"Oh my…Rey! Get it, girl!"
Toria's squeal from the other end of the phone made Regina grin on her way to her office.
"I tell you, Toria. This is not normal." She said with a sheepish smile as she pressed the button on the elevator.
"Girl, I don't care if it is normal or not. As long as you are having fun and no harm is done? I am all for it."
Reyona smiled as she waved at Nicole in response to her greetings and headed to the office that Phil had prepared for her.
"It is…" She waited until she opened and closed the door before she continued "It is all just so intense, you know. The feeling, the conversation. The…everything. I didn't know it was possible for me to feel all this for one person."
"Rey," Toria breathed in a low tone. "You are in love with him!"
Reyona opened the curtains with the remote before moving towards her desk. She sighed with a smile and said "I am, Toria. I don't know how this happened, but I really am."
"Reyona!" Toria called excitedly. "I am so, so happy for you, sis. Oh lucky him! Have you told him?"
"Actually…" she twirled her chair until it was facing the window. "... I haven't."
"Why not?" Toria asked in surprise. "He is a good man, Rey."
"I know. I know. I just… I will tell him. I will."
Toria was silent for a moment before she asked in a sober tone "Do you still have doubts about him, Rey?"
"No, it's not that. It's just… I don't know."
"The declaration would make it much more real?"
Regina shrugged as she tilted her head "Uhmm, something like that."
"Are you afraid to love him?" Toria asked in an understanding tone.
Reyona blurted out what she had not fully admitted to herself. "I am terrified, Toria. I… I am scared by the magnitude of this feeling and I…" she closed her eyes and said in a passionate voice. "I just don't want to give someone else that much power over me, you know."
"Are you afraid he might turn out like Thomas? He is a good man, Toria. Even I could see how much he loves you. It is not the same."
Reyona nodded to herself as she said "Yes, it is not the same. I never felt like this with Thomas the way I do about him and I could see just how much he wants me to. Maybe he…what if something changed? What if he stopped feeling this way? Or what if I do? What if this feeling is only heightened by hormones? I don't think I could handle it if this turned out to be something fleeting, you know. I just…"
Silence.
"I think you will have to trust yourself enough to believe it is not just a passing feeling, you know. If left to me, I know you are not the type to entertain mere in-the-moment feelings, you know. For you to feel this deeply right now. This must have been brewing for a while and you have been suppressing it. But then, that is my thought. You need to trust yourself enough to arrive at that conviction. Just as you need to trust him enough too. Talk to him about your fears, Rey. If you really want to do this, then you need to talk to him."
Reyona smiled as she answered. "How did you get to be so wise?"
She could vividly picture Toria flicking her hair back as she said "Duh, have you met my sister?"
Reyona laughed "Oh, wow. You better not let Mom hear that you did not give credit to her. She is going to wring your neck, then she will disown me."
They laughed before Toria said "Did I remember to tell you that your man is the cutest? Mom said he called Dad to officially ask for your hand."
"Max?" Reyona said in shocked laughter.
"I know, right?" Toria responded with gleeful laughter. "Heard he would have gone physically to Milan to ask, but because Dad and Madeline are not back from their trip yet, he had to do it on the phone."
This man never ceased to surprise her. Reyona thought. And he had not said anything to her about it.
"What did Dad say?" Reyona asked with a grin.
He put Mom on call and they both grilled him, of course. Trust Mom to do the honours. Oh my god, I think I am going to get a bellyache from all this laughter. She… they asked him about his intentions with you."
"Oh god," Reyona said as she covered her face with her eyes.
As she looked down at her bump, she wondered if that question wasn't a bit too late to be asked.
"Mom was impressed by how respectful and proper he was when he was answering all their questions." Toria chipped in gleefully.
Proper? Maxwell?
"Oh my. It was so old-fashioned and sweet too, you know", Toria said in a contemplative tone. "Now my future billionaire husband has one more thing on the list of things he needs to fulfil," she said with a laugh.
Then "Shoot, I need to go. Tara just sent me a message that we are getting onboard already."
"Oh wow, go on, you world traveller," Reyona said in a teasing tone.
"What can I say? I love my job."
"My regards to Tara. Manuel still coming to join you there later?"
"Yeah, once he is done with what he had to do in Sydney. At this rate, I think I will have to discuss with him about coming aboard, you know. Cos why not? He is very good at what he does and loves working with us, even though I know that is mostly because of a certain someone. Oh, okay, okay. On my way. Bye, Rey. Don't go asking for some distance from that man now."
"Why do you know me so well?" Reyona said with a laugh.
"Just so I can embarrass you by sharing all the juicy info on your wedding day, of course. Bye!"