The party guests at the nightclub watched Marigold and the man who had helped her walk outside. They whispered among themselves as if what they had witnessed were breaking news that would soon spread as the hottest gossip. But Marigold no longer cared.
"Wait!" Marigold called once they were outside the party area.
The mysterious man, who had initially intended to keep walking, stopped and turned to face Marigold.
"I'm sorry. I just wanted to know your name. We haven't been introduced. And I haven't thanked you yet," Marigold explained awkwardly.
"My name is Marcello." The man sighed. "But we shouldn't talk here. We need to leave this nightclub right away."
Without waiting to hear anything else from Marigold, Marcello started walking again. With no other choice, Marigold followed him. After what Robert—the elderly director and Evan's colleague—had done to her inside the nightclub, she was still far too afraid to walk alone.
Thinking of Evan, Marigold wondered where her colleague had gone. He had vanished without a trace after leaving her with Robert in the party area. Now Marigold was even more certain that Evan had set her up with Robert for money. She cursed him inwardly and promised to confront him later.
"Where are we going?" Marigold asked when she realized that she and Marcello were already in the parking lot.
"Actually, there's something I want to discuss with you. If you're willing, I'll take you to a café so we can talk. But if you don't want to, I'll drive you home," Marcello explained.
"But what do you want to talk about? We didn't even know each other before this, did we?"
Marcello nodded. "No, we didn't. But there's something I want to discuss with you. Will you come with me?"
Marigold frowned, but eventually nodded. She followed Marcello into a luxurious sedan. During the drive, she wondered whether she had ever met Marcello before. Still, Marigold was sure she had never seen him until tonight.
They stopped at a café not too far from the nightclub where they had attended the party. Once inside, they sat across from each other. They ordered only coffee and pancakes. Marigold had no appetite, but she ordered food anyway because she felt bad refusing.
"So, are you going to explain what you wanted to talk about?" Marigold paused, then asked, "But first, I want to know how you ended up at Evan's party. Are you his friend too?"
Marcello shook his head. "No. I attended the party because my father told me to. Evan is one of my father's colleagues. But since the party was for young people, my father told me to go in his place."
Marigold nodded along as she listened to Marcello's explanation.
"Oh, right. Thank you for helping me earlier," Marigold said with a smile.
Marcello smiled back. "I hope you're feeling better now."
"Actually, I'm still angry and disgusted with that old director. I'm also angry at Evan. How could he set me up with Robert, that lecherous old man?" Marigold let out a long sigh.
"Yes. At the nightclub, I noticed you from the start because I saw all the men there constantly hitting on you."
"I knew it. So that's why you were watching me."
They fell silent for a moment and sipped their coffee. For a while, the atmosphere remained quiet. Marigold was still curious about what Marcello wanted to say, but he didn't seem to be making any move to start the conversation.
"So, what exactly did you want to talk about?" Marigold asked impatiently.
Marcello looked at Marigold and said, "I want to ask you to marry me."
Marigold frowned. "What? Are you crazy? We just met!"
"No. I'm not crazy. I decided to ask you to marry me after seeing you at the nightclub tonight," Marcello said calmly.
"Oh, so that's why you helped me? You're completely insane! Just because you helped me doesn't mean you can marry me!" Marigold snapped angrily.
Marigold honestly couldn't believe it. The man who had just helped her, after barely meeting her, had suddenly proposed to her? Now Marigold was truly furious. After dealing with lecherous men and an old director who had harassed her at the nightclub, she now had to deal with this strange man too? Men were absolutely disgusting.