Chapter 497 - Can I Hold Your Hand? (1/2)

Nicolae's heart was struck by Aleksis's explanation. They had never talked about the mysterious Alaric Rhionen before. Even when Aleksis stayed at his place for two months, Nicolae never asked her, let alone urged her to tell him about her relationship with Alaric.

In his heart, he now felt more depressed. He now knew how sincere Aleksis' love for Alaric was. The girl paid no attention to the age difference between them and did not even care if his face had been disfigured.

He did not know whether, one day, Aleksis would love him that much.

”I didn't know your relationship with him was like that,” he said quietly. ”He sounds like a complicated person.”

Aleksis nodded. ”He is indeed very complicated. I know my family will not be able to accept him, Aside from his shady background, he also held a huge grudge against humanity. At that time, I naively thought I would be able to change him. Unfortunately, the opportunity never came, and he died with that hatred and grudge still in his heart.”

”That means our similarity ends at the physical appearance,” he remarked after listening to her. ”I'm not complicated and I don't hate humans. My father is like that, but I'm not like my father.”

”Right,” Aleksis smiled for the first time. ”You are yourself. I like Nicolae who is warm and always sweet. Please don't ever change.”

”No. I will not,” Nicolae answered firmly. ”I will not change no matter what.”

”That's nice.” Aleksis snatched the knife from Nicolae's hand. This time, it was her turn to peel the apples for them. ”Do you want to drink wine?”

”Uh, it's not 12 yet,” Nicolae answered, his tone hinting a bit of a surprise.

”There are no children around here,” Aleksis whispered mischievously. ”Let's open a bottle.”

Nicolae obediently plugged out the wine cork and poured half a glass for each of them.

They drank wine while talking about his various adventures around the world. The stories seemed to have accumulated over the years. Wine made the atmosphere more pleasant. Soon the two of them were laughing heartily when Nicolae told her about Terry who had almost booked an empty plane to take them to Rome.

”Ah, my brother really likes to do things in an exaggerated manner. That one instance is the example,” Aleksis shook her head, laughing. ”I still remember you guys were bitter enemies in the past. How does it feel realizing that the person you hated the most before is actually your best friend in cyberspace? Didn't you feel weird?”

Nicolae shrugged, ”At first I did. But over time, I forgot that at one point in our lives, we have been enemies. Now, we're simply good friends.”

”Ah ... how nice.” Aleksis smiled. ”By the way, Uncle Lauriel deliberately invited several beautiful and single girls from respectable families to your party. Did anyone catch your attention? We can invite them again for a new year party, a ball or something.”

Nicolae nodded, ”There was. And I want to invite her to dinner with me next week.”

”Oh really? Which one?” asked Aleksis.

”She's from Germany. If I'm not mistaken, she's Uncle Caspar's daughter.” Nicolae shrugged and then finished his wine. ”Only, I don't know if she wants to have dinner with me or not.”

Aleksis suddenly hit the young man's shoulder who then giggled because he managed to tease her.

”You are not being serious,” she grumbled.

”Who said so? I'm super serious, really.” Nicolae put down his glass and looked at her intensely. In a very earnest voice, he asked, ”Miss Aleksis Schneider ... may I have the honor to have dinner with you next week? Just the two of us?”

”Aish ... what the hell is this? Of course, I will. You don't have to look so pitiful,” she answered.