"He left me his jet."
"What?" Reyona exclaimed in surprise.
"His pilot would be on standby to call whenever I am ready to go back."
"How is he getting back?"
"He said his brother was picking him up."
"Picking him up, his brother is a pilot?"
"Yeah, not professionally, of course," Toria said as she sat in the wicker chair with a sigh. "They are licensed to do a lot of things."
"They?" Reyona asked curiously.
"He has five brothers, Rey. I can't even wrap my head around the number of cousins he has," Toria said in a pensive tone.
Reyona stared at Toria for a moment before saying "You like him."
Toria looked at her with contemplation before saying "Is it obvious?"
"Not at first glance, but I think you do."
Instead of answering, Toria reached for her glass of drink and sipped it.
When she looked at Reyona's expectant face, she shook her head and said "He is…intense."
That surprised Reyona. "Andreas? He looked very laid-back to me."
"Yeah. It fools you, doesn't it? That is not all there is to him," Toria said in contemplation.
Reyona sighed and leaned back in her chair before saying, "Do you like him?"
"Very much."
"Does he know?"
"Not really."
"Do you think he likes you?"
"He told me the first day he saw me."
"Wait, what?" Reyona snorted in laughter.
"I told you, intense" Toria said without so much as a smile on her face.
"Sorry, I am sorry. I shouldn't laugh about that." Reyona said as she reached for her drink.
She had just sipped when Toria said "He wants to marry me."
She coughed as the drink went down the wrong way. "Excuse me? I thought you met him three weeks ago?"
"Two. He wasn't around when we first got there."
"Oh wow."
"Looking at him, would you believe that he is a firm believer in fate and all?"
"He believes you are fated?"
"Told me I am the woman of his dreams. Literally."
"He dreamed about you?"
"According to him, he started having dreams about me long before he saw me. The job offer wasn't random at all. He saw my picture on our website. Our Aspen customer just happened to be his acquaintance. It wasn't really a referral after all. He asked for us. For me."
Reyona was so astonished that she could only repeat "Wow."
"So you see what I meant when I said he is intense? I don't even know if I should be angry at his meticulous calculation or be glad that someone wants me that much. It just feels like a mail-order bride kind of thing, you know?"
"At least he didn't drop on one knee and ask you to marry him on the spot," Reyona said for the lack of something better to say.
But then she turned her head to look at Toria when the latter didn't make a jest about it or laugh.
When she saw the look on Toria's face, she shook her head unconsciously while saying, "You are kidding."
"He gave me two offers just before Manuel arrived," Toria said simply.
"Offers?" Reyona asked in confusion.
"A lifetime contract offer for T and T, and an offer of marriage."
"What?"
"He is a firm believer in love after marriage. He believes I can come to love him as he already did," Toria said blandly and drained her juice before reaching out to pour another.
"Toria" Reyona called softly to get her to look at her.
With a snorting short laugh, Toria said, "He sounds crazy, doesn't he? Just like the kind of guy I should run as far away as possible from?"
"Is that what you want to do?" Reyona asked.
Toria shook her head and said "I probably would have turned right back the moment we landed in Cyprus. I could have even found a valid excuse to give Tara why I rejected such a lucrative job, but then he had to wait until we all fell in love with the project. He came and got me hooked right off the bat too. So, no, I don't want to run. I should. If anyone told me the same, I would probably have told them to leave as fast as possible, but I have come to realise that I do not want to run. I like him. I think I might just give it a shot after all" she said, with a smile, as if she had just come to a decision.
"And the lifetime contract?"
"The conditions are pretty flexible and in our favour too. We wouldn't be working for them exclusively, but we get to call dibs on all their future projects."
"Wow, that would be such good leverage for T and T. It would put you up there, you know? It is just like having a stable source of income while you are free to take any side hustle you want. Think of the exposure too."
Toria smiled fully for the first time since they had gone out.
"So you think we should take it?"
"Business-wise, it will be a good deal for your company with those terms. What does Tara think?"
Toria smiled sheepishly and Reyona said, "You have not told her?"
Toria leaned back with a sigh and said "I needed to wrap my head around what it would mean if I took the offer and agreed to be with Andreas, you know?"
"So you will accept his marriage offer?"
"No", then she smiled and said "At least not yet. The man had been knocking my breath out of me at every turn with each of his statements and gestures. It is time for a change of game."
"Now I feel scared on his behalf," Reyona said as she saw the glint in Toria's eyes.
Toria laughed and rubbed her hands together like the evil witch about to conjure some magic. "I think I am going to enjoy this. At best, if it doesn't eventually work out, I am going to enjoy myself in the process."
"Good luck on that" Reyona said and raised her glass in salute. "I can't have champagne, but this should do. Cheers."
Toria clinked her glass with hers and laughingly said "To a change of game."
"To a change of the game," Reyona said with a smile.
As they sipped their drinks, Reyona remembered the extensive web of family that Toria might have to deal with if this ended up becoming a serious thing.
"Just be careful." She said.
"I will," Toria responded and saluted her with her glass.