Next day, I woke besides Tyler just I had woken up other day. I stared at his serene face while he was sleeping his breaths were at a steady and in a regular pace. I pushed his hair from his eyes and kissed him on the forehead.
I gasped when he opened his eyes,“Oh I didn’t mean to wake you up go back to sleep”. I told him.
“Good morning, beautiful! You didn’t I was already awake”. He said.
“Oh so why didn’t you open your eyes?” I asked.
“Waking up while my girl stroking my hair is the best thing to wake up too”. He said.
“Stop! You are making me blush”. I said while covering my face with the duvet.
He chuckled and removed the covers and stroked my hair away from my eyes, a smile spread over my face.
“Had a good sleep?” He asked.
“Yes and you?” I said.
“Yes”. He said.
He pulled me towards his chest and snuggled his face in my hair and I put my arm around his waist.
"God! How come I got so lucky to have such a sweet person."I thought to myself.
“You know I don’t tell you this much but I feel lucky to have you in my life you are a gem in my life”. I voiced my thoughts.
“I could say the same thing to you”. He said.
We just shared a smile and he pulled me closer he leaned his head a bit to kiss me but I pulled away.
“What’s wrong, Shortie?” He asked his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
“Oh you ain’t kissing me I have a morning breath”. I said while pushing the covers so that I can go to bathroom and brush my teeth and get rid of the morning breath so that I could kiss my boyfriend.
“Oh you afraid that my morning breath would kill you”. He said and cocked his left eyebrow.
“It is not healthy and I don’t want to kiss while I have a morning breath, now come in and brush your teeth so I can kiss you”. I stated matter of fact.
“Sure”. He said leaning so that he can kiss me.
But I was quick to get up and run into the bathroom.
“Brush your teeth first or else no kissing”. I told him while laughing from the bathroom.
“Oh you owe me a kiss and I challenge you that I will kiss you while you still have a morning breath”. He said challenging me.
“I’ll kiss you all you want but after you brush your teeth”. I said while wetting my toothbrush under the water and putting some toothpaste upon it.
I gave him an another toothbrush I had so that he brush his teeth too.
“Now don't be a kid boy and kill those germs”. I cooed and pinched his cheeks.
“I ain’t a kid okay”. He sulked.
“Sure”. I said and put my brush in my mouth came out of the bathroom.
I grabbed my phone to put it on charge and I can play some music I chose a playlist which said ‘because this one knows what I want’ I know the name is not that original but okay.
I off the shuffle mode in the application and selected ‘Call it what you want it by Taylor Swift' and pressed the play button and the song filled my room.
I was brushing my teeth while doing a little dance here and there. I noticed Tyler spat his toothpaste out if his mouth into the sink.
“Seriously? Oh yeah how can I forget you are the morning person”. He said and shook his head.
I just shrugged in response Tyler was done with his so he rummaged through my drawer so that he can find a t-shirt that I have stolen from him earlier.
“You are not taking anything from there”. I warned him.
“Or else”. He replied not even looking at me and continuing his search.
I quickly stormed out and took his hand and tried my best to get him out of my closet.
“Get out”. I told him still trying to move him from his place but only to fail because I almost fell on the floor but he didn’t budge.
“Okay I won’t take any of MY shirts from here”. He agreed but I knew him he has some tricks up his sleeves.
“But?” I asked while raising my eyebrow my arms crossed around my chest.
“Why a but?” He asked innocently.
Oh boy drop the act already I can see right through you.
“There has to be a but because I know you, you won’t budge without putting a condition”. I said rolling my eyes.
A smile was creeping on his face because he knows that I know but what he doesn’t know that I know better!
Sucker!
“Okay you got to pay for it with a kiss”. He said.
“Okay”. I agreed and turned my back so that I can go back to the bathroom and finish my business.
“How long do you take to brush your teeth?” He asked.
“Fifteen minutes”. I answered.
“Seriously!” He exclaimed.
“Duh”. I said and rolled my eyes.
“I take my shower and get dressed in fifteen minutes”.He said. “It is too long to brush your teeth”.
“I know but I need to take a fifteen minutes brushing time or else I don’t feel fresh for the day”. I defended.
“You can go without a bath for two days straight but you take fifteen minutes just to brush your teeth geez I can’t understand woman”. He said rolling his eyes.
“But you love me”. I said with a shrug.
“That is true”. He said and snaked his arms around my waist and put his chin on my shoulder and nuzzled his face in my hair.
“I know and I brush my teeth and clean my tongue with a tongue cleaner and than wash my mouth with mouth wash and gargle it with water”. I told him my routine.
“I only knew makeup takes so many steps but I was today years old when I found out that brushing is such an effort”. He said while raising his eyebrows.
I gargled my mouth with water and than I cupped some water in my hand threw at him which it took him by surprise resulting in him losing the grip of his hands around my waist and I ran out of the bathroom and he running behind me. I quickly ran up my bed and jumped down he followed my suit and laughter was ringing throughout my room.
His laugh is the most beautiful thing I can hear all day long.
We ran around in circles in my room and he quickly grabbed me by my waist and threw me gently on the bed and he got on top of me making sure he didn’t put his weight on me.
“Caught ya”. He said it in a whisper.
We both were breathing heavily due to all the running and laughing in my room. He leaned down and kissed me and I immediately responded back he soft lips met mine and I closed my eyes I could my stomach doing somersaults and I parted my lips to give him the entrance and our lips and tongues were in the perfect sync a moan escaped from the back of my throat and I put my hand on his chest right where is heart is and I could feel his heart beating frantically and so was mine. I bit his lower lip and a moan escaped from his throat.
Suddenly my phone started to ring which made us jump apart our breathing were still on rage due to all the kissing and I groaned.
I quickly picked up my phone to see my cousins were video calling me and I noticed my lip was but swollen and my hair disheveled due to all the kissing.
“Pick the phone up and tell them I will be back”. I threw my phone towards my boyfriend and he caught it easily and ran towards the closet.
He swiped the receiver so that he can pick the call up from the corner of my eyes I could see he was trying to steady his breathing and also his t-shirt while I was trying to put my hair in a bun.
“Good evening, guys”. He said while flashing a smile.
“Good morning, jijz”. They all chimed together.
“Pay up, bitches!” One of my cousins exclaimed.
They all groaned altogether.
“Why did you pick the phone up now that bitch is Rs.500 more richer than us”. Krish whined.
“What?” My boyfriend asked confused.
“Nothing, nothing”. One of them quickly answered.
I quickly came in front of the screen.
“Hey! You guys placing bets on us you doofers”. I exclaimed.
“Now you guys got to pay me”. Krishika, my sister said while doing a little happy dance.
“What the hell is going on can you guys explain me or shall I add our mums in this?” I threatened.
“Like we are scared”. Raj said with an eye roll.
“Uh huh we don’t wanna do that”. I said with a smirk.
“I’ll count till give if anyone of your are not telling what was all this about you guys would pay for it”. I said.
“One”. I counted.
“Two”
“Three, don’t challenge me I will call them”. I said.
“Four”.
“and five that’s it I am calling”. I said and started to search through my contacts to call our mums.
“Fine we all telling you what was all about”. Preeti said.
“Spit”. I said while crossing my arms over my chest.
“It’s fine let them have fun”. Tyler sided them.
“No no no Mr. Clarke you ain’t siding them”. I said while waving my finger side by side.
Before he could reply Yash my cousin spoke.
“Yes! You should listen to your boyfriend, sis”. He mocked.
“You better shut your trap”. I warned.
“If you don’t want your beans to be spilled start talking”.
All this while my cousin Meet was laughing not saying a word to our younger cousins.
“Meet! You got to shut up okay and stop laughing and all of you speak up”. I ordered.
“Fine, fine”. My sister said while rolling her eyes.
“Actually we placed a bet on you both we all said except for Yash that you would pick up the phone but Yash being the smartest person here or not”
“Hey!” Yash objected but everyone gave him a finger and ignored him.
My sister continued her story.
“He said jijz would pick up the call and he won and I placed a bet that you won’t curse in your first sentence while everyone else disagreed so yeah that’s that”. My sister finished with an eye roll.
I face palmed myself at the antics of my cousins. I heard the doorbell of my home ring.
“Krish, get the door”. I told her.
“Why can’t you go?” She suggested out of habit.
“It would take almost 24 hours for me to come down there and open it go and get the door”. I stated the obvious.
“Oops my bad”. She said while getting up from the bed.
“So what’s up?” Raj asked while wiggling his eyebrows.
I could feel myself blushing.
“What’s up!” I told him the same thing while wiggling my eyebrows suggestively.
“I asked you first”. He defended.
“Nothing just the usual work and home now what’s up”. I said and wiggled my eyebrow at the last part.
“Anything we should know about?” I added.
“Nothing yet”. He said with a sigh.
“Why the sigh and why do you look so tired?” I asked concerned about him because there were dark circles forming underneath his eyes.
“Nothing I haven’t sleep from last two nights not even a wink”. He said while taking a dip from the coffee which I didn’t notice until now.
“Why and stop drinking black coffee”. I scolded.
“At least listen to her now”? All my cousins chimed.
“Di, what did you send us in this huge package do you even know how long did it took me to get this in my room and it weighs around 6 kgs what did you out in it?” She rambled.
“Oh yeah I forgot to inform but that are Christmas presents for you all and you guys have to promise me to only open on the Christmas Eve together and you guys are video calling me”. I told them.
“And Raj stop drinking that or else I am coming down and hitting you”. I threatened.
“We are scolding him from past two days but he isn’t listening to us”.Krishika said.
“Why don’t I know anything about this?” I questioned.
“For that you got to be active in ‘24Hour Drama Club’ where were you and because of you we got to pay Yash now”.Preeti said while shaking her head.
All my cousins just hummed in response.
“So gust we are meeting on 24th December? Night out?” Yash said.
“Oh hell ya”. Everyone cheered.
“You guys are making me jealous”. I whined.
They all laughed at me even Tyler beside me was laughing at my whining.
“You don’t get to laugh at me I am your girlfriend”. I said and glared at him.
Which only made others laugh even more at me.
“Okay on a serious note I am sorry for not calling you people for past three to four days but I was busy like real busy I had so may things to do”. I explained.
“We get it chill”.
“No problem”.
“Yeah it’s fine”. Were all the different responses I got from my cousins.
“Thank you guys for understanding”. I said.
“No problem”. They said with a smile.
Suddenly I looked upon the time and my eyes widened, “Shit!” I cursed.
“Got to go it’s 7:30 I got to prepare breakfast and get ready to I am sorry guys rain check?”. I said while getting up from the bed.
“Sure bye”. They said in a unison.
The screen went off I quickly pushed myself off my bed and rummaged through the closet to something decent yet casual. I found out Tyler’s oversized black coloured hoodie and paired it with black jeans and some black coloured shoes.
I was making my ways towards the bathroom when I saw Tyler sitting on the bed scrolling through his social media.
“What are you doing don’t you want to get ready?” I asked.
“Yeah in a bit I was just going through the pictures and listen c’mere”. He said while extending his hand.
“Tyler we will get late”. I said with an eye roll.
“It is important please”. He said.
I quickly grabbed his hand and went to sit beside and I put my clothes beside me on the bed.
“What is it?” I asked a bit panicked.
“Don’t freak out but media knows”. He said.
“Let them know I just want you to know that I only told that because I was scared at first that we have would be spoiled but I know you ain’t leaving me and if you try to I am holding you by your ear and dragging your ass back in my life whether you like it or not so Mr. Clarke you are stuck”. I told him and kissed him on the cheek.
“Damn woman you planning an early death for me and seriously I wasn’t planning to leave anytime soon plus let them know but we know how to keep private we aren’t giving them anything”. He said with a smile and pulled me closer to his chest.
I quickly wrapped my both hands around and we stayed there for a minute.
“By the way how do they know and what did you see?” I asked.
“They posted these pictures on Instagram”. He said while handing me his phone.
I saw two pictures of us together in one we kissing on lips while we were having lunch at the restaurant the other day and second one was we were hand in hand in the park we visited few days back after getting ice cream.
“These pictures are so cute”. I said while looking at them.
“Yes”. He agreed.
“Okay I am already late I got to get ready to now bye and now go and get ready”. I said while picking the clothes from my bed.
“Wait that is my hoodie damn I was searching it for past two weeks I feel like all my clothes are now in your closet”. He said while trying to grab the hoodie out of my clutch.
“It is mine now”. I said pulling it towards me.
I could see a small smile spreading across his face, “Why are you smiling?”
“I love seeing you in my clothes, they look great on you”. He replied.
“Now who is planning an early death”. I said raising my eyebrows.
We just laughed and hugged me once and to his room telling me he will meet me in the dining room.
I quickly got into the shower and than got dressed and checked my bag one last time and I sat near my vanity took out the eyeliner and quickly winged out it.
My phone went off with the reminder tone reminding me that I have an online meeting today at 11:30pm with Mr. Summers as we had rescheduled it month ago due my grandfather’s death.
We ate our breakfast and got to the office quickly but not getting unnoticed by the paparazzi they took probably our more than twenty pictures in a minute but I didn’t care about them anymore because I am not scared of them anymore.
I quickly got into action as soon as I reached into my cabin I prepared the last of the presentation slides and than checked out everything.
“Tess, you need any help there?” I asked when got into her cabin.
“Oh yeah can you please tell me what colours should I choose for the next project it is for the summer collection which is a limited edition and extended version to your collection remember we talked about it few days back?” She asked.
“I guess we can go with tie-dye colours they are in trend or we can go with pastels they look way too good in summers or—or we can make our whole collection white?” I suggested.
“I guess white would be great and we can accessories the models for the runway with the simple pieces and a red lipstick with a bun and also we can pair the whole look with flats to give a beach look”. She said excitedly.
“Oh yeah that’s awesome we can just add these to the presentation slides and ask for Mr. Summers opinion what’s say but first for a second opinion we can ask Tyler and Tyson about it”. I said.
“Yeah wait I’ll call them”. I said and dialing their numbers.
“Can you guys come to Tess’s cabin now if you are not busy?” I asked.
“Yeah give us fifteen minutes and we will be there we are setting up the studio with some other workers”. He said.
“Okay”. I replied and we hung up the call.
“Tess, they will be in fifteen”. I said rubbing my temples feeling an incoming headache.
“Okay and are you having an headache?” She asked.
“Yeah do you have Advil or Tylenol?” I asked.
“I have them but I suggest you to go see the doctor because even after wearing you wearing your glasses regularly you get headaches I guess you should get your eyes checked”. She said.
“Oh I will go after Christmas I promise”. I told her.
“No ways we will go today before we the tattoo no arguments”. She said.
“Fine”. I said with a sigh.
“By the way I saw something on the internet”. Tess said.
“What?” I asked.
She bit her lip contemplating how could she put the words.
“What is it Tess just throw it on me”. I told her.
“It would upset you”. She said.
“It won’t, I promise”. I told her.
“Okay”. She took a deep breath. “I saw yours and my brother’s pictures today infact I am seeing them from past two weeks they know about you guys”.
“Trust me Tess I know about it and it would have being upsetting if someone told me three weeks ago but I don’t care about them anymore I saw our pictures today in the morning and seriously they are sick it gets overwhelming sometimes but..” I trailed off.
She squeezed my shoulder and passed me a small smile, “You know you are very strong and don’t get me wrong but seriously you got of them quickly I remember we were kids when they never used to leave us alone when we used to go with our mum during college remember how we used to hide ourselves? Now they chase you too so I get it”.
“Tess I get it fuck them”. I said with a laugh.
“Yeah”. She said and laughed along with me.
We were now sharing comfortable silence, we both were doing our own thing and in the very long time for the very first time I wasn’t feeling nervous. Tyler and Tyson came into the room we explained them everything about the project and they accepted and discussed other stuff.
Currently, I was in the meeting room I had Tyler, Tyson and Tressa with me in the room and in the opposite screen I had Mr. Summers.
“Mr. Summers we look upon the demand and I feel like tie-dye is something everyone is doing currently it is in the crowd but we got to shine out of the crowd therefore I suggest you that our collection be white like every clothing should be in white and only thing that will change is the neck cut out, sleeves or the pattern on the dress or the clothing for the limited, exclusive and extended collection but we can always mix and match with the non exclusive one”. I told him.
“Ms. Tina, I really like your idea we can have two different colours for the same collection and to be honest that would attract customers and we can tie up with or send them to the local small businesses to support them”. He suggested.
“That’s great! We can put our 50% profits to the black community to support them it would spread awareness that there shouldn’t be racial discrimination rather than all the colours are beautiful only if you approve the same thing”. I said.
“No, it is a great initiative actually I am giving a go ahead for this”. He said with a smile. “Also can you please send us the paperwork so we can finalize the deal?”
“Sure sir, the papers would be in your office in an hour but can you please send us before Christmas so we can start the production?” I asked.
“Okay, the earlier everything’s done, early we can start with everything”. He said.
“Ms. Tina, you are beautiful person you not only think about profits but also about the community it is great dealing with your company”. He praised.
“Thank you, sir”. I said with a smile.
“No problem! So is there any topic that we have to discuss about?” He asked.
“No! Everything is finalized”. I replied.
“So I guess we shall end the meeting, again it is great dealing with you guys”. He said.
“The pleasure is all ours, sir have a good day”. I told him.
“Good day to you too!” He said and hung up the meeting.
I took a deep breath of relief and turned towards my friends with a squeal.
“Oh, my God!! Guys we did it”. I said while letting a breath and I put a hand on my chest while I let a breath out and stuck my tongue my out.
“It was all you, I mean how you did all the convincing he won’t even budge by anyone of us hut you did it in a first go”. Tyler gushed out.
“Second, first time we cancelled the meeting”. I stated.
“Technically, we didn’t start the meeting so it is the first go and we are so proud of you”. Tyler said.
“That’s our best friend, people”. Tyson said.
I just laughed and Tressa came and tackled me in a hug.
“This calls for a celebration but let us first announce it to everyone!” Tressa exclaimed.
“Totally!” Tyler agreed to his sister.
Suddenly Tyler picked me up in his arms and spun me around I let out a surprised squeal.
“Ty, put me down”. I told him while laughing.
“No”. He replied.
“I’ll fall down please”. I reasoned him.
He just acted he his dropping me down and as an instinct I shut my eyes tightly and in reality he didn’t even loosened his grip.
“You are such a dork”. I said while slapping him playfully on his chest.
He let me down and I saw my other friends laughing at us. I just huffed and crossed my arms around me.
“But you love this dork”. He simply said with a shrug and gave me his billion dollar smile.
“That I am”. I said while him a smile.
“In reality you both are hopelessly romantic and dorks”. Tressa commented.
“Okay okay let us announce the good news to others than we got to leave”. I said.
“Where are you guys going?” Tyson asked.
“They have an appointment for their salon”. Tyler said.
“Oh”. He said and nodded his head.
“By the way did you guys delivered the dress?” Tyson asked.
“Whose and which?” Tess asked.
“Taylor’s, duh”. Tyson said.
“Oh yeah we just have to send to send it to the address which we will do it on our way”. I said.
“Okay”. Tyler and Tyson said in a unison.
I never felt so happy we were done with our pre-Christmas to do list and now only thing was left is to deliver the package and my tattoo I just hope Tyler likes my tattoo though. After we delivered the news to everyone in the office by which everyone was happy and congratulations were followed after that and than we did the remaining formalities that is sending the paperwork to Mr. Summers’ office we took our bags and made our way towards the mall where Tess had made our appointment.
***
Hey guys!
I know I this was unexpected it is a sort of surprise chapter which I had already planned when I wrote about the death of Tina's grandfather because he would have being odd if I had miss it and I am sorry if it isn't upto your expectations I will make it up to you people and it got a bit lengthy than I had actually expected so I divided the whole chapter into two parts. I'll post it in two or three days. Thank you!
Till then.
Keep reading:)