From the looks of it, most of them were sending their best wishes to me. I mean, to us. Who got married by themselves anyway? But there were also some who were not so pleased and said some not so nice things so I just stopped reading them and opened my private messages instead.
And of course, there was a really pissed off message from Sandy.
The last thing I know was that I was trying to call you all day only to be cut off after several hours. And after that, I haven't heard a word from you. And what was even more surprising was that when I opened my television to watch some news, I saw you there. You were getting married to John Brooks?
What happened, Kaye? Did some cosmic event happen that you had decided to get married with him. What about Aaron? The last time I checked, you were still in a relationship with him. I mean until now, in your Facebook account. You're in a relationship with someone else other than your husband. Does that make any sense? Well, nothing makes sense. John Brooks? I thought you hate him? And really, why did you just leave Aaron to marry someone else.
And after reading this ranting, please change your relationship status or just remove it completely. You're already flooded with tons of hate mails. And also, call me as soon as you can. And should I say best wishes? What in the world happened? Talk to me now!!!!!
I found Sandy's number in her profile and wrote it in a piece of paper. I would try to give her a call later when I got my hands a brand new phone since Dorothy cracked my last one into two. I scanned the rest of the posts in my profile.
I saw that aside from the ones who hadn't seen my in a relationship status with Aaron, everyone greeted me with best wishes. The rest were pissed off with me. They cursed me with every single curse word there was. I mean, who were they to judge? They hadn't got a clue on what had happened and why I got ‘married’.
“That’s not very nice.” I was alarmed when a voice came from my side. I looked to my right and saw that John was reading the posts on my profile.
“Why are you peering?” I said, trying to hide the hate-filled posts on the screen with my hands.
“I already saw everything, what was there to hide?” he asked, removing my hands.
Without any kind of resistance, I let him see it. As much as I denied it to myself, I felt weak just by reading all those hate mails. I was just human and had emotions, too. And they didn't have the slightest clue on what had been going on with my life.
“You have a boyfriend?” he asked me, surprised.
“Ex-boyfriend,” I corrected with all bitterness.
“But you're still in a relationship with him in here,” he told me.
“He broke up with me a day before I saw you. Sorry for not being able to update my life online. Apparently, some people kept me busy these days,” I sarcastically replied.
“So then, let's change it,” he suggested and I threw him an inquisitive look.
“What—” I said as he tried to scrutinize my account by adding him as my friend.
“Don't you think they will find it kind of funny that I'm not listed in my wife's friend list?”
“But—“
Then he changed my status to being single, pressed the log out button, and accepted my request using his account. And he wasn't satisfied with just that. ‘Cause the next moment, he changed his single status to ‘married to’. And to my horror, he wrote my name in the box.
“What do you think you're doing?” I exclaimed to him.
“I’m just making everything right. You don't want the media to see you being in a relationship with somebody else, right?” he said to me.
“Well, don't you think people will find it kind of funny that I went on from being in a relationship and then single and then married all at the same day?”
“Well, in case you haven't noticed, we we’re one of the trending news for the past few days. It would be even unusual if they see you being in a relationship with someone else,” he said. He paused for a while before he added, “Or being single when the rest of the world saw our marriage.”
“Oh, yes, that's right. Originally, no one should know about all this. Why are you forcing me to be in a marriage status with you?” I argued.
“That was supposed to be the case. But sadly, you know everything else that had happened after,” he said, letting out a long sigh.
“This is your entire fault,” I told him.
“Alright, I'm sorry for dragging you into all this. But since everything was already done and signed, can't you just let the three months pass by quietly? Without even uttering a word about the earlier mishaps and just take it professionally?”
“No,” I said, looking intently at him. Then I saw the disagreement in his eyes. Having a good will of my own, which they had all failed to see, I muttered, “Alright, I'll be as quiet as the moon.”
“The moon?”
“Yes, I'm using the moon now so that the birds and the cows can rest,” I said back to him.
He found my earlier statement amusing. And so for the following minutes, he laughed again and again. Then he left me with his laptop so I browsed some moral boosting horoscope for the night.
Speak your mind and let your thoughts be known even if you have to go a little crazy. If you're willing to push it, things can be better for you. Nothing will change if you're just rooted on that same ground and hiding your thoughts away. Go on and let it be known.
Taking a deep breath before clicking on the address bar and typing facebook.com again, I prepared myself for the worst. Opening my account, the red notification indicated that I have another request. And this time around, I only got one and I accepted it.
Kayla Wilson
married to John E. Brooks
Chapter 15
“Hey!” I said, lightly tapping John on the shoulders.
He groaned and moved to the other side. Pulling the blanket over him, he crumpled on one side and disregarded my call altogether. I grabbed the blanket from him and called him again, “John, wake up!”
“Just a little more,” he said to me, still knocked down on the sofa. Seriously, he needed to be up and we have to get ready. Dorothy had done something ‘evil’ again. She continued the torture of my peaceful existence when she invited some people from the media up here in their resort. And down there, right now, there were about twenty ‘evil’ minions of hers who were waiting to devour us both.
“No, you need to get up now.”
“Five more minutes, Grandma,” he muttered under his breath and put his pillow over his ears.
“Grandma!” I exclaimed. “I'm not your grandma! I’m not related to you!”
He was startled with my voice and I saw him slowly opened his eyes. And then he realized that it was I who was calling him all along. A bit flustered, he slowly got up, eyes lazily wondering around the room. Seemed like he was trying to figure out where he was. I slowly tapped my feet as I watched him stretched out his arms. It was as if he was mocking me by acting all peaceful and composed. He had no idea what he was up to or rather what we were about to face.
‘Wife, Kayla. You're the wifey. Don't forget that or you'll get sued by your evil enemy,’ I reminded myself.
Then I heard him say after a moment of sudden realization, “Oh, sorry Kaye. I thought you were Grandma.”
I narrowed my eyes in dismay. “For real? Did I sound that old to you?”
He yawned and rubbed his eyes. “I was half-awake.”
“Oh?” I scornfully said, still annoyed that he had mistaken me for Dorothy. That was the most unreasonable comparison he could ever do in his lifetime.
“What are you saying again?” he asked.
I pointed outside. “Find out for yourself.”
“What’s with the noise?”
I grabbed a towel and headed off towards the bathroom. I had to make a good impression as being a notable person's wife, so as Dorothy called it. I said to him before I locked the door, “Don't forget to thank your grandmother for it. Better prepare your story, too.”
I counted to twenty and then I heard a knock on the door. He must now be fully aware of the situation. “Kayla, about our story...”
“Think of anything. I'll go along with it,” I replied, filling the tub with hot water.
I was not in the mood to create a love story of ours in my head. I was still having a hard time figuring out why I was feeling flushed at times when I saw him. Creating a love story might aggravate the first symptom of insanity that I was having.
Dipping into the hot water, I told myself that my exhaustion from the previous days might have triggered my unusual reaction with him before. After having a good night sleep and a few days of rest, I was certain that it was the reason. Well, it had to be the reason. For right now, I was not feeling anything for him. My heart was acting normal again and there was no sign of blushing at the sight of him from the past two days whatsoever.
John continued telling me about the story that he was trying to compose and finalize. He sounded like a novelist stating the perfect story of the century. I listened attentively. Okay, so maybe not. But I tried to listen to everything, bearing in mind the necessary things like when we first met and our first date.
You know, the usual questions.
As he was near finished, which actually took him a long time, I emptied the tub and felt refreshed. I replayed ‘our’ story in mind. And at the same time, I figured out why I had been acting like that with John a few days ago.
I opened the door and was about to call him. But to my surprise, he was waiting outside for me, leaning against the wall a little from where I was. As soon as he saw me coming out, he straightened his stance and well, awkwardly ended up stumbling in front of me. The bathroom floor was quite elevated and from where I was standing, we were on the same level.
So putting it simply, he was on my face. Well, almost.
At first, we just stared at each other, no one knowing what to do next. I swallowed the lump in my throat as I felt my heart throbbing unevenly, forcing my mind to think of some rational explanation why my heart was acting like this. This was Johnny from long long ago. But it hadn’t done any good. I was really feeling funny around him. And after some inexplicable seconds, due to lack of other reasons, I convinced myself that I must have had acquired some form of disease.
“I think... I need to see a doctor.”
He blinked twice and then moved back a little. Oh goodness, at last he finally reckoned to be a few inches away from me. Hugging the white robe closer to me, I continued on pondering the reason for all of this, well, the unusual throbbing of my heart, that is.
“Doctor?” he asked me, still comprehending what I just said.
“No... don’t mind that,” I uttered, trying to come up with some intelligent words to cover up what I had foolish said a while ago.
“Are you sick?” John asked once more, putting his hands over my forehead.
With his touch, I became even more flushed and it was like all my blood was being directed to my face. I hastily removed his hand from my forehead and walked towards the other room. Locking the bedroom door behind me, I sat on the bed.
I pulled my knees up and shut my eyes closed. John. I thought of the name. And instantly, a young man with glasses and bow tie appeared in my head. I shook my head furiously. Then in my mind, I heard a pig-like snort followed by the dreadful words ‘I still like you, Kayla’.
“It can't be,” I told myself, furiously rubbing my head to squeeze away the thoughts. There was no way I could like someone like John.
I got up and frantically walked back and forth the room. John was not the person I should fall for. Liking him was like admitting that I fell for a nerd. Or in his case, it was a once nerd. But whatever. From the start it wasn't logical that someone like me should be in love with a guy who was once known and proclaimed as a nerd.
John knocked on the door and asked, “Is everything okay?”
Answer. I needed to answer.
“Yeah, everything is fine,” I told him.
“Okay?”
“Totally,” I assured him. I took a deep breath and told myself that I must be wrong. There must be something wrong with me. Should I go ahead and see a doctor? No, this couldn't be, I thought to myself as I bit my lips as I felt even more frantic that I was now having a delusion that I was falling for him.
Right at this moment, what I needed were answers, or at least some form of words that would tell me what I was going through. It couldn't be love or any romantic inclinations to that guy. What I needed was something that would tell me that it was something else... something reasonable... rational... or at least anything that could prove that I was not in love.
Then as if to answer my worries, I saw a worn out magazine under the dresser. It was dated who knows when but I was certain that there was some horoscope in it. I hurriedly scanned the pages and finally found what I was looking for.
As you get older, you create occasions wherein you link the present and the past. Did you make the right choice back then? If you were to come back and do it over again, will your decision be like before? Now you're being confronted with a situation from the past. Trust that, despite how it may seem, it isn't as bad as you think it will be.
I instantly threw away the magazine. It was lying. The writer of that horoscope got it all wrong. It would be bad like a total unimaginable disaster like never before.
“Kayla, are you still not coming out? Grandma is calling us,” called John from outside. “And I need to get some clothes for myself.”
I looked down and saw that I was still covered with just a robe. Opening up the closet, I saw a blue cocktail dress and hurriedly slipped it into my body. My hair was still a mess but the knock on the door became heavier and impatient by the minute.
As I was grabbing the hair dryer from the drawer, I heard John said, “I'll just get some clothes and you can continue with whatever you were doing. You're already decent, right? Let me in for a minute.”
I put the hair dryer down and opened the door. Giving him some time to tidy himself, I told him, “Five minutes, okay?”
“I'll be out in no time,” he said before closing the door behind him.
Making us share the same room was one of Dorothy's most insane idea. It was bothersome. She could have made this contract easier for both of us by considering that we were not fond of each other's company.
“John, it's already five, go out now,” I called out to him.
“What?” he asked. “I've only been here for like... several seconds.”
“It was two minutes, it's not just several seconds,” I murmured to myself.
“Just a while.”
Finally, at exactly five minutes, he came out—dressed in black tie and tuxedo with hair swept back neatly. It was all business for him now... again. I couldn't help but stare some more cause really, he looked so handsome. Slowly, I was forgetting all of the reasons why I refused to fall for him in the first place.
“Are you feeling unwell?” he finally asked, breaking the awkward silence.
I snapped back to reality and hushed my thoughts. “Yeah, I'm fine. Just need to fix my hair.”
And everything else that was going wrong within me.
After the long agony of debating with myself, John led me downstairs where the conference would be held. Still feeling uncertain, I asked again, “Are you sure everything will be alright?”
“I hope so. Just go along with the plan and we'll be fine,” he said, smiling again at the hotel crew that passed by.
“What will happen if...”
“Nothing will happen, trust me. We'll get through this,” he sounded unconvincing himself.
And as soon as we arrived at the reception hall, we were flooded by flashes of light coming from everywhere. Then in between all the confusion, I felt John's hand lightly placed on my waist. I spontaneously removed it but I never thought that by doing that, it would place us in a much complicated spot.
“Are you two having a fight right now?” one reporter
asked.
“Was it about her status the other day before she changed it to being married to you?” another one asked.
They even knew that?
Amidst the confusion, John found a way to whisper to my ear, “Don't make things harder, Kayla.”
Swallowing my pride, I reckoned that I needed to act like an endearing wife. I forced myself to move and lean on him but my body was going against my will.
‘I can do this. It’s all about acting now. Just a little more...’
Then he ended my agony and pulled me straight towards him. I instantly stiffened when we touched. It was like I was electrocuted by something. I didn't know how my reaction turned out but I was certain that it wasn't pleasant because the crowd in front of me was even more entranced to believe that we were in a fight. So to please my audience, like I was supposed to, I flashed a smile and put my arms around John.
“My wife is just shy. It's her first time being under the spotlight so please go easy with her,” said John as he led me up front of the hall where some chairs were placed.
I was surprised when he pulled out a chair for me. He eyed me to take my seat and as if telling me to perform my part well. Taking a deep breath, I sat down and faced my audience. John also did the same and took his seat beside me. Now, I was certain that we looked like some match made in Heaven couple in the eyes of the public—me being Cinderella who managed to snag a prince.
Then catching me off guard, the first question soon after came along. “When did you two start dating?”
Didn't they have some kind of rules? Like for example, they could at least let the one being interviewed catch her breath first before they start throwing that kind of question.
“We had been dating for about a week before the wedding but we have known each other way back then,” answered John.
“But the wedding has been so sudden. Any particular reason for that?” a girl wearing thick glasses asked.
My Kind of Perfect Page 14