Part I:
“You sure you can drive okay?”
“Yes.” Tristan took a deep breath, “Thank you.”
He and Ryne were standing at the parking space of
the bar, which should’ve closed about half an hour ago. Robert let them talk in
privacy after all the customers had left, and then Ryne thanked him for staying
up, and asked him to go home. She and Tristan were already emotionally drained
from their long talk.
“You’re welcome. It was nothing.” She paused. “You
sure you got it? I can give you a ride.”
“No, it’s okay. Really, I’m fine. Don’t you think
your family’s looking for you yet?”
“They’ve been calling for the past hour, actually.” She
gave a half-hearted laugh. “Well, if you need anything, just buzz me. Whatever
it is, okay?”
An abrupt question came.
“How do you get something you’ve never had?”
Ryne stopped searching for her keys. Settling her
bag aside on the hood of her car, she said,
“Do something you’ve never done.”
Part II:
Tristan realized she’d never really kissed Reeya.
Reeya.
He knew that wasn’t her real name. He tried to
forget that as he drove his Sedan through the deserted roads, spotting only one
to two cars at a time. He checked his watch.
It was 12:30 am.
She would be sleeping, but Tristan had a feeling if
she had another bad dream, she’d stay up to wait for him to come home.
And come home he would.
He dialled Nika’s cellular phone number. She picked
up on the second ring.
“Tristan,” she sounded relieved, “You on your way?”
“Yeah, I am. I’m only a street away.” He paused. “Where’s
Ree – where is she? Still awake?”
He heard the nurse sigh. “Yeah, she still is. I told
her to sleep, but she won’t budge. She’s waiting for you.”
“Tell her I’m almost there.”
“Will do.”
Tristan head the line disconnect just as he was
starting to see the familiar edifice of his home. His mind was unnervingly calm
as he parked in the garage, got out, secured the area, and walked towards his
house.
All he wanted was to see her again.
The wide door was opened the second he was on the
stone steps. Nika’s tired smile greeted him. “You look awful, but atleast you’re
here. She’s in the kitchen.”
Her hair was tied in a ponytail, and she was wearing
casual attire – worn-out jeans, a t-shirt, and sneakers. She looked like a
working college student in an overtime shift. Tristan felt a twinge of guilt
for letting her wait for far too long.
“I’m really sorry about all this – ”
“No, it’s nothing. I wanted to, anyway.” she smiled.
“If you want something – reimbursement, maybe – I
could – ”
He was cut off by her laugh. “Really. I enjoyed this, so no need for any payment. Reeya’s a
wonderful artist.”
He supressed the surge of pain in his chest, which
was born from the use of the deceitful name, and the urgent need to see her,
despite the circumstances. He tried to respond as normally as he could.
“She’s a wonderful cook, too.”
“Yes,” Nika agreed. “Well, I’ll go home now. Thank
you for asking me to do this.” She picked up her bag.
“My pleasure.” said Tristan. The huge blanket of
gratitude started to vanish when she closed the door behind her, leaving only choking
nervousness behind.
Tristan took one step. Then another. Before he knew it,
he was sprinting the distance that separated her to his eager arms, wanting
nothing more than to hold her, to assure himself that somehow, there’s a part
of her that he can call his, regardless of the schemed pretense he just
discovered. He wanted to forget that she belonged to another person from the
start. This time, all he wanted was for the moment to be theirs, just the two
of them.
Although it pained him, he called out, “Reeya?”
Instead of hearing her voice, Tristan’s ears perked
up from the sound of her bare feet making their way to his direction quickly.
They were face to face on the living room seconds
later.
She was wearing one of his shirts again, an olive
green with the name of his alma mater written at the front. It was sizes too
big for her again. She also wore one of his many khaki shorts.
Her face was tired, but she smiled one of her biggest
smiles the moment she saw him.
“Do you know that was a nine-hour ‘break’ you just
had?”
Tristan did not know, for the life of him, how to
respond. So, he hugged her instead, and buried his face in the cascades of her
brown hair. He was crushed with delight when he felt her enclose him in the
circle of her soft arms in return.
“You missed dinner.”
He kissed her cheek. “I ate outside.”
Tristan saw her eyes crinkle from a smile, close to her
as he was. The tips of their noses were already touching.
She said, “You missed my other painting.”
He kissed her neck, then lingered, “I’ll see it
later,” he whispered, inhaling her sweet, intoxicating scent.
“Later?”
“Later.” Tristan straightened and trapped her lips
in a kiss.
It was anything but what he was expecting it to be. He
had fantasized about it being hot, hurried, and frenzied. He expected his arms
to ache in need to touch her all over.
That’s not how it happened. The kiss was slow, calm
as the sea in the morning, and very, very sweet. His hands were content to span
the warmth of her whole back while her arms were locked around his neck, He didn’t
bite her lip, her neck, or any part of her for that matter. He just kept
repeating three words over and over until he was sure his heart was about to
burst with it.
It would only be in the morning when he’ll realize
she never said those words back.
No comments:
Post a Comment