Dangerous Love: You Are My One and Only Bride novel Chapter 1799

Melanie seemed to have read Arianne’s mind. “No, Arianne. This has got nothing to do with you. Even if you kept this a secret from me, I would have found out about this, so don’t think this happened because of you,” she pointed out. “In fact, I’m happy and grateful... You didn’t choose to be biased toward him despite his connection to you. If we really think about this… He’s your brother-in-law, isn’t he? He’s family. I’m not.”

Melanie’s analysis of their complex relationship had reached a depth beyond Arianne’s cognizance, and it made her feel pretty ashamed of herself. Frankly, she had never once cared for Alejandro the way a decent sister-in-law was supposed to do, particularly since Mark did not exactly enjoy the warmest of kinship with him. Granted, with a backdrop as charged and tumultuous as that, Arianne felt as though she could never be a good sister-in-law even if she tried.

Mateo was always in his restaurant these few days, but at least he was not as busy as he used to be a few days ago. Naturally, after seeing that the women had arrived, he sat with them and in on joined their conversation. While they were waiting for food, he brewed a kettle of savory rose tea for them and personally served the girls.

He poured the cup in front of Arianne first.

The women froze. Out of the three, Melanie should be Mateo’s closest friend—so why did he opt to serve Arianne first? This was especially since she was sitting on one end of the table with Tiffany while Mateo sat on the other end with Melanie. People usually pass drinks to their neighbors sitting next to them first, do they not?

It did not take long for all three of them to recover, of course. They figured it was just a personal quirk undeserving of special attention.

It would have passed as quickly as the shock did, too, were it not for Tiffany’s penchant for friendly ribs. After a sip of her tea, she broke into a toothy grin and quipped, “Gee, I wonder! Does Ari visit your restaurant frequently on her own? Y’all seem to enjoy quite a relationship, don’cha—serving her your exquisite tea first, hmm? And here I thought your best pal Melanie would be the first!”

It was Mateo’s turn to freeze in mid-action, but he returned to smiling almost immediately. “My, my. You’re surprisingly observant! But I’m afraid there’s no noteworthy ‘tea’ from this… if you catch my drift, aha. I’m of the opinion that the order of who gets their tea served doesn’t mean much if every customer gets their share in the end, right? Oh, and by the way, Arianne has only come here alone once or twice. And since you’re all Melanie’s besties, I have no choice but to treat all of you equally.”

Tiffany waved. “Smitten? Ooh, that’s too heavy a word choice, my sweet Melanie. What I’ve professed was simply a declaration of admiration! But... you’re right. My Jackson is pretty soft, too. But don’t let who he is today fool you. Before meeting me, he was like, the opposite of soft—hell, he really knew how to get around and changed his partners like a true f**kboy! The point is, my undying love for Jackson shouldn’t stop me from admiring other men, you dig? Everyone I’ve met in my life has the potential to join the beautiful landscape I call my life! I might be barred from actually touching these beautiful people, but is it wrong to stop and gaze at them the way you enjoy a scenery, hmm?”

Before Arianne knew it, she had secretly begun to compare Jackson and Mateo mentally. If the latter was like a spring breeze billowing under the warm rays of a golden sun, then Jackson was the debonair, charming schemer who was not always honest to everyone around him. They were two splittingly different, though Arianne thought Tiffany’s lovable simple-mindedness was the better complement to Jackson’s genius.

Melanie, who insisted on paying, went to the counter after they finished their lunch, leaving Arianne and Tiffany to wait in their seats. After payment, she went to see Mateo in the supervisor’s room, which was walled out as a separate unit from the dining area. It also doubled as Mateo’s working office, and right now he was examining every Chinese recipe saved in the computer.

He was so deep in his thoughts that he had failed to see Melanie’s arrival. Nonetheless, she approached him briskly before asking, “So, about that crush who still lives in your heart. It’s Arianne Wynn, isn’t it?”