Can You Keep A Secret

Chapter Three

It was a cold morning. Looking outside, the snow had started to pile up quite high. Daniel Westminster breathed out cigarette smoke by the french windows. He looked down at his phone again to examine the pictures Sarah had sent him.

There was a photo of a handsome young man. Daniel had always thought the man looked cute. He had lovely peach blossom eyes, and a flirtatious smile played on his lips.

He felt familiar. Sarah had said that they went to the same university, so he must have seen him around before.

A soft knock interrupted his thoughts and broke him out of his reverie. He turned to see a maid wearing a neat and simple uniform standing by the door.

"Sir, Miss Victoria has arrived. She is waiting for you on the terrace."

'In this weather?'

But Daniel nodded anyway. Victoria loved watching the flowers. "Thank you, Margaret." The maid bowed and left without another word.

Daniel disposed of his cigarette in an ashtray and tucked his phone into his pants pocket. He lingered only for a moment, standing by the open windows, letting the cold air wash the smell of cigarette smoke off him. Then he started heading downstairs and walking to the terrace. The terrace of the villa overlooked a large garden full of flowers. It was also equipped with a lovely sitting area with glass tables, flower vases and white chairs. Victoria had been the one who helped him choose the plants and decoration, as he was completely clueless about interior design and simply let her do as she pleased.

The woman was already waiting for him there. Her lovely face, soft blonde hair and white dress made her look gentle and soft as she sipped on her cup of tea, watching the roses, but Daniel knew better. Her attire didn't seem that equipped to deal with the cold weather, and he briefly wondered if she was cold, but discarded his worry quickly. He calmly approached and sat across from her.

As soon as he sat down, Victoria slammed down her cup of tea with shaking hands.

"You have a boyfriend?" Her voice was icier than the weather. It was like the temperature had dropped down several degrees. She glared at him from under her wide brimmed hat.

"It is as I told you in the text." Daniel replied.

"Is this a joke? Don't try to lie to me, Daniel. I'm not stupid."

"It is not a joke. I am introducing him to my mother next weekend. I thought you should know first."

Victoria laughed. Her laugh was forced and stilted. "You suddenly have a boyfriend out of nowhere, and now you want to introduce him to your parents? Do you really think I'm stupid?"

"We have been dating for a while. I didn't tell anyone because I knew you would react like this." Daniel answered steadily.

"React like what?"

Hysterically. Violently. There were many choices of words for what Victoria might have become if she had met Nathan without a warning first. None of those word choices were appropriate for him to answer her with if he still wanted to live.

"I don't want you to be rude to him when you see him," he said simply.

Victoria stared back at him, her expression was flabbergasted. "You don't have to lie to your mother and bring back some random guy just because you want to insist that you're gay!"

"His name is Nathan," Daniel cut her off. "I love him. And I am not lying to you nor my mother. I will introduce him to my family, and I would appreciate it very much if you would be polite to him when you finally met."

"You are lying!" She yelled, in tears. Seeing Daniel didn't react at all, she gritted her teeth. "Just tell me you don't like me, don't use this stupid excuse! How long are you going to keep up with this charade?!"