Should Have Not Asked - New Adult Romance (Wattys 2014)

Chapter 26 - I Love You

Chapter 26 – I Love You

Two nights after Damien and I became official, my boyfriend pays my family a visit, asking my dad to allow me to go with him on our first official date. My parents got no idea that the man standing on our porch is my boyfriend. Fortunately, he didn't come with flowers or chocolates, or I would have run to my room and soak myself in my bubble bath until he leaves realizing that all this is new to me. I wouldn't want that no matter how much I dreamed of receiving flowers from my first ever boyfriend. I knew I should have told my parents right away, but I was too scared. They knew who Damien is. They knew what Damien's family can do, and I know it won't be easy for them to adapt to this change because all their lives they only have me, and to know that their daughter is finally starting to welcome new people into her life means more than just development. It could be an added stress, and stress is what I want Dad to avoid.

But surprisingly, Dad just let me go without questions. Mom too is surprisingly quiet. I notice that she keeps her smile controlled like she already knew what's happening.

"Your parents were so quiet," says Damien while reaching for my hand. His fingers interlace with mine, bringing them close to his lips to briefly brush. His gentle kiss makes me shiver.

"Eyes on the road, Damien!" I say blushing, quickly letting loose of his grasp. But Damien is too fast to take my hand back and tightly grip it with his again.

"You have to get used to this, babe," he teases.

"I'm a cockroach. I adapt," I counter, taking back my hand. "So where are you taking me?"

"Some place where I can be alone with you."

"I'm sorry I couldn't hang out with you at school," I say. People might take this surprise rather negatively. After the incident with Haynes, I don't want any more mishaps before graduation.

"I understand. No troubles before graduation," he replies with his eyes back on the road.

I honestly don't know where we're going, but I trust Damien. But as we pass through a short abandoned tunnel and some few familiar highlands, I immediately realize where our destination would be.

"Why am I not surprised?"

"There's one more place I want to show you," he says as the gates of his house slide open.

"There is one place more majestic than your library?" I couldn't help but gasp at the thought of seeing something greater than his grand library. It was so breathtakingly beautiful that I think I could live there for years and not want to leave it for anything in this world.

He smiles.

"I know you'd love it."

Being with Damien for the past two days wasn't something I can call a real struggle. Perhaps it was a little awkward in my part for being a first timer. I don't know anything about being someone's girlfriend, so I had a lot of help from him. What I like about Damien is he doesn't burden me with the pressure of being the perfect one. He's not shoving to my face the things that girlfriends normally do. We act like normal people who don't flirt that much. I don't even think we act like couples around people. None of Ray or Damien's friends knew about us. This set up has really made me comfortable around him. Ideal, I must say, for a working progress like me.

Damien is not the guy I thought he was. This time, I am a hundred percent sure about what I am rambling about. This elation is not due to some scientific logic of love. This is a reality. This is my verdict of him.

Damien Etheridge is the man I have been praying to come. He's the first that I've always wanted, the change in my routine, the beginning of something beautiful, the rejected who's never lost hope in pursuing me, the crazy guy who never got tired of bullying me, the one I used to hate. All these he was, and yet I fell in love with him.