I took a seat on the other side, across John and Dorothy. In another beat, Dorothy looked at me carefully. Then she asked, “So you just faked the wedding?”
I was taken back at her sudden inquiry. Then I realized that she already knew. I guessed there was no helping it after all. And so I just silently nodded, admitting the plot that Johnny and I had devised.
She took off her eyes from me and turned to Johnny and said, “How could you do this to me? You already knew how much I wanted to witness your real wedding before I’d depart from this world.”
Johnny looked troubled at her grandmother’s notion. That must be the reason why he wanted to forge a wedding—to let his grandma witness it with her own eyes. I wondered if what he said the day before was true. Was this old lady really sick? I was not fully convinced. But just for the sake of it all, I considered the possibility that she was.
“I’m sorry, Grandma. I just wanted you to see it. Sorry for taking it this far,” replied John, sounding deeply contrite.
“Well, that’s why I told you for so many years to find a girl and move on from that lass who dumped you a long time ago,” she continued, imposing every word especially the ‘dumped’ part.
I saw the surprise look on John’s face when her grandmother uttered the words. What? He really failed to move on after a girl dumped her. Screw that! That was just plain lame. I mean, come on, he was not that bad nowadays. Any girl, except for me who knew how he was like before and still couldn’t get rid of the thought, would fall for him the moment he smiled at them.
“Don’t be foolish, Grandma. I’m over that girl already,” he retorted, wiping his brows.
“Oh really? That’s why you’ve kept all her letters in your room?” she added.
John replied with apparent uneasiness, “I did not.”
“Sure you did. And you two called yourselves Mr. Dork and Ms. Perfect. I read all that,” she exasperated.
Oh my, she was one nosy old granny.
Wait. Mr. Dork and Ms. Perfect? Where did I hear about that before? But it couldn’t be. They couldn’t possibly be talking about me, weren’t they?
Looking for clarification, I met John’s eyes. He was throwing quick glances at me, alright. And when I met them and held it, he literally fell lower in his seat. Oh my gosh! That was us. We were those two. With all that nervousness he was showing, it was kind of obvious.
“Me?” the words needlessly escaped my mouth.
Dorothy looked at me. Then she asked with one of her eyebrows raised, “Kayla, are you Ms. Perfect?”
“I... think... so,” I mumbled. I was hesitant to answer her question thinking that since I was in the wrong side of the book, things might turn out a little unpleasant. She was angry and all with the letters.
“You’re that girl?” she asked once again, this time with roughness in her voice.
“John, am I that girl you guys were talking about?” I frankly asked John, hoping that maybe just in case, I wasn’t really that girl. There was still this chance that he once upon a time exchanged letters with some other girl using those codes.
“You are, Kaye. Who else can it be?” he answered, stuttering. He then grabbed a handkerchief from his pocket and furiously wiped away the sweat that formed on his forehead.
“And you’re not yet over me?” I asked incredulously. I mean, come on, we were talking about a span of ten years out there. That was more than enough time to get over a girl.
He scoffed. “And you believe that? Of course I am.”
That was what I was saying—ten years was enough.
“See, Dorothy? He’s over me. No need to think like that,” I encouraged, hoping to pull myself out of the bad side and make a place in the good one.
“Oh dear, you have no idea how much trouble you’ve brought to this punk,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief.
“I did?” I innocently asked. What trouble was she talking about? John Brooks seemed fine to me—all well and kicking.
“Don’t mind her, Kaye,” said John. Then he looked at his grandma and offered his hand as he said, “Let me have that license, Grandma.”
Dorothy pulled the paper away from him and held it firmly in her hands. She then replied, quite dramatically, “Oh, you think I’ll let go of this matter just because you said so? You guys deceived me. I fully believed everything.”
“Grandma, we can talk about this later on just give that to me now,” said John as he tried to grasp it from her hands.
Dorothy got up from her seat and shook her head in disapproval. Then she shrugged off her shoulders, grabbed the phone, and headed off towards the kitchen, ignoring us both. I looked at John who also followed his grandmother with his eyes. Then after which, he pulled off his tuxedo and adjusted the sleeves of his shirt. Did I mention that his firm arms were showing off this way?
Gosh, shame on me.
“What is she doing?” I hastily asked John, thinking how he could still have time to fix his shirt and show off. If I were him, I would have battled it out and grabbed that license from Dorothy.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Maybe in a moment, we’ll find out.”
“Things got way out of hand. How are you going to make up for this, Johnny?” I asked him, annoyed.
“I’ll think about that later. For now, we need to get that from her hands,” he said as he pointed to the envelope in Dorothy’s arm.
“And you’re seriously over me, right?” I asked him again out of nowhere. Well, the thing that his grandmother said a while ago was absolutely bothersome.
“Of course, I am. Can’t you see that already?” he said back to me.
Right. Nice biceps.
I got up from my seat and so did he. As I was approaching Dorothy, I noticed that he was about to do the same thing I had in mind. We kind of smiled knowingly at each other, only ending up with me subtly looking away. Because like I said, he now had a pretty smile and my eyes were not yet used to it. He was closer to where his grandma was so he took the initiative to tiptoe and stealthily tried to grab the envelope from that was under her left arm.
He was so close to it when I saw someone dressed in all black clothes and having a well-kept hair, showing off huge and much firmer biceps, grabbed him from behind. Before I could even protest, one person also held me by the shoulders. I was still stunned as two strong hands pulled me away back to the living room, with that man holding John doing the same.
“What are you doing?” I said while struggling.
I heard John say, “Let go.”
“Just pull them to the side,” ordered Dorothy as she pointed to the right then resumed talking on the phone.
A pair of questions came into mind.
Dorothy looked like a mafia boss ordering her goons around right now. I took back all the thoughts of her having an incurable sickness or whatsoever. I threw a worried look to John and he replied with the same baffled look on his face. When she finished talking on the phone, she turned around and faced us. Then she put her hands to her hips and said, “You think I haven’t noticed from the start what you two are doing? So how’s my acting?”
I was puzzled for a moment, not fully absorbing what I just heard. Then she continued, “You think I’m just some hopeless grandma walking around, going along to the whole drama?”
“Grandma, what are you saying?” asked John, who was just as confounded as I was.
“Well, I already knew that you had no bride yesterday. And I was quite surprised when you brought Kayla to me. I also knew that she was the girl from before, and thought that this was just a scheme. Although, I wasn’t sure why though. But I fully knew that you two were faking things and that duct tape did not escape my eyes.”
John and I hadn’t said a thing in response. We were both stunned and taken back by her declaration. It was as if the whole world had stopped as she told us her side of the story. So she was only acting all along. And what if Johnny made up this entire scheme together with her? Screw his acting, what if I was
the only victim in this story?
I started to panic and hastily accused both of them, “You two planned this all along!”
They both looked at me—skeptically. John sucked at acting even from before. Although he changed, I wasn’t sure that it was the path he had taken. With all the hotel things, he couldn’t have had majored in acting as well.
“We?” repeated John. “Why should I? If I had a better choice then I wouldn’t ask for your help.”
That was harsh.
“We didn’t,” said Dorothy.
I pulled back my pointing fingers, feeling ashamed. Then suddenly they both started doing what I hated the most—laughing at me. In the most uncalled for time, the two were laughing. I thought we were having a serious thing going on? I crossed my arms against my chest and angrily tapped my feet.
It was Dorothy who broke the awkward moment when she said, “Don’t worry, dear. I got a solid proof that this punk was not involved in my plan.”
“I don’t have such ideas in my mind,” John said. “It never occurred to me. And since we’re like this, let me ask you straight away, are you also faking your illness, Grandma?”
“It is part of the plan, my dear. I want you to be married right away,” she said with a shrug.
“Wait. Why am I included in the plan? This is unfair! If you guys want Johnny here to be married, then don’t pull me into all this,” I protested.
“Well, I thought you were the perfect candidate for the spot. And why did you even agree to be wed to him in the first place?” she asked me instead.
“It’s just because,” I paused for a moment. Then I continued, “I wanted to get out of a curse.”
“A curse?” she asked me, quite incredulous. If she had surprised me a while ago, I managed to do the same to her. I was actually talking about a curse.
“Yes, I was cursed by your grandson that was why I was caught up in one misfortune after another,” I explained. But then I realized that if what the fortune teller said was true, I was supposed to be out of the curse by now. Why is another mishap happening to me? A greater one compared to all other.
“I have no idea that he can put a curse,” said Dorothy, quite doubtful at my declaration and sounded teasing at the same time. Well, believe it or not, John could and he already did.
Couldn’t she see that I was the living proof of it all?
“I did not do any of that. It’s just that Kayla here is overly superstitious,” explained John.
I opened my mouth slightly as I was about to defend myself but refrained from doing so. What did they know anyway? I was the one who experienced all those crazy misfortunes for me to clearly believe that he had put a curse on me. But then since I already fulfilled the condition for me to get out of this one, I realized that I got nothing to worry about from now on. I was quite certain that I would easily get out of this one, without a single drop of sweat. That was how it was supposed to go.
All I needed to do was to believe.
“So what are you saying earlier, Grandma?” asked John.
“Oh, and as I was saying, you pulled me into this deceit so I’d just play along with the two of you,” she began, nodding her head slightly as if to show how pleased she was with all this.
“And?” I asked relentlessly.
“You two need to stay together,” she continued. “That’s what I came up with.”
“Stay together? What kind of stay together?” I heard the shrill in my own voice. “And you think I’ll go on with that plan since you’ve asked?”
She smiled and lines formed at the corners of her clear eyes. “Well, you really have no other choice. It’s either you go with my plan...”
“What plan?” John interrupted. “Why is there a plan?”
Dorothy didn’t answer him, but instead she just said, “Or you’ll be officially married this instant.”
Then before we can even utter a word of protest, three men in black suit entered the house. Each of them was carrying a black suitcase and fully equipped with sunglasses. All of which clearly defined that they meant serious business. In another tick of the clock, Dorothy handed them the marriage license that she had been holding for a while by now.
She said, “You boys know what to do.”
The three men silently nodded and both John and I just stared in total confusion. Then Dorothy cleared her throat and asked us again, “So what do you two want? A real marriage or a three months contract to be together?”
Chapter 9
“Dorothy, I do not want to be involved in any of your plan,” I clearly emphasized every word. None of the options sounded good enough to my ears. It was as if she had said the word torture in such a way that it was now covered with sprinkles on top.
In such a short span of moment, in between her declaration of the ultimatum and my fitting response, I already thought about what she just said a minute ago. She obviously blackmailed us with the marriage license that unfortunately, we had thoroughly accomplished and was duly signed by the necessary witnesses in the wedding. It was either we would be married for real or we would go along with the three month contract that she was talking about. Whatever that was, there was only one word equivalent to it—torment-and-pain-which-will-send-you-to-total-agony-and-despair.
“Is that so? My dear, maybe you should also consider your place in all this. It is either you two get married for real, which of course will make me more than happy,” she told me, “or let’s get both of you sign a contract to stay together. Not to say that after three months, it will be as if no damage has been done.”
I was quite skeptical about what she just said. I asked myself why I should choose any of that. It wasn’t as if I should actually obey her just because. And so I tried searching for my phone. I could at least call some legal help around here. Someone was completely making me do something against my will.
After looking for it inside my dress, I realized that my phone was nowhere to be found. “Where is that...”
“Are you looking for your phone?” asked the ‘evil’ Dorothy. I looked up to her and saw the ‘wicked’ smile on her face. Then after a while, she added, “Nate, show her the phone she dropped a moment ago.”
I turned my gaze to my side and saw that one of the men-in-black was the Nate from before. He grabbed something from his coat. And after a while, my phone magically appeared in his hand. The heart thing slash annoying pendant of that Aaron gave me as a gift hovered at the bottom of the pink phone. As clear as daylight, there was no doubt that it was mine.
Then upon Dorothy’s cue, Nate did the most ‘devilish’ thing he could ever do in this lifetime—to break my unfortunate phone into two. The sound of which resounded in the uneasy air, finally breaking the string which held the slightest line between the rest of my sanity and the remains of history.
“Dorothy! This is too much!” I exclaimed. I was trying my best to not lose my cool all this while, and clearly my perfect being permitted me to do so. But now I needed to say goodbye to my flawless attitude and face the gravity of the given situation with the appropriate action.
I stole a glance at the wordless John who was standing idly beside me. His right elbow was supported by his left arm as his right hand which was crumpled into a shape of a fist, rested on his lips. He looked as if he was lost in thoughts, analyzing the situation. Well, he had to forgive me for being too much of a chatterbox. I unfortunately had a problem to solve right now.
And with or without his help, I would see through all this!
“I thought that it would be better if you could just focus on the situation rather than foolishly calling out for help,” Dorothy replied as she sat in a comfortable chair and sipped her cup of coffee that the freaking maid delivered to her.
“I will sue you!” I told her, pointing an accusing finger. It was a threat that was empty on its own. My bank account knew that I could never afford a lawyer right now.
“Okay then, I guess I’ll see you in court as the granddaughter who sued her gra
ndma after she married his grandson,” she said. “Oh my, saying all those ‘grand’ words makes me feel like I’m getting old.”
“You are,” I blandly replied. “But let’s not talk about your age.”
“I guess I am. Well then, dear, if that is your decision, there’s no helping it,” she said. “Nate, send those documents back to the clerk and tell them that they should greet the newlywed couples after they get back from their honeymoon.”
The men-in-black—Nate—silently nodded and started to head out of the door. That guy was carrying the license which held the only remaining thread of me and John finally legalizing everything. Could I let that happen?
Defeated and without any other choice, I finally said to Dorothy, “Let me hear your plan first.”
Well, for one, I never wanted to be John’s wife. That much I was certain of. To be named as Kayla Wilson Brooks was never in my What I Wanted to be When I Grow Up list. If Dorothy would actually send that annoying envelope back to the clerk’s office, I would officially be regarded as Mrs. Brooks. I quivered in disgust with the words. Taking the other option might be better.
“Now we’re talking,” she said. Then after which she turned to the stilled John and continued, “Son, are you okay?”
Dorothy’s words kind of pulled John out of the oblivion that he was previously in. He blinked twice then answered, “Grandma, why are you doing all this?”
“That’s a good question. Well, it’s because I want you to be married. And to top it all, I have your first love here to take the position of the bride. Isn’t that perfect?” she replied, eyes sparkling which made me hate the glitters with sheer annoyance.
“It’s not,” I interjected.
“That’s the point, Grandma. It’s not perfect. Who gave you the permission to meddle with my life? This is my decision to make. You don’t need to be involved in any of this and neither is this girl,” he icily replied.
Honestly, he kind of threw me off with the last words. It was as if the words smacked me straight in the face. So I got the point, he wanted to let me know that I was never wanted in here. So as you could see, I was the victim in all this. Dorothy was forcing me and John imposed that he didn’t want me. Just tell me and I would run off the door this instant. Like before, no strings attached whatsoever.
My Kind of Perfect Page 9