Chapter 57: Chapter 57

"WHAT is this all about Gideon?" Amelia asked after we all settled down at the dining table.

Gideon asked his parents to have dinner with us. But then Amelia insisted on having it in their mansion.

"You said we are celebrating something. What is it?"

Amelia stood up and opened the champagne bottle that Gideon and I brought here with us.

Gideon smiled at his parents, then he turned to me. His eyes glittering with happiness. Those blue eyes of his… they're as beautiful as the ocean.

"Bianca and I won't get a divorce. We both decided to give our marriage a second chance."

Gideon softly smiled at me. He held my left hand and caressed the ring on my finger. The one he gave me last week.

"What's this Gideon?" My eyes widened when I saw the ring on my finger. It was a gold band wedding ring.

We were walking around the vineyard when he suddenly slipped something on my finger. I didn't expect it to be a ring.

"You aren't wearing any wedding ring, sweetheart."

I bit my lower lip and looked at him. "Oh… I lost it after the accident."

"I don't want anyone to think you're still available," he said, looking me in the eye. He caressed my ring finger. "You're already mine, Bianca."

I smiled, meeting his stares. "I'm yours only, Gideon."

Gideon brought my hand to his lips. "Let's get married again, Bianca."

My lips parted at him.

"I want to marry you again. This time, in front of many people. I want everyone to know that you're mine." He lovingly gazed at me. "Will you marry me again, Bianca?"

Tears stung my eyes. This time, I knew it was tears of joy. "Yeah. Let's get married again," I answered. This time, wholeheartedly. This time, I knew it would be for real.

"Oh, that's great news!" Amelia exclaimed, her face in obvious delight. "That's really something to be celebrated about. I'm happy for the two of you, Gideon and Bianca."

"Thanks, Mom."

Amelia looked at me and smiled. The corner of her eyes were misty with tears. "Thank you for not giving up on Gideon, Bianca."

I gave her a soft smile.

"Let's cheer to that," Darwin said, slightly raising the glass of champagne in his hand.

"Thank you, sweetheart." Gideon leaned on me and whispered after he put down his wine glass. Then he took my hand and brought it to his lips.

Suddenly, butterflies invaded my stomach.

"I love you," he softly said, his eyes piercing into mine.

I pursed my lips and felt my cheeks heat up. "We're in front of your parents, Gideon," I said in a small voice, ashamed of the attention we were getting from his parents.

Gideon just playfully raised his brows at me. "So, we're a married couple, sweetheart."

"Oh, don't mind us, darling." I heard Amelia say.

I turned to Amelia who had a delightful smile on her face.

"I think this calls for a bigger celebration. Why don't we throw a party on the weekends?" She turned to his husband, then to me. "What do you think, Bianca?"

I wanted to chuckle and shake my head. Amelia and her obsession with parties. I pursed my lips. "I don't think it's necessary, Amelia."

"Don't worry, Mom," Gideon said. "Bianca and I decided to get married again. This time, I wanted it to be a grand wedding."

"Oh, wow!" Amelia's eyes widened with delight and excitement. "Let me handle it, Bianca, Gideon. I'll seek help from the most famous wedding organizers in the country."

Amelia was preoccupied with Gideon's announcement of a grand wedding when an unexpected person came.

"Charlie, I thought you're not coming," Amelia said. She stood up and greeted her son.

I stiffened in my seat. After the talk we had last week, I hadn't seen him again. Until now.

Charlie smiled at his mother. "My meeting ended earlier than I expected."

Then he turned to Gideon and me. "Gideon, Bianca."

His eyes stayed on me before he occupied the seat beside Amelia.

"So, what's the celebration for?" Charlie asked, his thick eyebrows arched as he surveyed the dining table.

I bit my lower lip.

"Oh. Gideon and Bianca are planning to get married again," Amelia announced.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I wanted to give my wife a grand wedding this time." I heard Gideon say beside me.

"Well, then. I say congratulations to both of you, Gideon, Bianca."

I felt Charlie's eyes on mine. I was forced to look at him. I noticed his eyes were on the ring on my finger.

"T-thanks, Charlie," I said, giving him a tight-lipped smile.

Charlie didn't smile back. He just ignored me and sipped on his champagne.

I felt awkward the whole dinner. Good thing Amelia dominated the conversation. She told everyone about her organization's recent medical mission to Guatemala.

"Are you okay, Bianca?" Gideon asked me in the middle of eating dessert. Amelia served us a pecan pie which she baked herself.

I felt like this dinner was a deja vu of the dinner I had with the Henry family four months ago.

I turned to Gideon and smiled. "I'm fine, Gideon. Don't worry."

"Are you and Charlie okay?"

I stiffened in my seat when Gideon asked me that.

So, he noticed.

Of course, Gideon would notice because Charlie had been ignoring me since he joined us at this dinner.

I gave Gideon a small smile. "Y-yeah. We just had a little argument when he talked to me last week. I'll just talk to him later."

Gideon smiled and seemed to be believing me.

I'm sorry, Gideon. I just wanted to protect you from the pain the truth would cause you.

"Can I talk to you, Bianca?" Charlie asked me after dinner. "I believe we have something to talk about," he said, looking at me with serious eyes.

My eyes went to Gideon who was busy talking to his father.

I looked back at Charlie. "Sure. Let's go outside."

Charlie followed me to the patio. From there, I could clearly see the huge fountain and swimming pool of the mansion.

I heard a sigh behind me. "Is everything said at the dinner true, Bianca?"

I looked at him. "It's true… Charlie." My voice soft but steady.

His mouth dropped open.

"Alright." He said after taking a deep breath. "You're in love with him. But are you really going to stay married to him, Bianca?"

I swallowed. "Gideon and I… we've already talked about it. We both wanted our marriage to work. We'll stay married, Charlie."

Charlie shook his head, clearly disappointed with everything he'd been hearing.

"You're making a mistake, Bianca. Gideon doesn't love you."

"He does. He loves me, Charlie." I swallowed the lump in my throat. I didn't want to hurt him with my words. But I needed to do this.

"And I love him, too," I whispered softly.

"Yeah, he does." He answered sarcastically. "This version of Gideon might love you. But we both know the old man doesn't. The old Gideon doesn't love you, Bianca. He hated you. He hated you so much that he made your life miserable."

"Gideon's different now, Charlie. He's a different person now. The old one was already gone."

His eyes hardened on me. "But this new one is not the real Gideon, Bianca. We both know what kind of person he is before losing his memory."

I looked at Charlie. "How can you be sure that this version of Gideon was not the real him, Charlie?"

"Why are you being like this, Charlie? Don't you want me to be happy?"

He smiled faintly. "I do, Bianca. I want you to be happy, that's why I'm doing this. Because I know you'll never be happy with Gideon. Not like this."

"How can you seriously say that I'm not going to be happy with him? Because I'm already happy with him right now, Charlie."

I saw the pain that crossed his eyes. "What if his memory comes back? What do you think will happen, Bianca? What if he remembers everything that happened in the past?"

I shook my head. "That won't happen. He's already healed. His memory won't come back anymore. His old memories are now gone. He won't remember them anymore."

He smirked at me menacingly. "What if someone tells him about the past? What if I told him, Bianca?"

My eyes widened. "Charlie… No. Please, don't tell Gideon." I said, pleading at him.

Funny how life really works. Almost a year ago, it was Gideon who I was pleading to.

Now… It was Charlie in front of me. And here I was, begging him to keep our past from Gideon.

"Bianca, I'm only doing this for you. I don't want you to get hurt in the end."

"Don't you think I won't get hurt if you do that? You wouldn't only hurt me, Charlie. You're going to hurt Gideon. And most of all, Amelia…"

Charlie clenched his jaw. "I guess I really made a mistake of keeping the truth from them." There was a sad smile on his face. "If I told our parents the truth about us then, this wouldn't have happened. You wouldn't be forced to stay with Gideon. You wouldn't fall in love with him."

"Charlie… please." My voice was on the edge of breaking. "Let's just keep the past to ourselves. Please, don't mention anything to Gideon."

"What is it that you two are keeping from me?"

My heart stopped beating when I heard that voice.

"G-Gideon."

"Gideon." Charlie turned to his brother. Unlike me, he looked calm and collected.

Gideon's face was serious, but his brows were furrowed. "What are you two talking about? What is it that you don't want Charlie to tell me, Bianca?"