A Kiss of Bleeding Fire

14

THE COLD and crisp wind gusted against my skin as I followed Garrett as he walked along the sidewalk, away from the restaurant where his parents and mine making peace for the sole reason he wanted them to.

He wanted no chaos on his wedding day. My heart somersaulted over my chest as I slowly processed the words that slipped out of his lips.

I shouldn't be feeling giddy. The hollowness of my stomach shouldn't be there. I shouldn't romanticize his idea of marrying me just because he felt responsible for the baby. But the idea of his agreeing with my father sent a foreign bolt of electricity into my body.

I thought I didn't want to trap myself in a loveless marriage. Why did I feel so damn elated? My senses had left me wondering. Maybe that was the reason why I was feeling something contradicting my beliefs.

Was I ready to be in a loveless marriage? No. But was I willing to try it with Garrett? That was the question in this scenario because I did not know what I wanted— or I knew it before I even realized it. Because deep inside, despite the warring of my feelings and rational thoughts, I still wanted the idea of having him. To marry him.

My feelings for him weren't that deep. Marrying him was a convenient decision right now.

Damn it! Was I really deluding myself? Manipulating myself to believe something to justify the erratic beating of my heart and my decision of marrying him.

Tanga na ba ako kung kakalimutan ko muna ang paniniwala ko at subukan ang gusto ng magulang ko? I still believed that it was okay to have a co-parenting setup though. But my feelings for Garrett got the best of me.

Now, I was willing to try to jump off the cliff. Never mind the death awaited. Damn, nahihibang na talaga ako.

"Where are we going?" I asked when I realized that we were walking toward his car.

He looked at me with a cold expression. Instead of fear or disappointment, I felt a zap of electricity seize every bone of my body.

I couldn't help but get mesmerized by how beautiful he was under the silver light of the moon bathing over us. With the darkness cocooned around us, with a sliver of light speckled to some trees that danced with the motion of the wind, he looked so damn perfect he'd put all the prince charming invented in movies and books to shame.

His symmetrical handsome face shone under the moonlight. His jaw was set and his expression was cold but he still looked immaculate and was still the most perfect man I'd laid my eyes onto. Garrett's body would shame every GQ model alive. The thick muscles were bulging deliciously against the soft fabric of his suit. The hand that was holding me since we left the restaurant was damn perfect with the veins snaked at the back of his hand, and big and long fingers coiled around my wrist. He was sculpted by an artist. He was made thoroughly, with no mistakes.

A renaissance artwork that was made to make me fall to my knees.

"We need to talk," he whispered.

"Yeah, I know. We really need to talk,"

He nodded and I heard the sound of his car, "Good. Since we are on the same page, Lilith. Can you get in the car so we can talk?"

"Huh?" My forehead creased as I looked at him.

He looked at me with a hint of irritation masking his perfect face, "What, huh?" He tried to pull me to get my footing but I just looked at him as if he was doing something senseless, "Get in the car, Lilith."

"What's the use of getting in your car? We just . . . need to talk."

He sighed heavily. The annoyance on his face was now visible. Instead of making me nervous— because an annoyed Garrett was never a good news— it made me feel things. Like the clenching of my core and the heat that slowly eating me alive. The rational thought that had been in my head had long since dissolved and the remnants of it vanished as if they did not exist.