Page 21 of Code of Heart
“Whoa, take it down a notch there, son!” Owen turned to a bemused Grace and asked, “How did this robot who doesn’t believe in the magic of love win your heart?”
“He has other…qualities that I find swoon-worthy,” she giggled. Isaac cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes at his wife.
“It’s astonishing that you clown shoes are in charge of running a multibillion-dollar company,” Ivy cut in wryly, wrangling their attention back on track.
Levi fell back in his seat, tipped his head towards the ceiling, and exhaled forcefully. If there was ever a time for any kind of divine intervention, he prayed to whoever would listen for it to be now.
“Anyway,” Ivy continued, not keen on being interrupted, “there’s a service agreement that outlines the scope of services, timelines, fees, confidentiality, and of course, your commitment to the process. They’re already in contact with your attorneyabout some minor changes he wants to make. You should get a final draft later this afternoon.”
The speed at which it was all happening had Levi breaking out into a sweat despite the cool temperature in the house. He swallowed hard.
This is really happening.
“The most important thing here is that you need to trust the matchmaker, or it isn’t going to work out,” Ivy stressed. “You also need to be honest with yourself. I suggest you spend the rest of the day thinking about exactly how much of yourself you’re willing to put into the process. The whole point is to match you with someone who complements you—is your other half.”
Blindly trusting a stranger to pick out a wife for him without his input? This part was doable. But agreeing to get married without even seeing her first? That was an extremely hard pill for Levi to swallow.
Figuring outwhether he was ready to do this was harder.
Unfortunately, he didn’t have a choice at this point. He dipped his head once in agreement, his expression bleak while trying to ignore the rising panic manifesting in his chest. He would deal with it once they all left.
Owen agreed with Ivy. “If you're not honest about what you want out of the relationship right from the beginning, it’ll work against you both later on. That's what I learned from watchingSummoned for Love, where a barrister in a foreign country fell in love with a tourist who was arrested for jaywalking. When they met, the tourist told the barrister that they were in the country for an extended visit, until she found out that the reason for the extension was because of the jaywalking charges…and she was assigned as his legal representation.” Owen explained sagely.
Grace squealed, “Yes! She was upset because the tourist didn’t tell her about the arrest, and she assumed he was moving there—or at least would be in the country long enough to pursue a relationship. The relocation issue almost broke them.”
Hands on his hips, Isaac was incredulous. “Are you two serious right now? That doesn’t even make any sense, nor is it an applicable parallel to draw against Levi's situation! These movies arenotrealistic.”
Owen looked down his nose at Isaac and scoffed. “Au contraire, mon ami. You seem to be forgetting that we are actually in a situation where there is a fake fiancée, an arranged marriage about to happen, a groom who’s a billionaire,” he listed out, lifting a finger on one hand for each item checked, “but you don't think these movies are realistic enough to compare to?”
Owen glanced sidelong at Grace again, pure judgment in his eyes. “I really don't understand how he managed to woo you. Please tell me there was a secret grand gesture we don’t know about because the lunacy I’m hearing from your husband's mouth is making me reconsider our friendship now.”
“This entire day so far is making me reconsider my friendship with half of you,” Levi mumbled to himself with a slow head shake.
Grace cut in before anyone else could offer any more commentary. “I think we’ve helped as much as we can today.” Levi shot her a grateful look, internally thanking whoever was responsible for sending him the miracle that was Grace. “Levi, we’re all going to head out so you can have time to yourself to think.”
Owen was on the verge of objecting when she added, “Everyone is welcome to come to our place tomorrow night for dinner, though. Then Levi can give us an update on how his appointment went.” She looked at Owen when she firmly added, “We canallinterrogate him.”
Temporarily placated, Owen kept his mouth shut and gave Grace a curt nod.
Everyone else agreed to dinner before they packed up and left, giving Levi time to think about Ivy's question.
“This is going to be a shit show,” he muttered to himself.
CHAPTER 9
Aurelia
Maybe this wasn’t the best idea, Aurelia thought to herself as she watched her hairstylist, Brandi, mix several different bowls of hair dye.
Her long chestnut hair was naturally wavy and had never been processed or chemically treated. Yet here she sat, with foils threaded throughout her head, actively lightening the strands in preparation for coloring.
Though her favorite color was turquoise, Aurelia loved all the bright colors of the rainbow. The beauty of colorful things like stained glass windows, freshly laid out produce at the grocery store, and the sunrise and sunset over the lagoon brought a quiet joy to her world.
It was fitting then that she boldly—and impulsively—decided to highlight her hair with quite literally a rainbow of colors. Each bowl of hair dye held a distinct color: red, hot pink, coral, teal, green, blue, and violet.
Initially taken aback by her request, Brandi's skepticism rapidly changed to excitement as she assessed Aurelia’s appearance, no doubt picturing the outcome. Brandi clapped her hands together, assuring her that it would look amazing, and was thankful for the chance to try something so unique on a client.
Aurelia was excited too, but some habits were hard to break, and that familiar self-doubt crept in. But she didn’t voice it aloud. There was no going back, and she needed to see it through.Worst case, if it were awful, she could dye it back to her natural color and pretend it never happened.
