Filed to story: A Second Chance with My Billionaire Love
“I admit that I was hesitant in the past. I wasn’t sure about many things, but now, I know what I want.” Xavier clenched his fists and said to Leia firmly,” Since you want to see me make up my mind, I’ll grant your wish.’
“What do you mean?” Leia leaned back against the chair and stared at him in confusion.
Xavier remained silent as he got to his feet and went onstage. His sudden appearance on the stage made the audience start whispering.
“Xavier?” When Shirley was onstage, she had noticed Xavier and Leia whispering to each other quite intimately below the stage. Now that he was here, she felt like something was off. “Is there something you want to say?” Shirley anxiously asked Xavier.
“Yes, there is.” Xavier grabbed Shirley’s microphone. “It’s a personal affair.” The emcee panicked when he saw Xavier grab the microphone, and stammered, “Mr. Stuart, you’re the producer of The Heart of the Grassland. Do you have a surprise announcement for US?”
Xavier ignored the emcee and faced the audience. “Today is a special day. It’s the startup ceremony for The Heart of the Grassland… and the anniversary of my wedding proposal.”
The audience burst into an uproar.
“A proposal? Is Mr. Stuart going to propose to Shirley? That’s too romantic!”
“Ah, I was right! Mr. Stuart and Shirley are still in love with each other. He peach in ested in such a meaningful movie. I’m sure this is his proposal gift to Shirley.’
“Wow, this isn’t the startup ceremony for The Heart of the Grassland m anymore-it’s the heartfelt proposal Mr. Stuart prepared for Shirley. We’re in for a great show!”
Shirley felt nervous hearing everyone’s comments, and tilted her head at Xavier. “Xavier, are you going to propose to me? I’m not ready yet. Why don’t you… do it another day?”
Leia also felt that Xavier was going to propose to Shirley, and stiffly stood up.
Leia felt like a clown performing for everyone’s entertainment. Humiliated and awkward, she kept her head lowered as she walked toward the entrance of the hall.
However, Xavier kept looking for her onstage. Finally, he shouted, “Leia!”
Immediately, everyone turned to look at Leia.
Leia was struck dumb. She could neither leave nor turn around, and cursed inwardly. 1
“A wedding proposal is a very important affair to me-it means that I’ll give up every other woman and focus on only one. I don’t know if I can be loyal forever, but I still want to try. So… can you please not go?” Xavier said sincerely as he stared at Leia’s back.
Leia’s cheeks burned and she covered her face in embarrassment. That jerk! He could have just proposed to Shirley, but he insisted on humiliating Leia like this. Did he think she was a pushover?
When Leia didn’t move, Xavier became more confident. He smoothed his tie and straightened, then got off the stage.
“Xavier!” Shirley knew what was going to happen, and quickly grabbed Xavier’s hand. “Do you know the meaning of a proposal to a woman? It won’t be that easy to retreat if you ΝΟ take that step. Do you think you’ve experienced everything you wanted to? Are you confident you can be loyal to one woman? If you think you’ll regret this in the future and want to give up, you’ll hurt her twice as much when it actually happens. Have you ever thought about the consequences of this?”
Shirley’s words made Xavier stop. He was used to being carefree, and he had never stayed for anyone. In the past, he had dated many women sincerely, but once their novelty wore off, he would get bored and break up with the woman. However, he liked to ve think he was generovy with all his partners-he would either give them houses or cars when he broke up with them, and the relationship would end amicably. All his exes praised him and saw him as a Prince Charming who had satisfied all their needs. Xavier had never wanted to settle down, even when he had been in love with Shirley, who he had sacrificed the most for. He loved his freedom too much, and saw marriage as shackles he would be stupid to get himself into. However, to his surprise, he was thinking of marriage now.
“Listen to your heart, Xavier. Do you want to get married or are you merely acting out of spite? Are you just trying to prove something? You really have to think this through for youn sake!”, St and her er sake!” Shirley knew that Xavier had never liked the idea of marriage, and even feared it. If he hadn’t, Shirley wouldn’t have taken a risk by seeking support from Xavier’s father instead back then. She knew that Xavier’s deepest fear was the responsibilities involved in a marriage, so she kept pressing him about it. As long as Xavier wasn’t married, she had a chance of getting back together with him.
Undeniably, Shirley had raised Xavier’s biggest concern. He knew what kind of person he was; If he acted on a whim and hurt Leia, he wouldn’t be able to bear it. Time passed, and everyone was waiting for Xavier’s next move… But in the end, he didn’t say a thing.
“What a coward!” Having lost her patience, Leia swung open the door and left. She went to the washroom and splashed some cold water on her face. She looked at herself in the mirror, angry at the emotions in her eyes. She slapped herself fiercely. “You’re a fool, Leia Osborne! You fall for the same trap over and over again!” After calming herself down, she turned around and exited the washroom.
A familiar figure was standing outside, and he smiled gently at her. “Lei, it’s been a while.”
When Leia saw the man, her eyes widened in delight. “Mr. Dalton, you… you’re finally back! That’s great!” Previously, their relationship had been progressing towards something more than friends, but she hadn’t paid attention to it because of Xavier’s meddling and Flossie’s issues. Later, Santiago had gone on a business trip to Stiygro to shoot a movie, so they hadn’t been in touch for two weeks now. Leia had been an admirer of his for a long time, but she didn’t dare to wish for anything more between them. Nonetheless, it was a pleasant surprise to meet him again here. “I thought I wouldn’t see you again!” Before she realized what she was doing, Leia threw her arms around his neck and burst into tears, behaving like an aggrieved child who finally saw their parents.
Santiago held her helplessly, nervously asking, “What happened, Lei? Why are you crying?”
“I… I guess I missed you too much.” Leia was shocked by her actions and immediately let go of Santiago, putting some distance between them. She wiped away her tears awkwardly and mumbled, “There are too many bad guys in the world, and I get angry and cry because of them.” She hadn’t cried this much since she was a child, and it was all thanks to Xavier. How dare a coward like him make her cry? He wasn’t worthy of her tears… She would never cry for him again! It was unacceptable!
“Are you saying that you’re angry at a bad guy? Is that why you cried?” Santiago asked gently, smiling at her dotingly. He touched her head and said comfortingly, “There, there. This world is like… a giant delivery station, and people are either big or small parcels. You can’t cry for all of them-it’s unnecessary.”
“Pfft!” Leia burst into laughter when she heard that. “Mr. Daltond didn’t expect you to be so funny. It’s so unlike you!”
“I can do it as long as it makes you happy.” Santiago’s expression turned serious as he said, “Girls’ tears are like pearls, so you shouldn’t cry for people who don’t deserve them.”
Leia felt much better after hearing that. She checked the time and was disappointed to see that the ceremony was far from over. If she left now, she would seem like a coward… but she needed some courage to return to the hall. She wrung her hands, wondering if she should stay or leave.
“What’s troubling you?” Santiago instantly noticed Leia’s anxiousness and said softly, “Tell me if you need my help.”
“Ah, it’s nothing. You don’t have to worry about my petty problems.” Leia waved him off and said casually. She knew that she was a fool in love, and she was too embarrassed to tell Santiago about it. Besides, he had once told her that Xavier was unreliable, and yet, she was still letting Xavier mess with her head. It would be embarrassing to bring it up again.
“What do you mean by people who don’t deserve it?” Santiago lowered his head, looking like he was trying to suppress his emotions. “You know, I thought I wouldn’t come back here so soon. I’ve been working at The Footstars for the past few years, and I didn’t really need to come back here, no
Leia looked at him and asked curiously, “Yeah, that’s true. You’ve mostly been doing work abroad, and I heard that your work is ongoing. You got the chance to work alongside an Oriena-winning actor as the male lead of a movie too, which is scheduled to start soon. Why did you come back all of a sudden?”
“It’s because…” After a pause, Santiago said carefully, “I’ve been thinking about something lately, and I can’t get it off my mind. So, I came back.”
“What is it? Can you tell me?” Leia’s eyes lit up as her curiosity grew.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Santiago shrugged helplessly, not knowing if she was really that clueless or if she was just faking it.
“Is it? I’m confused, Leia looked around. She thought about it for a while, then her eyes brightened in realization. “Oh, I know! You’re involved in The Heart of the Grassland, right? I heard from fans that you like this novel very much and hoped to be the male lead. But I guess it’s bad timing because they already picked a male lead whom my friend recommended. I guess they can’t change it. Honestly though, I don’t think you’d be suitable as the male lead of this movie given your temperament, so it’s not a loss if you didn’t get the part.” As Santiago’s first fan, Leia was well aware of all news related to Santiago. She had long known that Santiago was a fan of the original novel of the movie too, but she always felt that Santiago’s temperament didn’t suit the novel’s male lead.
“Oh? What exactly is my temperament?” Santiago asked, raising an eyebrow leisurely. He wanted to know how she saw him.
“Well, you’re the kind of man who is a woman’s first love. All women will imagine a man like you when they’re ignorant, naive, and pure.” At that point, Leia’s eyes glazed over dreamily as if she had returned to her younger days when she fawned over Santiago’s posters. “Elegant, moody, handsome, distant, and dominant…”
“First love?” Santiago smirked. “That’s high praise. And even now… am I still your first love?”
Santiago stared at Leia intently, and the atmosphere became tense.
“What?” Leia never expected the solemn and calm Santiago to ask her something like that, and her cheeks turned red like a girl who had just fallen in love.
“You don’t have to be shy.
I’m not asking you to make me your man.
I’m just curious about my position in your heart.” Santiago tried to lighten the atmosphere so Leia wouldn’t feel awkward.
“Oh, I see…” Leia’s features instantly relaxed and she scratched her hair as she thought about it.
“You don’t have to doubt it, Mr.
Dalton.
Surely, you’re still my first love! You might not understand it, but a first love is something special.
You’ll always have that position in my heart!” “Does that mean that I’ll always be your first love?” Santiago got closer to her, feeling moved.
A lot of his fans loved him, but it pleased him to no end knowing that he was Leia’s first love.
“Yeah, you always will be!” Leia nodded generously.
She would always admire him as his fan.
“Then, we…” Santiago took a deep breath, wanting to ask her if they could be something more.
However, at that moment, a cold voice came from down the corridor.