“So, do you have any woman in your life yet?”
Huh?
My hands stilled on the chopping board, not expecting such a sudden question from my mother while I was helping her prep the ingredients for tonight’s dinner. I thought I had already finished all her questions when I first walked through the front door.
She had already asked me about my work and my date with Mellisa’s daughter. I thought she was already satisfied with the answers when she dropped the questions and told me to help her with dinner instead.
My mother continued stirring the pot and repeated, “Do you think your own mother wouldn’t notice the leaked picture of you with some woman? I know that Joseph is good, but my PA is better.”
I silently cussed in my head and looked back down at the half-chopped vegetables on my board. I didn’t expect her to catch the picture so quickly when it had only been on the internet for less than 5 minutes.
“So, who is she? You never date unless I force you and always go to your events without an escort, and you most definitely never had any public pictures with any woman before, so you can’t sue me for being curious.”
I pressed my lips into a thin line, trying to think of some answers. It’s been less than a week since I asked to court her officially.
She shot me a sharp look and lowly warned, “Rafael Achilles Cordova, don’t you dare try to lie to me.”
I sighed. “I’m not, mother. It’s just that it’s still early in our relationship, and I don’t want to scare her away yet.”
Her eyes almost instantly lit up. She dropped her spoon and energetically bounded to me, shaking my arm with a dangerous amount of vigor. “Are you actually being serious right now, Rafael? You’re not messing with me, right? You actually got a girlfriend?”
I uncomfortably leaned away from the petite woman that is my mother. Sometimes, she had so much energy in her that I wondered if she really was in her 60s.
“Not exactly a girlfriend…”
“What do you mean not exactly a girlfriend?”She paused with a slight frown and then suddenly gasped, “Don’t tell me you bought a whore?!”
I quickly caught her hands before she could smack me. “No, not a whore, and I would appreciate it if you never referred to her as such a disgusting thing ever again.” I slowly released her hands when she calmed down and had an inquisitive look on her face rather than the previous one of pure fury. “She’s had a bad past with being harassed by men, so we’re taking it slow. I’ve only just begun courting her a few days ago.”
“Courting?” she repeated softly. “As in with the intent to marry?”
I nodded hesitantly, “Yes…”
Her eyes instantly brightened as she clung to my arm. “Oh my goodness! That’s such amazing news. What is she like? Is she pretty? Smart? Where does she work? Oh, is she-”
“Mother, one question at a time.” I patted her head, trying to get her to calm down.
She nodded her head vigorously and took in a deep breath before calmly asking, “What does she look like?”
“She had hazelnut-color hair with bright violet eyes with a small frame, maybe a few inches shorter than you.” An image of her adorable little figure popped into my mind, making me unconsciously smile.
“Awe, you must really like her,” my mother cooed, poking at the dimples on my cheeks. “What’s she like?”
I flushed at her comment and bashfully turned my face away from her prodding finger. “Quiet but caring.”
She hummed in acceptance and relaxed her hold around my arm. Turning back to her cooking, she added one last final request. “Promise you’ll bring her to dinner one of these days?”
“Of course, mother.”
I really did want to introduce her to my family, but I knew that I had to be patient. Right now, she was still learning to be more comfortable around just me.
It was so hard for me to control myself this last week at work. Whenever I saw her at work, I had the urge to run up to her and engulf her in my arms as I would bury her with compliments and my overwhelming need to coo at how adorable she looked.
But I knew that she wasn’t ready to be around me in public yet, so I had to hold myself back.
I wanted to spend more time with her. But between my busy work schedule and the fact that she had to go home to take of Liam in the evenings, I barely got any alone time with her. The only advancement we made in the last week was exchanging our personal phone numbers.
It wasn’t much, but I still cherished it.
Maybe it was because she didn’t have to see me in person, but she was slowly becoming more open to me over text. I would get random little messages throughout the day, usually attached with a small picture of whatever intrigued her at the moment.
One time it was a picture of a cute little coffee shop hidden in a nook near her house. She said that it was a new shop that had recently opened up and recommended trying it out. I knew she didn’t personally like drinking coffee for its taste, but the fact that she thought of me at the moment was more than enough for me.
She sent me more of these adorable short messages throughout the week whenever she had downtime.
Just yesterday, she sent a picture of the interior of what appeared to be a bakery shop with little Liam sitting in the corner of the photo with the book I gave him and a slice of cake in front of him. His nose was buried in the book so he didn’t seem to notice that his picture was being taken.
It was just all too endearing. It made me feel like I was getting a taste of what life would be like if we could be together. But I understood that she had to put her son first, and I had to be patient until she felt ready to tell him about us.
So these little snippets were already more than I could ask for. I saved each and every one of these pictures into my camera roll as a reminder of the first few places I wanted to go with her when I finally gained Liam’s trust.
But the thing that I cherished the most was our nightly phone calls. I had originally called her for the first time to tell her that she had forgotten her keys and wallet at work, but our conversations eventually got derailed.
She still stuttered over the phone, but it was less than normal as our conversation continued. She first told me about how Liam scolded her for locking herself out of her own home before letting her in. But then she got distracted and gushed about what she had for dinner and all the funny little things that Liam had apparently done while she was away from home.
She also told me about her new baking adventures and promised to bring some into work for me to try. Or she rambled on about whatever new book she was reading at the moment, explaining the little details with the utmost amount of vigor.
Our conversations wasn’t exactly anything of major significance, but I still enjoyed them anyway. I liked listening to her soft voice, like how it would go it little higher whenever she was excited or started to fall when she grew sleepy.
I liked it so much that I ended up calling her every evening with some sort of excuse on hand just to speak to her for a little bit.
It didn’t take her long to catch on, so she promised to call me every night after she put Liam to bed. And now, it has become something that I look forward to every night.
I was brought out of my thoughts when I felt a light buzz from the phone in my back pocket. I glanced over at the clock, noticing the familiar sign of 9 PM, and quietly excused myself from the dinner table to take the call.
I slipped out of the dining room, avoiding my parent’s questioning gazes as I ducked into one of the empty studies in their mansion. I eagerly unlocked my phone when I saw her name pop up on my lock screen.
“H-hi, R-Rafael.”
I smiled at the sound of her voice. She wasn’t tripping over my name as much as before anymore. “Good evening, Ms. Belcalis. Did you have a nice day today?”
The sound of light rummaging echoed from her side of the phone before I was received a light hum. “Mhm, Liam and I w-went to the l-library. I-It’s something we d-do every w-week.”
I chuckled, remembering the mess of books that were scattered all around her house the last time I was there. “Did you find any new books that you liked?”
I heard a light ruffle in reply and nothing else.
Gosh, she was just too much… She must’ve accidentally nodded in reply again, even though we were only on a voice call.
“That’s good. I hope you will tell me about them when you finish reading.”
“I-I’m not s-sure if you w-would like these t-types of books, though.”
“That’s alright. I just want to learn more about what you like.”
I could practically hear her blushing from the other side of the phone.
“S-sure, R-Rafael… Um… W-What did you d-do today?”
I smiled at her adorable method of speech. Even though it was a simple enough question, I could tell how embarrassed she felt from asking it.
“Nothing much. Just finishing up some work from yesterday, but I am having a family dinner with my parents today. It’s a weekly thing that my mother enjoys hosting.”
“O-oh… W-wait, d-does that m-mean I-I i-interrupting y-your d-dinner r-right now? M-maybe I should let y-you g-go-”
“No, please don’t hang up,” I frantically called out. “It’s really alright. I barely get to see you as is, so please don’t go.”
“O-Okay, I w-won’t… A-and I-I’m s-sorry for being s-so b-busy. I-I’ll t-try to m-make more t-time f-for you.”
Shit, she was become nervous. Her stuttering was starting to become worse.
I swiftly replied reassuring, “I don’t hold it against you, Ms. Belcalis. I understand that Liam is important to you. He will always be put before me and I can live with that, so please don’t feel bad. I just wish I could see you a bit more.”
She let out a soft whimper on the other and muttered, “B-but I feel b-bad f-for m-making y-you w-wait for m-me.”
“Ms. Belcalis, I already told you once, but I will wait for you for years if there is a chance for me to be with you, so please don’t worry about. It was my decision to wait for you, okay?”
“O-okay…”
Even thought I couldn’t see her, I could tell that she was still feeling anxious about this issue, so I added, “If you still feel bad, why don’t you let me take you out on a date then? Just tell me when you are free and if you need to bring Liam, I wouldn’t mind getting to know him better too.”
Her side of the phone went silent for moments with only the sound of a few light taps. “W-What a-about t-tomorrow during l-lunch? L-Liam is p-participating in a r-robotics class d-during that time.”
I perked up at the offer. “Yes, that’ll work. May I pick you up from your house at noon?”
Benedict had originally wanted to drag me out during lunch tomorrow, but I was sure that I would have no problem finding an excuse to get out of that. After all, this was one of my few chances to get closer to Ms. Belcalis.
“O-okay, I’ll see you t-tomorrow then.”
Her voice lifted up at the end, bringing a smile to my own face.
I hummed happily, “Then please have a good night and get some rest.”
Usually she would’ve hung up after this statement, but there was a moment of static silence on the other side of the call before I heard a small whisper say “G-goodnight R-Rafael.” Then, it immediately ended with a soft but distinct click.
I froze.
Her voice was so soft that I barely caught it, but it the first time she had wished me goodnight. And she had said it so tenderly with my name.
I stared at my phone blankly, repeating the sound of her voice over and over in my head.
What would it be like if she said it in person? Would her cheek be bright pink? Would she be fidgeting with her fingers adorably in front of me? Would she feel so bashful that she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from turning away?
My brain was practically over heating from the thought of such a sight, so much so that I didn’t even notice my parents spying on me behind my back.
I finally got a date with Ms. Belcalis.