Chapter 104 I really like you

Marina's POV

" I noticed your smile has gone down, you're probably thinking; Why did Ethan go to a bar go meet Lana if he likes Rachel?".

I blinked as I leaned into my seat.

That was exactly what I was thinking.

"So why?"

Mark smiled sadly, picking up the bottle of wine on the table and pouring it into the glasses.

This restaurant even had an expensive wine in each table on the house... Money.

" He didn't. " He replied curtly.

He didn't?

" So are you saying that Rachel was blind? Or that's she is just making this up?" I asked sounding incredulous while I raised a brow at him.

Just how was I to believe that?

" That's... That's not what I'm trying to say. " He sighed.

Guess he was as frustrated with the matter as I was, or even more.

He was just about opening his mouth again to speak when the waiter returned with our order and began placing it on the table.

"Thank you". He said as she left.

I raised a brow again.

Thank you?

When was the last time I've heard a person say thank you to another? Especially one that was so lower than him?

I was brought up not to care about the feelings of some people, especially the low class. As my mother always said:

' Courtesy doesn't apply to the people under our feet '

Growing up and mingling with other rich kids, I found out it was true. Rachel was just like that when she was little, not caring about anything.

" It's really nice you have manners, some of us were trained not to cause we could have everything". I suddenly said out loud, still feeling lost.

Mark's intense gaze on me brought me back and I looked away from him, after finding out I was looking at him the entire time.

"Yeah, but we grow up to learn them". He responded still keeping his gaze on him.

I smiled softly, picking up my glass and twirling the contents of the glass in my hands.

" I had thought the exact same thing after I left home. Marina you need to be polite to some people in this world if you're going to make it without your parents, and for the first few months unbelieved it. "

It was actually obvious that I would need to say ' Thank you ' , ' You're welcome ' and please more often from the second I left home.

I had absolutely nothing, but Rachel, Lana and hope that I would make it in this world.

"So you didn't learn even after leaving?" He asked, catching up with my story.

Why was I even telling him this? I came here to talk about Rachel and Ethan, not about myself. I just got caught up, and I just felt a sudden wave of nostalgia when I heard him say thank you to the waiter.

"That's, that's not what I came here for. And you're yet to answer my question". I said remembering that Mark had not given me my answer yet.

"Actually you mean my question? " He joked taking a sip of his cup but I didn't laugh.

It was funny because, he was right. He was the one who asked the question, I just couldn't laugh because I was serious.

"Yeah, your question." I answered briefly and his laughter subsided.

" Like I said, he didn't go to bar to meet Lana. He went to clear his head after..." He trailed off and I understood.

After the kiss.

" Rachel said that she left because she felt like she had just made him betray the love of his life and when she later came to look for him, he was gone ". I explained according to what Rachel had told me.

She said that she felt teary and emotional after everything that had happened that day and she just couldn't stop her tears, and added with thinking she had just stolen another woman's man... She couldn't take it.

" No... That was not what happened. " Mark denied firmly. " Ethan said that he was shocked when Rachel pulled away in tears, then she ran to her room and he thought she needed some space. So he left the house and came to the bar, and that was where Lana met him".

What?

I blinked I'm surprise and confusion. The stories were completely different.

" But that was not... "

" Rachel misunderstood everything. The woman Ethan supposedly loves is not Lana, but Rachel".

What?

This time I was even more shocked.

It was not surprising to say Ethan liked, or still likes Rachel, she was a beautiful woman, a beautiful and talented woman with a perfect body. No man would stay with a woman like her under the same roof and claims not to have any feelings at all for her, but love?

Love was a different thing entirely.

" Mark do you know what you're saying? Like and love are not the same thing. " I said raising a brow at him.

I came here to get answers, instead I was just getting even more confused.

Mark nodded. "I know, and I also understand. Ethan loves Rachel, he had since... Well since, for a very long time, and that was the only reason he agreed to help her take her revenge against Lana and David by agreeing to her plan".

He loves her? Not only that, he had loved her for a very long time.

" But how is that..."

This was not helping at all, I needed enlightenment not to plunged more into the dark!

"Mark you are seriously confusing me here. It seems like you don't know Ethan's, me and Rachel history. How can you say he's been in love with her for a long time?" I asked the question that had been bugging me since the second he said Ethan had been in love with Rachel for a long time.

How could a guy love someone that literally used every second her eyes met his to bully him? Was he masochist or what? Because there was no other reason he would love someone who bullied him... Was Mark not getting the bullied part?

Mark just smiled and I immediately glared at him.

This was a serious matter why was he smiling?

"Marina, I wanted to see you so we can make things right between us, not only to talk about Ethan and Rachel".

My brows knitted together, us?

"There is no us" I mumbled but I was very sure he heard it.

" Not yet". He added and I brought my gaze back to him again.

He was changing the topic, really smartly because now I really wanted to hear what he wanted to say next.

' Sorry Rachel, your matter can wait a bit ' I apologized in my mind picking up my untouched glass of wine and taking a sip out of it.

Such rich wine, yet it was on the house.

Well, in their defense to get a table in this restaurant, one needed to have alot of money and connection so it was worth it.

"Go on ".

" Marina Lenard..." He began and I felt my heart skip a beat when he called my full name, and another beat when he reached out and held both my hands in his while looking straight at me like I was the only person in the room.

Well I was the only person in this booth, but it was not the same thing.

"Since the day I met you, I felt something change in me. I wanted to protect you, I wanted to hold you and never let go..." I gulped loving where this conversation was heading.

' I'm really sorry Rachel, I'll get back to finding out about Ethan's feelings as soon as he's done talking '

His lips hooked up in a smile and I felt my heart draw even more closer to him.

" What I'm trying to say is that, I like you Marina Lenard... I really like you"