30: Elise (ii)

30: Elise (ii)
"Are you leaving?" I asked him.
He nodded. "Yes. I need to take care of something important in Manila." He stepped closer to me. "Be careful here. Don’t leave the house without Jason or without telling someone—"
"Gian, I think he saw us," I whispered.
"What?"
"The person who did that to Tootsie. He saw us on the beach while we were—"
"Don’t, Elise. That’s not true."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"How can you be? We were both... busy." My face flushed as I said it. "It’s impossible for you to see if someone was hiding and watching while—"
"Elise, please. Don’t scare yourself with thoughts like that."
"How can you say that? He did that to Tootsie!" I said emotionally.
He suddenly hugged me. "Stop! You’re already scared as it is."
"I’m not scared! I mean, yes, it’s scary. But I’m more angry than scared. Gian..." I pushed away to see his face. "It was our first intimate moment. It was such a wonderful experience for me. But when I think that someone we don’t even know witnessed it... I feel that it dirtied our experience. Do you understand?"
"I do..." He nodded. "Elise..."
"Gian... why are these things happening to me? I’m sorry, but I hadn’t been safe in your house—in your own freaking bedroom. We weren’t safe last night even though we were here, at my parents’ private property, the one place I was sure was absolutely secure and safe because I grew up here. Whoever it was could have killed us instead of Tootsie. If that’s what they wanted, it would have been easy—"
"Elise—"
"Just stop! Don’t insult my intelligence by denying it. And don’t treat me like I can’t take it. You taught me better than that!"
We stared at each other. Then he shook his head. "Okay, I won’t." He raised his hands, palms open. "I’ll try not to make the same mistake again. Okay?"
I nodded. Then, I reluctantly said what I planned to say. "Bye, Gian."
He blinked. "Elise—"
"Two weeks leave. Don’t call me. Don’t visit. Let’s have two weeks to think things through."
His eyebrows furrowed. "About what?"
"About if we’re going to be together again, what role will I play? What will yours be? Since my identity is out in the open now, I don’t think I can hide in your shadow anymore. That’s one of the things I’m thinking about. And this..." I felt my cheeks heat up. "I promise, I’ll not let one bad experience overshadow all the other good ones.”
“That’s good, But—”
“I need to think things through, though."
"I know, but it wasn’t… bad, right. Us…?”
I blinked at him. "Oh. Oh.” I closed my eyes for a moment and swore to myself I would fix this. I opened my eyes and held the sides of his face with my hands. “It wasn’t bad," I said. “Us. We’re not bad. We’re the only good thing that’s happened after all the things that went down and I want to separate us from all these bad things. I wanted to get ready for us.”
“Don’t think it then.” And he reached for me, held me loosely, his hand rubbing my back to calm me down. And I heard the hardness he was trying to mask in his voice. He’d thought of it, too. About last night and the perv that was a dog killer and whatever else. And he was having a hard time about it, too. Of course, he was.
“He’s not ever coming back here. Tatay Jess will make sure of it. We’ll probably have bodyguards now for like ten years.”
He was nodding, but he wasn’t laughing. And suddenly, I realized I just made it worse for him. The worrying. I forgot he was as intense as Tatay Jess was with his protective instincts. 
“There will be good ones, I promise. Better ones. Best ones to come,” he was telling me.
I realized what he was talking about and my cheeks burned. "There will be others?" I encouraged to get his mind off the criminal.
He was smiling now. "So... just to confirm what you mean...? These two weeks… we’re not gonna… you don’t want us to stop?"
I nodded, feeling brave despite my self-consciousness. "No, I don’t want us to stop. I mean, it’s like the most awkward timing. A lot has happened, and I have to find out where I really stand and how I should act professionally in the coming months. I’m not on apprenticeship anymore when I come back—I know that even if you haven’t told me yet. I have to read, discuss things with my inay, and call my Oma. If you’re leaving VerraCom, I have to be ready mentally and emotionally. But, no, I don’t want us to stop."
His phone rang. Gian had a special ringtone for his family members and a few select people. I was one of them. That tone was his Dad’s. "You need to go. Have a safe trip back to Manila, Gian."
He frowned. But at the same time, the phone rang again. He looked at it, then, to my surprise, rejected the call.
"Before you do all that—"
The phone rang again. He turned it off.
"Before I leave," he continued, "let me just get one thing straight."
"What’s that?"
"We’re exclusive now."
I smiled. "Of course. What do you think, that it’s that easy—"
"No, I mean the committed exclusivity. Boyfriend and girlfriend."
I stared at him. He just mentioned it. Boyfriend and girlfriend. Wait a minute… he didn’t do girlfriend… 
His gaze was intense. "If you think for one second that I’m not serious about us, think again."
I swallowed. Nope. Actually, not for one second did I think he wasn’t serious. But... jeez. "Okay," I said, still stunned. I was ready for anything. I would take anything if it’s Gian. But boyfriend and girlfriend are okay, too.
A few moments of silence passed while I tried, feebly, to recover from shock. I was ready that we’d be casual, that’s why I asked for the two-week no-contact break. I was going to get ready for the kind of relationship I watched him have with his dates for months. But…
Oh my god, I have a boyfriend now…
"Two weeks, really?"
"Two weeks," I replied, still dazed. 
"Okay. Bye." He said the last word very reluctantly.
"Bye… Gian." I raised my hand and pathetically made my fingers move while he still held me.
He pulled me closer into a hug. Then he cupped the back of my head with his hand to angle my face to his kiss…
It was an emotional kiss, something we were both hoping would last the whole two weeks. All the time I was conscious that somebody might catch us... but at the same time, I was like...
"Wow..." I said, breathless, when he lifted his head.
"Two weeks," he repeated, also breathless.
"Yes."
"I’ll be waiting," he said hoarsely.
"You better."
And then he released me and waved goodbye with one hand.
And he was walking away.