“You like him, don't you?” she asked flat out.
Did she ever learn the meaning of the word courtesy? But we were talking about Dorothy here so courtesy was long diminished from the topic. Looking away, I coughed out the nervousness that got caught in my throat.
When I looked back at Dorothy, she had that one meaningful gaze which got the word out of my mouth. “Yes?”
Colors immediately traced her face as her lips twitched in a wry smile. I stared down, unable to look at her anymore. She finally got it. I utterly gave in to what she had wanted to happen. I was miserably in love with his grandson who had no hint of adoration left for me.
“You're shy, that's sweet,” she complimented, or more like dragged my heavy feelings a hundred feet under the ground.
“Alright, I do admit it. I mean, who wouldn't fall for your grandson? Anyone you set up with him would also feel this way,” I reasoned out.
She shook her head a bit, catching her breath. I suddenly became alarmed that she was still feeling unwell. However, she assured me that she was okay as she lightly placed her rough hands on mine.
Then she said, “I’d done this countless of times. I set him up for dates, for relationships, and even an arranged marriage. And trust me, all of them dumped him and I got you to blame for it all. What? You think you're the first one?”
“What do you mean?” I asked her, not really getting what she had said.
“I wanted him to forget you. I fully knew that my boy was in love with you ever since. But really, I wanted him to just get over with that puppy love whatsoever,” she began.
“And?” I asked for her to continue.
“So I set him up for dates, threatening him every now and then. You know, the usual,” she said.
“Are you serious? You did this before?” I incredulously asked her.
“Of course. You have no idea of the damage you left when you dumped him for that Jonathan guy. I also know the name, funny right? He cursed and loathed that name for years. So why shouldn’t I?”
“He did that? Isn't he uhmm... calm… refined…composed?” I tried enumerating John’s good traits.
“He was angry. What did you expect? You couldn't be thinking that he was enthusiastic and overwhelmingly happy at that time?” she asserted.
“For real?”
“Uh-huh,” she answered, reaching out for the cup of water.
I gave it to her and she took a sip. Then I said, “I'm crazy, right? I mean I should have known that...”
“It was all in the past now. Something greater pulled the two of you back together again. Who would have thought that you would suddenly appear out of nowhere a day before his wedding? You know, I do believe now that when two people are destined to be together, no matter how many turns they make in this life, they will definitely meet each other again,” she said to me.
“You think? But then...” I stumbled with the words.
“I did what I should do. I made you two realize the stupid mistakes that you both had done before. But I don't want to be the one to break the confession to you. He will come around eventually. Knowing him, it would probably take some time though,” she told me.
“I don't think I get what you are saying. He doesn't like me at all. How can we be meant for each other? And how come that there will be a confession?” I asked her.
“You have no idea. Young people nowadays,” she muttered disbelievingly. Then she tucked herself in and closed her eyes.
“Dorothy, wait. You can't sleep on me here,” I told her, lightly shaking her shoulders.
“Don't forget to invite me to your real wedding. I think I will be all better by that time. And practice calling me Grandma from now on,” she said before weakly raising her arms and bidding me to go.
“Can you explain it some more. How can there be a real wedding?”
“Go away, dear. Your old lady wants to have some good sleep,” she said to me, calling Nate inside and letting him drag me out again.
Two months later, like she said, John did come around. It took him some time, a lot of time, just like Dorothy had predicted. But setting all of that aside, I was glad that he was finally here.
“So...” he tried saying.
“Yeah?” I muttered, lightly pushing the swing. I was suddenly feeling a bit shy about all this. Another senseless minute passed and no one still said a word. So this was what you get after those indirect confessions.
“Kayla...”
“John...”
We both said each other's name at the same time, making the situation even more uncomfortable. I shook my head, starting to get furious how awkward things were. So by using my better judgment, I directly asked him, “We are together now, right?”
He stood up and knelt down in front of me, holding my hands in his. I faintly smiled, realizing my answer—my long-awaited answer. Then he broke the silence as he said, “I love you, Kaye. All this while, I really do. I am one of those people who never really gotten over with their first love. I hope you don't mind.”
“I don't,” I said, happy enough to get the corner of my eyes wet.
He smiled, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. Opening them again, it was the most beautiful set of gray eyes I had ever seen. “Kaye, I'm really glad that I met you. You changed my life. You made Grandma notice me before. In countless ways, you made a difference. I probably wouldn't be this way now if it wasn't for you. And I'm sorry if it took so long for me to say all this...”
“I understand,” I cut him off.
“You really like interrupting me, don't you? Let me finish first, okay?” he asked me.
I simply nodded. So my opinion was not yet needed.
He exhaled again. Was he that nervous? Then he continued, “All this while, I’m in love with you. I’ve done everything to forget you. But as you can see, I haven't succeeded.”
“I kind of heard about that,” I blurted. He eyed me, and I immediately added, “I'm shutting up now.”
“I thought of making a comeback to your life. But every time I went to see you, you were with someone. I never got the chance. So after doing it for about five or more times, I finally gave in to the arranged marriage that my grandmother had offered to me,” he said.
“You could have told me that you were coming. I think there was this one time when I wasn't in a relationship for about four months,” I informed him, just so he would know.
“Is there anything else you want to say? You sure do love to disrupt me,” he said and I was about to open my mouth but he held a hand in front of me. Then he added, “But before you say anything else, I just want you to know that I can't imagine my life without you. You are my everything and I want things to stay this way forever.”
“Really?”
He disbelievingly shook his head. “What? You don't believe me?”
“I do,” I immediately corrected his thoughts. “I’m just... lost for words about everything. You made me feel that I had done no wrong before when, clearly, I did enough damage for you to hate me all your life. I'm overwhelmed. You have no idea how my mind is spinning in happiness right now.”
He pulled my hand to his lips and planted a soft kiss.
I bit my own lips, trying to hide the bliss that I was feeling. Catching my breath, I said to him, “I'm also sorry for everything, especially for acting like a jerk to you before. You already know how much you mean to me at that time and I think you already figured out why I did all that. I had been through a lot of things. And though I have no idea why, I was dumped by a lot of guys and—”
I was taken back when he suddenly stood up on his feet and let my hands go. He pushed me back together with the swing until I was standing on my feet. And then he held the chains of the swing, leaning closer to me. In one sudden and enchanting moment, his lips briefly brushed on mine.
Then he whispered, “I'm happy with everything and I don't want to hear about your exes...”
I held his face and moved him back a little. “But you ne
ed to know everything including—”
The corner of his lips pulled into a grin as he held me gently on the face and pushed his face forward. I held my feet firmly on the ground, putting my arms around his neck and waiting for the perfect moment that was about to come. Locking me into a sweet kiss, he interrupted what I was trying to say.
But surely, I didn't mind at all.
Chapter 26
“Aaaahh!” I screamed, taking fast steps back and utterly avoiding wherever that sound may had come from. The sound itself was creepy and being alone in this wood in the middle of the night hadn't done anything to help the situation.
What exactly was I doing here? I didn’t know.
I was walking backwards until a root found its way to get into my path. Stumbling down, I readied my mind for something painful. Feeling the impact of the blow, I grimaced and bit my lip so as not to make any other unnecessary sound. But as much as I wanted for this moment to turn out with me not distracting anything that might be lurking around this pitch-black forest, my hand unexpectedly landed on something. It was not just something that could be regarded as one mediocre thing. It was something that involved a great deal of being slippery, sleek, and moist.
“Whaa!” I exclaimed, pushing my feet against the ground and moving to the other side. Grabbing the flashlight that was tied around my right wrist, I lighted up whatever that was.
“Ribbit,” croaked the greenish, mucky, eww thing.
“Oh, gross,” I disdainfully muttered.
I scrubbed my hand furiously on my pants, trying to get the slimy feeling off my hand. Then suddenly something brushed my back. Frozen in place, I prayed that it would not be anything dangerous or deadly. I was really frustrated why I even came here. If it was not for that message that came a little after dinner tonight, I wouldn't be here in the first place.
It was something like this: Meet me tomorrow morning at the tree where we made our previous contract. Remember it? I have a surprise for you there. And grandma will also be there in the resort tomorrow.
The other day, I asked John to take me to Dorothy and let me visit her. He agreed although he had that vague smile on his face. It felt weird and I had this eerie feeling that he was keeping something from me. But even though I had pressed him hard on telling me what it was, he refused to say a word and just shoved off the conversation to somewhere else.
The plan was that he was supposed to pick me up in my apartment this morning and we would drive together up to their mountain resort where we had our fake honeymoon before. However, the weird thing was, he didn't appear this morning saying that he had a sudden, important meeting.
It was an abrupt meeting that popped out of nowhere. Who would ever find that not suspicious? Certainly not me.
And so I came here alone this afternoon, almost nearing nighttime using one of Dorothy’s cars and drove by one of her men-in-black. I was already calm and told myself not to over-think the situation. However, I accidentally saw John here. Believe it or not, he looked as if he was already here even before I came. But what had caught my attention was the fact that he looked preoccupied, perplexed, and completely worried.
What could be going on?
Of course, confronting him was the first thing that came into my mind. But I resolved to stay put and see what would happen. Following him around for several minutes, all I had seen was that he was carrying white linens while having that awkward look on his face. But after he turned around a certain corner, I lost track of him altogether.
I asked around if John had arrived but everyone denied it and said that he called the resort and said that he would be coming tomorrow. He lied, alright. I tried calling his phone but it was turned off. And a little hour after dinner, he sent me that message. Of course, the first thing that came into my mind was that he was planning something. And whatever that something was, I wanted to find out. I tried calling him back but his phone was off once more.
So grabbing a flashlight, a map, and a lengthy stick that I hoped would get me to that place safely, I ventured on a journey to find out what he was planning. Surely, if he was planning something, he would already set it up this afternoon. And seeing him carrying all those stuff sort of said it all. And his sudden missing in action thingy was definitely questionable. I was in for surprises but knowing things beforehand sounded even better.
And that led me here—here in the middle of the woods and halfway through to the location of that tree. I was no better in directions than the worst voyager alive. But asking for a map from the reception area of the hotel made me the most capable person on earth. Although the darkness that enveloped the night still held that dangerous threat towards me.
It was the adrenaline pumping and the surging curiosity that made me walk that several distance from the resort. And now it was still the adrenaline pumping and goosebumps creeping on my skin that made me feel like I wanted to run away from here this instant. I knew I should have had waited for the surprise tomorrow instead of making myself walk all the way here.
Another brushing of something soft tickled the skin of my arms. The sound it made had the same heaviness of footfalls from before. But really, the touch of which was ticklish. Looking back and lightening the area behind me, I saw that one charming rabbit who stared back at me with those cute red eyes before running away.
Adorable.
I played with the flashlight in my hand as I was looking at the hopping bunny. Picking myself up, I dusted off my clothes. Determined to go back instead of walking into the depths of the forest, I turned around and started walking to no particular direction in mind. Turning the flashlight round and round in my hand, a thought suddenly occurred to mind.
I lost it.
Looking at my empty left hand, the map that was there a moment ago suddenly disappeared. It was the map, the freaking map which told me what the yellow and blue arrows were for. That was the map which indicated which place to go and which place to avoid. The map that had led me here in one piece all of a sudden disappeared and I had no idea where it was. Not to mention how to get back without it.
I looked around the area. But to no avail, there was no map that had magically appeared. I walked back and forth and continued looking for that missing map until I got tired from walking. Leaning against a tree, I tried resting a bit and wiped away the sweat on my face.
The tree where I was leaning felt kind of weird. It was unusual in a way that the roughness of it was uneven. Inclining back some more and slightly rubbing my back on the tree, I was certain that the texture of the tree was really strange.
Then I decided to look back and see what was wrong with the tree. With the assistance of the very helpful flashlight, my mouth dropped in complete amazement of what I had seen. It turned out that my getting lost in the middle of the wood actually brought me to the place where I was supposed to go.
Although I still didn’t know how to go back.
In front of me was the tree where we carved the contract several months ago. It was the tree where he wanted to meet me tomorrow morn. And it was that same tree where I supposed he had prepared something for his surprise tomorrow.
Looking intently, I found nothing new except for the same old tree that held the agreement and our name. Aside from it, there was nothing else in here. Looking around, I circled the tree four times before I realized that my coming here was only for nothing.
Letting out a sigh, I shook my head and told myself to stop being so foolish. Maybe there wasn't really anything like a grand surprise and that the white linen that he was holding a while ago was for nothing. Maybe he was changing bed sheets or something. But why would a General Manager do those kind of things?
Beats me, I hadn't got a clue why.
Walking around, I suddenly stepped on something. A snap was echoed across the stilled woods and I became alarmed of what it was. I kind of expected a boom. The switch I stepped on felt like one. But instead of the whole place blowing up, trickles of small lights started lightening the area. O
ne by one, the small bulbs of different colors lighted up and the place suddenly became filled with dancing colors of different hue.
In complete surprise, I looked around and tried figuring out what was going on. My eyes went everywhere—surprised, shocked, and entirely dumbfounded. Catching my gaze was the words that were deeply traced at the bottom of the tree. I hadn't noticed it before. Who would have thought that something would be written in there?
You make me smile in a way that nobody else can. I miss you each moment, love you all the while, and want to be with you for every single second. From this day on, until who knows when, I only want to stay by your side.
I instantly realized that this had something to do with John. No one else would do this kind of thing and to say that. And this was our tree to start with. But why the sudden display of lights? If he wanted me to come here tomorrow morning, then surely the lights would be sort of out of place.
As if to answer my query, a very familiar voice said from behind, “I knew you would come tonight.”
Turning around, I caught a glimpse of someone approaching from the dark. Raising one of my brows, I asked, “What's going on? Why are you avoiding my calls?”
“I told you I got you a surprise tomorrow but I also heard that you were asking for me all around the resort. My bad. So I changed the plan,” he said to me.
“Plan?” I asked.
Walking to me, he held my eyes in his. All kinds of emotions flooded his face. I wondered what was going on with him. Then as he was in front of me, he asked, “Do you have anything to do tomorrow?”
“Well, aside from meeting your grandma and such... none,” I answered.
“Will you marry me?” he said out of nowhere.
“Huh?” I blinked.
“Marry me?” he asked again.
“When?” I asked him instead.
“You haven't even answered,” he complained.
I wildly smiled. “Maybe because you’re not kneeling, nerd.”
My Kind of Perfect Page 22