I came to a sudden still, just by the doorpane of the kitchen. The sight that beheld me was. . . . amusing? Maybe even shocking. No, definitely shocking.
"Vienna, oh my god, why would you stop like that abrup— oh. . . . oh?" Savannah gasped besides me. She nudged my side and I turned my head sideways, my eyes still widened in befuddlement. "Are they okay?" She asked, balancing the two bowls of pasta on her tray in one hand, and combing her fingers through her hair with the other.
"Are you okay?" I asked her playfully.
Just ahead of us, Sully was all over Kyst, his arms around Kyst's torso and Kyst looking at him in a funny way; trying to figure out whether to kill him or hug him back. His hands flailed by his side awkwardly before he patted Sully's head like it was a dead fish and attempted to throw him off.
"What do you mean?" she huffed and leaned against the kitchen pane, her eyes glinting with playful mischief.
"You know," I drawled playfully, waving a hand towards the two "lovebirds" and smirked at her. "It looks like Kyst has Sully wrapped around his pinky finger. My my, when was the last time I saw Sully hugging a guy like that?"
Savannah sighed dramatically just as Jenny came around after clearing the kitchen, her hands on her hips, as she looked at the two of us. "Why are you two standing here like that?" she asked, huffing loudly.
Sav rolled her eyes and turned to look at Jenny, still balancing the tray of pasta on one arm. "Vienna is giving me lessons about how I should secure my fiance when she herself can't even admit she has a crush on her boss. Ironic, no, Jenny?"
My eyes widened. "What! Noo I don't— "
"You like him!?" Jenny exclaimed, hands on her hips. A grin formed on her face and she titled her face to stare at me lovingly. "He's a nice guy too, if you ask me."
Sav nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, I think so too."
I frowned. "You guys have met him once. How would you know if he's nice or just pretending?"
"Vienna," Jenny murmured, albeit a little softly, and it was so unusual of her to switch into a motherly, possessive tone that it startled even Savannah and she turned to look at her, intrugued. "The last time this man was here, he hated this place— "
"No, Jenny, I'm sure that's not true. If he did, he wouldn't be here right now," I stated matter-of-factly, feeling a little guilty about making Jenny feel like someone hated her place.
Jenny bought this particular building with her husband when they had just married, hoping to turn this area into a camp for all ages. She'd told me multiple times how they'd thought about building a library with tons of books, a playground for younger kids, massage rooms, recreational areas and what not. Her dreams had been living and vivid. They were the reasons for her smiles, she would tell to me sometimes.
Until they were not. When Theo, her husband, died at the ripe age of thirty-seven due to a heart attack, Jenny had been devastated. Those days, only her dreams had been her fuel, her motivation to survive. The blueprints had been ready, the interior had been finalized, sponsors had been thrilled about this project before they realised Theo had passed away and had immediately restricted their funds.
They had thought Jenny, singlehandedly, wouldn't be able to take care of such a huge project. Even though she had been extremely energetic, even in her late thirties, her dreams and the reason of her life had been taken away from her. And that too only a couple weeks after the love of her life had passed away.
That was when she started renting the apartments in this building to struggling youths. She gave the houses at minimum rent, even less deposit. She always claimed that she would never want someone to feel the way that she did when everything was taken away from her. She taught me to be strong. And I loved her more than most people I knew.
So it somewhere hurt me in my heart to hear her talk about someone hating on this neighbourhood, when all she'd done all her life, was love it and make others fall in love with it, including me, no matter the foul odour or unsafe locality and unsanitary vicinity.
But before I could assert to her that Kyst would never hate this neighborhood, even though I knew it would be a lie, Jenny beat me to it. "Exactly. If he hated this neighbourhood, why would he come here again?"
I looked at her again and this time I saw all fifty years of hardwork, hustling and perseverance on her face, her drawn brows, the wrinkles on her forehead, the tight circles around her eyes. Yet there was still a huge grin on her face everytime she talked to me. Smiling softly, I asked meaningfully, "Why?"
"Because he likes you, you dumbo," Savannah snorted hysterically.
Rolling my eyes, I threw my hands up, the cans of soda still in both my arms, and looked to Jenny, hoping atleast she would reprimand Savannah for her bullshit. In fact, Jenny looked at me with such intensity, it almost shot the breath out of me.
And that's when the realisation dawned upon me. I laughed incredulously and faced Jenny. "You think so too?" I stealthily pointed at Kyst who sat across the room, now safely detached from Sully and busy on his phone. "That he likes me?"
"The last time he was here, he let you hug him," she told me. "You were out of your wits so he asked me if it was okay to carry you. He was mindful about the fact the you might hate being carried, so he was extra careful about where to touch you too, Vienna. He tucked you in, silly girl. He closed your curtains for you. And after taking my permission, he even asked me to unlock your phone and turn off your alarm so you could sleep better."
I blinked. I was frozen in place, my heart beating a hundred miles per hour. Turning my face to look at Kyst, I took in his features. The sharp cut of his jawline, his diamond stud earring, the perfect shape of his nose, his dark blue eyes, everything from the way he looked so ethereal in his suit to the way my body reacted to him, I knew it. I knew it all. That he was physically attractive. Very attractive infact. But as it turned out, he had a good heart as well.
I sucked in a sharp breath. Exhaled loudly. Then, turning back to Jenny, I had only opened my mouth to tell her that the pasta would get cold when she shook her head and continued, "He's your boss, Vienna. What boss visits their employees well past after work hours, on their day-off, just to give her a file?"
She looked at me and gave me a timid smile of understanding. "Even though Miller Jones claimed to love you, you never willingly gave him your address or asked him to drop you. You denied his every request, never let him close to you but with Kyst, you yourself led him here. Hugged him, right infront of my eyes. Snuggled into his chest when he picked you up. Why won't you just admit it? That you might like him?"
"I— I was drunk when I let Kyst drop me home. . . . it had nothing to do with feeli—"
"And you weren't drunk when you told Miller to suck his own dick when he offered to drive you home too?" Jenny suggested bashfully, without missing a beat.
Flushed, I looked at Savannah for reprieve. She stared back at me with her wide, brown eyes and wiggled her brows as if to say, you're on your own kid. I mean I get it. Jenny had a point. Yes I had been extremely mullered when Miller had offered to drop me but I had been wasted when I had been with Kyst too.
I'd been afraid to admit this fact for a while now. This was a new feeling, something I hadn't felt in the longest while. And some might think I was crazy admitting this so early, but I trusted Kyst Archer. Even though we'd only known each other for a few months and I had no idea about his personal life, or anything about him at all, I knew with certainty, that I felt safe with him.
There was no other explanation for why I would let him into my personal space, my inner circle when most of my life, I had been shooing guys away. And even though I'd grown to admire Kyst a lot, I was still—
"Are you scared?" As if reading my mind, Jenny came forward to touch my forearm.
Since she was almost the same height as me, I looked at her and nodded meekly.
I didn't trust people easily. But if I did, that also didn't mean that I would be fully dependent on them or be comfortable enough to share those bits and pieces of my life that I had hid from almost everyone. I trusted Kyst, but to admit that I liked him, meant that I also had to tell him about my past. Bernard. My family. My teen years. Because in no way would I be involved with a guy without tell him about everything. And Kyst hated liars.
"Are you still scared of Bernard?" Savannah asked me, a sad expression overtaking her previous, hilarity-filled face.
"No," I shook my head and let out a chuckle. "I've never been scared of Bernard. I'm just afraid of that empty feeling, the sort of void that he had left in my heart. I'm afraid that if I let someone in, he will also add to that void, the exasperation, the sadness. I don't want to be unhappy anymore." My voice broke. My throat felt dry, the spoken words creating a dent in my heart, reminding me of everything I'd always been scared of.
"Hey," Jenny scolded, leaning forward to wipe my tear away. "Sometimes, you just need to leave things to the nature. Don't think too much and just flow with the flow. Whatever happens, happens for the best, okay?"
Already feeling a little better, I nodded as Jenny pressed a soft kiss to my forehead. Muttering something about setting the table, she sent me and Sav back into the kitchen to heat the pasta and headed into the living room, claiming she'd ask the guys for help.
"Vienna," Savannah called out to me and I turned to look at her. "I know about you and Kyst, okay? I didn't say anything in front of Jenny and I know that your relationship is still new, so it might be a little difficult to trust him but it'll be fine eventually. I know that instead of breaking that void of yours, he's going to fill it with love and care and warmth. Because you deserve it, okay?"
"What?" I scowled, confused. Me and Kyst? Fill the void? Thinking I heard wrongly, I shook my head and looked at Savannah with an unreadable gaze. "I think I just heard you talk like Kyst was related to me in someway?"
"Oh come on, I'm not a fool, Vienna. You told me you had a boyfriend and I have eyes. I see the way he looks at you and you look at him— "
"And how exactly— um, do I look at him, Savannah?"
She grinned. "Like you can't wait to get him alone and have your hands all over him."
I gasped. "Oh my god, Savannah, you little— "
"You aren't denying, now, are you?" she smirked devilishly. Folding her arms across her chest, she expectantly raised her brows. "So you're bringing him to the wedding right? Please say yes!"
I'd never, ever seen Savannah so happy, bouncing on her feet in excitement, such a wide grin on her face. And despite my better judgement, I bit my lip in anticipation before just going with the lie and agreeing, "Yes. Yes, of course, he'll be my date to your wedding."
She squealed immediately, throwing her arms around my neck in the fiercest hugs I'd ever received. Pulling back, she rested her hands on my shoulders and genuinely said to me, "I'm so happy for you, Vienna. I hope you know that you deserve all the happiness the world has to offer. And I'm sure Kyst is your man."
Of-fucking-course.
||
"Hey, are you okay?" Kyst asked once we'd bid goodbye to Sul and Savannah and Jenny had retired back into her house to sleep.
The streetlight above us blinked incessantly and his blue orbs shined against the bright light. I looked up at him and nodded, awkwardly securing my arms behind my back. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good. Why? Are you not okay? Or do I not look okay?" I pressed my palms to my cheeks. "Is there something on my face— "
"No, no, no you— you look beautiful," he admitted. Now either the heat of his words was actually getting to my head or it was way too dark and my eyes were playing tricks on me, Kyst blushed. Red and dark, flushed. From the tip of his ears to the base of his neck, he was scarred in red. "You were just awfully quiet the entire dinner."
"Yeah," I said, rather a little awkwardly and felt the burn of my own blush soaking my cheeks at his compliment. But since he changed the subject first and seeing how I was totally incapable of making meaning of my thoughts in his presence, I welcomed the new topic. "Since it was a little celebration party for Sully and Savannah, I let the spotlight remain on them. So yeah, maybe I was quiet."
"Huh," he tilted his head suspiciously, as if I was hiding something from him. Then, "Anyways, do you wanna go get some Starbucks?"
Bewildered, I shot my gaze onto him. His eyes held me captive even when my own widened surreptitiously and I kept staring at him like he'd just stolen my phone and admitted to selling its parts away. I waited for him to laugh, or crack a joke and or flick my forehead and yell Sike in my face, but when he did neither, I was forced to ask him, "You're serious?"
"Uh-huh," he hummed, folding the sleeves of his dress-shirt. He had discarded his jacket a little while ago when Sully had accidentally spilled some of the pasta soup on his jacket. He revealed his deliciously, appealing forearms first, the viens popping proudly, staring at me wide, tantalizing me to touch them, provoking me to grab them.
Touch it, My heart yelled as it fluttered like a fucking bird in my chest. No, are you crazy? My brain reprimanded, as I licked my lips suggestively. My eyes met Kyst's again, only for me to realise that his had been on my lips, his gaze darkening with palpable desire, before he gulped, his adam apple bobbing up, then down.
Looking down at my eyes again, he cleared his throat and took a step back, taking away his intoxicating smell. "You know what, maybe we should get the coffee later. I'm getting like. . . . super late. Sorry!" And with that, he was off towards his car, driving away the very next minute.
He turned his car onto the road, then stopped suddenly. Lowering the driver's window, he looked at me and waved. Go, he mouthed, pointing at the building gate behind me. Offering him a small smile, I jogged inside my building and then into my apartment. I turned the lights on and walked a little further into my room, to pull the blinds off, when I saw Kyst looking up at my window. Our eyes met for a brief second before he rolled his windows up and drove away.
He waited until I was home before driving away? Shit, that was so sweet.
||
"So, you need a fake-boyfriend to accompany you to a friend's wedding and you think your— sorry, our— boss is your best bet because he owes you for something?" Lily repeated for the thousandth time, the same thing I'd told her when we met to get lunch this afternoon.
It was a Sunday and we both had our days off. I needed someone to talk to about all the crazy stuff that happened yesterday and since I couldn't talk to either Sully or Savannah, I hit up the only person I knew wouldn't refuse to hang out : Lily.
"Yes," I sighed, loud and exasperatingly. "So, is it a good idea? Should I do it? Argh, I don't know!"
"Why don't you just tell your friend you lied and that you don't have a date?" Lily asked, licking her ice-cream.
I took a sip of my cold-coffee and groaned for the hundredth time before reminding her again, "Because then she'll pair me with Smelly Sammy. And even though he's a sweet guy, I don't like him."
"Right," she snorted. "And you can't get a real boyfriend?"
"Her wedding is in two months. I'm her maid of honour so I need to accompany her everywhere she'll want me. With office hours already so hectic, where am I going to find the time to find a real boyfriend? And besides, what's the guarantee, I'll find one anyways?" I enunciated, dabbing my head against my forehead from the sudden warmth in the atmosphere and took another sip of my beverage.
"So Kyst Archer is your best bet right now?" she asked.
"Hmm. And my friend already thinks we're dating so even if I were to find a real boyfriend, she'll know I'm lying and I don't want to upset her on her upcoming big days. I wouldn't want that for her," I said, taking one last sip of my coffee and throwing it in the trash.
Lily stopped abruptly in her place and nodded decisively. Whisking her phone out of her pocket, she sent a text to someone and then looked at me determinedly. Like a woman on a mission, she patted my back and said, "You should just go for it."
Yeah. I thought so too.
||
My pulsed picked up.
It was going to be fine. I would help Kyst with Bernard and he would pay me back by pretending to be my boyfriend.
That was it. Easy.
"Sometimes, you just need to leave things to the nature. Don't think too much and just flow with the flow. Whatever happens, happens for the best." Jenny's words encouraged me to pick up my phone.
I stared at the time on my phone. 9:47pm. Okay. Then I pulled up my text thread with my boss, Kyst Archer.
And that's when it actually settled to me how it could all go wrong just because of one text. I could lose my job. I could lose my friends. I could lose my reputation, my self-respect, everything, if Kyst Archer said no.
But I didn't give myself much time to stroll inside my brain, because let's be honest, my brain was a dangerous place.
My palpitations slowed down to rhythmic beat. My fingers hovered over the keyboard as I typed the words out and my heart thudded back to life, so fast, so erratic. And then I did it. I texted him.
Fourteen alphabets. Fours words. One text. And that was enough to upturn my entire life and all the beliefs I held about love.
Me : Date Me, Mr. Archer
And then I pressed send.
||
I can't be the only one that's screaming rn, right?
I'M SO EXCITED FOR WHAT'S GOING TO FOLLOW OMG!!!
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