Rachel's POV

"Can I have one more?" I opened my mouth wide and Alexander used his chopsticks to feed me one more thai dumpling.

"They're so good!" I moaned out loud while stuffing my mouth with some chicken satay. "I should really learn how to make this. Here have some," I said and shoved a skewer in Alexander's mouth.

"You're hardly eating anything!" I exclaimed loudly and looked at him as a mother would do to her stubborn child.

Alexander had decorated the entire balcony with fairly lights and candles along with a mattress and some throw pillows which we were currently cuddled up on as we ate. It was truly something out of a dream and the best part was that it overlooked the view of the city. Our own little bubble of paradise.

"Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?" Alexander whispered in my ear as I leaned back more comfortably into him while he enveloped me with his big, strong arms.

"Only like... 7 times." I snuggled deeper into him and pulled the little blanket over us. It was a warm night although there was a cool breeze hitting us every few minutes.

"I like your hair, it's different," he said and ran his fingers though my pin straight hair. He brought his lips down to my bare shoulder and left a chaste kiss on my skin.

The silence of the night engulfed us and my mind stealthily wondered to mine and Alexander's conversation from last night. The conversation that I dreaded. The topic of my father. It made my skin crawl knowing that he was fine and alive. I didn't want to meet him. Not until I was ready which wouldn't be anytime soon. He made no effort to seek out his daughter, maybe he didn't know I existed and even when he did, I heard nothing from him.

David subtly relayed the topic of me to him through their business calls regarding the mines but he chose to disregard me.

My parents were a sore topic for me, a topic that I'm not sure I'd ever be comfortable with but if they were irrelevant for most of my life, then I didn't deserve to bother myself with their existence now. I'd lived without them and it's not as if I needed them either.

Simply put, they all can go fuck themselves.

Alexander was all I needed. He was all I had ever dreamed off and I don't think I can survive without him. In a few months, he became my everything and the person I needed to lean on while navigating my way through this turbulent period in my life. Alexander was my entire heart and soul.

As for Alexander's issue with inheriting Ashford and Co, after much persuasion from my side, he'd decided to keep it. His grandfather had officially retired and gave him everything. The company had so much value, it helped so many people and he couldn't simply throw all of that away. Ashford and Co. wouldn't be for us though, all the profits and proceedings would be distributed amongst the charity subsidiaries it was responsible for.

He'd decided to convert it to a multinational NGO helping the world. However, Alexander had expressed that his trusty subordinates would be given the task of managing the company. He wanted to focus on us and his time was already limited with his own Viotto International Holdings.

We spent a few moments basking in our little bubble of paradise when I decided to turn around and speak to him. Tonight he made me feel like a true princess. Surprising me with this beautiful effort on the balcony, showering me with gifts that he got for my birthday and telling me how beautiful, smart and how worthy I am.

I turned around and sat in between his legs while tucking mine underneath me facing him. I took his hands in mine and held onto them tightly. His bold, teal eyes were gleaming in the moonlight and I could get lost in them for every single moment to come.

"You know, I never got to say thank you," I started off softly while he looked at me with his full attention.

"You most definitely don't need to thank me, princess." He pulled me closer to him that our noses were touching. There was soft music playing in the background and he gently swayed us even though we were sitting.

I wrapped my hands around his neck while he placed his on my lower waist. "But I do need to thank you, Alexander." We both stood up and went closer to the stereo as we swayed lightly. I was so short compared to Alexander's height. I had to crane my head upwards to face him while he bent his.

"You've done so much for me ever since the first day I saw you in that mansion. You've helped me grow so much and I honestly don't know where I'd be without you." I pulled his face down and planted a passionate kiss on his soft lips.

"I love you, Alexander."

He sucked in a deep breath at my words but maintained eye contact with me as I confessed. I broke away and rested my head against his chest as we continued to sway to the music.

"I love you so much. More than you will ever know and I don't want you want to fret about it. I understand that you don't believe in love and that you think it's stupid but I just wanted you to know how I feel." I looked up at him to see various emotions swirling in those beautiful eyes.

I continued, "This is only the beginning of our lives together, it's a fresh start that I'm grateful for. Aren't you?"

He kissed my forehead affectionately. "Off course I am."

"I also understand that you don't want any children or a bigger family in the near future and that's okay. We'll be our own little family and that's enough for me. Don't worry about me resenting you because I won't. I could never."

I couldn't decipher what he was feeling but he gently pushed me to take a seat on the outdoor mattress where we previously were. He kneeled down in front of me and placed his one hand on my thigh.

"When you were laying on that hospital bed, all lifeless and unmoving it was as if I was a shell of a person. Seeing you like that made me realise some things, princess." He stopped for a moment and watched my reaction intently. I stared up at him in curiosity with my eyes solely focused in on his.

"It made me realise that I want more with you, Rachel. I want everything that comes with a marriage. I want to share our good times and our bad times, I want to spend every night inside of you, I want to be the only man you ever think of, I want to be the man who protects you, who provides for you, who gives you everything you could ever imagine."

I smiled wholeheartedly hearing him. He was already all of those things for me.

He continued confidently, "I also want to be the man who is at your side when you're birthing our children. I do want a family with you, princess. I want to watch you play in the pool with our children and I want to come home to a mess of toys in the living room. I want to be there to hold you as you cry when we drop of our children on their first day of school and I want to be there to rub your feet after a long day of chasing them around."

My smile disappeared hearing him say all of that to me because I was utterly shocked. Alexander wanted a family with me.

"I don't want to fuck you anymore, princess. I want to make sweet love to you every single night for the rest of our lives." He placed both of his hands on my face and rubbed my cheeks tenderly while staring deep into my eyes. "Most of all, I realised that I love you, Rachel."

I placed my shaky hands on Alexander and pulled him into a hug that roared with the happiness radiating of me.

"I love you so much, princess. Every bit of you."