Chapter 30 Dinner With Liam
Mia's POV
I knew Liam came from a powerful and wealthy family, but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw when we stepped out of the car. The house was huge, elegant, and overwhelming. It looked like something straight out of a magazine, with tall windows, white stone walls, and perfectly manicured gardens that almost felt unreal.
"Wow... it really looks like you are living in a palace," I whispered, not meaning for Liam to hear me.
But he did. He shook his head gently. "It feels like an empty palace, Mia. I know it looks impressive, but it never felt like home. I wish I lived in a simple house, one filled with the people I love." There was a quiet sadness in his voice that made me stop. "
"Do not get me wrong, I love my parents, but they are never here. They are always traveling, always busy. Just like today. The house looks full, but it is lonely. They are not home." He added softly.
He placed a gentle hand on my lower back and guided me inside.
The moment we stepped through the door, I felt my breath leave me. The inside of the house was even more beautiful than the outside. Marble floors shone under the sunlight coming through tall glass windows. A grand staircase curved upward like something from a fairytale. Expensive paintings lined the walls. Everything looked perfect, quiet, untouched.
And yet, despite all that beauty, there was a strange stillness in the air. A silence that made me understand Liam in a way I never had before.
"It is beautiful," I said softly.
"It is," he replied, "but it would be so much better if it felt alive."
I turned to him, and for a brief moment, our eyes met. He looked calm, but there was a loneliness in him I had never expected to see. And in that quiet moment, I realized something I had never allowed myself to think about.
Liam's world was luxurious, but it was not warm. It was not filled with laughter or chaos like mine once was. It did not have the simple joys I used to wish I could escape. It had everything except the one thing he wanted most. A real home.
As I stood beside him, a quiet truth settled in my heart. Liam did not bring me here to impress me or show off his wealth. He could have suggested practicing at a café or the school library, but instead, he brought me into his home, a place he rarely shared with anyone.
He trusted me enough to show me this part of his life, the part hidden behind perfect walls. I felt grateful for that trust, grateful that he let me step into his world where the silence felt louder than the grandeur.
When he led me down the hallway toward his room, which was bigger than the entire apartment my roommates and I were renting, the truth became even clearer. In this massive mansion that felt more like a beautiful cage than a home, Liam simply did not want to be alone.
And he chose me to fill that quiet space.
"Are you ready?" Liam asked as he sat beside me on the sofa.
I tried not to stare at his room too obviously. It was spacious and elegant, the kind I had only seen in movies or glossy magazines. Everything looked perfect, yet the room felt warm simply because he was there with me.
"Yes," I said softly. My fingers tightened around my script, and my cheeks grew warm when I realized Liam was looking at me instead of the lines we were supposed to practice.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" I whispered, the heat rising all the way to my ears.
He smiled gently. "I was just thinking... I wish I had met you before Josh. He is a good guy, but I envy him for having you as his girlfriend."
My breath caught. I wanted to laugh and correct him. I wanted to tell him the truth, that Josh and I were not really dating, that everything was just a misunderstanding. But I could not bring myself to ruin Josh's reputation in front of someone like Liam.
So I stayed silent. Even as my heart pounded wildly in my chest.
We began reading our lines, and I found myself forgetting the script entirely every time Liam delivered his. He was natural, confident, and expressive, almost as if the character lived inside him. Every gesture, every shift in his voice made the scene come alive. By the time we finished, I had no doubt we would ace the activity together. It felt effortless, like we were perfectly in sync.
When the last line faded and silence settled between us, Liam glanced at me with a hopeful softness in his eyes.
"Stay for dinner," he said. "Please."
I hesitated, thinking about Josh, the long commute, the heaviness of being in a house so grand it made me feel small. But then he looked at me again, almost as if he was afraid I would say no. And something inside me softened.
"Alright, but I needed to go home after," I whispered.
"Of course. That's fair," he said softly, a bright, genuine smile spreading across his face, the kind I rarely saw from him. He reached for my hand and held it gently, and I did not pull away. His touch was warm and steady, and it felt more intimate than I expected. A shiver ran down my spine, stealing my breath and scattering my thoughts.
In that quiet moment, in his enormous room that felt like a world of its own, I realized I was slipping into something I never planned. And Liam, with my hand in his, looked like he had been waiting for this moment to be alone with me.
"Wow. Are you sure this is only for the two of us? Liam, this is too much," I said as I stepped inside the dining hall. The long table looked like it was set for a celebration, not a simple dinner. Plates, soups, trays of food, and even desserts were waiting at the end.
Liam rubbed the back of his neck and let out a quiet laugh. "I think the chef misunderstood what I meant when I said I wanted something nice prepared."
I sat across from him, still a little stunned. The dining hall felt too grand, the table too long, the food too beautiful. I never imagined I would eat dinner in a place like this, much less with someone like Liam Alcaraz. But he made it strangely easy.
He cracked small jokes, teased me about how serious I looked, and when he noticed my hesitation at the row of spoons in front of me, he pretended he did not know which one to use. He picked the wrong soup spoon on purpose, shrugged like it was no big deal, clearly trying his best not to look like an heir for once, just a normal guy sitting across from me.
Later, when I finally started eating, he teased me about how serious I looked while chewing, and even tried to hide a few grains of rice he spilled under his glass like a guilty child. And I could not deny it anymore. With every small gesture, every effort he made to make me feel comfortable, I was falling for him even harder.
I laughed even harder. And the wild thing was, he kept watching me laugh as if he wanted to memorize it.