A Leap Year with You

Special Chapter

Calyst POV

"Hi, love!" She giggled and hugged me. We're both working and she just finished her work. We're in my condo unit. When she finished her work, she went here to see me.

"How's your day, love?" I asked sweetly. I glance at her and looked back at my laptop because I'm typing something.

"Exhausting! Pero okay na ako! I miss you!" I smiled. Hindi ko siya matuunan ng pansin dahil may ginagawa ako. I'm almost finished, I'll just hurry up. "Sorry, nakaiistorbo ba ako?"

"What? No!" I said immediately. I looked at her, guilt is all over her face. I held her both cheeks and smiled at her. "Kahit kailan, hindi ka istorbo," I assured her. I kissed her forehead. "I'm almost done. Can you prepare a snack for us?"

"Okay, love," she excitedly said and went to my kitchen to find what to eat. I smiled to myself when she look so innocent and beautiful in the kitchen.

I can't wait to see her every day there. I can't wait to taste her cooking and to see her reaction when she tastes mine. I can't wait to see her in the mornings, afternoons, and evenings, even on midnights. I can't wait to see her be my wife.

I finished my work immediately because I want to spend time with her. She came back with snacks. We're just working at home today. I don't have any meetings for today, so I just work from home like her. I reached for the toasted bread, took a bite, and drink my orange juice.

"Are you done with your work?" I asked her. She nodded as an answer because she can't speak because of the food in her mouth. "I'm done too. Do you want to do something?" I looked at my wristwatch, it was three in the afternoon. We can do much this time.

She think for a moment and she looked at me like a light bulb suddenly lit on in her head. "Bake tayo!" she suggested, excitedly.

"What will we bake? Cupcakes? Cookies? Pie? Brownies?"

"Yes!" she said abruptly. My brows furrowed. Before I could ask, she answer, "Bake natin lahat ng sinabi mo." She giggled and finished her bread. I chuckled and ruffles her hair.

"Let's go to the grocery."

---

"Maglalagay ba tayo sprinkle sa cupcake?" We're in the pantry and bake section of the store. "Rainbow o chocolate?" She's choosing from the sprinkles in her hand. She showed it to me and let me pick.

"Rainbow," I said. She nodded and put it on the cart. She moved and I followed her while pushing our cart. I smile a bit when I saw her choosing the materials and ingredients we were going to use. We looked like a married couple shopping for our kids. That thought made me laugh a little.

"Bakit ka tumatawa?" I looked at Ivy with a subtle smile. She looks curious. I saw her holding two baking molds. A circle mold and a heart shape mold.

"Nothing," I answered. She smiled at me and showed me the two molds she was holding. "We can buy them both."

"Talaga?" I chuckled when I saw how happy she is. She still acts like a teenager. Is it because of her situation? I reached for the two molds and put them in our cart. We went to the next aisle to get some flour and other ingredients dahil wala 'yong ibang kailangan namin dito sa aisle.

I remember that I haven't went grocery shopping this month kaya sinabay ko na lang din. Ivy is good with it. She even suggested some foods and snacks that I surely going to like.

"If you get tired of cooking, ito, o." She showed me a canned tuna. "This is so delicious. The spicy one, too. Ayan kinakain ko kapag tinatamad ako magluto at mag-order o kapag busy masiyado si Kuya Raymond para bigyan ako pagkain. Try mo masarap!" She can be an advertiser. I smiled at her and get the can from her hand and picked two more of it. I heard her giggled.

"I think I'm good," I said as I was looking at our cart. I think I got all that I need. "Let's go?" She nodded and cling her arm into mine. We walked side by side while I'm pushing our cart to the cashier. There were a lot of people because it's rush hour. Good thing I have a membership card in the grocery store, we have our own cashier and have the privileged to check out first.

We came back to the condo and I let the store deliver it to my unit. Dumating siya agad and Ivy helped me sort them out before we start baking. Ivy searches for recipes on the internet to know the steps. I helped her mix and strained the dry ingredients.

"Halo mo rin 'to, she said without glancing at me. Her focus is on her phone, watching the tutorial carefully. I smiled when I saw how focused and determined she is. I carefully listened to her because I know that she wants this to be perfect because it was her first time trying. While waiting for the cupcake to bake, we make the frosting. It was mostly mixing ingredients. She really doesn't glance at me. She just looks at the video and the thing we are making.

She is now putting the vanilla frosting in the piping bag. She ordered me to press it down a little, so she could put more frosting inside. I did what she told me and help her put the frosting on top of the cupcakes because there was too much frosting, so we need to piping bags. Good thing we bought three piping bags.

She let out a deep breath and look at the cupcakes we bake. There are no sprinkles yet. She observes the cupcake with a smile. I grin when I saw how proud she is looking at the cupcakes. I handed her the container of the sprinkles and she gladly took it.

"Lagay ka rin. Gusto mo 'yong half, walang sprinkle?" she asked me, excitedly. I nodded with her suggestion. We put the sprinkles on six cupcakes and the other six don't have sprinkles. We just used the circle mold because we might make a mistake if we used the heart-shaped mold.

We put them in a container and put them in the basket we're going to use together with the other food we're going to carry for our picnic. It's almost sunset, so we need to hurry. We get the picnic mat and our water jug. I carry them all to the car. I opened the passenger seat for Ivy and went to the driver's seat after. I started the engine and wait for it to heat before driving to the park.

When we arrived, there were a lot of people having picnics and roaming around. We went to a spot where there were few people around. Nilatag namin ang sapin at nilabas lahat ng pagkain. We faced the sky where we can see the sunset. I took out my phone to take pictures with her.

She gladly smiled at the camera. We took a bunch of photos together and with the sunset that our silhouettes the only seen. I was so happy looking at our pictures. It feels like yesterday when our picture together is only two pictures. Now, we have a bunch of pictures that we can reminisce about in the future.

I hope this kind of moment lasts long. I held her hand while we're waiting for the sun to fully set. We were eating the cupcake we bake while watching the sunset. No one utters a word but it's not awkward at all. Our silence speaks for ourselves. We understand each other through our intertwined hands.

"The cupcake is really good," I said. She giggled and saw her laugh at my peripheral vision.

"Masarap nga." We went silent again, but that's okay. I smiled to myself when I pictured the two of us, watching the sunset silently and still comfortable with each other silence. It was a nice feeling.

It was more memorable because I am with the person I want to spend my tomorrow, the next day, and my forever.

"We will be like this next time, right?" I asked her. I don't know if that will break the atmosphere between us, but feeling this good today, makes me anxious too for tomorrow or the following days.

"There will be always a next time between us, Cal. Always." We looked at each other and smiled. My gaze turned to her lips and she noticed that. She smiled and slightly opened her mouth.

And before I knew it, we were kissing until the sun finished setting.

———-
Happy leap year to all of you!

This is just a special chapter for Calyst and Ivy to celebrate leap year with them. This is the what ifs I always think about if they can stay with one another. Thank you for giving this story love.

This story is exclusively published in Dreame. You can check it out on my profile: @tywaiseuuuu

Thank you for all the love and support.

Live your life to the fullest and I hope to see you next leap year.