Chapter 24
1358 Words
CARTER
He knew she was about to fall, but the impact, the sudden fall of those sweet, sweet and soft lips upon him has sent himself in euphoria. It was unbelievable. It was an out of this world experience. It was more than he could bear. It sent electricity throught his body. It sent butterflies suddenly hopping inside his stomach.
It was just very brief, and the second he realized what had just happened, napalundag na palayo sa kaniya si Erin. Good thing, she was not successful in snatching away the phone from him.
He felt relieved, and very satisfied. Now seeing his archnemesis in that state, shocked and horrified, and confused.
“Erase that photo my god, Carter!” she barked.
“You’re very cute when you bark, you know that?” he smirked.
“Give that to me!” nanlilisik ang mata nito. “You devil! I’ll erase that myself!”
“Careful,” maang niya. “I might be the devil who’ll turn around your world,” he claimed.
“Asa ka pa,” she rolled her eyes. “Give that to me, Carter Vallejo. Kung ayaw mong laman ka na naman ng showbiz news bukas.”
“Is that even a threat?” he raised his one brow. “You already ruined a large percent of me, Ms. Gossip writer.”
“Why don’t you just follow what I suggested, sinabi ko na sayo kung pano mo i-solve yun. You can do a DNA test, hold a press conference, at tapos! Ba’t mo pa ko ginugulo eh nagsabi na nga ‘ko kung pano mo iso-solve.”
“Well, considering the damages that occurred to me, that’s not enough,” he announced.
“Anong not enough, ano pa bang gusto mo?” singhal nito.
“Well, the press could say I fabricated the result. It’s easy to claim that.”
“Well,” iling nito. “It’s not my problem anymore.”
“It is yours, at hanggang hindi nawawala sa publiko ang imahe na nakabuntis ako, you have a responsibility towards me.”
He was getting excited. He can clearly see the goal prize ahead of him. No, Logan would never do that. So it’s up to him to cater to Matt’s wishes, or deal.
“You are crazy, are you? Give that to me-“
“You’ll get paid, more than a million, name your price,” singhap ni Carter. “Just date me, and get pregnant with my baby.”
“Are you f*cking nuts?” bulyaw ni Erin, completely distorted face. “D-don’t tell me, na humihithit ka?” her eyes went round. “Oh god, you’re an addict, or what?”
Napabulyaw siya ng halakhak. This woman is priceless, he’s already liking her very much.
“I’ll make sure that will happen,” he smiled.
With that ay inabot niya dito ang cellphone. “Starting today, since I’m dating you. Then pwede mong pakialaman ang cellphone ko. You can erase some messages kung nagseselos ka, like in my IG, maraming nag memessage sa ‘kin, you can erase all of them if you like," ngisi niya.
“Are you nuts?” kunot ng babae at pumunta sa gallery niya. Pinihit nito ng erase ang photo, pero na slide muna nito ang laman ng gallery niya. Halos mapapikit ito. Some of the photos were of himself shirtless, just selfies na inu-upload niya sa social media.
“Well, you can see that live, real time,” he laughed.
“Tse!” binalik nito ang cellphone sa kamay niya.
Inabot niya ang palad nito, dahilan para maglapat muli ang mga balat nila. A warm sweet current ran through between them, and she wouldn’t lie, that she felt it too, nakita niya iyon sa ekspresyon ng babae.
Seeing that he was observing her, he saw how her cheeks crimsoned a bit. It was very cute and he gave out a mid-laugh.
“I have a little shoot later. If you want, we can meet up again tomorrow. Evening, I’ll fetch you up here. I’ll bring you to something nice as our first date.”
“How sure are you that I’ll say yes. Okay pumunta ka bukas at sisiguraduhin kong maghihintay ka ng ilang oras, o baka magdamag dahi wala ako.”
“Ouch,” he pouted. “I’ll never give up though, I promise.”
“Nasisiraan ka na talaga ng bait.”
“Oh no, I just really like you, Erin. Especially after our kiss,” he winked.
“Go away, before I kick you out.”
He just gave out a boyish laugh and grin.
When he went out, he was smiling from ear to ear. He was full of life, full of happiness. Full of everything, it felt like he was ready for a challenge again. This trip, even so sudden, was totally worth it!
Now, it’s just time to make some strategy.
Indeed, he was met with a blank silence the next day. First things first, he made his agent contact Erin’s kuya, fish out some information, and he was delighted that Erin is currently not entangled with anyone or any relationship right now.
So that night, he went again to Erin’s door. But no one was there, or hindi lang talaga siya sinagot. He waited at least an hour, sat outside her door. He just listened to music para hindi siya ma bored, noong malapit na siyang makatulog ay iniwan niya ang boquet ng rosas sa labas ng pinto nito.
He also left a note. He asked in that note what’s her favorite color.
Hi, just stopped by, wanna let you know I’m serious. By the way, what’s your favorite color?
The next day, he arrived there again. The boquet was gone, and there was a paper pasted outside the door. It was written in big bold letters: RED.
He smiled and grabbed the paper from the door. He wrote something in that paper too: Mine is BLACK.
The next day, he showed to an empty condo again. Or maybe that Erin was already asleep? Who knows. He just knocked twice at nang walang sumagot ay iniwan niya sa labas ng pinto nito ang isang red rose stalk, may pulang heart shaped na tsokolate. May iniwan na naman siyang note.
I wanna know your favorite singer? He wrote.
The next day, a note was again posted outside the door.
It said: You’re real crazy, Carter. By the way, it’s old school. The Beatles.
And he wrote back to her as well, writing in that paper his favorite singer. Favorite food? He wrote.
The next day, he came back with a picture card of her favorite band, and an album music.
It went on like that, walang mintis. Maybe two weeks, writing back and forth throught the pasted papers outside her door. And for him coming back the next day with her favorites. It was not even a strategy anymore. He genuinely liked what he was doing, he was excited to get to know her, more of her each day.
It made her feel more that she was real, that she was awesome.
She was seeing through her layers, and they were telling each other back and forth what they love about life or their favorites.
He missed it like this, it’s like old school but very memorable and nostalgic.
Finally, one night, ay hindi na siguro nakatiis si Erin ay bago paman siya kumatok ay napagbuksan na siya nito.
“Carter,” she breathed, calling her out.
Maybe, she might have already noticed the usual times that he will pass by the door.
“I told you, I’m not giving up.”
“I can see that,” she uttered. “Can I be real, yes this seems nice. But how can this be all real? I’m the person who you said have ruined you, ruined some opportunities for you, but here you are doing this,” she aired.
She seemed sad, some twinkle in her eyes felt like so. Maybe she wanted to believe that this is all happening, but a part of herself was cautious…
- Writer
