He thought for a minute and said "Rachel is a kid so she is not an issue, Ryan will understand I guess and support, but he could ask questions why we did not talk in plane and all. We will have to plan all that. The only problem will be mother, she will try anything to pull us apart. We will have to be careful around her."

I nodded and said "Okay! We can say, we were not ready to tell our family about us yet. That's why we did not talk. But when will we tell about us? We will have to start behaving a bit close from tomorrow before we announce."

He said "We won't announce until your father or my mother tell us about them getting married. The day they tell us about it, or if your father tells you when you are alone then you tell him. I know mother will never tell me, I will know it from other people only."

I nodded and said "Okay! But how will we act till then? We can't be strangers, if in case we are questioned we need to have a bit extended and more loving story. I am not good with story making, I told you how we met and now you draft the story."

He nodded and said "I know two things about you as I had observed you are not fan of places with water like beaches, swimming pool and I also know that you don't like Thai food. Today you did not even touch any Thai dish."

I was shocked, he sure was an observant. I told him "First I am hydrophobic, not telling the reason and second Mexican is my favorite if I get it I don't need anything else. Hence I did not touch anything else other than Mexican dishes. By the way thank you for ordering it."

He said "Perfect we have a story everyone will believe. I ordered Mexican just for you and about hydrophobic I will say I knew it that's why we left early after dinner and hence I rejected mother's offer to sit by the pool."

I hi-fived him and said "Wow! You know you surely are amazing. Without knowing you indirectly did something for me and now we have a loving and caring story."

He laughed and stated "But we have one biggest issue now" I asked him "What will that be?"

He pointed towards him and said "First I look hideous, why would you love me? And second one the age gap? I am 25 and you are 18."

I said "You maybe a nerd but you are not hideous, stop thinking like that about you. About the age, I don't know! We will deal with it later."

He asked me "Why do you think I am not hideous? When I was in school, I was always bullied. I mean why a high schooler will like someone like me? What if someone ask you that question? I am sure someone will do and you will have to answer them someday."

I told him honestly "Will you stop thinking about your looks. You know there are things beyond looks, you are smart. You started your own company and are hardworking. You know very well how to find a loop hole in contract, I don't think I can ever do that and lastly you have a pure heart. If you care about your step-sister so much how much will you care about your future kids think about it. You have many goods in you and even with the nerd look you look good."

He said "Wow! You know you are the first one to appreciate me. Before this I had never received such a motivating speech. You are something else Sam, I must say. I thought you might be a spoiled brat, who bullied others and made fun of them."

I rolled my eye and asked him "Why would you judge me? I mean you saw me the whole day, was I behaving like a spoilt brat?" He nodded "Sometimes!"

I saw the time and it was 5 am and said "Shit! Its five am we talked for a hour. I think if I sleep now I will not be able to wake up by 7 am for hiking." He said "Same here!"

I asked him "Lets talk more than? Tell me when did I acted like a brat?"

He said "As soon as we entered you were already demanding things like ear phones! Then you talked to Ryan, completely ignoring me and my presence. I felt you thought about me as hideous too hence you never threw a glance my way. Then the car incident, you without worrying about others safety or asking other if they want to drive, drove the car. You know you were much faster than the city limits."

I cut him off "That's because that was a dream car, I had always wanted it and when I had it, I was not ready to share when I finally got it after years."

He nodded and said "So in the year we will be stuck together we can be friends. I mean we have to be civil around each other."

I nodded and asked him "But why one year? We can separate before that too?"

He shook his head and said "No that will not be good for your father's image. After one year we could say that you want to study at a far away place and we will have a fight because you applied without telling me. I am sure you are smart and will get in. Then you can go to your father, we can pretend we drifted apart and file for divorce. You will happily live your life and I will have my life."

I asked "Wow! You had it all planned before hand, haven't you?"

He nodded "I only planned about asking you to marry me and the way we will separate. I did not think about other things like how we met and how will we convince your father. I guess I was only thinking about myself then."

I said "But seriously I have too many questions as to why Amanda does this? What did she do for her own son wanting to get revenge on her? What is your relation with Ryan like? Why me and not someone else in the past your mother met? There are many more but just answer my one question will you?"

He said "It depends on the question. Ask!" I asked him "You said my father helped you in the past. I want to know how did he help you?"

He told me "He has helped in the business, when I was struggling. No one else was ready to help me, everyone thought investing in my company would only bring them loss. But Mr. Colton without meeting me just via video call heard my idea, said he supports start ups and helped me. I don't think he remember, neither do I want him to know now. I will surely tell him one day how helpfully he was but not just yet."

I asked "Why do you not want to tell him now? He will be happy to hear that he was right, when he invested in your company."

He said "I will tell him when I will reach the goal I had set, what I had told him in that video call five years back."

I nodded in understanding and said "Okay! It's completely your business and your wish. But I am happy dad helped you that day and now you are ready to help dad instead of your own mother."

He sadly said "All my mother wants is money, I know money is important but why con someone for it. I am sure the people she con had worked really hard to earn the money they had. I don't know why she does it but I am sure I will never be like her. I will work hard and earn rather than conning someone."

I nodded and he continued "I will answer your one more question why you and not someone in the past. First I did not know the deal my mother had in the past with other men. I may have knew it but maybe I was to engrossed in building my own company that I ignored. But this time it was Mr. Colton and he is the reason for me being who I am today and I can't backstab him. When I found that contract with his name, I was so shocked. I did all I could with help of my lawyers to find loopholes and save Mr. Colton. My lawyer did some research on Mr. Colton and found he has a daughter, who is of legal age to marry. Then they came up with this solution."

I said "Okay! That's a lot for one day. I need some time to digest it all." He nodded and then left.