Satin Fantasy

70. Accommodation II

Isabella followed Freddie realizing how awful that looked from his point of view. The pads of her heels doing double time to keep up with Freddie's long strides.

"Freddie, wait. Just wait _please?"

With abruptness he stood still, his back towards her. Chest heaving with controlled breath.

"Umm, you see I was going to say it but.. then I couldn't.. well I was thinking this early in our relationship and _ and already you have to mind me. I don't want to seem like a burden."

He can't help roll his eyes, wondering how on earth is she this stubborn and difficult. Too proud for her own good!

Freddie felt a gentle pull on his sleeve. He glanced at it, gifting her with his beautiful side profile, refusing to face her completely just yet.

She decided to drop her hand feeling dejected. Nervousness gave way for her fingers to fiddle on the hem of her buttoned pajamas.

"I'm sorry, Freddie.. I _I hadn't realize how thoughtless I was being towards you.. It was very inconsiderate of me considering I was trying to be considerate."

Freddie let his head hang forward with a belated exasperated breath. He turns towards her direction seeing how she is confusing even to herself!

Adorable and clueless.

And driving him crazy by the minute!

With another sigh, he took her hand and guided her on his lap as he sat on the sofa. Putting her arms around his shoulders to keep her steady as he look at her face.

"So, you're not calling me by anything sweet cause I was upset with you? No 'sweetheart or darling or bubs'? And why bubs again?"

That was his first thought? How she spoke to him?

She let her fingers play with the hair on his nape. Tension slowly leaving her as she huddled closer to him. "Oh, I haven't told you before? I'm really getting forgetful."

She smiled to herself. Maybe she'll go senile sooner than average. But funny enough, sometimes her memory works fantastic that no matter how long it had been, it would just be ingrained somewhere in her head - easy for her to call to mind anytime she wants to.

"Well.. Bubs was my toy bunny that my mom got me together with the storybook 'Velveteen Rabbit'. He was the last gift my mom gave me before she passed." He can picture a young girl with golden hair and a silly looking toy, cuddling together in a world of their own. The image both sweet and sad.

"I use to call him 'baby bunny' but had trouble saying so it ended up getting shortened to 'buba or bubs'."

She paused with the memory coming back to her. Unconsciously, her right hand shifted to his bangs, gently moving it to the side, her finger traced the rich contour of his face before resting to play with the end of his soft hair. "You see, I was going to love Bubs so much until he was real."

The Velveteen Rabbit asking the Skin Horse how to become real was so imprinted in her memory.

“Real isn't how you are made. It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real… 'It doesn't happen all at once,' said the Skin Horse. 'You Become.

But the story continues on sadly (as Freddie himself remembers) for the state one has to be in order to be 'Real' is heartbreaking.

It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby.