“It’s been too long. You look well…” I said with a smile.I meant it. She did look well. Everything about her looked well and perfect except for the fact that she was now stuck in a wheelchair.“You look very well yourself. Congratulations on your marriage. You look so happy, so I take it that marriage life is treating you well,” she said before showing me a sweet smile.“Thank you. I’m still trying to get used to married life, but it’s been quite smooth sailing so far,” I lied smoothly as required of my role as Diana.“I’m so happy for you, honestly. It’s such a shame that I couldn’t be there on your big day. I was still going through some rehab abroad…” she said while looking quite apologetic.“It’s not a problem at all. I did receive the present that you sent. Thank you again,” I thanked her politely.I had no idea whether the gentle smile that she was showing me was genuine or not, but if I had to place my bets, I would put everything that I had on the line to bet that she was jus
“Tomorrow is going to be another hassle…” she said before heaving another sigh.“More love letters asking you out?” I made an educated guess.She turned to me and nodded her head before shaking her head and rolling her eyes upwards at the same time. I ended up laughing whenever Diana made that funny face. I liked the fact that I seemed to be the only one who knew this side to my sister. After all, she couldn’t show off all the nasty, playful, and truthful sides of herself to anyone else without being judged. Sadly, that also meant that she couldn’t be herself in front of anyone, our parents included.“Dahlia, can you be Diana again tomorrow? Please…” she asked with pleading eyes.For me, it wasn’t that challenging to act as Diana. The effort was well worth it mostly because I knew that Diana could relax more on the days when she was acting as Dahlia. Fewer eyes would be on her and she wouldn’t have to spend her days living under such crushingly high expectations. The truth was that I
“Umm…” I murmured as I tried to pull my arm back.“Don’t just reject me like this, Diana. Why don’t you take some time to think about it properly?” he suggested as he closed the distance between us.I sensed immediately that this guy wasn’t simply willing to back down just like the other guys that I’ve rejected. I could smell trouble coming my way, but I wasn’t sure how I should deal with it.“I truly feel happy that you feel this way about me, but I don’t think that we can start dating…” I said while trying to remain calm.“Let’s start again. Do you even know who I am?” he asked with clear displeasure.I looked up into his face and had to admit that he didn’t look so bad. Most girls would probably find him quite attractive. He was probably a little older than I was. He was tall, well-built, and had attractive determined eyes. Since the love letter he sent didn’t have a resume attached, I didn’t quite know who he was in the sense that he wanted me to understand, and it wasn’t like I c
“Why are you here?” Bill growled with a scowl on his face.“I have date with my fiancée today,” Anthony replied smoothly before turning to offer me a charming smile.Oh, that’s right. I’m supposed to meet with Anthony today…Wait, but didn’t Diana mention that it wasn’t supposed to be a date?I was too captivated by Anthony’s attractive smile at first to remember that we still had a problem on our hands. By the time that I came back to my senses, Bill had already closed the distance between himself and Anthony.“Watch out, Anthony!” I yelled out.It was too late because Bill had already grabbed onto Anthony’s shoulder to turn him around. I was so shocked that violence was about to break out. Anthony is a kindhearted guy who would never resort to violence, and I immediately got scared for him and his safety. Everything moved so fast that at first, I wasn’t sure what exactly had happened. The next thing I knew, there was a cracking sound followed by a thumping sound and then Bill was sp
This all happened because I failed to control the situation and the things that I said to Bill must have angered him. I recalled the way that Bill looked at me and the feeling of his tight grip on my wrist. Thankfully, Anthony showed up when he did and saved me because I wasn’t quite sure how I would have handled Bill otherwise.I hated how helpless I felt and how that weakness of mine led to Anthony’s injury.“You don’t have to do this…” he said softly but he did not attempt to pull his hand away from mine again.“I want to do this,” I said before glancing up from his hand and smiling at him.It felt like the least that I could do apart from thanking him repeatedly. I could feel Anthony’s eyes on me as I cleansed his wounds and applied medicine on them before sticking bandages on them.“I think that’s a bit much…” he said as he looked at the result of my handiwork.The bandages did make the condition of his hand look much worse than it actually was, but I thought that it was best to
I liked how he talked to me in his gentle and soothing tone, the way he smiled at me, and the way he always handled me with care as if I might break. Then there would be times like earlier where I could get glimpses of other sides of him that never failed to intrigue me.“Anywhere is fine…” I replied as I felt myself blushing for no good reason.“Should we just run off? Just the two of us?” he suggested as his eyes widened with apparent excitement.“We’ll get in trouble if we do that,” I replied while worrying more about Anthony than myself.His wild suggestion was unexpected and didn’t seem to fit his character but that only made me feel special for getting to see this side to him. I ended up giggling at just the idea of making a run for it together even though I was supposed to be against the idea.“We’ll get in plenty of trouble already as it is…” he pointed out before winking at me.I knew immediately what he was referring to. He did just beat up someone, and even if it was for my
“Hmm…is that so?” Anthony replied while sounding extremely unconvinced.I wished that I could come right out and tell him honestly that I wanted to see him in action but because I couldn’t quite tell him that, I decided to ask him something instead to change the direction of my conversation.“How did you find me?” I asked curiously.“I asked around for you and someone told me that you’d gone into the back garden…” he replied before grinning at me.I could tell that he had also learnt from that moment on why I had gone to the back garden, and I couldn’t blame him for not being impressed.“Does it happen very often?” he asked, and I knew that he was referring to those confessions.“Yeah…too often…” I replied honestly before pressing my lips into a regrettable thin line.“Diana…” Anthony said after a moment of pause.It looked like he had something that he wanted to tell me but before he could say anything, the loud sound of thunder roaring in the distance disturbed us. The wind picked u
I hated how sad and lonely he sounded at that moment. His words and the worried look on his face tugged painfully at my heart and that was probably because it wasn’t true that I didn’t want him to kiss me. More than anything, I wanted him to kiss me. I wanted to feel his sweet lips on mine.“I…” I murmured hesitantly.In the end, I couldn’t bring myself to say no to him…or to myself…“Just close your eyes…” he whispered.I let my eyes drift close as I waited to feel his lips on mine. Having my eyes closed made everything even more frightening because I couldn’t see and didn’t know what to expect. I felt his soft and warm lips press gently against mine.That was it.The first kiss that I shared with Anthony was over before I knew it, but it made me realize that the feelings that I’d developed for him was far from over.…**The next day**“How was your date?” Diana asked teasingly.“What date?” I replied as if I didn’t know what she was talking about.“You’re going to tell me all about