"You seem to be in a hurry to get married. Any special reason for this?" Lillian asked directly to clarify things.
"You caught me. I do have a reason for it..." Leo admitted that he needed to get married as soon as possible due to family issues. He was looking for a bride, and she caught his eye.
Leo told her that he had to get married to get his inheritance from his grandmother's side and ensure it was not stolen by some relatives, who, he knew, wanted to use it for dubious things.
"They never even cared about Grandma, and now that she's old, they want a major share, if not all of her properties. I cannot allow them to take all of it when they will simply use it recklessly without a care for her hard work. But Grandma's condition was that I must be wed," Leo explained.
His eyes darkened when he talked about his relatives, but softened when it came to his Grandma. He truly cared about his grandmother.
Lillian understood Leo's concern.
Leo treasured his Grandma and did not want her hard work to be squandered. This was the true goal of his intention to get married immediately.
It meant the bride didn't have to be her. Leo could simply marry someone else.
"I understand you have your reasons, but the bride doesn't have to be me. You can marry someone else who's fine with getting married immediately. Let's forget about last night or that we ever met," Lillian concluded.
Suddenly getting married without being ready and not having strong enough feelings to say she liked or loved him enough for marriage made her reject his proposal.
Leo gulped and stared at her for a second, speechless, not because of the rejection but because of her last phrase.
He already knew she would likely reject his proposal, but he still tried anyway, taking his chances. What did not sit well with Leo was Lillian telling him to forget their encounter entirely.
Was he that easy to forget for her? Were their conversations and blooming connection easy to forget for her, as if they never happened?
Trying to hide the hurt and offended look on his face, Leo said, "I understand I am rushing things, and you are not obligated to go at my pace because of my circumstances. I know this must be confusing and overwhelming for you. However, can you truly simply forget about last night or that we have met? As for me, I won't."
Lillian's heart skipped a beat at his words. Did he like her and what they had so far this much?
Seeing his expression, Lillian realized her words may have come insulting.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to say you were easy to forget. I don't usually do these things. This is the first time I dared to do this randomly, and I know it will take a while. It was also a good memory for me, so probably, several years before I forget," Lillian admitted with a blush on her face. It was embarrassing to say it, but she had to since he opened how he felt about it first. "Or I might never forget. It depends. I did enjoy last night and the conversations we shared, but marriage is simply something else."
Even now, Lillian hadn't forgotten Tom's cheating on her, and nothing as intimate as she had done with Leo had happened between them. How could she simply forget about Leo when he was the first man she had tried doing naughty things with?
Leo smiled at Lillian's reply, even if there was another rejection in the end. He liked what she had just said, and the delight in his eyes was visible. It made Lillian blush even more and feel somewhat shy, so she looked away.
Leo waited until she met his gaze again before he spoke.
"If it will take that long for you to forget, then isn't it better to try being with me? Why not marry me? Let's test things out. We can divorce later if things don't work out, though, I hope it does," Leo said, his eyes always following hers as if watching her every reaction and thought.
Lillian looked away from the intensity of his gaze. It was making her self-conscious.
She was silent for a few seconds as she pondered over his words.
Leo had a point.
If she were to waste years just getting over one night, then wouldn't it be better to take this risk and try things out with him? If things worked out and they truly like each other, then all good; if not, they can get divorced.
But what if they had a child together?
Lillian needed to have this clarified, so she asked, "Does this mean that the marriage you have in mind would not have any children involved since it might be a temporary one?"
"Yes. We won't have children until we are sure our marriage will continue. And that's of course, if you are willing to have children. I understand that pregnancy and childbirth come with a lot of health tolls on a woman's body, so I leave it up to you," Leo said.
Lillian gulped. She liked what Leo just said. If she agreed to this, in their relationship, she's the one who gets to decide whether they have children or not. Among the men who courted her, those who easily said they wanted to have a lot of children without even asking her opinion were immediately rejected. They were among the ones tagged as red flags since she had seen a lot of coworkers suffer because of them.
Leo's mindset on this matter was exactly what she was looking for.
"Do you not want to have children?" Lillian asked, further probing what he had in mind for the future.
"It's not that I don't want to have children. I'm more than willing to take responsibility if we have one or more. I think a child who looks like you and me will surely be adorable. But I'm not in a hurry to have children, nor do I particularly want or don't want to have children. As I said, it will be your decision, and I'm fine with either once our relationship stabilizes," Leo clarified.