Waking up to the sound of Chris’s alarm, I already knew that I was up earlier than usual. However, I knew that the two of us needed to talk. Despite enjoying the comfort of sleeping in his arms, I forced myself to sit up and look at him. He looked much more well-rested than usual, although the sad look in his eyes remained. “Good morning,” I say. 

“Good morning,” he responds.

“I think that the two of us need to talk,” I say. “I know I told you to take your time, but whatever it is is affecting your health. I’m just really worried about you and if you don’t want to talk to me, I just want you to talk to someone. It’s okay to rely on others if you need to.”

I watch the emotions shift across his face until he says, “You’re right. This might take a while though.”

“We’ve got plenty of time,” I responded. Knowing my cousin, she probably won’t be awake until 10 or 11 AM. Reaching over to grab his hand, I wait for him to begin.

“I guess I should start with the reason that I wanted a fake date in the first place. My family is really overbearing and they have been pressuring me to get married for years. My last girlfriend and I had been planning to get married but my family never approved. Last Christmas, they paid her to break up with me and she did. Since then, they have stopped at nothing to manipulate me to marry a woman of their choosing.” Pausing to take a deep breath and lightly squeeze my hand he continues, “However this time, they decided to block the sales from my online shop and therefore they are trying to make me turn to them by blocking my main source of income. After they realized that I wasn’t that desperate for money, I found out a few days ago that they were looking up information about you. I have been trying my best to make sure that they don’t try to reach out to you, but there is very little I can do at this point. And honestly, I’ve been worried that their drama might make you want to leave. I mean, I can’t blame you at this point.” After finishing that sentence, he looked down and relaxed his grip on my hand.

After listening to everything that he had to say, I realized why he had been so distant and realized that he had been staying up late trying to protect me. That being said, if this was going to work, he needed to be able to rely on me as well. “First things first, I am glad that you were able to tell me about this. Secondly, I need you to know that I refuse to be influenced by your family’s money. Third, I need to know if you are actually serious about us?” I say as I gently squeeze his hand. 

“I’d like to eventually marry you, but I don’t want to rush into anything. I would like to have a serious relationship with you, but I don’t want my family to target you either.” he said with a sigh. 

“Well, I’m not really that worried about them. What matters is how the two of us feel and I would like to give us a try.” I replied.

With tears coming to his eyes, he said, “Thank you. You don’t know how much better that makes me feel. Can I hug you?”

Stretching out my arms, I wrap him in a tight hug and we stay like that for a few minutes. I was feeling grateful that he was able to tell me everything and hopeful that we will be able to get through this together. To my surprise as he began to pull away, he asked, “Is it okay if I kiss you?”

Internally panicking and incredibly happy, I simply nod to avoid blurting out something random again. I had been looking forward to kissing him for most of the time that I have known him and it was better than I had even expected. As he pulls away he grins and says, “It is still early, why don’t you get a bit more sleep? I’ll get started on breakfast after I go for my morning jog.” 

Looking over at the clock, I can see that it is only 7 AM, so I return a smile, before saying, “Okay, I think that I will get a bit more sleep. Wake me up for breakfast when it's done.”

He leans down and drops a quick kiss to my forehead before saying, “I will, sweet dreams.” Lying back down, I fell asleep quickly. 

I woke up to the sound of talking. Lying there for a minute, I could clearly hear Chris and Lila talking. Smiling to myself that my two favorite people are getting along, I decided to get up and join them. Walking into the kitchen, I can see Chris frying bacon and Lila cutting up various fruits and placing them in a bowl for fruit salad. 

“Good morning!” Lila says, “I didn’t think the day would come that I would be out of bed before you.”

Chris finished taking the bacon out of the frying pan, turned it off and then walked over to me before kissing my cheek and whispering, “Good morning for the second time.”

Blushing, I ask, “Is there anything you guys need me to help with?”

Chris answered me saying, “No, Lila has been working on the fruit salad and I have already made eggs, pancakes and just finished the bacon. I was planning to come wake you up as soon as the bacon was done.” After he finished answering me, he began to grab plates and set the table so that we could eat. The three of us enjoyed our brunch and I continued to be surprised at how well Lila and Chris actually got along. 

“Since when have you two been so close?” I ask, looking at the two of them. 

“Since this morning, obviously.” replies Lila. “Fortunately for me, he has a brother who happens to be single and I managed to convince him to give me his number. So, in my eyes, he isn’t too bad.” she says as a sly smile fills her face. 

“I told her that she shouldn’t go after him, he isn’t exactly the best person to be around most of the time. And I already warned her that my family is crazy. She won’t listen to me.” Chris says, looking at me with a desperate look in his eyes. 

“Lila is fine to make her own decisions. I’ve learned that when she decides she wants something, there is no stopping her.” I say reaching over to grab Chris’s hand. “You did all you could do.”

“Hey, don’t talk about me like I’m not here,” Lila interjects. “Whatever, it doesn’t matter, I managed to arrange a meeting with him anyway, I’ve got a flight tomorrow, so I’ve got to head home after breakfast to get packed.”

“Good luck,” Chris and I say simultaneously. 

“Wow, I guess you both really want to get rid of me. Chris, I don’t hate but that is subject to change if you try to take away my best friend. Do you understand?” Lila says in a menacing tone. 

Laughing I tell him to relax as I assure Lila that I will not be letting anyone keep me from spending time with her. Despite my efforts to make him less nervous, he still replies, “I understand, I had no plans to take her away from you in the first place. Why don’t the two of you spend the rest of the day together until you have to leave? I can finish up the cleaning in the kitchen and get to work putting away our laundry.” he says as he looks over at me. 

As I helped Lila pack, she caught me up on everything she had said to Chris’s brother. She showed me a selfie that he had sent to her and although they looked similar, Chris was definitely more my type. Where Chris was more muscular, his brother (Lila told me his name was Cade) was more lean. Lila excitedly told me that he had been immediately interested in meeting up after she had sent a picture and a message. Although I could never understand how outgoing she was, I could see that she seemed happy and excited to meet him. Knowing Chris, I knew that he wouldn’t set her up with someone I needed to worry about, but I still was concerned about how his family would react. Apparently she told me that he was some sort of computer genius and I suspected that he is the one that has been helping Chris try to go against his family. Putting aside my suspicion and deciding to trust Chris and Lila, I manage to find myself becoming excited about the idea of her going on a date with him. By the time we had all of her stuff packed, we had already planned to go on a double date after the holidays if everything goes well between her and Cade. 

After Lila left, Chris and I sat down on the couch and I decided to ask him a bit more about his brother. “Is Cade the person who has been helping you? Lila mentioned he was a computer genius.”

“Yes, you were right. Cade is the only one that is helping me to go against my family and his computer skills are the only thing preventing them from affecting your job or tracking down our location.” he says as we cuddle on the couch. 

“Do you think that I can trust him with Lila? I mean, I know he is your brother and I’m grateful he is helping us but don’t you think it is suspicious he asked to meet so soon?” I asked.

“My brother wouldn’t do anything to hurt her, if that’s what you are asking. He is just very straightforward and since I gave her his number, he probably figured that it was worth meeting her at least. She seemed to be just as interested in meeting earlier so they seem to get along well in that aspect.” he replies as he runs his fingers through my hair. 

“I guess you’re right, she has always been the type to rush into things.” I replied. 

Realizing that both of us could definitely use a relaxing rest of the day, we decided to order fast food for dinner and watched a few movies before we went to bed. As we cuddled up together, I fell asleep almost instantly.