"We are going to talk about your engagement."

I felt my heart stop for a second as those words came out of my father's mouth. I couldn't remember how I responded after he said those words. The next thing I knew I was startled by a knock on the door.

"I will see you by two. I need to go, honey." My father said on the end of the phone before cutting it off as I softly replied with a brief goodbye.

"Come in!" I called out after I placed the phone back down.

I looked up in time Hugh entered the office. I didn't greet him and waited until the door was close. When we looked up at me, he gave me a one hundred watts smile as he strutted towards my desk.

"I brought lunch," he said as he held up both of his hands, showing one with a plastic bag while the other is a bottle of wine.

"I see you kept your word," I stated as I nodded towards the wine on his right hand.

"Hardly. I lied about desert. We can have it after work, if you want," he smiled suggestive and wiggled his eyebrow.

I rolled my eyes at him and cleared stood up from my chair. "We'll eat there," I instructed as I pointed at the ten-sitter table on the left side of my office.

Hugh nodded and offered me towards the table. He placed our meal neatly and opened the bottle of wine while I sat back and watched him as per his request. There was a brief silence in the room as we continued eating until Hugh glanced up from his meal, catching me for the first time from staring at him.

"What is it?"

"Did my father tell you want the meeting is about this afternoon?"

"Not really. He only asked about if you were free. Why do you ask?" he looked at me skeptically and took a sip from his glass of wine.

"He called before you came in and told me about an engagement... doesn't that ring a bell?" I asked as I eyed him in suspicion.

His eyes grew wide while he visibly gulped down his nerves. I raised my eyebrow at him as I waited for his reply. When he remained still, I snapped my fingers in front of him, getting him out of his trance.

"Did you tell my father about us?" I asked bluntly.

"I haven't told anyone about us, except Louise and Hana. How about you? Didn't you tell Jade and Paige yesterday?" he countered, his tone turning snappish.

"I did. But I'm sure those two wouldn't be telling anyone from how our conversation ended," I replied sadly as I remembered a little fight.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound rude," he sighed and apologized quickly.

I looked up at him, taken aback from his apology. I haven't gotten used to it after all. It might take some time before I would warm up to it.

"I promise you I don't know what your old man is talking about. We will know when he'll be here later," he stated and picked up his spoon as he started eating again.

I stiffly nodded at his words and continued eating my meal. After we finished, we went back to work. It was difficult to concentrate when all I could think about was my father's words. If he hadn't known about Hugh and me, was it from the news? Did he think that Robert was the man I choose to marry?

I started creating scenarios in my head. By the time two came, there was an incoming call in my desk phone. I picked it up with a heavy heart, anticipating the inevitable.

"Mitch, you're father is here. I'm going to escort him in the boardroom downstairs. He said he had some thing to finalize with the legal department. He wanted the meeting to be there." Hugh informed me and cut the call after I give him a brief okay.

With a deep breath, I gathered up a few files on my desk and neatly piled them up. I knew I couldn't run away from this meeting with my father. If I had known what it was about, I would have rescheduled. I should have told Hugh to ask first before agreeing to anything.

I took the elevator to head one floor down even though the stairs would be faster. After wasting a good fifteen minutes, I finally stood outside the door of the boardroom. I could faintly hear a conversation going on inside, making me curious of the other people who were inside.

As I entered the room, four pairs of eyes greeted me; two were from someone I didn't expected to be present in this meeting. I stared at my grandfather and glanced briefly at Hugh's father before looking at my father last.

"Michelle, you are finally here. I thought you'd stall us some more," my grandfather spoke up first, making me look at him.

He sat at the head of the ten-sitter table in the middle of the room. My father sat on his right while Hugh's father was on his left with Hugh beside him. I continued to stare at him as I lingered by the door.

"Please close the door, Michelle," my father instructed, snapping me out into focus.

"What is this?" I asked after following my father's instruction. But I didn't take any indication on seating down.

"Seat down first, honey, and then we shall start talking," my grandfather gestured towards the chair across from him.

I hesitated a bit and then my grandfather gave me an encouraging smile. I walked stiffly towards the chair and sat down with a grunt. I glared at the men across from me, my eyes lingering a little bit on Hugh, who was looking at me with a poker face.

"What is this really about?" I asked as my anger slowly seethed in.

"Since you two are here, I don't see why we have to prolong it any longer." My father stated as he glanced between my grandfather and Hugh's father. "The marriage thing was a lie, Mitch," he added after a brief silence.

"What do you mean a lie?" I asked, a little confused. "Do you mean that you had me put through all those months, dating random man, for nothing?" I added, my eye twitched as I tried to remain my cool.

"It wasn't all for nothing, Michelle. We had given freedom to choose anyone you like in that short time. If you had found someone... you wouldn't be here talking about this..." My grandfather replied, his voice almost sounded guilty but his face remained indifferent.

"So, I hadn't found anyone yet. Now, tell me why I'm here with him." I demanded as I made a quick glance at Hugh, who had become completely still for a second.

"I know why we are here," Hugh interjected before any of our parent's could reply.

My head snapped back in his direction. "We are here because they've already made a decision before even giving you that chance, Mitch. We were already engaged," Hugh continued, his eyes darted around the room and landed at me after his short speech.

"You knew? How did you know about that?" Mr. Barns asked in disbelief as he turned to his son.

"Do you remember that day you called me in at office a few months after I graduate? You wanted to talk to me about work and stuff, but before our meeting you met mom. I overheard what you two talked about," Hugh replied confidently like he wasn't ashamed that he was eavesdropping on his own parents.

"Wait. If you knew... then, why did you agree to work for me?" I asked directly, stopping his father from reacting to his confession.

"I wanted to tell you. But when I found out that you were trying to look for someone to marry instead of me, I though you already know and didn't want to tell me," he admitted.

"So, that is why you helped me out?" I asked softly, my vocal chords tightening at this new information.

He was toying with me. Everything was an act.

"I wasn't lying to you, Mitch. This doesn't affect anything I said to you." He replied after a short pause.

"Then, why?" I asked more sternly and stood up from my seat.

"We hated each other. What do you expected from our relationship then? I'm sure you didn't want to marry me." He replied his voice had more volume.

"And, you think I would want to marry you now after admitting something like that?" I argued angrily and glared at him.

"Come on, Mitch." He pleaded softly, though there wasn't any weight on his words.

"I applaud you for what you've done, Hugh. Truly you haven't changed since the last time we met." I replied with distaste as I gathered my things.

"I told you it's not like that, okay. What was I am supposed to do at that time? You clearly hated me while I'm stuck and secretly in love with you," he argued back, his voice raised an octave as he stood up from his seat.

The room became quiet as we glowered at each other. I didn't know how longer we kept the staring competition until someone finally cleared their throat, breaking the eerie silence.

"Can we clear things out for a moment? Are you two currently together?" my grandfather asked in interest as he glanced between Hugh and me.

I blinked a couple of time before I regained my composure. "I'm not so sure about it right now, granddad. I don't see us being together at the moment," I replied harshly as I stood up from my chair. I could feel Hugh's eyes continued to bore at me.

"Michelle, dear, what he admitted is clearly not something to be angry about?" my grandfather urged as he tried to soften out the tension.

"I can't deal with that right now. After telling me all of this, I don't know what to believe," I grumbled as I stomped my way towards the door. "Have a good day gentlemen," I briefly said before closing the door behind me.

I continued to march towards the elevator and relieved to see that I was opened as people pile out of the lift. I quickly entered and pressed the button to the lobby. Before the metal door closed, I faintly heard my name being called by a familiar voice. I ignored it and allowed the elevator to descend down.

When I reached the lobby, Russell and a few of the security staff greeted me. I stopped on my tracks, taken aback by their actions.

"What are you doing?" I asked a bit breathless.

"Ms. Newman, you can't go out through those doors. There are a lot of paparazzi. And also, your father told me to not let you get out of the building," Russell replied as he took a cautionary step towards me.

"Wha... Okay," I stuttered as I tried to find a way out. I turned around and found one of the elevator door opened.

I was about to walk in when Hugh walked out of the said elevator. I studied his apologetic face as he stopped an arm's lengthen in front of me.

"Michelle, I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you about our parent's plans. I know that I'm asking too much after you've just forgiven me for what I did to you two years ago. But it wasn't my intention to hurt you like this. I didn't know what to do or how to approached the situation without making you loath me. I love you, Michelle Newman. And I'm a fool for being childish in trying to get your attention. I'm so sorry," he pleaded while he kept taking small steps until there was little distance between us.

When he was done with his speech, he was already standing in front of me. I titled my head up so that we can be face to face. We stood inches apart like we were the only people inside the lobby. I could feel everyone's eyes on us. But I couldn't look away as he did. The firm and unweaving look on his eyes and the way his lips set in to a grim line. It was like he was mirroring the scorn feeling I had. Slowly, Hugh raised both his hands and cupped my face. The end of his lips tugged into a pained smile. He caressed my cheeks like he was wiping something. And then, I understood why he looked that way. I was crying.

I felt chocked up for a moment and then I released a strained breath. My throat felt rough from the pain I was trying to hide.

"Please don't cry. I'm really sorry, Michelle," Hugh pleaded again, his voice almost a whisper.

I finally had the strength to close my eyes and take a steady breath by calming myself. When I opened my eyes again, I had regained my composure.

"I get it already. Don't mind me crying. This is just an accumulation of all the frustration I've felt for the past few weeks," I joked lightly though my voice sounded rough from my cry.

Hugh smiled at my words but didn't laugh. He continued to caress my check while I reach out and wrapped my arms around his waist.

"Cry all you want. I can cover for you. If you've forgotten, we are in the lobby," he whispered down in my ear as I placed my head on his chest.

"I haven't forgotten. Why in hell would I be this close to you in public?" I asked in embarrassment as I kept my face covered.

I felt his chest vibrated as he started laughing. I looked up at him and chuckled. "I think it's time that we make our exit. The paparazzi are buzzing outside," he instructed in between laughs.

I turned my head and scanned the small crowd circling us like we were performing an act. I hid my face again and lightly squeezed Hugh to grab his attention. "I agree. We should go. Now."

And like on cue, the elevator door across from us opened. A few staff was piling out in surprise when their eyes glanced around the crowd in front of them. With another chuckle, Hugh tugged one of my arms free from his waist as he ran towards the lift. When we were safely inside, Hugh quickly pressed the close button so that no one beside us could enter. From the look of the people that stared at us, no one was brave enough to interrupt us.

When we were finally alone, Hugh pulled me towards him, one arm around my waist while the other cupped my cheeks. He titled my head up as he slowly leaned down. I closed my eye and allowed him to kiss me. His lips were soft in mine. The kiss wasn't hurried like it was yesterday. It was sweet as he savored the moment. A kiss that made me overlooked everything that had happened.

As we pulled away from each other, Hugh kept his hands on my cheeks while he stared at my flushed face. "So, you don't want to marry me after the hundred days is over?" he asked coyly.

"It's not that I don't want to, Hugh. I think it's took quick to tie the knot even though we've known each other for so long, we only been officially together for a day now. And, I'm still a bit pissed that my father had me engaged to you behind my back," I grumbled under my breath.

"I understand, Mitch. I'm sorry for not telling you anything. Though I am willing to compromise," he offered.

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm sick with all these deadlines. I thought love doesn't have a deadline, or marriage in our case," I argued breathlessly as I stepped away from his hold.

"So, how long are we going to be dating before you marry me?"

"When the time comes, but I don't think my parents and yours could hold out for at least a year," I pointed knowingly.

"A year?" he almost yelled in surprise.

"You know it will not take that long with how we are already arranged by our parents," I snorted at his over exaggeration. "I agree we need to compromise with this one. I would wait until everything had settle down within the company and with the media. It would be tragic to plan a wedding with all this buzz looming behind us."

"Okay, I can work with that," Hugh nodded in agreement.

Before I could reply, the elevator stopped on our floor and opened to a view of the reception area that was crowded with my father, grandfather, Hugh's dad, and Louise and Hana. As we stepped out, grabbing their attention, Hugh took my hand and give in an encouraging squeeze. I have to renegotiate the one hundred day deadline. After the stunt my family pulled, I could smell an easy win.

_______________________

A/N: Hey fellas! This is the last chapter before the epilogue. Thank you so much for those who read the story until this point. And I know some of you expected some great romantic, fireworks like ending. But I wanted the simple ending for these two. The story was basically Mitch's struggle in finding out who was her ever after, while denying the fact that she was already in love with someone.

But anyways, I will update the epilogue tomorrow. It's the hundredth day. What do you think will happened?

Have an awesome day and happy reading!