“It’s okay.” I told her. “I’m sorry for mistaking you as my sister,” I apologized.
She nodded her head and left. I stood there feeling empty and lost.
What happened? Was the event that transpired just a product of my imagination, an illusion that I had conjured up because I missed my sister too much? I highly doubted I could mistake her for someone else.
It must be an illusion. If I think about it carefully, why would my sister, who had disappeared in America, be here in Singapore, and of all places at Garden by the Bay, a destination site for tourists.
Pa was already in debt, and if she were to be with him, they would be poor, and Singapore was such an expensive city to live in. So there’s no way that was her. I concluded that this was an illusion.
Still, the feeling of despair had taken root in my heart, and before I could process it, bile crept up my throat, and nausea overtook me. I felt faint, my knees going weak. I flung about, trying to grab hold of the railing, when a hand caught me from behind, stabilizing me from the fall.
“Jay!”
“Boss.” When I knew it was him, I wrapped my arms around him, taking comfort in his warmth. He was my security blanket. He was my safety net.
“What the hell, Jay! You almost fell!” he yelled at me, but the strength of his hold and the strong comfort of his warmth told me he cared for my safety. “What’s wrong, Jay? Are you unwell?”
“I feel a bit sick. That height scares me,” I told him, holding him tightly.
“Come on, let’s you get out of here.” He took my hand and led me out of Cloud Forest.
Chapter 16
The Ice-cream Trap
Once outside, we found a secluded spot. Giovanni told me to sit there and wait for him while he disappeared off somewhere.
I didn’t get to lament long when he came back a minute later with a warm cloth in hand and started wiping my face.
“How are you feeling?”
“Better. Thank you. Where did you get the cloth?”
“I asked at the desk,” he said, then his tone turned serious. “What happened?”
I glanced at him, my eyes crinkling in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“I know something happened in there, Jay. You were not yourself.”
“Nothing happened,” I denied.
“Don’t lie. You think I can’t tell by your face. You wear your emotions on your sleeve, Jay.”
I couldn’t deny that fact. I was always too expressive with my feelings.
I didn’t know what to tell him. Do I say ‘Hey, Boss, I think I saw my sister here. But no. It wasn’t her. Just my faulty eyesight. Should I make an appointment to get my eyes checked once we get back home?
Home...
“I missed home.”
“You missed home?” Giovanni was flabbergasted at my answer. “Jay, I can’t fucking believe this. I brought you all the way here to Singapore, and you say you missed home.”
“Because the guys aren’t here,” I retorted.
I did miss home. I missed Jonny, Finnie, Bobby, and Heath. And especially Crispin.
“Fuck! I can’t keep up with you, Jay. I thought you’d be happy here.”
“I am, Boss. I’m really happy I get to create all these happy memories with you,” I reassured him. “Your effort in making me happy did not go to waste. See, I have so many memories stored in my phone.”
I flicked through the many pictures I took and showed it to him, when suddenly an idea popped in my head. “But I want to make one more important memory with you.”
“What? You wanna have sex out here in the open? Not my style. I prefer to do it in the privacy of—”
“Boss.” I clamped his mouth shut. “I want to eat ice cream.”
Giovanni had to blink a few times. He yanked my hand off to speak. “You want to eat ice cream?”
“Yes. Ice cream.” I linked arms with him and gave him my doe eyes. “Let’s have ice cream together, okay?”
“Ice creams are for kids,” came his adult answer.
“Are you saying I’m a child?”
“Are you not acting like a child? For fucking sake, asking for ice cream.”
I stood up, standing my ground. “Oh, you must be so old then, to not like ice cream. Let’s see, when is your next birthday?” I pretended to count with one hand, then put on my surprised face, just to see his reaction. “Oh, are you over thirty already, Boss?” Giovanni’s reaction was to die for. He was literally bursting at the seams.
“I’m only twenty-eight.”
“Twenty-eight? Gee, that’s almost a ten-year age gap between us. See, I’m only nineteen. No wonder... I’m still a kid. And you’re almost thirty. No wonder you are so mature. You are right, Boss. It makes complete sense. Old people don’t like ice cream.”
Giovanni bolted to his full height, blocking out my sunlight.
“Let’s go,” he said, grabbing my arm and walking.
“Where to?”
“To get ice cream.”
Oh, he fell right into my trap. I hid my smile.
Giovanni glared at his ice cream, and as if those eyes of his contained flames, it melted the ice cream. Now the damned thing was starting to make its way down his arm. He’d better start eating it soon or else it’d stick to his hand.
Fuck! That’s why he hated ice cream. That crappy stuff just sticks to everything.
It was all Jay’s fault. She had conned him, using reverse psychology to get the ice cream.
He directed his gaze at the culprit, watching her flick her tongue out, making an effort to lick the white cream before it melted off the cone.
He’d better get started on his, too, before that cream made a mess of his clothing. He did a little lick.
Vanilla. Tasted all right.
He did another lick. Then another and another.
It wasn’t too bad at all. In this hot weather, it really felt quite nice to be eating ice cream together. He was quite smug. Until Jay had to ruin it all.
“See, Boss, it’s delicious, isn’t it? Ice creams are meant to be enjoyed by all ages.” Oh, the look on her face. He just wanted to kiss the crap out of her. “You know, I’m glad we got to eat ice cream on our date.”
This had his attention. “Why?”
“Don’t you watch Korean dramas? They all eat ice cream in the park, especially when they are out on dates.”
“I don’t have time to watch dramas. There’s already too much drama in my life.”
“Still, isn’t it nice to create happy memories together? You don’t know, the next time you might end up eating ice cream alone.”
“That’ll never happen.”
“Why are you so sure?”
“Because I don’t like ice cream.”
“Oh, you are so sweet. Only eating ice cream with me. I’m so happy. Let’s take a photo of us together eating ice cream as a memory.”
“No. Not another one of your photos.”
“Come on. Don’t you want to make memories with me? Who knows when we’ll be able to eat ice cream together again?”
“I’ve made lots of memories with you in bed, Jay, eating your cream.”
“Oh, Boss. Not that again.”
But this time he did relent. He gave in, doing whatever he could in his power to make her happy. She leaned in close to him, plastering her cheek next to his, like that time before in Cloud Forest.
But he was not going to be surprised like before. He had a plan up his sleeve. Just as she was about to snap the shot, he used his free hand to angle her face, and captured her lips, rendering her speechless with his kiss.
He tasted the sweet vanilla flavor of the ice cream on her mouth and felt the cold melted ice cream dripping down his arm. He didn’t care about the damage. She was too delicious for him to care about anything else.
“Boss, you kissed me in public,” she said breathlessly.
“I did.”
“Didn’t you say you dislike public affection?”
She turned back to her phone, inspecting the image she’d taken. “The image is too blurry. We have to take it again. And make sure you hold your ice cream this time. It must appear in the photo.”
Giovanni smiled. Jay was really like that ice cream. She had completely melted him, heart, body, and soul.
The day didn’t turn out as bad, nor as stressful as he had anticipated. Not having his underlings here had made their whole experience feel more normal, like they were just an ordinary couple going on holiday.
Even though his underlings were back home, there were still Dawson’s bodyguards who had accompanied them, even though he hadn’t a clue who they were. He just knew he’d be safe here with Jay.
But something did happen in Cloud Forest. He’d had this niggling feeling since the moment he saw Jay almost falling off the rail. The problem was, he didn’t know what.
Dawson’s bodyguards should have gotten the memo by now. He’d used the opportunity to call their boss when he went to collect the wet towel from the front desk.
He checked his phone. Almost four. They should have found some answers by now. He dialed his friend’s number. On the third ring, the answer came through.
“Hey.”
“Did you find anything,” he asked.
“Yep.”
“I’m listening.”
“I think it’s best if you come over to my place. It’s something we should talk about in person. I’ll call Justin over, too.”
“Is it that serious?”
“You could say that.”
“I’ll be there in an hour.”
Fuck! Giovanni was furious with himself. If only he’d caught on earlier. Jay was not safe here. They needed to move out of here fast.
He searched for his girlfriend and found her at a spot among the flowers.
His heart calmed down a bit.
Jay, his lover. He thought he had to employ massive power to make her happy, but just small, simple things like the act of smelling the flowers and taking pictures of plants put a smile on her face.
She was beautiful to look at, so natural among the flowers. She caught his eye and waved at him.
There it goes again. His heart was acting like a fucking teenager whenever he was with her.
But more so because he was afraid to lose her.
He needed to get to the bottom of this, but without scaring the shit out of her. The best way would be to ask her about it.
In the distance, he could see Jay running back to him.
“Tired?” he asked.
“Yes. I’m exhausted.” She sat and rested her head on his shoulder. “Wanna see the pictures I took?”
She didn’t wait for his answer. She flicked through and showed him all the different ones she took. All he could do was smile while trying to calm his shit down.
“Are you hungry?” he interrupted her.
“Yep. Famished.”
“Let’s go to Dawson’s house. He just ordered some Chinese. You like Chinese, right? Let’s have dinner there tonight.”
“Really. That sounds cool.”
Dawson was there to greet them at the door when they arrived. That was what he thought, though. His friend rushed past him and crushed his girlfriend with his massive bear hug.
“Little one, you came to see me.” He laughed, swinging Giovanni’s girlfriend around. If he didn’t know Dawson was gay, he would have smashed his face already for touching his girlfriend like that.
“Hello, Dawson,” he heard Jay say. Shaking his head at their idiotic interaction, he went inside and was glad to see Justin.
“Hey,” he greeted.
“Hey,” the quiet man replied.
“So, what did Daw find out?”
“Best if we talk about this later. Your girlfriend is still in earshot.”
They grouped at Dawson’s kitchen, silently downing beers.
“I’m going back to the States,” Justin said.
Giovanni looked up at his friend. “I thought you didn’t want to go back home.”
“Yeah. Thought it’s high time I should quit running.”
“I’m sure Giuseppe would be glad to have you back home. He missed you a lot. How long has it been now?”
“Four years. I missed the old man, too. Don’t see enough of him.” Justin stared at that ring again.
“You miss her?”
“Who?”
“The girl who gave you that ring.”
There was no answer.
Giovanni didn’t probe further. Every time the subject was brought up, Justin would stay silent. He was a stubborn mule.
Talking about stubborn mules, where was Jay? The last time he saw her was with Dawson. Where the hell did his friend take his girl? Justin and he had been sitting and drinking their beer for over fifteen minutes now.
At that moment, Dawson came around the corner, minus his girlfriend.
“Where is she?” he asked.
“Busy exploring my anime man cave,” Dawson explained. “I thought we should have a bit of time to talk before Mindy brings her back here.”
Jay was into those Japanese manga and anime series. Dawson was smart to distract her with his massive collection. His friend had too many faces to count. In public, Dawson exerted his superior rich power as a billionaire man. Behind closed doors, he fiddled away his free time by being a fanboy of Japanese culture.
“So, tell me. What’s the status report?” Giovanni asked his friend.
Giovanni did not expect to hear the next words that came from Dawson. But when he did, it made his heart drop. “It’s Lorenzo. He’s here in Singapore. More specifically, he was there with you guys in Cloud Forest.”
Chapter 17
Confession
I was beaming with excitement. School had started back up, and I was super psyched to see Crispin again, after our weeklong midsemester break. He had texted me numerous times, wanting to meet up, but because I was in Singapore, I couldn’t.
I was only away for a few days, but still, what are best friends for, if we didn’t annoy each other with text messages.
What made my heart even giddier was the look on his face when he opened the present. Dawson had given me the toy figurine of Misaki and Usagi-san the minute he saw Crispin’s picture. He said since my best friend liked that couple so much, he’d offered him one of the limited-edition figurines as a gift. I was so stoked. At the door, I saw him waiting for me. I ran, halting just in time to stop myself from crashing into him.
“Jenny, you’re excited to see me?” he asked, his eyes sparkling. “You look super excited today. Did you miss me that much?”
“Totally. I haven’t seen you for a whole week.” I leaned into him and said cheekily, “I got a special gift for you.”
“A gift?” He blushed all the way to the tips of his ears. “What kind of gift?”
“Like I said, it’s a special one. Shall we find a seat first?”
“Sure. After you.” Crispin let me take the lead. I found one next to the window and sat down, waiting for him to settle into his seat first before offering his present.
“So, where’s my gift?”
I took the present out of my backpack and slid the black box across to him. The ribbon with the name ‘Junjou Romantica: Pure Romance’ tied to the box was a dead giveaway.
“Jenny....Don’t tell me this is...”
“Oh, it is, my friend. Open it,” I urged.
And his eyes said it all. They opened wide and softened as he took in the figurine of Misaki and Usagi-san embracing each other.
I was truly happy to see his smile. Or so I thought.
“Where did you find this figurine?” he scolded me.
“A friend I know recently gave it to me. He said to give it to you since you liked Junjou Romantica so much.”
“A friend? Who?”
“No one special.”
He carefully put the figurine back in the box
, closed the lid, and slid it back to me. “I can’t accept this, Jenny. This is a limited edition. On the internet it costs more than a thousand dollars. Where did this friend of yours get it? What if they stole it and gave it to you? I don’t want any association with them. You shouldn’t associate with them, either.”
I slid the box back to him. “My new friend is not an art thief. Plus, he has shitloads more of them. The guy practically owned a whole gallery full of art. Figurines, posters, mangas. You name it, he’s got it. Even our favorite yaoi series, Junjou Romantica. He owned the first edition, too.”
“Jenny, who is this friend of yours?” Crispin was skeptical. He was right. How could a girl like me, who couldn’t even pay for her rent before, suddenly find a rich friend like Dawson. Of course he would be suspecting something was off.
“Look. Just know that he’s a good person. Just like you. You know how I don’t go and make friends with random people. And I really mean it. He genuinely wanted you to have this gift.”
“But I don’t even know him.”
“Don’t worry. He’s not some stranger. I got a picture of him. Wanna see?” I took out my mobile phone and showed him the image of me and Dawson inside his collection room back in Singapore.
But Crispin wasn’t even focusing on the picture. His attention was on the phone in my hand.
“Jenny, when did you buy that phone?”
“Huh?”
“That phone. It only came out last week. How did you get ahold of it?”
“Really?”
“You mean you don’t know? That phone costs over two thousand dollars. I wanted one, but all I do is dream about getting it. Don’t tell me that your friend gave it to you, too?”
“Huh...” Crap, I was in a pickle. How did I tell him that Giovanni bought it for me, without telling him about Giovanni at all? “Yeah. My rich friend gave it to me.”
“I don’t trust your rich friend. He must be manipulating you for something. Tell him I don’t want his gift. Take it back.”
“But Crispin. He wanted you to have it. Look, he even gave one to me. Except mine is of Nowaki and—”
“It doesn’t matter, Jenny. Take it back. Unless I physically see him and know him face-to-face, I don’t accept gifts from strangers.”
“Fine. I’ll tell him that.” I reluctantly shoved the gift back in my backpack. Turning to other matters, I asked, “So, what did you want to talk about? You kept messaging me nonstop during the break.”
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