(Domme) Of A Kind (8 page)

At half past five in the afternoon, I
finished everything so I headed back to the car and finally found
our way to our last destination, The French Room, a French
restaurant at The Adolphus, Commerce Street. As I enter the place I
can already feel the atmosphere and it’s embracing me. It’s
actually a feeling of being in a real date. I know this would be
our third meeting but I don’t know, I feel like it’s the first
time. As I roam the area with my eyes the thrill began to get
heavy. I can’t find any people inside so it feels so quiet. I feel
like I’m alone. But before I reached the table at the edge of the
room, I saw a man standing beside it. He is wearing black suits.
And I can see how the suits fit him very well. I can see the gray
colored tie firmly attached around his neck; it’s good in the eyes.
I can see his hair, it’s sexy. I can see his face, his eyes looking
and waiting for me, and his lips just waiting to smile. I can see
Walter Wright, he’s just outrageously handsome.

“You are stunning,” he said as I get closer
to him. “I love the way you look tonight,”

I gave him my sweet smile, “And you are
beautiful,” I said back to him. That’s right, he’s just
irresistibly hot. I didn’t take my eyes away from him because I
just can’t. I am totally stuck at him for a moment. I am watching
him and waiting for his next move.

He cut his stare, led me to the chair, and
asked me to sit. Then he sat on the other side too. After that, he
handed something to me. I looked at it and it’s a small brown box.
“Open it,” he followed. So I took it and followed what he
instructed me. There, a gold necklace with a circular jade pendant
unfolded right before my eyes. I turned back to him and he’s
looking at me. “I want you to wear it,” he said. Then he stood up
again and reached me on my chair. He spread his hand in front of me
so I gave him the box back. He took the necklace out there and at
last hanged it around my neck.

I can feel it, the lace sitting around my
neck. I can feel the weight of the stone dangling on it. I can feel
the warmth it brings. Oh gosh, what is this I’m feeling now? “Thank
you,” There’s just nothing I can say aside from that word. I’m
totally speechless.

It is here when they started serving us the
food. Red wine follows. Then us consuming them. “So, how was school
today?” he asked to me.

“Nothing really much,” I replied. Which is
true, I didn’t do anything aside from studying harder and thinking
of him, just like that. “Pretty much the same with what I’ve
learned last year, just in a higher level this time,”

“What did you discuss about?”

“Well, basically about principles and
practices and all the stuffs there,”

He paused for a while and gave me a
thoughtful stare, “You think it’s boring?” he followed next.

It was not that clear if he’s still talking
about school thing or what we’re doing right now so I wondered,
“What?” I asked back.

“About being in a world of business,” he
answered.

So we’re still in the topic. “I’ve never
thought of it that way,” I said. “Why did you ask?”

“Ever wonder why people like me still
unmarried because of what we do?”

There he goes. I think I know now what he
wants me to understand. People belong in his world are only focused
on things they do. That means, they care less about the others.
That includes love life. And when I say love life, it stretches up
to the sex life. Maybe he’s thinking that women will get bored if
they married a businessman like him because he will not have much
time about sex. “Not really. I have a good understanding about
people around me. I understand how men differ from women. We, women
are more of being homemaker and men do the opposite thing, which I
guess it makes sense because that’s the purpose of having a good
family,” I replied to him. I hope he got my point there. “And you,
I know you’re just preparing now because you want your future
family to have the best in their lives,” I added.

“How can you be so sure?”

I stopped for a while and I can see his eyes,
they’re both waiting for my answer. “I don’t know but I feel that
you are,” I just said to him. But I said it not because I want to
give my sympathy to him, it just went out of my mouth. I don’t know
too but inquisitiveness bothered me again. There’s just something
in his question that I want to know. Maybe this time he can tell me
his side, so I took the chance of asking him, “And you, are you
bored?”

“No Miranda, I am disciplined,” he answered
quickly.

I was blown away with it. He just got me with
his short and simple answer. I was tamed. I wanted to ask more but
I guess there’s just nothing else to explain about there. So I’m
literally stuck in front of him. But there I noticed something from
the way he looks at me, “What is that?” I asked out of my
curiosity. But as soon as the echo of my question ended, he dropped
his eyes away from mine and continued drinking. And yes, he didn’t
give me a response with what I just asked him. So just like him, I
just stayed eating. We talked more about business stuffs too after
a while. Since we are both in the same category in our lives, the
flow in our conversation was that easygoing. He discussed about how
important self-discipline is if you want to last in his field. He
also shared to me the ups and downs he has been before he succeeded
his position from his father, Mr. William Wright. The bottom line
he told me was, time. We all can be serious with what we want in
our lives but having just the right amount of time to something you
want is the basis of achieving it. And once again, he just left me
feeling amazed with what he does in his life. He just gave me more
reasons to pursue my studies. He just left me inspired. After that
thrill-filled and unplanned meeting, he then just drove me back
home.

“Am I seeing this just right?” expressed Elizabeth
with wonder as she reaches out our small but lovely kitchen when
she woke up in the morning. “Or I’m starting to sleepwalk now?”
Then she put her eyes to me as if they’re a gun wanting to shoot me
if I didn’t give them all of my money in an instant. “You tell now
Miranda, what is happening to you? You are acting so weird these
past few days. Are you really okay?”

Though I’m always the first one who wakes up
in the morning but today it’s different. She’s seeing our little
table prepared with I could say not the usual breakfast we have
everyday. We have a real deal that whosever wakes up first should
make the meal and we normally serve sandwich with milk or coffee or
juice or tea whichever is available. But for this morning, she’s
seeing the table with real complete delicious breakfast. And I woke
up an hour earlier than the usual just to make everything ready.
“Good morning Elle,” I greeted to her. “Have a seat please,”
Honestly, just like her, I didn’t expect all of these. I just saw
them delivered in our apartment. I was about to ask her too but I
suddenly remembered something. And I wasn’t wrong with it, all
right, Walter sent them here. Glad I saw them first before she does
or else, she’ll flood me with questions I am not yet ready to tell
the answers. I looked at her and she’s still waiting for my answer,
“What?” I bothered.

“What’s with this?” she asked.

“What’s with this?” I repeated in a tone of
‘what’s the matter?’

She paused and thinks a little deeper. Then
she began smiling with me, “Are you…”

And I knew what she’s about to say, oh she’s
just clever, so, “You have to stop it there now and don’t keep the
food waiting for us,” I interrupted as I turned around to the
kitchen sink to clean my hands.

She stood up quickly and reached me there,
“You are such a little secret keeper!” she expressed.

I turned to her and I can see how her eyes
look at me. I can see her facial reaction too as well as her
interest, and they’re so into my answer. “What are you talking
about?” I tried to avoid her.

“Who is he? What is his name?”

I dried my hands with the towel and sat back
to the chair, but she didn’t stop and just followed me there.
“What?” I gave her my innocent-trying-to-hide-something-look
again.

“What?” she repeated.

She’s obsessed so I think I cannot keep it
any longer that’s why it is here when I finally gave in. “All
right, fine!” I paused for a while and made myself a little silent,
just to make the revelation more heartfelt. “I’m going out with
someone. We are kind of this… I don’t know what we’re doing exactly
but we’re doing it, we go out,” As I’ve said, I don’t want to think
it that way, that we are dating or what because I don’t want to be
one step ahead of it because I don’t want to get hurt at the end.
“I mean, we’ve already done that, many times now. So that’s it.
That’s just it,” Truth is, I still want to keep it to her but I
guess it wouldn’t be fair if one day, she will know it because
somebody else caught us doing it. What kind of friend am I if I
don’t trust her, right? And one more thing, I don’t know but I feel
different about Walter, I mean it in a way that he’s a kind of
boyfriend material, a real serious one. So I don’t want her to
think that I’m just playing around though I know she wouldn’t, but
still I want to introduce him in a formal kind of meeting, most
likely in an unexpected chance. But since she figured it out now, I
guess I have no other choice.

She gave me a happy kind of smile. The one
that is more concerned. “And his name?” she followed.

I’m thinking how am I going to tell it, come
on, I won’t tell his name just like that, I need some introduction
first, so “Do you remember when I left you at the nightclub, that
when I met a guy and drove me back there again?” I started to dig
her memory back.

“Oh, the Lizard? Yeah of course,”

“What about when you asked me to audition at
Eight TNT?”

“Yeah,”

“The guy I met that night and the guy I met
at Eight TNT happened to be just one guy. And that’s the guy I am
seeing now,”

“Uh-hmm,” I gave her a gesture asking if
she’s having the idea now. She dropped her eyes down and made some
thought about it. A moment after, she looked back at me, “Oh,
Miranda don’t you tell me…” I nodded yes to her. I think she
figured it out by now. The night when we talked about her audition,
I casually told her that I had a short conversation with Walter
Wright himself. She didn’t ask too much about him because her focus
at that time was her audition, so I thought it wasn’t that big deal
to her. She covered her mouth with her hand, “So you’re really
serious about that?” she confirmed. I nodded yes again. And there
her smile flooded her face. I don’t know if she’s surprised or
what? “You are so bad!” she said.

“Elle, listen to me. Walter is a nice person.
He is not what you are thinking about him,” This is what I am
talking about, she might think that I’m still being serious with
what I told her before. In sophomore year, I said to her that, if I
ever had a boyfriend while I’m still at school, I won’t be that
serious because studies come first, always. I didn’t actually mean
it but I guess it’s the other way around for her. And ever since I
started college, I never had any boyfriend, so he would be the
first one just in case. “I hope you do not get me wrong,”

“I know,” Then she silenced herself, “I just
want you to be happy,” she added. I did the same and I looked at
her and I saw her sincerity in her eyes. Now that’s my friend
there. That’s Elizabeth Hayes. But a moment after that, she grabbed
her attention back, “But you are really bad! You didn’t tell
me!”

I laughed a little, “I was about to, is just
that I’m still waiting for the right time,” I excused.

“But you think I won’t figure it out?”

“No. I think you can figure it out!” Then we
just both laughed at each other. But after that she gave me a warm
big bear hug and said she’s really happy for me. But she confessed
that she didn’t eat too much last night because she was kind of
worried about me too. She added there that she waited for me at The
Big Dogs after school but I didn’t show up. I should have left her
at least a message she added. Speaking of The Big Dogs, I remember
that Walter told me that he sent some replacements for me to take
over the job at no extra payment at the owner’s sake, so less work
either there. Anyway, she thanked me for preparing her the best
breakfast so far this year. She said she’s really starving she
could eat all the food I cooked this morning. And I said no
problem. If she wants more I can cook more.

I also mentioned to her the audition thing
Walter said to me, that if ever she won’t make it, there’s another
opportunity that is waiting for her, so she needs not to worry
about the result she’ll be receiving anytime this week. She was so
happy when she heard that and she said she will be glad to meet my
future boyfriend as soon as possible. But I told her, she mustn’t
stress out the phrase ‘future boyfriend’ to me because I don’t want
to think it that way. That we are friends and it would be better if
we’ll stay like that first. But she opposed me there. She followed
that we’ve already met for three times now and the last one was
‘the grand’ so there’s no way for her to think that we are not
going to that kind of path anytime soon. She added there that I’m
the woman, so I should be the one to decide if we’ll continue it or
not. There she got me agreed with her at last. She’s right, I will
be the one who’ll give him ‘the yes’ so I shouldn’t be worried
about him not becoming my real boyfriend in the future. But is that
even possible? I mean, should I trust what she has told me? Should
that be my basis not to give up and just to keep on going?

***

I told Elizabeth not to worry about me going to
school because somebody else will drive me there so she doesn’t
need to save the seat for me at Tom’s car. She even teased me that
I might get used to a comfortable car not riding on them anymore.
This time, it was the same crew who picked me up the last time
because Walter might be occupied at work, thing that I didn’t mind
at all because I understand. He also added there that we might not
be able to see each other everyday but he will find time to call me
at least once a day, which he already started the moment I arrived
at school. He sent me a text message: