I froze like a Turkey, wondering what was going on. For a second time, he pecked me. And, I couldn’t help but flinch. What was with this man?
“Ryan!” I cried in a whisper.
“What? You don’t like my lips?” He teased me.
I turned to Ralph. For some reason, he scrunched his face as if he was irritated. “Wait, you’ve got a boyfriend?” He inquired.
I laughed weirdly. “N-No. He’s just—”
“You’re not gonna deny me, right?” Ryan cut me off. “Why are you pretending? Just tell him about us, okay?”
“Ryan, are you—”
“Hey there.” He pulled away from me. He walked to Ralph, and faced him. “Hope you’re good? Nice to see you with my girl. Well, it’s good that you aren’t up to something.”
“Excuse me?” Ralph cocked a brow at him.
Ryan chortled. “Sorry if I seem rude. Anyway, it was nice of you to keep her company. But thanks, you can leave now. We’ve got to get going.”
I gawked. This dude was crai-crai.
Ralph sniggered. He was probably flustered. “Wait, wait.” He waved at Ryan. “Don’t get you. You know this isn’t the right way to approach a stranger?”
“So what?” Ryan walked to me. He pulled his arm around my shoulder, and tugged my body to his. “I speak in any way I wanna. Besides, I haven’t said anything bad, have I?”
“Wait, you shouldn’t—”
“I guess it’s fine now,” I cut Ralph off. It seemed to me like these guys always fought because of me. That was absolutely crazy.
“Yes, dear.” For a crazy third time, Ryan pecked me on the cheek.
“Ryan!” I was forced to cry. I slapped him on the back, shooting glares at him. “What’s with you? This isn’t funny.”
He wrinkled his face like he was confused, pouting at me. “What? Are you really denying me? Shit, this is so upsetting.”
“Wh-What’s going on with you?” I stuttered.
He winked at me, smirked, then pulled a sad look. “Fine. I know you’re afraid to tell everyone about us. But, you can’t keep on denying our relationship. I mean, what about our child? Do you want him to feel bad that his mum keeps on denying his father?”
I moved my lips, but couldn’t say anything.
“Wait, what? Serene, you’re pregnant?” Ralph questioned.
I turned to him, my eyes widened at him.
“N-No.” I shook my head swiftly.
“Please, stop now.” Ryan tapped my shoulder.
I pursed my lips, feeling the need to throw a rock against his head.
He closed his eyes, and sighed. “Stop hurting my feelings. I’m done with this. Tell him that we’re engaged. Tell him that we’re expecting a child in a few months. I need him to understand that you’re taken.”
“What’s going on here?” Ralph asked. He was glaring, which kind of surprised me. He took a step close. “Serene, it hasn’t been so long since we broke up with each other. Yeah, it’s been months, but, so what? How in the world can you be pregnant already? You’d never even let me touch you, but you let him do that?”
I scoffed. “I thought you said you aren’t gonna say anything about our past relationship. What now? And, what if I’m pregnant with his child? Why should that bother you?”
“Stop this!” He cried. Surprised to hear him scream that loud, my eyes broadened. He snorted, and grabbed my arm. Immediately he did that, Ryan snapped his hand off me.
“Hey, that’s no good way to treat a woman,” Ryan said. He was glaring too.
I felt quite scared, knowing that a tension was forming around us.
Ralph glanced at Ryan, scoffed, then turned to me. “Enough of this craziness. Do you really wanna keep pretending to not see my feelings? It hurts, okay? How can you just forget about the memories we shared? Are you that heartless?’
“Excuse me?” I was furious. I stepped close to him, a glare hanging on my face. “You asked for a breakup, not me. And, why the heck do you always have to bring up this topic? Are you nuts?”
“That’s enough!” He hollered. The moment he wanted to grip my arm again, I tripped backwards.
I didn’t know what got into me. All I knew was, I was extremely mad. I couldn’t contain my wrath, so I hit him across his cheek. Gosh, what was going on with me? I wasn’t supposed to slap him, was I?
He put his hand on his cheek, seeming quite shocked. As he gazed at me, there was a blank expression on his face. “Did you just…?”
“I-I’m sorry,” I apologized. I swallowed a lump in my throat, stepping backwards. “Please, don’t provoke me next time. You wanted our relationship to end, so I moved on. I respected your decision. So now, I expect you to respect mine. Just forget about the memories, okay?”
His nostrils flared, and he just nodded. “Okay.” His voice was thicker than usual, rough and shaky as well. “Next time, teach your man to learn how to not interfere in people’s affairs.”
“I’m sorry,” I repeated.
“It’s fine.” He turned to Ryan. “As for you, good luck. Hopefully, your relationship with her will be nice.” He smirked. “I hope she doesn’t get stolen from you. Peace, brother. Peace.”
With that, he turned to the other side of the street, stormed away. He must have been so upset. What an annoying dude. Well, at least, my slap had cooled down his rage.
Heaving, I turned around to look at Ryan. He had a small smile on his lips, which made him look cute.
“You’re okay?” He asked. He soothed my hairline with his fingers, beaming quite too much. Why?
I sighed. “Ryan, see, you need to—”
“Fine, fine.” He pursed his lips, wiggled his eyebrows at me, then resumed smiling. “I’m sorry. I really needed to send him away. I know I promised to give you enough time to think about it. Sorry for the kisses and snuggles. I won’t do it again. Promise.”
I was silent for a while. And then, I smiled. Raising my hands, I cupped his jaw, and shook my head at him. “Don’t be sorry for anything. I… really understand you. And, most especially, you shouldn’t be sorry for the kisses and snuggles. Cause, henceforth, the bond has been created.”
“Pardon?” He raised his eyebrows.
“I love you too, Ryan. I really do. And, I’m ready for you. I’m ready to start a relationship with you,” I declared.
He moved his lips, but said nothing. All he did was to let out a throaty laugh. And then, he whispered, “Really? Gosh, I’m so surprised.”
“Do you accept my offer, sir?” Ready to do something stupid, I stepped backwards. After taking a deep breath, I went down on my knee, stretched my hand forward. “Ryan Arthur, will you be my boyfriend?”
As expected, he burst out laughing. “Damn, you’re crazy. Why are you giving me chocolate, instead of a ring?”
“Can’t afford a ring.” I shrugged. I narrowed my eyes at him, shooting him a playful glare. “You’d better accept my proposal. Else, I’ll change my mind.”
“Come here, you peanut.” He pulled me up, which made me gasp. As his left hand wrapped around my waist, he tucked some strands of my hair behind my ear. “Yes, I’ll be your boyfriend. But no, I won’t take the chocolate. Give it to your lil sis. She loves chocolate.”
I giggled. “Thanks. So now, this is official. From now on, I don’t expect you to be jealous when I’m around other men. Cause, I’m now yours.”
“I love you,” he said.
“Love you too.”
And so, I stared, he stared, and yeah, we stared. He was smiling, seeming pretty hesitant. Aware of what he wanted, I pulled my arms around his neck. Without debating with myself, I smacked my lips against his, kissed passionately, mildly and happily.
He returned my kiss, gently tugged my lips as if they were delicate. I felt glad, felt like a queen, felt like a blushing teenager. Though there was hardly any space between us, we moved even closer to each other. Nothing but passion and serenity moved around us.
“Hey!”
Hearing that voice, we both flinched. I pulled away from our kiss, snapped my neck in the direction of the person, and was surprised to see an oldie standing at the center of the silent street.
I pulled away from Ryan. “You need something, sir?” I asked the old man.
Unexpectedly, he threw a ball at us. The ball bumped against Ryan’s head. Amazed, I stared at the oldie in wonder, unable to understand what was going on.
“You young brats! Where are your manners? You’re kissing each other in a public place? Huh?!” The man cried.
“But—”
“Shut up!” He threw a small ball at me as well.
“What? This is rude!” I snarled.
“You wanna know what’s rude?!” The man screamed. “I’ll show ya!”
Uninformed, he began running towards us. Though he was limping, he didn’t stop running. He had a bag in his hand, which contained a lot of balls. He started throwing the balls at us, screaming like a maniac.
“You brats! I’ll teach you both a lesson! How dare you kiss each other in a public place? Are you nuts? I know you think I’m the crazy one, but no, you are!” He lamented. Wait, who was this man? And, what was his problem with our kiss?
Not knowing what to do, I took Ryan’s hand, and started running towards his car. The man kept tossing balls at us, and kept screaming. It was annoying, yet funny.
As soon as we hopped into the car, Ryan started it, and zoomed off immediately. We had to leave here as soon as possible. Besides, we had to have a proper conversation.
Once again, I had a boyfriend. And, this time around, I wouldn’t lose him.
***