บท 13: Dead Eyes

Yera stared directly into Xander's eyes. They were having coffee at the cafe on the ground floor of their building. She handed him the contract and said, "I will sign it as soon as you revise it according to my corrections. It's all written there."

Xander almost jumped for joy as happiness crept over him. He cursed his assistant, Ron, for his pessimistic reaction last night. He smiled sweetly at Yera before he took the contract from her hand.

He would read it later. As long as Yera agreed to sign it and marry him, then that would be enough.

"I will check it later and give you a copy of the revised version soon. By the way, what will your next plan be? I mean you should keep me in the loop. I must not be left in the dark for us to succeed," Xander said, still smiling at her.

He loved looking at Yera's face because it was small and adorable. She looked younger than her actual age.

Her facial features were the complete opposite of her personality. She looked so cute and fragile on the outside. Someone you would be mistaken of thinking to be the meek type. But in all actuality, she was as prickly as a hedgehog.

"Yes, please do so. And let me be clear in case you check it… About the duty of a wife, I assume that you were referring to me displaying the duty of a wife whenever we are out in public, right? It's just for show? I have to be sure that we are on the same page about this. Please see to it that we will sleep in separate rooms. You will never touch me unless it's needed for the sake of show…" Yera demanded with her arms crossed over her chest.

She saw Xander's smiling face, but his eyes were a bit narrowed now, so she quickly added, "I don't like you, Xander. From way before I was Deyna, when I was still just Yera Han. Just hearing your name irked me. I'm sorry, but I just want to be honest with you."

Xander observed her while tapping his fingers on the table. "Such a contrast," he mumbled after a while before he took a sip of his coffee.

"What?!" Yera heard it.

Xander gave her a wink and smiled as he said, "Nothing. It's just that your personality contradicts your soft and cute face…"

Yera was not surprised because she got that a lot. But Xander's smiling face… It disturbed her a lot.

'Why is he always so cheerful?' she grumbled silently. Or maybe she was just envious because she could not afford to be cheerful like him. She could no longer smile like that after Bernard's passing. She finally learned how to genuinely smile when Bernard came to her life. But now he had been taken away from her.

Yera sighed unconsciously and did not notice the way Xander was looking at her. It was a look of concern, mixed with pity, and fondness.

'Her eyes are so dead… No emotions at all,' Xander mused. He would love to see those dead eyes brighten again. He wondered how much more beautiful those hazel eyes could be.

"You have lovely eyes. I bet you would look more beautiful if you try to smile," Xander asserted.

She looked back at Xander, still with her soulless eyes. She countered, "I'm not into flowery words, Mr. Yang. I believe you already know that."

She was feeling uncomfortable. She often heard about Xander Yang's silver tongue, and how good he was at sweet-talking people. He was the total opposite of her.

Xander chuckled. Of course, he knew. He knew everything about Yera Han…

He shrugged as he smiled at her. It was a genuine smile because that was just how Xander was; a warm, friendly, and outgoing person. He then implored, "Please call me Xander. And please get used to my way of talking, because that's just how I am. Everything I say, whether you perceive it as flowery or not, always comes from the heart. This is how I really am…"

He added, "I really like your eyes. I find them beautiful, and I hope to see them twinkle and lively someday. Life is tough. I know, because Bernard and I were really close too. And I don't think Bernard would be happy to see you being lonely like this. You have to stay strong and move on. And let me be the one to help you with that. You can treat me as a friend for now… I will not force you into anything that is against your will. But I hope you would consider me as your fortress from this day onwards."

"Your stronghold in any situation," Xander said with an assuring smile.

Yera would kill him out of frustration if he did not stop smiling like that.

She let out a long sigh with a defeated look and called for the waiter.

"Excuse me, could you please give him another cup of coffee? Make sure to make it really strong, thanks," Yera queried, to which Xander's forehead furrowed.

"Another coffee for me?" Xander asked, confused.

Yera nodded and dead-panned, "You will need a strong one to wake up. Because I believe you are still in a dazed state from a lack of sleep or something. Spurting nonsense, smiling a lot, winking... You are talking to a block of ice, but it seems that it still hasn't dawned on you. So, let the coffee help wake you up."

Xander burst out laughing as he replied, "Oh, you're not only cute, but you're funny too! I never thought your humor could be this good. Well, you should know that a block of ice won't scare me. Because I can always thaw it with my warmth…"

Then he finished off with a wink, while Yera stared at him with her mouth slightly agape in disbelief…