When Destiny Meets Fate

Book 2 : Sticky and Sweet

Chapter 12: Eavesdroppers never win

The last few weeks with Brandon have been the happiest for me so far.

We would be constantly together during our lunch breaks, over dinner and he I was also able to introduce him to my Mom.

He already met my closest friends.

I reckon Nicole has now found a new shopping buddy.

Even Philip who has yet again found another "true love" in the form of an exchange student from Korea named Kevin was in all praises for Brandon.

Everybody likes him.

But there's only one slightly major problem-we're still dating.

Yes, we're not a couple, yet.

I know, having someone to call a "boyfriend" is all but a label and sure a lot of people can live enjoying another person's company without the whole he-is-my-boyfriend tag on it.

However, call me an uber prude gay guy, but I somewhat value the whole he-is-my-boyfriend-so-you-better-not-touch-him kind of feeling. I know it's not a guarantee or something, but it would be really nice if you can have some form of exclusivity and yes a form of ownership.

I've been assessing myself lately whether I'm really in love with Brandon.

Sure I enjoy his company among other but does that equate to being in love?

I would often catch myself staring in space trying to think whether what Brandon and I were doing feels makes me feel fully comfortable.

The more that I dwell on it, the more I try to convince myself that I am ready to enter another relationship.

The problem now is, how can I convince Brandon that he's ready as well?

Working with your potential boyfriend has its ups and downs.

The obvious advantage is that you can spend a lot of time with him given that you're physically close to each other.

The obvious disadvantage is that you get to see, hear and yes feel all the stories that people were talking about him.

I had a conversation a few days ago with Joyce while re-editing some material for the magazine. We were basically talking about random stuff like college, movies, etc. I've been putting a lot of effort in somewhat reconnecting with her.

Call me narcissistic or something, but I strongly feel that Joyce used (or still has) a crush on me. So in my own twisted way of bringing her to reality that I'm gay, I would consciously drop hints in our conversations about "my being gay" such as the first time I kissed a guy when she asked me when I first kissed a girl or telling her that I might go to Canada when I decide to wed my future boyfriend the time she was asking about my dream wedding. I could definitely see her pout and drop her head whenever I mention anything "gay" to her. But I somewhat feel that I need to break her illusion that I'm straight.

So while talking about random things, I unconsciously asked her on what she thinks about Brandon.

I saw her pausing before giving me an answer which was kind of unusual since Joyce has always been this perky, spontaneous girl that would blurt things out faster than a speeding bullet.

"Oh... Brandon." She said. "I really don't know much about him. But I sure heard a lot."

With the tone of her voice matched with her obviously guarded facial expression, this could be something.

"Hey Adam, I know that you're sort of going out with him. That's pretty obvious." She said with her wide eyed expression "I don't want it to be coming from me, but I'd say take whatever he says with a pinch of salt. He has this reputation of being some sort of a heartbreaker around here."

That caught me by surprise.

Brandon a heartbreaker?

"I'm sure you met Xander, right?" Joyce said almost whispering.

I nodded.

"Well, I heard from him that Brandon used to be a serial dater who has the habit of swooning guys and then breaking their hearts. I'm not sure if he still does that but I'd say keep your guard up." Joyce said ending her speech with her right eyebrow rose.

I forced a smile and thank Joyce.

What she said kept replaying on my mind.

It bothered me.

Things are looking up for me and the last thing I need is to be involved with aheartbreaker.

_____________________________________________________

Hey sunshine, where are you?

Sender: Brandon

It's Brandon's third text and the third time I'm ignoring him.

I don't know why, but Joyce "story" about Brandon has really pushed my anxiety buttons.

I know it's kind of stupid reacting on something that's based on hearsay or whatnot but I guess I'm the kind of person who doesn't deal with emotional disappointment that well and meeting up with Brandon today while I'm still constantly being bothered can lead to something worse. I might lose control and just blatantly ask him if he's a heartbreaker or not.

I don't want to appear that psychotic.

Not a good image to begin with.

So for my free day, I decided that I'll just stick with myself and try to deal with thisanxiety by myself. As soon as I get "pacified", the sooner I'll be able to function like a sane person again.

I signed up to help out a local orphanage in Marikina today.

It's basically a place for abandoned young people. The place usually allows people to volunteer for them to help out in certain tasks such as kitchen duties, cleaning the place and even to simply play with these kids. I've been volunteering in the past and haven't done it for quite some time so I figured that I do it today just to displace my emotions into something positive.

I went inside the main door to the reception area where an old lady was sitting. I told her that I'm one of the volunteers for the day. She pointed me to the direction where I'm supposed to go.

So for today, I'll be helping out in the kitchen.

After changing into more appropriate clothes, I headed to the kitchen.

As soon as I entered the kitchen, I saw that there was a woman inside. Looks like they've been doing some cooking already since the entire kitchen looks busy.

Steam was escaping from hot cauldrons, I can hear vegetables being chopped and a whole lot more.

I wore my apron and decided to approach one of the other volunteers.

"Hi there." I said as I tapped the back of woman chopping onions.

She turned around and greeted me with a smile. She looks Chinese and a bit chubby.

"Sorry for disturbing you, but I was just wondering, is there anything that I could help out here. I'm Adam by the way." I said

"Hey Adam, I'm Hannah. Sorry, I would shake your hand but I don't want your hands to be all covered in onion scent." She then giggled which made me smile.

"No worries. Just so you know, I'm not really good when it comes to cooking. If you'd call frying food and boiling water cooking, I pretty much am useless in the kitchen." I said.

"Haha! You're funny!" Hannah said. "Don't worry, I'm just an assistant here. I'm helping out my friend Troy here. He's the real chef. He'll help you find a task."

"Oh thanks. So where is he?" I asked.

Then I heard the kitchen door open.

"Oh there he is." Hannah said.

I turned around to meet Troy with a smile.

Within three seconds that smile turned into an expression of disbelief.

In came Troy wearing a white apron.

In came the hunky guy I think I slept with in Boracay.