15

The cold wind infiltrated on my skin even when I'm already wearing his jacket. But contrary to the cold temperature, I feel so warm. My heart feels so warm, so calm, again. It feels like for a long time, my heart only started to beat normally again just a while ago. The manly scent of his jacket is attacking my nose, making me more comfortable than ever. I put my nose close to its collar so that I could smell even more the scent of her I miss. I closed my eyes as I inhaled his scent. "That's my girl," I was stunned when Jared spoke. I was suddenly ashamed of what I had done. He handed me the coffee I had bought. I am ashamed to accept it. "Is it fragrant?" He asked proudly. My cheeks flushed. Damn it! He chuckled when he noticed my reaction. I leered at him. Tsk. We just got fine thirty minutes ago but he's into annoying me again. He sat down next to me. I moved a little to give him space. The wind's breeze gets colder as the night goes deeper. We were both sitting in the compartment of his car. His car is in the parking lot of the coffee shop where he bought our drinks. I suggested to him a while ago that I want us to stay here rather than inside of the shop. It's because the stars in the sky were splendid. They were all dazzling that it looked like there was an exhibit of diamonds. I want to do stargazing. With him. Without hearing my reasons a while back, he immediately agreed. He's always like that, always gratifying my requests without even questioning once. We left the bar earlier after we got together. I just called Brent earlier to let him know. I said I would go home first and Jared was with me. Upon hearing his name, he didn't ask further. "I'll take care of Lander." -that's all he said. I feel guilty because it just feels so wrong to hear a rejection not directly from the person who rejected you. That's silly. He deserves an explanation. I will. But not now. Jared will be my first priority. We sipped through our coffees as we silently stared at the night sky. I stilled when I felt Jared's arm at my waist. I looked at him. Instead of being distracted, he further wrapped his other arm on my stomach, hugging me from the back. My heart ached. I felt the familiar tingling sensation on my stomach again - the kind of sensation that I can only feel when I'm with him and because of him. The kind of sensation that only him can be able to raise at me. He buried his face on my left shoulder. His nose is on my neck. His breathing tickled my skin. I closed my eyes as he sniffed my perfume. I rubbed his arm because I could no longer handle the various sensations he was giving. He tightened his grip on me even more. "Damn girl, I really missed you so much." He whispered sensually at my ear. I secretly smiled. "You're being so showy now," I teased. But opposite to what I've expected, he just put more pressure on me. There is something tickling in my stomach. "Whatever. I don't care. I'll start keep telling you my feelings until you get used to it. I can't stand seeing you avoid me again just because of it. That's torture, baby. So even if you say corny I, I won't stop saying I want you. So that you can get used to it. So that you won't avoid it. I won't let you slip again. " The days passed by quickly. It actually felt like a blur. I spent my days studying and reviewing for my prelims. On weekends, Jared and I would go out for a date or sometimes, we just stay at home and study. I took my prelims and passed it. Jared took me to the main branch of La Sirene - to their resto- to celebrate my achievement. Instead of letting me go, he bothered me. When it's already our christmas break, my family went to Europe for vacation. The Arevalos, on the other hand were in New York. Brent and I are in New Zealand. While having noche buena, we video call Jared at the table. The jerk chose to encage himself in his room to contact me rather than to join his family for the countdown. "This is all you brought?" Jared's brows furrowed as he took my luggage from me. I rolled my eyes. I only carried a medium-sized backpack. I don't know what came into his mind when he asked my parents if we can go alone to Zambales for the New Year since we weren't supposed to be together at Christmas. I mean, wow, huh? Would he really rather take me on vacation than his parents or his friends? And daddy didn't even hesitate at Jared's request, huh? Yes immediately! I almost think they don't want to be with me in the new year. But I am not against Jared's idea as well. I actually think that it will be fun. I'm used to being with him. I am comfortable around him. These past few months have been somewhat reduced because of how I feel for her. I became a little coconscious every time I was with him. Just 'a little' because he's not the type of person who used to be serious. He's so talkative. He never rans out of things to talk. So basically, I'm not that isolated. "We'll only be there for three days, no! I shouldn't have a suitcase," I rolled my eyes again. Today is December 31. New year's eve. We plan to stay at their hotel. We were there for three days. According to him, La Sirene Zambales is one of the finest hotels of the La Sirene Chain of Hotels and Resorts because its resort is the beach. I kept thinking that the cold climate will make us go to the beach? Whatever. Just go with the flow, Thal. His forehead creased. "I don't understand you at all. Often, I wait for you down here for an hour because Yaya Gina says you're shopping for clothes and now …" I sucked. The truth of the matter is, I only wore short shorts and thin clothes plus my bikinis. My skin care products are also in a medium-sized pouch. Miraculously it fit in my backpack. I just think it's hassle to bring a big luggage. Chapter 15 part 2 We left the house at four in the morning. As a result, I fell asleep immediately after leaving our village. I just woke up when I felt my hair explode because of the wind. The roof of the corvette was raised. I stretched my arms as I yawned. I rolled my eyes. Obviously but we are still on the road. I turned the clock. It's six o'clock in the morning. "Are we still far away?" I asked Jared who is silently driving. He turned to me briefly. "We're halfway there. Two more hours drive." I nodded. I felt pity for him. Here I am and just asleep while he has been driving for a while. "Are you hungry?" He asked, eyes still on the road. I felt myself. "Not yet. You?" A playful smile appeared on his lips but he managed to stop it halfway. I was silenced. Malicious. "Same." He turned to me concisely again. "Are you fine with the roof up or do you want me to take it down?" He asked. I looked up at the sky. The season made the sky shady. I extended my arms outside the car to feel the December's wind breeze. I closed my eyes as it enveloped my skin. "I'm fine with this," I said, smilingly. I heard him chuckle. "Okay. I'll just turn the radio on for some music." I pulled my head out of the car. "Damn. Just be sure you won't be hit by a car." He said. "Don't be paranoid, Jared Alexandro. Your car is almost the only one on the road." I said, trying to annoy him. He muttered curses and I laughed. It feels so good to aggravate him. "I look at her and have to smile As we go driving for a while Her hair blowing in the open window of my car And as we go the traffic lights I watch them glimmer in her eyes In the darkness of the evening " I shouted so loud, feeling the tone of the music and the relaxing vibe of the air. Fortunately, we were still on the expressway. "Easy, baby." He laughed. I rolled my eyes. "Don't look too often at me, Jared. You drive so fast. I don't even want to die." He chuckled sexily. "Won't let that happen, Thal. Just let me stare at you" I blushed but I didn't let him notice it. "Whatever." "And I've got all I need Right here in the passenger seat And I can't keep my eyes on the road Just knowing that she's inches from me " I didn't sleep again for the rest of the trip. I really pity him. I just made myself busy with the view, instead. Chapter 15 part 3 "Are we almost there?" I asked when I noticed that from the wide roads and the traffic light stuffs, the view turned to blue waters on the left and thick forest on the right. "Yeah. We're just 10 minutes away." He turned the car onto a relatively narrow paved road. After a couple of minutes, we were already in front of a grand golden gate. 'La Sirene'- written in front of the gate. "Welcome to La Sirene-Zambales," Jared said. I was in deep awe. All La Sirene branches in Manila are Spanish style in design, making it look like a classical establishment. But now that I see the typical design of their hotel in the city here in the province, all I can say is 'wow'. It suits the location. It was like their house, the hotel itself was far from the gate. The pathway is also garnished with bushes of roses in white and pink colors. The building is widely stretched on the center of the land. Maybe a hundred spacious hotel rooms complete its width. There were lots of guests scattered in front of the establishment, busy taking pictures on the aesthetic views outside the hotel. We stopped right in front of the hotel lobby. A man in blue polo went to Jared and got his key from him. We then entered the hall. A group of people in Spanish-inspired uniforms made a line, forming into a human pathway for us. "Good morning, Sir Jared." They greeted in chorus. Jared nodded and smiled at them. I saw how the girls tried to stop from shrieking on Jared's response. I felt annoyed. What kind of staff are they hiring, so unprofessional. My eyes just wanted to roll upon seeing the girl staffs' faces turning sour as they see me beside Jared. I don't care if they think I'm Jared's new girlfriend that he's going to hotel. They will die of envy. We proceeded to the front desk. Until then I was very annoyed. How come, those at the front desk are obviously paying attention to Jared. It's like I want to keep hitting Jared. Why do their employees look like women? Is this his suggestion? And they're not just casual, huh? They will be beautiful! Really, Jared? Really? "Sir, we've been fully booked since last week. We thought you were the only ones going on vacation so we only reserved one VIP room when you called." The staff secretly harassed me. My eyes went wide. Aba't … Jared pinched the bridge of his nose. "Louisse, how long have I been on vacation alone?" Irritation welled up inside me. Louisse pala, huh? Does he really know the name ?! Louisse blushed. "E k-cause sir, even if you have someone with you … you only stayed in the same room," My jaw dropped extremely. What. The. Fuck. Jared turned to me abruptly then groaned. You're too hairy. "Fine, fine. There's still a vacant room that's not VIP, isn't there? I'll take that. She will take the VIP room." He said, pointing at me. An evil smile appeared on Louisse's face. It was like she was telling me that I don't look appealing for Jared 'coz he'll not stay with me. Chapter 15 part 4 Feeling triggered, "It's fine for me, baby. We can stay in one room." I said in a girly tone. Jared turned to me with mouth half-opened. "Did you just call me 'baby'?" He asked with an amused face. I immediately felt embarassed but I didn't took back my words. That Louisse really pushed my buttons. "Yes, why? Got a problem with that? I also said it's okay if we share the same room. Also got a problem with that?" I crossed my arms. This is one impulsive move. His amused look got intense. He raised two eyebrows but the smirk on his lips was still there. "You are one amazing woman, baby." He winked. "Fine," He turned to Louisse. "We'll only take one VIP room, Louisse." I saw how the girl's reaction turned sour. Huh, serves you right, bitch. And, so, I got myself another problem. Jared is smiling like an idiot inside the elevator. The idiot and I are still shaking? Shame on you for what I've been doing and saying before. He put his arm around me. "I think I'm liking you more now that you already called me 'baby' too," I flicked my fingers on his arm that is on my shoulder but he didn't remove it from there. "Shut up. I didn't mean that. I was just annoyed a while ago." I rolled my eyes. He burst out laughing. He even held his stomach. I was even more embarrassed. Did I just indirectly told him that I got jealous a while ago? "I'm really so happy today, you know? You keep on entertaining me, baby." He said in between his crispy laughs. And like what I 'suggested', we shared the same room. I pretended that I'm not sleepy just so Jared wouldn't think that I don't want to sleep beside him. Actually, it's okay with me since your bed is spacious. I just feel like Jared doesn't want us to be together either. Maybe when we sleep together, he'll just stay on the couch. I would only feel more guilty especially then. He drives it all the way here, he has more right to sleep in bed. So, I just made myself busy with the view on the veranda. We're on the 15th floor, the top floor of the hotel. The 11th to 15th floor are the VIP rooms. In front of me is the huge man-made pool. Very few swim there, probably, they prefer to swim on the beach. If I were to be asked, I would rather just swim in the sea. We ate our lunch at one of the restaurants of their hotel. There are five restaurants, each with a country to represent - Chinese, Thai, Italian, American, and Filipino cuisine. We ate at the italian resto. At 1 pm, we started strolling around the premises of La Sirene. It's just so ideal that you don't really have to leave the hotel to appreciate and visit Zambales. They got it all in here. I wore a racerback top and a pair of denim shorts while Jared is in his black sando shirt and pair board shorts. We tried their zipline first. Unlike when we were in Rizal, I'm much braver now. Below was the view of the magnificent white island and the aqua blue sea. It was giddying yet it was worth it. I will always reiterate what I've learned when we're in Rizal, there will always be fun in danger. Next, we tried their ATV cars. We were driving together but when we were running so slow I accelerated for the thrill. He slapped her hard and then squeezed her to follow me. I also shouted and was confused so I accelerated even more. As a result, we raced on the sand. We stayed there for a while because he had a bad trip. He almost destroyed those innocent ATV cars because of me. After it, we tried their jetski. He only took one because of my previous abilities. Jared expertly drove it on the sea even with the big waves hitting on the jetski. Everytime a big wave hits us, I shriek and tightens my hug on Jared's waist. I really feel that he meant it because he was always meeting the big waves. The last thing we did is to soak ourselves in the cold waters of the sea. We bathed in the sea for a while because it was afternoon and the sea was high tide. We went back to our room at six pm. We rested for a while before going out for dinner. Even on the hotel premises I could hear the noise from the fireworks, maybe from the communities outside La Sirene. I can already feel the New Year's spirit. Jared and I agreed that we won't sleep until 12 for the new year's countdown's sake. So, we strolled around while waiting for the new year to come. It looks like Boracay is here at night. There were fire dances and so on. Chapter 15 part 5 At 11 pm, we were on the pool on the west side of the hotel. There were 10 pools in La Sirene-Zambales. The pool where we are right now was the smallest. Jared instructed the staffs to not let any other guests except us to swim here for the rest of the night. In short, it was exclusively for us tonight. I stepped out of my robe. Jared is currently doing floating style in the pool. He had been there before. Girl things, of course. The surroundings were bright because of the lights so from here I could clearly see the perfect shape of her body. I swallowed hard. Stop being pervert, Thal. But it's this bastard's fault. Why was he flaunting his perfectly sculpted abs in the middle of the night? Ugh! I slowly and carefully buried my body in the pool. But still, it created noise, causing Jared to open his eyes and stand up. He's tall that's why the water is just on his forearm while it already reached my shoulder. He swam to me and the familiar beating of my heart whenever he's around started again. He held my waist as he got up from the water which caused my stomach to feel hollow. Damn the feels of his touch. "Your bikini looks good on you," He said with a menacing smile. Instead of being annoyed like what I usually feel back then when he jokes things like this, I felt butterflies in my stomach. I am wearing a red stringed bikini while he's topless in front of me. I didn't have the guts to wear it earlier 'coz its cold and I can sense Jared disapproving of me wearing a bikini in public. I only got to wear what I packed right now that there's only the two of us. I hemmed. "You only say that because you like me," I avoided my eyes on him. Why do my mouth keep spitting out words that can humiliate me? Damn it. He chuckled. "So you already believe that I like you?" "You always point it out. It just depends on how you feel," "Woah! I'm still here, Thal?" He laughed. "Of the two of us, you're the one who's more capable of relying. I'm really into you, you know that. You're the one who's not clear." My lips parted. I didn't think he has these thoughts in his mind. What am I really feeling, by the way? I know that I like him but should I vocalize it too? "Oops, sorry about that, baby. I was just carried away." He said when I stayed silent. He pulled me closer towards him. I was so close to his arms. He rested his head on my shoulder blade. My heart hammered wildly. "Thalia Ysabel …" He crooned. The way he mentioned my whole name sent shivers down my spine. "Hmm?" "I think 'I like you' is not the right phrase to describe my feelings for you." I held my breath. What did he just say? I moved slightly away from him. His face seemed to bleed at the reaction I showed. "No, no, you're never going anywhere again just because I'm telling you these things," He said as he pulled me to him again. His hand held the small of my back. I kept my gaze on his chest, avoiding his eyes because I really don't know what to say and how to react but damn it, the ripples on his chest were taking my sanity away from me. "Look at me," He commanded. He sighed when I didn't oblige. He held my chin and lifted it so that our eyes would meet. His eyes tells a lot of words that I cannot decipher or should I say, I do not want to decipher. His gaze is so deep that I feel like drowning, I feel lost. "I love you." Three magic words that made my breathing halt. My lips protruded but before I can say a thing, he put his index finger on my lips. "You don't need to say anything. I'm not in a hurry, Thal. I want you to take your time to consider me. But please, don't make me wait for too long. I might convince tito and tita to force you to marry me. " He said but there was no trace of humor in his tone. I smiled but he didn't smile back. He is all serious. From my eyes, his gaze moved to my lips. My heart pounded. He slowly placed his lips onto mine. I closed my eyes as I felt the softness of his lips again. He kissed me once - a soft and quick kiss - then he kissed me like that again, and again and again until he prolonged it. I held his nape for support. His hold on my waist tightened. When I unconsciously parted my lips, he took that chance to slide his tounge inside my mouth. I moaned softly at that. When I learned how he was doing it, I kissed him back and he groaned. He dove his tounge inside my mouth and blended it with mine, pulling back and prodding me. He lightly swept the tip of his tounge over my lower lip. He moved his tounge around mine, then I reciprocated. His other hand were all over my back, caressing my soft skin while the other one is already on my shoulder. My body feels so hot that I dug my nails on his back. He pulled me closer to him and my boobs got squished in his chest. He muttered a soft curse. Then, I felt a steel-hard thing poking at my stomach. My eyes widened. Is it his-fuck. I was about to pull away when he held my head and bit my lower lip. "Don't," He said in between our kisses. "Don't mind my thing. It will calm down later. Just let me enjoy this moment." We were busy liplocking when we heard the loud explosion of firecrackers. We stopped kissing and looked at the sky. I smiled when I saw how the dark sky turned to rainbow because of the fireworks. Jared cupped my chin and leaned his forehead on mine. "Happy new year, Thal."