Not made for each other - 5. Three Promises

M sending u an opportunity.

It was a message from Becca. I couldn’t get it.

What opportunity, Becca???

I messaged her back with my right hand, while opening the refrigerator for some water with the left one. I carried a water bottle to the dining room table, but before I could fill my glass, my phone beeped again.

U’ll know soon…just be at home.

Her reply confused me more.

Is it a surprise or something?? I texted back anxiously.

Kind of.

Okay bye…john is here…ttylJ

Great, Becca just left me hanging; I have no idea what she was talking about. I totally forgot that I was thirsty few seconds ago and started pondering over that surprise Becca was talking about. Most likely she was coming to my home to meet me…or maybe she’s sending me a gift. Oh gosh, I hate this stupid guessing game and right now I was hating Becca for literally coercing me in this brain jamming game through her intriguing messages…huh.

It’s been six days since my visit to the Woodsworth’s house. Since then Becca and I have been in regular contact. Generally, we communicate through text messages. Slowly and steadily we were bonding, and a friendship was developing between us, despite our age difference. She’s funny yet serious, emotional yet strong, calm yet a storm is brewing inside her. I feel bad for her sometimes. How could a woman like her end up with people like John and Edward? I so wish I could fulfill my promise to her and bring some happiness to her life; she truly deserves to be happy.

I came out of my thoughts and poured some water to drink. Before I could lift the glass to my lips, my doorbell rang. The surprise Becca was talking about was probably here. I hurriedly ran towards the door and opened it. Unexpectedly, it was Kev. Just the mere sight of him made me forget about Becca and her surprise, and a blushing smile spread over my face.

“Hi, sexy,” he greeted me with a naughty smile playing over his damn kissable lips.

“What are you doing here?” I asked hiding my happiness at seeing him and resisting the urge to kiss him.

“Is that the way you treat your guests?” he complained bogusly and came inside, walking around me as I shut the door.

“Is that the way you barge into everybody’s house?” I retorted back, putting his question aside.

“It’s not anybody’s house. It’s the house of my official boyfriend, with whom I’m going on a date tomorrow and will be able to kiss him for the very first time,” he replied nonchalantly just in one breath, wandering freely into my living room.

“Our date is tomorrow, not today, Kev,” I reminded him as I walked towards him. Now we were standing face to face, merely inches apart. He looked at me and turned serious.

“I know, but…but…”

“But what, Kev?” I asked, dragging my words, raising my eyebrows.

“But, I was kind of missing you…a lot,” he asserted, taking a step closer to me, looking directly into my eyes. The way he said it, I could tell he meant each and every word.

“You could have met me tomorrow,” I mentioned feebly, looking away from his spellbinding eyes and taking a step back.

“I couldn’t wait to see you.” He took another step towards me.

I didn’t respond, I just looked at him once again and took another step back.

“I couldn’t wait to see your beautiful eyes.” He kept moving towards me and I continued stepping back.

“I couldn’t wait to see you tucking strands of your smooth black hair behind your earlobe; the hair which keeps falling over your next-to-perfect face,” he said lasciviously, tucking a few strands of my hair behind my ear, which were swaying over my unblinking left eye. His soft and sensuous touch was more than enough for me to forget about each and every term and condition I put upon us. My breathing got heavier.

“I couldn’t wait to touch your ravishingly kissable lips.” The thumb of his right hand traced over my lips. I couldn’t step back any further as my back was now pressing against one of the walls in the living room. He snaked his one hand around my waist and started caressing my cheekbone with the back of his other hand.

“I couldn’t wait to…” I knew what was about to happen but this time I didn’t have the courage or any intention to stop him. Now, even I was incapable of waiting for tomorrow for this beautiful moment to happen. I could see him leaning closer and closer with my half-lidded eyes. I parted my lips a bit and closed my eyes. He kissed me, but on my forehead. I slowly opened my eyes. “…do this.” I gave him a questioning look.

“I know what you are thinking. I was the one who was so desperate for the kiss to happen and when you were prepared for it, why didn’t I go through with it?” I gave him a slight nod. “Zune, you are not just a fling to me. You are someone with whom I’m in love with. It would be a lie if I said I never thought about making love to you or kissing you, but I don’t want to rush our relationship. I want to live and relish each and every moment of it with you at a leisurely pace. I want to make every moment that we share memorable. That’s why I didn’t kiss you today. I want to make that moment special…very special for you, Zune.” The only thing I was able to see in his twinkling eyes was love. I slowly hugged him and put my head on his chest.

“I guess I can survive another day without kissing you,” I whispered, closing my eyes. He hugged me tighter. I don’t know how long we were embracing, but I can say it was one of the moments where I was more certain about my feelings towards Kev.

We came out of each other’s arms and into the real world when Kev’s phone beeped. He fished out his phone from the left pocket of his jeans.

“It’s ‘The Bitch’, and she wants me to meet her right now so that I can take her to the mall,” he grumbled irritably.

“Then you should go now,” I advised him with a smile.

“But I don’t want to,” He whimpered.

“But you have to.” I turned him around using both my hands and started pushing him towards the front door.

“You are literally throwing me out of your house,” he accused me. When he reached the door he turned around and made a puppy face.

“Yes, I’m throwing you out of my house so that you can come back tomorrow to pick me up for our date,” I explained with a blushing smile. His face instantly lit up. “So get lost right now and be here again tomorrow morning nine o’clock sharp,” I commanded.

“Yes, sir.” He saluted me like a soldier. I shut my door reluctantly but I knew if I kept talking to him, he’d never leave. I returned to the dining room table with a smiling face and I grabbed my glass of water which was probably warm by now. I picked it up but before could take a sip, my doorbell rang again. I went towards the door taking my glass of water with me. When I opened my door again, I wasn’t surprised to see Kev standing on the other side.

“What do you want, Kev?” I asked tilting my head a bit.

“Just wanna say bye,” he said and shrugged in the most innocent way possible.

“You came back to just to say bye to me?” I asked in disbelief.

“Yeah,” he replied with his erotic smile.

“Okay then, bye Kev.” I waved my hand and again shut the door. I took a sip of water and moved towards the kitchen. Before I could cross my living room, my doorbell rang again. Before I even turned around to walk towards the door, I knew who was on the other side. And as I expected, it was Kevin Samuel Ray again.

“Kev.” I gave him a warning look.

“I just wanna say…”

“What, Kev?” I asked irritably.

“I love you, Zune,” he said it for the nth time, looking so innocent. My hard expression softened instantly. Every time Kev confessed his feelings for me, I felt proud, honored and lucky. I couldn’t hide my smile. I blushed and looked away.

“Bye, Kev.” I gave him the same response as usual and closed the door again. I knew he would have been smiling on the other side of door, just like I was. That glass of water was still in my hand so I made my way towards the kitchen again, shaking my head. Before I could make it there, my doorbell rang AGAIN. I already knew it was Kev. Kev had used up my patience quota for the day. I decided to make him pay for that. I walked to the door, opened it, and threw the water in the glass on him without looking to make sure it was really Kev.

“You…” I stopped in mid-sentence as I saw who the victim of my recent water attack was. He was standing on the other side of the door giving me a death glare. His hair and face were wet and water was dripping down on his green t-shirt. It was Mr. Edward Woodsworth.

‘I am so dead.’ I thought to myself.

“How-dare-you?” he asked with his usual anger and hatred, gritting his teeth.

“I…I am so…so sorry. I… I thought…” I tried to apologize.

“I don’t give a fuck what you thought, you fag,” he sputtered.

“Watch your language, Mr. Arrogant. If you are here to do what you always do; curse me and homosexuals, then please get lost because I’m not in the mood to hear your libelous thoughts,” I squinted and declared with my, ‘go-to-hell’, attitude. I was about to shut the door in his face when he gently put his left hand on the door to stop me from doing so.

“I...I want to t…talk to you,” he stammered, looking downwards.

“What?” I asked unbelievably, leaving the door half-open.

“I…I said I want to…I want to talk to you.” He stuttered again in an unsure voice, still looking at the ground. It was easily visible how painful it was for him to say this. I opened the door and stepped aside. He fidgeted in his place for few seconds looking down, glancing at me from corner of his eyes and then finally came inside. Now I understood about what opportunity Becca was talking about. I took a deep breath and closed the door.

When I came in, he was standing in the middle of the living room. I went to my room and brought him a towel. I gave it to him and he took it after musing for few seconds. After using it, he gave it back to me. I put it in the dryer and prepared some coffee for both of us. When I came into the living room with a mug of hot coffee in my each hand, I saw him looking intently at one of my pictures hanging on the wall. The picture showed me reading one of my favorite novels called, “Veronica Decides to Die”.

“It is one of my favorite novels that I’m reading in this picture,” I informed him.

“I don’t care,” he said defensively and instantly turned around as if caught in the middle of a crime. I ignored his last remark and extended my left hand towards him, holding a purple-colored coffee mug. “I don’t need anything.” He refused to take it without looking at me, and he had the most standoffish attitude possible. “I…I came here just because my mom…my mom thinks that…that I should thank you for saving her life,” he revealed uncomfortably.

“And, what do you think?” I asked putting the coffee mugs on the table.

“My father and I think that a simple thanks is not good enough for you,” he said proudly, lifting his eyebrows and looking directly at me. All his uneasiness was gone. The arrogant Edward was back.

“What do you mean?” I asked dubiously. I could smell something was not right. He slowly pulled out a rectangular piece of paper from his jeans pocket and handed it to me. I took it silently. When I saw what it was, there was only one thing I wanted to do at that moment and that was to slap him. It was a blank check signed by Mr. John Woodsworth.

“I hope that’s what you were expecting, isn’t it?” he asked with an evil smile.

“Is that why you think I saved Bec…your mom’s life?” I asked, instead of answering his rubbish question, trying not to show him that I was hurt more than offended.

“What else could be the reason?” he counter-questioned, shrugging.

I was losing my patience. “I would have told you the reason Mr. Arrogant, but I’m afraid you are not that kind of person who would understand.” I sassed with a constricted throat.

“Oh, come on. Stop it. I know fags like you love to do melodrama, but seriously stop this nonsense and fill out whatever you want on this check and let’s get this over with,” he said harshly, and offered me his pen.

Now I was determined to teach him a lesson. The homophobic father-son duo thought that they could get everything with money; it was time to show them that they couldn’t. I thought for few seconds and came up with a plan. A plan which would help me accomplish my promise, a plan which would help me give Mr. Arrogant a much needed attitude adjustment, a plan which would help him learn about humanity and friendship.

“Are you sure whatever amount I write down on this check, you guys will be able to give me?” I questioned him skeptically.

“We are Woodsworths’, you fool. We can afford to give you anything. Just put in an amount,” he bragged.

I took the pen from him. I knelt down, put that piece of paper on the table and wrote in an amount. I stood up with a sigh and gave him back the check and the pen. He put the pen back in his pocket with a conceited smile but his smile vanished from his proud face when he read what I wrote on the check.

“What the fuck is all this?” He scowled and gave me a burning look.

“It’s the amount I want for saving your mom’s life.” I clarified unnecessarily.

“Don’t try to be such a smartass with me, you fag.” He barked angrily.

“So, should I take that as a no?”

“Undoubtedly.”

“It’s so sad you know; being one of the Woodsworth’s you are not able to give me the amount I want.” I taunted him with fake disappointment and sorrow.

“It…it’s not like that,” he objected in a defensive tone, blinking his eyes.

“I knew you wouldn’t be able to pay it. I knew your boastful talks were totally baseless. I guess now your so called pride must be humbled. I should have known that you WOULD turn your back to your own words. I should never beli…”

“I’m ready.” He interrupted my tirade in a determined voice.

It was the moment in which I knew that finally my plan had been working and my provoking outburst played a vital role in it. “Are you sure?” I asked with a frown. He gave me a look that suggested he was.

“Okay then, I have written on that piece of paper what I want but let me tell you about it verbally. Three promises. That is what I want from you.” Yes. That was the amount I asked for…three promises from him.

“And what are those promises?” he asked exasperatedly, furrowing his eyebrows and tilting his head to the right.

“I’m asking you again, are you s…”

“Cut the crap and spit it out right now.” He commanded as he cut me off.

“Okay. First promise…you will not say a word about these promises to anyone, your father included.” I disclosed.

“You are telling me to hide things from my father?” he asked as if it were impossible; as if he’s already not hiding many things from his asshole father; like the portrait he made of me, that he smiles whenever he’s looking at it, etc. etc.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m telling you to do,” I confirmed with a nod.

“But I can’t do…”

“Yes or no?” I asked with a determined face.

“But…”

“Yes or no?”

He thought for less than a minute and then agreed. “Okay.”

I could see my plan was working just perfectly. I was on the right track. “Okay?”

“Yeah. Okay.” He nodded. “Second promise?” he asked with an emotionless face, folding his hands.

“The second promise I want from you is that you have to stop bullying gay kids physically or verbally, forever, on the contrary, you have to be helpful to them.” I revealed.

“What the fuck?” he snarled in utter disbelief, unfolding his hands.

“I’m not asking for your life. I’m just asking you to let them live their lives peacefully…without any fear.” I tried to make him understand.

“They…you fucking fags deserve that.” Here he switched again to his ‘homosexuals are sinners’ mode.

“You are not supposed to decide what they deserve, Mr. Arrogant. You are not God.” I argued. “Now, can you afford to promise me this or not?” I asked as calmly as possible.

“Look…” he started to object.

“Yes or no?”

“But…”

“Yes or no?”

“You can’t…”

“Yes or no?”

He looked into my eyes for a while and then agreed. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

He gave me a look suggesting that I didn’t need to ask him again.

“Third promise?”

This time I could read curiosity in his voice instead of anger or hatred. With each passing promise I could feel his arrogant, hard demeanor softening. Now, it was the time to play my final card. If I played it right then I would have the chance to get whatever I had planned. I took a deep breath.

‘I can do this, of course I can.’ I assured myself.

“What the hell is the third promise? Are you going to tell me or not?” he asked impatiently, but as he felt that I had read curiosity and impatience in his voice, on his face and in his behavior, instead of detestation, he immediately controlled himself. “I mean, if you are not gonna tell me then I don’t want to waste my time and I’ll just leave.” He added in an unconvincing manner, blinking his eyes rapidly.

“Third promise…” I knew I had his undivided attention. He was listening very carefully to each and every word leaving my mouth, as if afraid that he was going to miss something, “…that I want from you is that…” I shut my eyes tight and added, “…you have to spend four hours with me every day till school resumes, and you have to go with me wherever I take you and do whatever I want.” I divulged. My eyes were still closed. I was waiting for him to shout at me, to curse me, but it never happened. I slowly opened my eyes. He was trying to say something but it seemed the words had got caught in his throat.

“I…you…how can…why…what the hell…” he fumbled with his words. His facial expressions changed from shock to anger to utter disbelief. He took deep breaths to calm himself. “I think you have gone insane,” he concluded after few moments, “completely insane,” he added. He was looking at me as if I had horns on my head.

“Look, I’m serious here.” I tried to maintain my composure as I responded to him.

“Serious? SERIOUS? ARE YOU SERIOUSLY SERIOUS ABOUT ALL THIS?” He shouted incredulously. “I guess…no, I don’t guess, I am sure that you are out of your fucking mind, or is it some kind of cruel, stupid joke?”

“I am not out of my mind nor is this any sort of joke,” I confirmed.

He covered his face with his both hands and ducked his head. After a minute or two, he looked at me and folded his arms against his broad chest.

“What do you want?” he asked in a damn serious manner.

“I think I have already told you that,” I reminded him.

“No, I didn’t mean that promise. I’m asking, what do you really want? Why are you doing all this? What do you wanna gain from this promise? Why, just…why?” he asked narrowing his eyes.

He was confused…very confused and I didn’t blame him for that, but whatever I was doing, it was for Becca. I told Becca I would help her with him, and this would do him good in the long run.

“I don’t think I’m supposed to tell you everything, Mr. Arrogant.” I answered, averting my eyes from his unreadable face.

“I can’t promise you that. I…I will not promise you that,” he declared feebly, shaking his head and unfolding his hands.

“It means you’ll show your back to your own words. It means you…”

“Stop it. Just stop it. I…”

“Why? Why should I? You were the one who came here. You were the one who was so eager to pay me whatever amount I wanted for saving Mrs. Rebecca John Woodsworth. And now you are the one who’s denying giving me what I want, then why, why should I stop?”

“What you are asking for is not fair,” he reasoned, “Ask anything else,” he offered.

“I’m the one who has the right to decide what I want and what I don’t want, and if you are not capable of giving me what I want, then leave and never ever say those words to anybody if you can’t stick up for them.” I was firing taunt after taunt in hopes that he’d say yes, but chances of that happening were getting slimmer and slimmer with each passing moment.

He didn’t respond. He was just staring at me intently as if trying to figure out my intentions behind asking for these, ‘three promises’, but I’m afraid he would have been disappointed. We stood there for more than a minute, peering into each other’s eyes, in complete silence.

“Look…” he tried to make me understand again.

“Yes or no?” I asked sternly.

“I’m dangerous for you,” He warned me, raising his left eyebrow.

“You sound like Edward.” I observed with a slight smile.

“I AM Edward,” he explained as if I didn’t know. He obviously didn’t get my point.

“I know who you are. What I meant was that you sounded like Edward…Edward Cullen of “Twilight”, you know, “I’m dangerous for you”, and all that,” I elaborated. “I hope you are not a bloodsucker?” I asked curling my lips.

“No I’m not, but I’m still dangerous for you,” he warned me again.

“I don’t care,” I lied nonchalantly. Inside though, I was scared. What if he’s okay with this promise, then what? What will I do afterwards? My planning so far was just to make him accept these promises but I hadn’t thought about ‘what next’. I decided to push my fears to the back burner for the time being and leave everything to God. How pathetic. “Now, yes or no?”

“Your life could be turned upside down,” he threatened me again.

“I don’t care. Yes or no?”

“You will regret it.”

Oh God, can’t he just say yes and get it over with it! Bloody stubborn brat.

“Yes or no?”

“You…”

“YES OR NO?”

After being silent for God knows how long, he replied. “Okay.” At last, at last he agreed.

“What if you go back on your….” I tried to ask few moments later.

“I won’t,” he cut me off, “believe me.”

I didn’t have a single good reason to believe him, but God knows how and why I wanted to believe him; believe his words. He did not sound sad or angry or disgusted, on the contrary, he was sounding hopeful, sincere, and like a normal teenager.

“I believe you,” I admitted.

“You do?” he asked. He looked and sounded surprised as if he was sure that I would say that I didn’t believe him.

“Yeah, I do,” I assured him.

For the first time since I met Edward, I saw him smile. Well, he was not smiling properly because he was trying hard not to smile, but his face gave it away.

“So, when and where do you want our first meeting?” he inquired, as if asking about a professional meeting. His smile disappeared from his handsome face in a flash.

I wanted a place where none of my friends could find me hanging out with him.

“St. Thomas’s Church,” I answered after musing for few seconds. It was one of the oldest places in the city and it did not attract many people.

“St. Thomas’s Church?”

“Yep. You know the church minutes away from our school?” I don’t think any of my friends would hang out around that area while our school was still closed.

“Of course I know,” he responded irritably.

“Okay then, that’s the place we’ll meet everyday till our school opens again.”

“Time?”

“Ten-thirty a.m. sharp.”

“When?”

“The day after tomorrow.” How could I forget that tomorrow I have my first date with Kev?

“Anything else you want apart from these promises?” he asked, looking at me with his calculating eyes.

“No.” I shook my head.

He nodded. “I should leave then.” He began to move towards front door.

“Bye…Mr. Arr…Ed…Edward.” I tried to be friendly but that arrogant asshole never responded.

When he reached the door and was about to exit, he turned around and said something I never expected to hear from him.

“Thank you for saving my mom’s life…Zune.”

Before I could understand what he said, he had already left. In that single line I heard two words from him for the very first time, ‘Thank you’ and my name, ‘Zune’. He accepted those three promises. He also smiled a bit today. Unbelievable…huh? But now I had to think about the explanation I had to give my mom and friends for being away from home and from them for four fucking hours. I decided to think about it later.

Approximately two hours after Mr. Arrogant’s departure, Becca called.

“What have you done to John Woodsworth’s son?” Becca asked instantly as I picked up my phone. Her voice was full of joy and excitement. I could visualize that there was a big smile on her face.

“Hi, Becca.”

“Oh come on Zune, don’t tease me, and please tell me what happened! What did you tell him?”

I never saw…heard her so excited and happy.

“I’ll tell you everything, but before that you have to tell me what happened at your place. What did Mr. A…Edward do?” I asked curiously.

“You won’t believe it. The moment he entered the house, he started acting like my son, not like the arrogant son of a homophobic father. He’s smiled, cooked my favorite cheese sandwiches for the both of us, talked to me enthusiastically, and now he’s in his room painting.”

I couldn’t believe it. Why would he be so happy and…and excited? He must have felt angry and…

“Oh God Zune, thanks a lot, thank you, thank you, thank you.” The excitement and joy in her voice didn’t diminish at all.

“Oh God Becca, calm down or you’ll have a heart attack,” I joked, putting aside my confusion for a minute.

“I don’t care. I really don’t care if I die this moment, Zune, I really don’t.” Her quavering voice indicated that she was about to cry.

“Becca, I’m not doing all this to make you cry.”

“I know. I know. I was just…leave all this and tell me what happened when he was there?”

I told her everything from the very beginning to the very end. She told me that she didn’t know about that blank check and apologized. She said she just told Edward that since he was her son, he must say at least thank you to me for saving her life. How clever, I must say. She was damn impressed with the way I used her surprise, or opportunity.

“I was so right about you, Zune. In just one day you made him change so much. I wonder what you will do in the next thirty days,” she praised me.

“Honestly Becca, even I don’t know what I’m gonna do in the coming days, but I assure you I’ll do my best to change him back to Edward from Mr. Arrogant,” I reassured her.

“About that I’m sure.”

I could feel enormous trust and hope in her voice.

“But Becca, I couldn’t understand one thing. Why is he so delighted? I expected him to be angry, disgusted and depressed that he has to spend four hours a day with a gay guy; a guy he hates from the bottom of his heart.” Yes, I had told her that I’m gay and as I expected, she was perfectly alright with it.

“Look Zune, I have already told you that he doesn’t hate you. He wants to be your friend and I’m sure about this since the day he painted you. And now I’m even surer about this after seeing the impact your three promises had on him. But he won’t accept that that he’s happy being able to spend time with you; that he wants your friendship because of the principles he’s following. So believe me when I say, ‘he-doesn’t-hate-you’,” she insisted.

She was probably right. Why else would he be so happy about those promises? But why me? Why he thinks (if he really thinks so) that we could be friends? Perhaps, these coming days will answer my many questions.

“I believe you,” I responded. “Okay, now it’s time to talk about the promise you gave me yesterday,” I reminded her.

“I’ll talk to him,” she ensured me.

“But when?” I inquired.

“I…I’m just looking for the right time,” she said but she didn’t sound confident.

“Come on, Becca. Stop lying to me and to yourself. You know very well there will never be a ‘right time’ to talk to your husband about your desire to work,” I stated somewhat harshly in a single breath.

“Calm down, Zune or you’ll have a heart attack.” She repeated my words and a smile instantly spread over my face. “I promise you again, I’ll talk to him soon about my job, okay?” she reassured me.

“I hope so.”

“You have my word.”

We talked for another ten to fifteen minutes. Later on, I went into my bedroom and thought about the past month. So much had happened since I started at that school and so much is happening and is going to happen in the coming days. Tomorrow is my first date ever with Kev. I am excited as well as nervous. I so hope everything goes well…perfect. The day after tomorrow, I have to meet Mr. Arrogant. We will have to meet every day for four hours. I don’t have any idea how I am gonna survive that. There are thirty days before our school re-opens; it means for twenty-nine days I have to meet him and in those twenty-nine days I have to fulfill my promise. Oh gosh, how am I going to be able to do that?

Later on that night when I went to my bed, I couldn’t sleep. A strange feeling was robbing me of my sleep and when I thought deeply about it, I realized that the strange feeling was…guilt. I was feeling guilty for concealing all these things from my loved ones and the one person I was feeling the guiltiest about, was Kev.

‘I’ll tell him and everyone else about all this when the time is right.’ I deceived myself with the same excuse that Becca made earlier.

A relationship can never be successful if you are hiding things with your partner and I was doing that. It’s wrong, totally wrong. Kev trusts me blindly. I mustn’t do anything to make him ever think that I have broken his trust. I immediately sat up in my bed, fished out my phone, which was somewhere below the pillow, and dialed Kev’s number without thinking about it. He picked up his phone after just one ring.

“HI, SEXY!!! I was just thinking about you and you…”

As much as I loved to hear his cheerful voice, I had to interrupt him.

“I’m hiding something very important from you,” I confessed, holding my breath and pressing my eyes shut hard. He didn’t react for few seconds. The silence of those few seconds was killing me.

“Do you think I should know about it?” he finally asked in a calm and understanding tone.

“Yes,” I answered honestly.

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

“No. Not right now,” I admitted.

“Okay. So tell me what you’re planning to wear for our date?” My cheerful Kev was back.

“Hold on, hold on. I just told you I’m hiding something from you and you are asking what I’m gonna wear for our date tomorrow? Aren’t you angry with me?” I asked incredulously.

“No, why should I be?” he responded as if nothing happened.

“Kev. I’m hiding something from you. Don’t you get that?”

“Zune. You do have every right not to tell me anything that you don’t want to. Just because we are in a relationship, doesn’t mean in any way that you are bound to tell me everything. It’s your life; you have to live it and you have to make your own decisions and my job is to respect your decisions. I don’t want to be your entire life, Zune; I just want to be a part of it. So, if you don’t feel like sharing everything with me, I’m perfectly alright with it. I’m even happy that you honestly told me you are hiding something, and I really appreciate that. The moral of the story is; I’m not angry with you and I’m feeling extremely proud and lucky that you chose a ‘nothing’ like me as your boyfriend. And now I think I have said enough, so it’s your turn to say something.”

I was wondering how he does it. In one moment he is cheerful, stubborn, mischievous and innocent like a child, and a moment later he is serious, calm, supportive and understanding like a mature person. How could he be so…so nice? Do I really deserve him?

“I’m still waiting to hear your soft and sexy voice.” His gleeful teasing brought me back to earth.

“Thanks, Kev,” I responded in a grateful voice.

“For what?”

“For letting me get this burden off my chest so that I could sleep.” I asserted in relief. “Okay then, it’s quite late now. Take care and good night. See you tomorrow.”

“Zune.” I was about to hang up when he called my name.

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

“Bye, Kev.”

I hung up with a beaming smile on my face. I felt happy and relieved. I laid back down on my bed and put my phone on my night table. My eyes were getting heavier. I closed my eyes and was soon embraced in sweet sleep.

TBC.