by Tri Amutia
I instructed them to the stuff left in my apartment. They walked in and out of my room to lift my heavy things while Joshua carried my boxes to his car. We were finished around lunch. The guys excused themselves to have lunch while Joshua and I had lunch ourselves. I successfully made Joshua have lunch with me and take my Sedan to get it. I grinned when I saw his expression.
"I swear to you, Abby. I’ll never trust your Sedan," he grumbled while fastening his seat belt.
I rolled my eyes. "This is a nice car, Joshua. The machine is still decent."
He snorted. "I know...I know...Your friend, Ethan, re-built the machine for you."
I chuckled and turned the engine on. He winced when my Sedan came to life. "I can't believe this thing made its way from Long Beach to Seattle."
I shrugged. "It has its moments."
Joshua rolled his eyes. "When we're married, you must get rid of it."
I frowned. "I told you I'll get a replacement if it dies for good."
I drove out of the parking lot while Joshua looked out of his window.
“Abby...have you ever thought about our wedding?"
I nearly choked on air. I gripped the steering wheel. I never thought about that and mostly I didn’t expect him to ask me if I had. It was too early for me, with these new feelings and living arrangements. I shook my head from the vertigo.
"Abby?"
I breathed several times. "Marriage was never a priority for me. My parents are divorced. Well, I do want to have a family someday, but I've never even seriously considered it until today."
Silence.
"Are you afraid you'll end up like your parents?"
I swallowed hard and stared at the road. "Yes."
Joshua sighed. "We're different, Abby. I'll never do that to you. I loved you since we were kids and I still love you now. Isn't that enough proof?"
"People change, Joshua. And so does life," I said, sternly.
"Then, we're going to change together."
I looked at him immediately. He stared at me deeply. I turned my eyes back to the road again.
"I've spent all my time to get your attention, but I failed miserably. I want to spend my time with you, Abby, to experience life’s changes together," he whispered.
I exhaled.
Joshua took one of my hands off the steering wheel and held it to his chest. "I swear to you, Abby."
Slowly, I looked at him. His eyes showed me his devotion and his promise. I closed my eyes and turned back to the road. "I'll try."
I continued to drive until I reached McDonald’s Drive Thru. There were only two cars in line. Joshua raised his eyebrows and I grinned in response. "McD’s? Are you serious?"
I giggled. "Just think of your orders. The line is moving."
Joshua rolled his eyes, but gave his order to the drive thru attendee. I placed my orders and then drove to the pickup counter to pick up our order. Fifteen minutes later we arrived back at my apartment. We ate our lunch on the living room floor. The guys came back at one thirty as Joshua and I finished our lunch. At two, I took a final glance at my now empty apartment and sighed. I felt Joshua squeeze my hand and I looked at him.
He smiled. "Come on, dear”.
I nodded and closed the door for the last time. I met with my landlord and gave him back the apartment key. My landlord was an elderly man, a widow with no children. His name was John McCane. He never thought about remarrying after his wife passed away. He smiled when he took my keys and hugged me.
"Thank you for everything, John. Wish me luck," I said to him and leaned out of his embrace.
John winked and looked over at Joshua. He offered his hand and Joshua took it. "Take care of her, young man."
Joshua nodded. "I will, sir. You have my word."
I smiled and hugged John for the last time. But, just as I was walking out of the building for the last time, I swore I saw him wipe a tear from his cheek.
Finally, I moved out of my apartment. Joshua drove in front, the moving truck behind him, and me in my Sedan behind them. It was more like a convoy. The journey took half an hour from my old apartment. Once we arrived, we got busy again. I was surprised to see all Joshua's stuff already placed inside the apartment. I was curious when I saw Joshua's room. Apparently, he only moved one of his beds. I had to ask him what happened to his other bed.
One of our neighbors greeted us between moving things into the apartment and promised us a visit after we finished. They finished moving my stuff into our apartment at five P.M. I thanked them as I looked over the unopened boxes. I sighed and put my arms on my hips. Joshua stood beside me and mimicked my move.
"So...are we going to open the boxes now or doing something else?"
I pursued my lips and looked over the plasma TV. I tapped my chin. "How about we have dinner and a movie night? You know...to celebrate the move?"
Joshua grinned and kissed my cheek. "Deal."
I prepared a quick dinner after getting a warm bath while Joshua arranged the living room for our movie night. I put our dinner on the coffee table in front of the TV while Joshua took his shower. Half an hour later we were sitting on the floor and ate our dinner. It was simple, but nice. We watched a Saturday night talk show until we finished our dinner. Joshua offered to wash the dishes while I chose the movie we would watch. I looked over Joshua's DVDs, but I didn't find a movie I was in the mood to watch. I opened a box labeled 'Abby's DVDs' and dug through it. I caught a glimpse of three DVD boxes and grinned.
Joshua appeared in the living room and sat on the couch. "So, what is our movie for tonight?"
I showed him the DVD box. Joshua's face was mixed between amusement and surprise. "The Lord of The Rings Special Extended Edition?"
I grinned and nodded.
He rolled his eyes. "Abby, even without the extended part, the movie is long enough."
I giggled and opened the box. I put the first disc into the player and pressed play on the remote. Joshua didn't protest, again. We both settled on the mattress Joshua prepared for us. Our backs against the seat of the couch and I leaned into his shoulder. We watched the movie in silence. I heard his steady breathing as I inhaled his scent.
"Tolkien is a genius," I muttered when Arwen made an appearance on the screen.
"Why?"
"He could make a love story in between the war themes. Its sweet."
Joshua chuckled. "I agree with you. I know you're an editor, but I didn't know you're a Tolkien fan. You bought those DVDs?"
I shook my head. "It was a gift."
"A gift?"
"A bet. I made a bet with one of my friends. Whoever graduated first, we had to give a present. I wanted the DVDs and my friend wanted a one way ticket to France. I think you know who won."
He frowned. "A friend or...?"
I smiled and leaned away from his shoulder to look at him. His eyes were guarded. "Well, he did ask me on a date. But, it didn't make it to the second date."
He exhaled. "Wow, I have a lot of competition."
I giggled. "There's no competition." And then I remembered about the girl he once talked about. I frowned.
"Abby?" He pressed the pause button on the remote and looked into my eyes. "What is it?"
I sighed. "The girl you've been talking about...who is she?"
Joshua looked at me deeply and sighed. "She is one of my father's colleagues' daughters. We went to school together in Canada. At the end of my junior high, she told me she liked me. I apologized to her, telling her that my heart belonged to someone else."
"And how did she cope with that?" I asked, worriedly.
"I never heard from her anymore. She was just a friend. Nothing more."
I nodded slowly.
Joshua smiled and kissed my forehead. "I love you, Abby, and nothing can ever change that." A shiver ran through my body when he said that.
I smiled weakly.
Joshua grinned and grabbed the remote. "Shall we continue?"
I nodded again and we settled back onto
the mattress. I didn't know how long we stayed awake before we both fell asleep.
Chapter 12
The Life After and The Breaking News
I never imagined that I'd live or share an apartment with someone, even if he is your fiancé. Well, technically he is my fiancé, although he hasn't popped the big question yet. I knew he is waiting for me to love him back and be able to accept our relationship. The first night after we moved in, we had fallen asleep on the mattress that was lying on the living room floor. I woke up startled when I realized there was someone next to me. I needed to calm down when I saw that it was Joshua that was lying next to me, sleeping peacefully.
Other things with living with another person, was learning to share. We had one bathroom, so Joshua and I had a conversation about our personal 'space' in there. I also reminded myself not to leave my...personal...items in the bathroom as well. We also shared our belongings. After the first night, we had a discussion about where we should arrange our stuff. We both brought our own kitchen appliances and electronic devices. Finally, we both agreed to put all the kitchen appliances in our kitchen while I put my old TV and my DVD player in my room. I couldn't let the plasma TV and Joshua's fancy stereo to stay in his bedroom, such a waste.
Most shocking is how different our habits are. I was more of a free spirit and not a neat freak, the opposite of how Joshua is. His room was neat and clean while my room sometimes looked like a carnival, especially when I needed to stay up late with my laptop; working. So far Joshua has never complained about it, but sometimes I felt that he just held his grudge in his heart. I was trying to talk about it to him and finally after admitting his objection with my habit, we had one conclusion. If I didn't have time to clean up my mess, I'll leave a note. Shocker, I know! I was worried he'd love me less, but as the days progressed, Joshua was starting to get used to my habits. Besides he knew I would clean the apartment even if it was once a week with my schedule. I also found out what happened to his other bed. He said to me he was shipped the bed to his home in Long Beach.
My parents and Joshua's parents already knew about our new apartment. My mom whined all the time about sending her pictures of our new place. Finally, we gave up and Joshua sent the pictures to her e-mail.
I also found out a bit about Joshua's job as a doctor. Sometimes he went early in the mornings, but he always left a note when he had to go to the hospital, if I wasn't awake yet. Also sometimes he would go in the middle of the night and would come home the next day. I've tried to cook for him whenever he was home. He always smiled when he saw me, but I knew he was exhausted. I couldn't imagine how he had managed his time with the hospital while visiting my place when we lived apart. I felt awful when I remembered how rude I was at that time.
As for my job, apparently the book launching was cancelled for another week. That was why Joshua worked in the hospital with his regular schedule. I was still working with the new author. I met her in a meeting and she was a nice person. She was fluent in conversation, but not in writing. Well, not all people are perfect, right? The news about the new offices was still haunting the work environment. Everyone suddenly turned to be a good worker, including my co-worker, Camila. Normally she was not so enthusiastic about her job. I knew she never wanted to be an editor, she always dreamt to have a big career in New York or in Europe. That was why she wanted the position badly. As for me, I was just enjoying my work with my author. I also learned some interesting things from her cultural believes.
It was Thursday today and I went home at 6.00 pm, exhausted and sleepy. You named it. I was helping my previous author to prepare her book launching. It was going to be held in the main bookstore in town. I reminded myself to tell Joshua later. Hopefully he could come with me. I parked my sedan in the parking lot and was surprised to see Joshua's car. He was supposed to be in the hospital, I felt anxious immediately. Was he sick? I climbed out from my sedan and started to walk to the apartment building when I felt a gentle tug in my hand. I looked down and I saw a boy with light brown hair and hazel eyes smiling at me with a sunflower in his hand. I smiled back to him.
"Hello, Joshua."
"Hi, Abby."
I looked around. "Where's your mom? It's almost dark, you should be inside right now."
He grinned. "My mom knows I want to visit you. I saw you when you were moving with him. Is he your boyfriend?"
I chuckled. "No. He's my fiancé." I felt a strange feeling when I said the word.
Little Joshua seemed to be thinking. "What does fiancé means?"
I laughed. "Why don't you ask your mother about that? Now, go home. It's getting dark."
He nodded and handed me the sunflower. I smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Joshua." Somehow I didn't feel exhausted anymore.
He grinned and ran back to his apartment building.
I shook my head and started to walk to my own building again. I unlocked my door and was surprised when I saw our dining room. Our dining table was decorated with two candles. The light was dim and a wonderful scent filled the room. I blinked several times and rubbed my eyes. This was the right room, wasn't it?
I looked around. "Joshua?"
He appeared from the kitchen with a deep blue shirt and jeans. I mustered all of my strength not to fall to my knees when I saw him. I had told you before; living with him was not good for my health.
He smiled and kissed my forehead. "Welcome home, dear Abby."
I looked at him stupidly. "Um...what happened here? Aren't you supposed to be at the hospital?"
He chuckled and took my bag. He frowned when he saw the sunflower. "Did Joshua give you another flower?”
I looked at the sunflower and giggled. I've already told Joshua about little Joshua, but he was still felt irritated towards the boy. "Yes. He gave it to me in the parking lot. He was sweet."
He took the sunflower from my hand and put it in a vase. I raised my eyebrow. "I thought you didn't like it when I received the flower."
"Yes, but this Joshua gave it to you. That means you are special to him and this flower reminds me how special you are to me." He smiled.
My heart swelled with a feeling I didn't know. How this man could ever loved me was beyond my imagination. He could choose anyone better than me, but instead he still wanted me. I smiled weakly. "Thank you."
Joshua smirked. "And of course, I will not let this little flower ruin our night."
My smiled disappeared and I furrowed my eyebrows. "What night?"
Joshua grinned. He took my hand and guided me to the dining room chair and pulled it out for me to sit down on it. He disappeared into the kitchen and came out with two plates in his hands. I was surprised when I saw the food.
"Beef stroganoff?" I asked in surprised tone.
He nodded. "I remembered that when I took you for lunch after the first time we met again, that was your order. So, I learned to cook it myself."
A warm feeling surged through my body. I chuckled happily. No man ever did this to me. "It's very nice of you, Joshua. Thank you once again."
He smiled. "Come on, let's have our dinner."
I nodded and we ate in silence. Joshua had cooked a fabulous dinner. He was not only good in the medical field, but also in the kitchen. After finishing our meal, Joshua offered his hand to me and I took it generously. He guided me to the living room and pressed a button on the remote. A soft melody came from the speakers. I looked at him questioningly. He smiled once again and offered his hand other to me.
"May I have this dance?"
I chuckled lightly and gladly took his other hand. One of his arms circled around my waist were he rested his hand at and the other one held my hand. Our gaze met and under the dim light, I could see his hazel eyes filled with love. My heart did that erratic rhythm again and it was a good thing Joshua held me tight. I was not sure I'd be able to stand if he didn't.
"So, what is the special occasion?" I asked in low voice.
He smiled. "I just wanted to spend my time with you, Abby. We haven't had
that much time together lately. Today, I changed my shift with one of my co-workers, so I can cook you dinner."
"Your cooking is wonderful. Thank you, Joshua."
"Anything for you."
I nodded and laid my head onto his chest.
"How's work?" He asked in low voice.
I sighed. "Hectic, as always. And I have to attend the book launching this weekend. Will you go with me?"
"Of course. This Saturday happens to be my day off. I'll spend it with you all day long."
I nodded again. He rested his chin in the top of my head and we were continued to sway with the music until it was over. We both stopped and Joshua looked at me in the eyes.
"I want to give you something."
I blinked several times.
He leaned away from our embrace and pulled out something from his jeans pocket. I gasped silently.
My eyes widened.
My heart beat sped up again.
He didn't...
He opened a ring box and showed me the ring. "It's a promise ring." I sighed internally. "Actually, I want to give you the engagement ring, but I know you're not ready yet."
Excellent observation there.
He pulled out the ring from the box and with his other hand; he put the box back to his pocket. He held my hand and looked at my eyes. "With this ring, I promise you my heart and my love. I will always be yours and I am yours." He slipped the ring into my third finger and kissed the back of my hand. "Until the end of time, I will always love you."