Chapter 333: Sharing Our Big News

"Oh…that’s unfortunate. Here I was busy thinking of ways to romantically propose to her. If you had arrived a few minutes too late, I probably would have ordered a ring made for her already. You’re supposed to have a huge sparkly diamond ring when you propose to a girl, you know…" Harvey said with mocking grin.

Hayden watched his brother’s blatantly fake display of sorrow before he rolled his eyes in annoyance. There were many things that he wanted to yell at Harvey for, but his brother’s casual attitude made him wonder how much if any of his shouting would get to Harvey.

"Are you done?" Hayden asked impatiently.

He was frankly sick of Harvey’s games despite how much he loved Harvey. Harvey seemed to catch up quite quickly to Hayden’s souring mood because he dropped his act completely before he placed the book that he had been reading down onto the coffee table in front of him.

"Congratulations. You two were seriously taking your time about it that I was seriously considering stealing Malissa from you," Harvey said with a hint of frustration in his voice.

"In other words, you were just bored…" Hayden surmised in short.

"That too. No! It wasn’t just because I was bored. I got annoyed because you two couldn’t seem to make up your minds. What’s so hard about proposing and deciding whether you want to marry each other or not. I just don’t get it…" Harvey complained as he folder his arms over his chest and shook his head in disapproval.

"Easy for you to say…" Hayden muttered.

"I’m happy for you, honestly…" Harvey said firmly.

Hayden knew that his brother meant it. Deep down he was relieved and pleased that his brother seemed to approve of his decision. Harvey must have really taken a liking to Malissa to approve of her as his marriage partner.

"I don’t want you touching her so carelessly anymore. I’ll let it go just this once…" Hayden warned as his eyes narrowed dangerously at his brother.

"I didn’t touch her. I licked her neck," Harvey said defensively.

Hayden shot his brother a dark glare that immediately told Harvey that this wasn’t the time for jokes.

"Alright. It was my bad. I apologize…" Harvey said before he grinned at his brother.

Hayden decided to let the whole affair slide because he knew that the past was the past and that nothing could be done to really change Harvey and his attitude. It was way too late for that.

"So, have you decided to take over?" Harvey asked with a relaxed smile on his face.

"No, I haven’t," Hayden replied flatly.

"I see. I wonder what I should do with my dead self…" Harvey said before he smiled a little sadly at Hayden.

"I’ll leave it to you to decide. Malissa seems fine with me taking over," Hayden said casually.

"She is? Really?" Harvey said as his eyes sparkled in intense interest.

"She is. I’m not sure she understands what it really means, though," Hayden said before he heaved a sigh.

"I see. Well, I guess if it’s too hard for her we can always switch…" Harvey said with a chuckle.

"As if. You know that we can’t just switch places when one of us takes over. It’s not allowed, and you know that better than anyone," Hayden reminded his brother sternly.

Harvey knew that Hayden was right. Bosses of gangs don’t get replaced. They are either succeeded by their heir at their retirement or their death.

"We’ll go ahead and get married. If nothing else, it will help shut the old man up for a while longer," Hayden said, and he sounded troubled.

"Thank you. I promise you that it won’t be much longer. I’ll…make up my mind soon enough," Harvey said before he smiled a little at his brother.

Hayden just nodded without saying anything more. It was already clear what he had to do and he was willing to do it.

"When are you going to tell our dear daddy about your engagement? I can call it an engagement, right?" Harvey asked excitedly.

"Later today. I want to tell him as soon as possible. I have some terms that I want to negotiate with him as well," Hayden said as his eyes narrowed as if he saw something dangerous in the distance.

Harvey nodded in understanding without bothering to ask what terms Hayden was going to ask the boss for.

…

The large door to the boss’s office loomed over us as I stood next to Hayden. I can’t remember how many times I’ve been here but the feelings that I had inside of me every time that I stood in front of this door didn’t quite change. I was quite scared and nervous of facing the boss regardless of the situation.

Even though we were here to break some extremely delightful news to him, I still felt nervous, and I dreaded our meeting.

Hayden must have sensed my hesitation to enter the room because his hands reached for mine and held it. I turned and glanced up at his face and saw that he was smiling a little at me. Although I was the one who technically proposed to him multiple times for him to marry me, it still felt very strange and unbelievable to me that we were actually going to get married.

I’ve slept on it but when I woke up, my silly mind still struggled to cope with the idea and linking it to the reality that I lived in.

"Let’s go. It’s not a good idea to keep the boss waiting for too long," Hayden said as his hand squeezed mine gently.

I squeezed his hand back as I nodded to him to signal that I was as ready as I will ever be…which wasn’t very ready at all.

"Welcome," the boss greeted us emotionlessly when we entered his office.

As always, the boss had seated himself down comfortably on the sofa as he waited for us to take the seat opposite to his. Hayden led me there and I followed willingly. As we had previously agreed while in the car, Hayden will do most of the talking. Of course, I was allowed to answer all questions that the boss directed at me.

Naturally, that was the way that things had to go because I doubt that we had the authority to decline answering his questions.

"You two have something that you want to tell me?" the boss asked as he stared at both of us from across the coffee table.

--To be continued…