She goes cold and the kiss loses its effect on her. Rey who had initially gotten lost in the sweetness of her lips pulled away and looked her in the eyes.
He felt his heart's strings being pulled at the sight of her teary eyes, she had a film of tear covering her eyes but her resolve to have them unshed was stronger.
"How can you do this Sir?" She whispers at him, her heart breaking from the hurt that even the kiss was also a ploy.
"Don't tell me you're falling for me already?" He pointed his index at his face with a narcissistic smile and the shutter went off again.
She wants to look towards the camera but Rey's hand stops her again. "No strings attached, remember?" He asks with a face of concern, but his eyes said something different.
"I do." Her voice broke.
"Do you still want to leave?" He pretended not to notice her pain.
She shook her head.
"Words, Mia. Use your words."
"No." Her voice was barely a whisper and she swallowed.
"Good." He smiled at her and the flashlight along with the shutter went off again.
Mia's hands folded into a fist, a tight ball of fist that her knuckles whitened and one of her nails broke off from the pressure, she didn't feel the pain from her finger. She could not feel the pain, not when she had a bigger emotion to handle.
Rey placed a hand on one of her fists, rubbed his fingers on it and looked lovingly into her eyes.
Mia looked back into his eyes and almost got lost at the depth of emotion in his eyes. 'It's all a ploy', she sang in her head.
'It's all for Lucio.' She thought when the first didn't work.
Putting a hand into his breast pocket, Mia's breath quickened and she was right, it was going to be a proposal. He brought out a black box, a box that screamed elegance just by the sight of it and she let her tears fall.
Rey knew more than the touched and emotional photographer that Mia wasn't being emotional about the proposal. He knew these tears weren't an act, she was in pain, an emotional pain he refused to relate to.
Popping the box open, Rey presented it to Mia, reached out his free hand which was initially on her enclosed fists to her hair and adjusted the hair to fall to the side and completely cover half of her face. The camera flash light went off again.
When Mia blinked again at the bright light of the camera, her anger grew but was doused when Rey shifted his seat to get down on one knee.
"You don't need to do this, Sir." She whispered, wiping the tears off her face, thankfully it was waterproof makeup.
"Rey." He corrected, looking up at her like she mattered the most in the whole world.
"And we need to do every single thing that needs to be done for the sake of proof."
Proof? Was that it? The reason she had to go through all these emotional turmoil.
Smiling, he presented the glittering ring to her.
"Mia Lucas." He started and as if the restaurant room was not dark enough, every atom of light disappeared, leaving just the candle light burning brightly.
"Mmm." She forced a response and enthusiasm.
"It was fate when I met you." He started and she could not help the sneer that formed on her face.
'More like when you employed me.' Seh thought to herself and made an internal eye roll at him.
"I have a lot to say..." He continued, ignoring her little actions, after all, her face won't reflect on the picture.
'You sure do.' She continued in her head after making a deal with herself not to cry for him again.
"But I won't. Would you be my wife?" Rey asked but his voice trembled.
What was wrong with him? Did he feel it too? Did he feel the raw emotions too? The emotions packed up in their meeting tonight was too much to be handled fakely.
Rey looked back at Mia, he didn't want to admit it but it was there, the raw feeling of something close to likeness, no, he refused to identify it as love. All this was just a plan to get him his inheritance and nothing more. He felt this way because of the atmosphere.
"Babe…" He called her again and as if being woken from her slumber, Mia's lips stretched into a smile.
Spreading her fingers apart and presenting her hand to him, she said "Yes." But she said it out loud this time, this was for herself, it was to convince herself that it wasn't for her but for him, for his purpose, she was just a tool to get to his goal.
Gently and carefully, he slid the shiny ring into the right finger and the flash went off again, as she expected. What she didn't expect was the loud cheers and claps from the audiences.
Standing up just like she had seen on online videos, she held his hand and he stood along with her before hugging her waist.
"Aren't we supposed to be kissing Love?" He asked her above her head but when she looked up at him, she saw the tease in his eyes.
'Damn Rey!'
"Not compulsory." She replied stiffly.
"I doubt." He responded and with that, he claimed her lips, he was slow with his kiss and wasn't giving her time to come up for air.
'He would be the death of me.' Mia who had opened her eyes half way through the kiss saw Rey's eyes closed in passion. She rubbed her thighs against each other to ease herself of the throb in her core.
'You'd have to control yourself Mia.' She scolded in her head, but it seemed to grow worse then suddenly, Rey's phone rang, cutting up into the moment.