Timeless - Mark Tuan

Chapter 20

JB has to drive me home at almost five in the morning. My mind is still functioning a bit, but my body has given up on me. I'm drunk and tired when I enter the house. And I'm not welcoming the sight of my mom in the kitchen. 

I try to sneak to the stairs to my room, but she already heard me. 

"Mark!" She calls out, even without turning around. 

"I need to sleep." I slur, walking up the stairs anyway. 

She shows up in the hallway, yelling behind me. "Stop right there, young man."

"Pleezzz..." I say lazily, not stopping nor turning around to see her. 

"I said, STOP!" She uses that commanding voice very rarely ... but it always gets me when she does. 

I freeze on my spot, closing my eyes as I already hear her approaching from behind. I can't think right now and all I want is to hug my bed. But, I can't move. It's either I get too scared when she has that voice or I'm too drunk to make another step. Whatever it is, I stay still where I'm standing, holding onto the railings of the stairs tightly. 

She sighs before she comes in front of me. I open my eyes then and I swear I see something in her eyes that sends shivers down my spine. I don't really know what it is, but, it's just .... SHIT! I'm drunk .... 

"Mark. I'm tired of your games. I'm sorry." She sighs again. Although I said earlier her eyes scared the shit out of me, still I can't look away. It's as if they're asking me to look straight into them. And I do. However drunk I am, I manage to keep my body stand straight and listen. "Meet Casey for lunch at Lheann's cafe. You will talk to her and apologize. You will fix this problem between the two of you. Do you understand me?"

"Yes." God damn!

"Good." Her face is too serious. "Now, go sleep. I'll tell the maid to wake you up in a few hours."

And just that, I go to my room and throw myself on my bed, not bothering to wash up or change. 

______

"I'm pretty sure now we've met before. I just don't know where or when." I am hovering on top of Annie, slowly leaning closer so I could touch my lips with hers. We are in one of the suites in the hotel my family owns. 

"I don't think so." She whispers. 

I move even closer and I finally catch her lips in mine, tasting her for the first time. It was sweet ... differently sweet ... not the ChapStick kind of taste ... just .... different. She moves her lips with mine and I felt like it's what I've always wanted. 

"Mark...." she moans my name. ..... 

"Mark. Hey! Wake up!"

I open my eyes and almost scream at the girl shaking me. "FUCK!" I curse at the maid, who quickly steps back, trembling. Doesn't she realize what she just did? I take deep breaths, recovering from my anger. "Sorry." I tell her after some time. "What time is it?"

"It's already noon. Your mom says you'll be meeting Casey at one." She answers, her voice shaking a bit. 

I rub my temples at the headache caused by too much drinking and too little sleep. "Shit!" I stagger to get up, sitting at the edge of the bed for a while because I feel like puking, before going straight to the bathroom where I turned on the shower and stripped my nasty smelling clothes off of me. 

As drunk as I was last night, I can still clearly remember everything that happened.... much to my surprise. I feel anger towards my mother for forcing me to do this. I shiver at the memory of her burning eyes. I've never seen her that angry for years. Last time I saw her like that was when she forced to move to Korea with them.