Ever After (End Game Book 2)

Giving Up*

...his eyes were on me, and whispered, "You were saying something earlier, Baby", then his lips were suddenly on mine.

It was a quick kiss.
I needed to force myself to take a step back, my hands in my pocket, scared that I might just grab her again and kiss her senselessly.

But I can't do that today.
I have my utmost respect to Tito Charlie and Tita Marite, and ayokong sirain yung tiwala nila sa akin.

I think I've said it before- I like kissing Roni, and close second to that is seeing her flushed face after the kiss. Like somehow she liked kissing me too, but she's too shy to admit it.

After the glazed look in her eyes disappeared, and her erratic breathing normalised, she opened her eyes, then looked at me, her expression not sure.

"I would kiss you all day if I could"

"Then why did you stop?"

"Baka sabihin ni Dad hindi ko na sila nirespeto"

"Wala pa naman si Daddy... Tapos lumabas si Mommy", she said pulling my shirt to stand closer to her.

Gustong maglaro nung Ronaliza.
Pagbigyan mo Benjamin.

I grinned at her, touched my lower lip with my thumb then looked at her with hooded eyes from head to toe.

You can see her face suddenly turned red, and when she was about to run, I have one arm around her, pulling her to me, the other at the back of her head, angling it such that my lips are lightly touching her neck and whispered, "how long do you think we have?"

"Bo... borj..." I heard her whispered, slightly pushing me away.

"Don't play that game with me, Ronaliza... you won't win", and before I could stop myself, I lightly run my nose on her neck, and leave a light kiss on her pulse point, really tempted to bite her there.

But before sanity could leave me, I stepped away, pinched her nose, then immediately opened the door, ran far from her, while saying, "Dad! Yung anak nyo po, nang-aano!"

———-

Mommy, Jelai, Dad and I were gathered around my new dining table, and since medyo maliit yung unit, nakatayo naman si Kuya at si Borj behind the kitchen counter, while Jun and Tonsy were seated on the floor- si Tonsy, nakasandal sa wall malapit sa akin. Lana was seated on top of the kitchen counter, and once in a while swatting Borj's hand everytime he tried to hold her.

We were all trying to have a breather while waiting for the food we ordered to arrive, when Dad looked at me, his face serious. "Hija, are you sure you want to keep your car here? You haven't driven in a while- I'm just scared...

"Dad, I will be fine..."

"Roni, hija, I'm not worried about you... nag-aalala ako sa mga masasalubong mo sa kalsada"

"Dad!"

"Are you driving again?", I heard Tonsy asked from beside me.

"Oi... Andyan ka pala, Antonio. Akala ko hindi mo na ako kakausapin", I said half teasing him, remembering that I havent heard from him in a while.

"Roni..."

I looked at the people around me, and I saw concern in their eyes. "Guys, I need to learn how to drive again. Hindi naman pwede na forever nyo kong sunduin or ihatid. I just thought na while I'm trying to start anew in this house, I might as well take back control over some aspects of my life which I gave up before. Especially now that I realize, you all have your lives din....". I stopped when I see all of them about to protest, so I tried to calm them down and continue. "Guys, I appreciate you all. I really do. Pero, let's be real. I need to do this. Especially when I learned the hard way that people could become really busy- like they could drop anything for you in one instant, then suddenly, they won't even have the time to reply to your messages the next. Di ba, Tonsy?"