Chapter 36

Daniel

I sat patiently at the restaurant, awaiting Christina's arrival. Following Ariana's advice, I contacted Christina the previous night and invited her to have lunch with me.

It came as no surprise when she reacted with excitement. I could sense that she might have been entertaining the notion that I was ready to accept her proposal of marriage, given her incessant text messages throughout the night, seeking my opinion on what color dress she should wear.

Naturally, I chose not to respond to any of her messages. I held no interest in dictating her choice of attire, and more importantly, I didn't want to lead her on or give her false hope regarding my willingness to marry her.

We had agreed to meet at the restaurant at 2 p.m., and I arrived promptly at 1:45 p.m. However, now half an hour past the appointed time, there was still no sign of Christina. I didn't expect her to be punctual, as timeliness wasn't her strong suit. Nevertheless, the fact that she wa