Lost in his embrace

Chapter 5

We are all perfects with our flaws.

I'm brimmed with so much happiness right now that I can feel my smile reach my eyes. This feeling is so f*****g new that somehow, a small part of me feels a bit apprenhensive to what might be the substitute to this extreme happiness I feel in the future. No! I should not think like this.

I am used to think that everything has an exchange; my sufferings, hardships, state of life, and even our own happiness. And I'm sick of it. Why can't I just live the moment? My current situation right now has nothing to do with what I will become in the future. But if I want some changes in my current situation then I will work hard for it—the exchange has nothing to do with fate but myself because it's a fruit of my hardwork not to my current situation—It won't just come as an exchange because I'm the one who does the exchange.

Laughs scape my lips as I hear him suddenly sing confidently. I want to stiffle my laughter because someone might hear us here but I just can't contain it.

When he tries to hit a higher note, his voice cracks. I burst out laughing and so does he. He bends down and clutches his stomach as he laughs hard, While I prop my palm against the headlights of his car. Our laughter tappers off when we are almost out of breath.

Suddenly, his phone lights up inside his pocket which brings small lightness in our spot. A wide smile still plasters across my face as I watch him fish his phone out of his pocket.

the light that comes from the screen of his phone gives lights to his face so I can clearly see how his expression change from happiness into downright seriousness. His grip in his phone is tight and the wide smile across his face a second ago has long gone.

I also feel the smile across my face gradually fade as I watch him.

There are also creases between his eyebrows as his eyes are fixated on the screen. A second later, he turns it off before he slips it back into his pocket. I hear him heave an almost inaudible sigh.

Who could that be? I wait for him to tell me who texted him but what happens next catches me off guard—He inches to me and hugs me instead.

I can't count already how many times he has hugged me. I notice lately, hugging me has become his hobby.

I hug him back nevertheless and rub his back softly up and down. “Where do you want to get married?" That literally makes my heart stop from beating for a second. That's so random. I didn't anticipate him say it that I can feel my eyes flare in utter surprise.

I calm myself and clear my throat, trying to swallow the lump that is gradually building. I contemplate for a moment before I hear myself say, “In a place where you are at my side, Holding my hand.”

That may be sound cringy but that's really what I feel saying at this moment. He doesn't utter a word after that but I can feel his heart through my chest beat rapidly.

I guess that's enough reply for me.

After a moment of silence. I hear him mumble, “I'll head now.” I wait for myself to feel sad on the inside just like my usual reaction but I don't feel it. Maybe because I have already come to realise that paying attention solely to negative side won't help us—our relationship. It will just gradually make me hate him. I can't believe I almost hated him.

It's unbelievable how I'm able to change my perspective in our relationship in just a span of a day—hours. He might not know it but he's the one who helped me just minutes ago when I was on the verge of giving up our relationship.

Now that he says that, I almost forget I still need to fetch my mom at our restaurant. She actually has a lot of cars but she opts out using them because she loves us to have a son and mom moment. Sometimes, I take her to one of our branches before we go home but she's still the one who will pay after we eat.

Every morning, my dad is the one who drives her to the restaurant. I rarely see them in the morning because they usually head off to work at dawn and my butt is still fast asleep at that time. That's why I don't foresee myself running businesses in the future. Shame to me. My brothers are the ones who manage some of our businesses across the country and I'm only able to see them during weekends.

*

I grip the steering wheel of my car as I wait for Tyler to pull out first from the parking lot. It has been five minutes since we bade our good byes but I feel nothing on the inside but absolute joy. Over the course of a day, I spiraled into tons of emotions: exhausted, hate, dread, sadness, anger, but what matters most is what I feel after feeling these emotions. I've wasted our two years of being together focusing on the flaws of our relationship and I think it's time for me to focus on its positive sides.

I once again glance where tyler parked his car through the window. It looks like no one parks on that corner because it's really dark and his car isn't visible at all.

How did we manage to talk and make out there?

I wait for him to pull out first but I think he still doesn't turn the key in the ignition because the headlights of his car are still turned off. Why he doesn't go yet? A second later, I feel my phone vibrate inside my pocket.

You go first

It's tyler. It turns out, He's been waiting for me to go first. I pull out. When I'm on the main road already, I look through the side mirror and I see his car following behind. I glance at my wrist watch. My eyes flare a bit when I see it's already five past nine. I turn my focus back ahead but when I glance on the rear view mirror again, Tyler's car is already nowhere in sight. I decide to hasten my drive a bit because I still need to fetch my mom at our restaurant.

I pull over on a side road when I reach my destination. The restaurant is usually twenty to thirty minute drive and it's the nearest restaurant from the school, also the road is not relatively congested today so I reach the restaurant just after fifteen-minute short drive.

I immediately climb out of my car and stride towards the facade.

I feel my lips stretch into a smile as I head my way inside, seeing the fruit of my parents' hardwork stood in front of me is beyond everything. I see there are still customers and most of them are in work suit. I notice, the minority are mostly students from different universities; I also spot some from our school.

The interior is spacious and wide, and tables are scattered everywhere. I room my eyes around to look for my mom. I spot her talking with her employee behind a counter. My mom is already forty-six years old but she still acts as though she's still at her twenties. she looks young nevertheless in her age.

She is clad in waitress suit which makes her appear young even more.

I feel genuinely happy because she doesn't treat her employees as just her employees. she treats them equally but I know she knows her limitations. She has a genuine smile plastered across her face as she talks to them. I shove my hands in the pockets of my sweatshirt as I make my way towards her.

I pass through tables after tables before I feel my feet slowly halt on its own volition when my eyes catch a familiar figure—Mr. Hernandez. I make sure if it's really him. He is sitting alone at a table while he eats. I can't believe he's here. He wipes his mouth with a napkin placed across his lap. when I see him about to tilt his head up, I quickly turn my head ahead and continue my steps with long strides.

I'm glad my mom turns her head to me. Her face brightens as she sees me. I smile back at her and continue my steps towards her. I feel Mr. Hernandez gaze me on my back and I stifle my head not to look over my shoulder but I don't think he doesn't recognise my figure. I'll just act as though I don't see him.

The waitress whom my mom talks to greets me when she catches me coming. I greet her back with a genuine smile. I hear somone politely ask for a menu before I see her quickly slip out of the counter to assist the customer.

“Hey, Mom. How's your day?”

I hug her and she hugs me back. “Hi, Honey. I'm glad you arrived already,” she says after we let go of the hug. She lets out a sigh.

“Mom, Don't overwork yourself, Your health is more important.”

“Don't worry, Honey. Your mom is like a robot so it's impossible I'll get sick.”

“Yeah. That's why you had a fever yesterday,” I say rather sarcastically.

I lean my side and prop my elbow against the counter. She turns her back on me and searches for something.

“Where is he? By the way,” She suddenly asks while her back is still on me.

“You know him, Mom.”