a child who did a good job at school. Now that he's revealed his age to me, he feels the need to treat me like a kid because I am only twenty-eight?

"You looked beautiful tonight, Bethany."

That surprised me. I was not expecting to hear that from him.

"I did not think you'd dress up for this dinner, in all honesty. I thought you'd show up just in your sweatshirt and jogging pants."

"Akisha was the one who transformed me for tonight. She's pretty good, isn't she? I bet you almost did not recognize me!"

"If you had dyed your hair into a different color, it would have really been hard for me to know it was you. But your pink hair stands out, Bethany; anyone would be able to figure out quickly that it was you with that bright hue."

I saw my mother from afar waving, and I ran towards her. Richard was following behind me. Apparently, it was time for us to leave, as my father was getting a call in related to his job, and Richard's father had the same reason. But it turned out that the ladies had come to an agreement that they'd get us married by the end of the month. I wanted to protest but couldn't, as she did not let me open my mouth. I tried to get Richard to speak, but he was only shaking his head, as if telling me that there was no use trying to reason with the oldies. I decided to talk with my parents when we got home.

"It has already been decided, Bethany; don't you like Richard, too?"

"I admit that he's not bad, but I do not love him."

"Oh, come on, who marries for love these days, right?"

"What if I meet somebody and I fall in love with them? You would let me be with them, right? You would let me divorce Richard Brown."

"Bethany, it did not look to me that you hated Richard; I saw the two of you at the garden. You two seemed closer than I thought." My face flushed when she confessed that. Did she see Richard hugging me in his jacket? My mother stood up from the sofa and rested her soft hands on my shoulders with a sigh and a smile. "It wouldn't be long for you to fall in love with him, Bethany; I know it. Besides, won't this make things easier for you as a writer? Richard is your editor, is he not? He'll be by your side from the start to the last chapter of your book. You would not need to make thousands of revisions. Isn't that a good thing?"

I cannot deny that my mother has a point. Maybe I really am just overreacting. Perhaps Akisha's words were the ones causing me to be like this. Back when Richard told me that it was possible for me to get married to him, I was even excited; it must really be what my sister had told me—that I suddenly had a change of heart!

"Deep in thought, I can see." A voice distracted me as my head turned upward to look at its owner. I gasped in shock.It was Mr. Evans, the CEO of the publishing house, that I was working for. He smiled at me as he placed his cup of coffee on the table and crossed his legs. "We meet again, Author Kim, and I am glad we did."

I almost choked on my drink. "Nice to see you again, sir!"

He waved a hand in front of my face. "Please, call me Claude. We're out of the office anyway; it should be fine."

I nodded my head. "Yes, sir—I mean, Claude! It is nice to meet you!"

"Whatever could be your reason for being here?" He looked into my eyes with raised eyebrows, and I knew he was asking for permission to call me by my first name. Although he did not have to, I appreciate that he considered my feelings regarding this.

"Bethany," I told him with a smile on my face. "Um, I was actually—" I could not finish my sentence when the person I was waiting for arrived at the café, Richard, my fiancé.

"Bethany! Oh, I did not notice you over there, Claude. What brings you out here?" Richard sat down beside me as he threw his long arm at the back of the seat, and it made my heart pound. I had thought he was going to rest it over my shoulders again. I was nervous that Claude would see and question our relationship. It was true that Richard and I are now engaged, but I still do not want other people to know about it.

"I was on my way to the office and decided to drop by here for a cup of coffee. I did not think I'd meet Bethany here of all places. Are you, by any chance, her editor? Seeing that this was the second time that I've seen the two of you together, you must be, right?"

"I was not only her—" I shoved the bread on my plate in his mouth to prevent him from giving Claude unnecessary information about our relationship. I forced a laugh.

"That's right! We had planned to meet here to discuss the novel on which I am currently working, and Mr. Brown is nice enough to come here today with me and make some revisions if needed."

Richard was glaring at me as he was chewing up the soft bread. He grabbed the ice-cold coffee from the table to help him swallow the food. I gulped; he would definitely give me an earful once Claude leaves this table.

The beautiful man with black hair leaned back against his seat and wore an attractive smile across his face. It was captivating, and he was indeed one of the most handsome men I've ever met on this planet. He's like a fictional character who was brought to life—he is my Duke Steven!

"I cannot help but feel so impressed by the fact that you could make this fellow get out of his home. You would only ever see him in the office and his house. Richard is not one to spend time in places like this; I'm curious about what you've done to him, Bethany."

"What? But I've never done anything to him! Perhaps he was working harder this time because I had been ignoring his whole existence these past few months. I'm aware of how I made his job more difficult than it ever was."

I flinched when I felt a warm hand over my head. It belonged to the man with the dark hair. He was leaning forward towards me, and he was shining. If this isn't what love at first sight looks like, then I don't know what is. Who cares if I'm going to get married to another man? I could still like someone else! I just need to not let anyone know about it!

"You're a good woman, Bethany." My heart started to beat faster as my eyes caught his mobile that was inside the pocket of his jacket. I grabbed it, typed in my number on the dial pad, and called it. Three seconds later, my phone started to ring. This made Claude laugh. "That's impressive! I had never seen a woman so bold as you. To think that you'd actually be the one to get my number when I am the man, and in that way—you're something else, Bethany."

I smiled. "Thank you for the compliment, Claude." I waved my phone in front of his face as he put his own back into his jacket.

"I'll definitely call you, Bethany, and you'd better answer it."

I winked. "You bet I will!"

I have my crush's phone number! Time to get myself a boyfriend!