After the Twilight (Iska Series #1)

06

"Ha?"

Am I just hearing things or did he really just say that?

"I'll be your practice boyfriend," he says it again and my heart hammers against my chest. 

 He is looking at me intently and I am still waiting for him to say that he's just kidding pero seryoso ang mukha niya. It looks like he's not joking at all! 

"Seryoso ka?" I ask, brows furrowed. 

He shifts on his seat and nods his head, crossing his arms over his chest. 

"That's what you want right? A practice boyfriend? Someone to practice with, to see if you like having a boyfriend, to get a feel of what being in a relationship is like."

My jaw almost falls to the ground at how accurate his words are. Para niya lang cinopy paste ang sinabi ko noong nakaraan. Iba rin naman pala ang memroy ng lalaking ito. 

Napakamot nalang ako sa braso ko, biting the inside of my cheek. 

"Well, I wasn't exactly serious about that," I say in a small voice. 

He only raises a brow at me, mapanuya ang maliit na ngiti na para bang hindi siya naniniwala sa sinasabi ko. But I happened to have mentioned it to him a couple of times so his unbelief is kind of understandable. Totoo naman na iyon ang gusto ko, pero given that the possibility was nonexistent. I mean, people always tend to long for the impossible. Pero ngayon na the opportunity if being handed to me, nag-alangan ako bigla.

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine na may mag pepresenta sa akin bilang "practice boyfriend" ko. I mean what are the odds? 

And if I agree, what would be the terms? How will he be my "practice" boyfriend? And mostly, how will I deal with a "boyfriend"?

At nakakahiya naman masyado. Talaga pagpapraktisan ko si Enzo? But then again, lahat yata ng kagagahang nagawa ko sa buong buhay ko nandoon siya. 

"Do you need to sit?" 

Enzo's low voice pulls me out of my trance and I realize that I've been standing here looking lost for quite a while now. I let out a small breath and take a side step to the seat in front of me. Magkaharap na kami ngayon. 

I can't look at him straight in the eyes, so I find myself fiddling with my fingers on top of the table. When I glance at him, he's only looking at me quietly, as if respecting the quietude I need for my thoughts to align. He doesn't push it, and he doesn't repeat it again na parang bang alam niya that I've heard him loud and clear. 

I release another breath. biting my bottom lip.

"Isn't it a bit unfair to you?" I ask, looking up at him. 

"In what way?' He leans forward, crossing his arms over the surface of the table, his muscles contracting. 

I swallow a lump in my throat. 

"I mean, what's in it for you? Surely there has to be something in return."

"Well, you're acting as my fake girlfriend in front of my mom until her hype dies down. Sinabi ko iyan kanina, kaya nga kita inalok nito."

I let out another breath. 

"You're doing me a great enough favor of sparing my mom the disappointment. Nakita mo naman how happy she was when she saw you, and I don't want to take that away from her too quickly. That alone, utang na loob ko na iyan sayo," he adds. 

"And with just that you're letting me use you? Hindi naman ako hahapin ng mommy mo araw-araw," tanong ko. This agreement or whatever this is, definitely has him in the losing end. Wala naman siyang mapapala dito. Moreover, he has to invest literal time and effort for me.