“I’m childish now?” Henson shot back and frowned. “Is it childish of me to try my best so that I can call you mine?”
“By ‘try your best’, you mean letting me stay at your place without me knowing?” Wendy snapped in reply.
“I had someone smash a door just to get to you last time, and since it was broken, I had to bear the responsibility of fixing it. Besides, you like it there, so was it wrong of me to buy the unit now?”
She wasn’t in a good mood tonight to begin with.
It became apparent to them that they both held on to different values as they argued back and forth, so the more they discussed, the more heated it got.
“Forget it, I don’t want to argue with you anymore,” she finally said with a sigh.
She then walked past him and headed up the stairs.
He tailed her up the stairs and into her room. “What are you so upset about?” He asked.
“I’m not upset,” she replied flatly.
“Wendy, do you expect me to believe that I don’t know how you feel after spending so much time with you? I know you’re upset now and I want to know what exactly is that you’re upset about,” he replied.
“I’m really not upset. I just realised that it would be pointless for us to keep arguing since we clearly hold on to vastly different values.
“I’m the type of person who, in order to save 200 dollars a month in rent, can study each and every unit and compare the pros and cons of every area in the city. But you’re a man who, in the pursuit of a woman, can simply buy a house not many people can afford in their lifetime without even batting an eye.
“We might be living on the same planet, but I keep having this feeling that we live in such different worlds. People always say that birds of a feather flock together, so how did I… how on earth did I end up in a world that’s completely different from mine? I feel like scoffing at myself for thinking that I could handle this life at all,” she rambled.
“Who got on your nerves today?” He asked and furrowed his brows. “This woman can be pretty touchy at times,” he thought.
She tried her best to calm herself down when Gorman popped into mind.
But Gorman riling her up had nothing to do with Henson, so she shouldn’t be directing her anger towards Henson in the first place.
She pinched the space between her eyebrows and replied, “No, I just realised that I was the one who was in the dark all this while. I was annoyed then but I’ve figured everything out now.”
“By that you mean you found another reason to push me even further away, what with all this talk about ‘handling this life’ and ‘worlds’? Why do I get the feeling that you’ve become more creative in coming up with excuses to turn me down? I’ll have you know I have a few tricks up my sleeve too, so I’ll be looking forward to seeing you counter them in the future. All the best, Wendy!” He joked.
She couldn’t help but burst out laughing after hearing him say that.
She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes. “Get out of here, dummy. I want to change,” she ordered.
He raised an eyebrow once he saw that he’d successfully made her laugh. “Hurry down for dinner. I have a surprise for you,” he requested.
After she was done changing, she stood in front of a mirror and patted her cheeks a few times to remind herself not to vent her anger willy-nilly, especially towards people who weren’t involved in her problems.
Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, she saw that he was already seated at the dining table, waiting for her. Only the two of them were present in the entire room.
Two candles had been placed on the table.
Once she took a seat, he lit up the candles and switched off all the lights in the room.
She turned to look at him and asked, “A candlelight dinner?”
“Romantic enough for you?” He teased.
“Is this the surprise you were talking about?” She asked with a pout.
“Not a surprise enough for you?” He asked back with puppy eyes.
She lowered her eyes and giggled. It didn’t cross her mind that Henson, a man, could be so meticulous.
“Why are you laughing? Is it not to your liking?” He asked with a frown.
“No, no,” she muttered and shook her head. She lifted her head to look him squarely in the face. “It’s just that… this is my first time having a candlelight dinner with someone,” she said shyly.
“Your first time?” He asked, dumbfounded. “It appears that Gorman’s the basic type,” he thought to himself.
She nodded. “Yeah. By the way, I-I’m sorry for just now. I vented my anger at you even though I was in the wrong because I was in a bad mood,” she admitted sheepishly.
“What triggered it?” He asked while his gaze was fixed on her.
She shook her head in reply. “I don’t want to talk about it, so I rather you not pry. It’s just that… I promise not to throw a tantrum at you anymore for no reason in the future.”
“What if I told you you can throw as many tantrums as you want at me?” He teased with an eyebrow raised.
She stared at him with a perplexed look on her face.
“The most powerful people in the world are often the most lonely too. For someone to occasionally vent their woes to me, it makes me feel like I’m still human. This feeling isn’t half bad. I’d mind if it were someone else, but I don’t mind at all when it’s you, Wendy,” he explained with a charming smirk.
She looked at him while biting her lip. “It doesn’t matter. I still messed up,” she mumbled.
“Do you want to know why I like you so much?” He blurted out of nowhere.
He stared at her with a straight face and continued, “It’s because you know how to tell right from wrong, and that you’re compassionate towards others.”
She looked at him back but didn’t reply to that.
He raised his glass of red wine and swirled its contents gently. “You ranted about how the both of us are living in completely different worlds just now, but I beg to differ. I feel that when it comes to personal values and beliefs, there’s a possibility for one to change their viewpoints after meeting a special someone in their lives.
“I’ll have you know I could act all high and mighty if I felt like it. Or I could lower my status to be with the person I like. If you think that you roping me into this ‘world’ of yours is unfair to me, then fine, I’ll just flatten your world so that you can’t escape. Then, it should be easier for you to come to my world instead, right?”
He raised an eyebrow and continued, “I’ll be honest with you, I don’t think there’s such a thing as ‘people living in different worlds’ but that we all live in the same world. The human heart is really good at manipulating a person, so when it’s moved, I believe there’s nothing in this world that can stop them from attaining the things they desire. I feel that the reason you say we’re both from different worlds is because you don’t trust me enough to support the things you want for yourself. I can relate to how lost you must feel right now,”
She broke her gaze on him and lowered her eyes after hearing that.
“But let me tell you, Wendy, men are all the same. So long as they haven’t met the right person, they’re a scumbag no matter how they present themselves on the outside. However, even the scummiest man can change once they meet the right person. I might not be the best man out there, but I need you to believe me when I say that my feelings towards you are genuine,” he ranted.
She nodded while biting her lip. “I can see that,” she muttered.
“I keep telling you that you can take your time in accepting me, so all I ask is that you don’t push me away. You’re always talking about how you plan to stay at a place that’s far away from me, but did you actually believe that this’ll deter me from pursuing you? I’ll have you know I’m the type of person who’ll stop at nothing in order to achieve his goals. So, when I tell you that you can’t escape my grasp, I want you to live by those words with every fiber in your being, alright?” He said.
“What happens if I still can’t accept you half a year later?” She asked.
“Well, since this is a bet, I’ll have to admit defeat,” he answered.
She nodded in agreement. “Alright then, we’ll see in another half a year’s time. You better not go back on your promise if you lose by then,” she threatened.
“Deal, but if you lose, you must promise to fulfill your end of the wager too. I want three children, not one less,” he teased.
Her face flushed crimson as she tried to brush it off, “Let’s talk about that after you win.”
She picked up her cutlery and began to dig in to her food, but a trace of worry tugged at a corner in her heart. Three months had already passed since then.
The two of them… Could they really be married to one another?
She didn’t have the confidence to say yes to the question just yet.
She stole a peek at him. She would be lying if she said that her thoughts towards him hadn’t changed significantly from before.
Before this, she was absolutely sure that she couldn’t marry him at all,
but… she wasn’t too sure about that now.
There was even a small part of her deep inside her heart that wished that he could actually win the bet in the end.
“Three kids…. a family…. It all actually sounds pretty nice.” She thought to herself.