XIX BACK INTO THE RESTAURANT
Be careful what you wish for. That's what Natalie learned right this moment. She wished she didn't pray for a stupid wish because it's really a... DAMN! Because right now, her whole body is immobile, her sight in stationary.
But all she wished was just a little one. In fact, it was not even a selfish wish. It's a wish for herself and for others...
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Second time this week, Natalie arrived late in her work. She was expecting a sermon from Mrs. Chan but her surprise, she didn't give her any. Instead she just smiled and reminded her in a very gentle manner that she's not to do it again. A deduction in her salary awaits her if she does so.
Natalie beamed at her while expressing her endless "thank you's." Swear, Natalie is very lucky with her boss (even Natalie knew it herself). She's very kind and gentle but not up to the point they would abuse her. She's composed most of the time and always wear a smile. She also knows how to handle her fit efficiently. She's one of the very few people with that personality. Natalie's idolizing her, passing some of Mrs. Chan unto herself.
Mrs. Chan's forget-about-it concern for the issue did not ease up Natalie. She's very shy of Mrs. Chan. She has been irresponsible. Well, to make up for her tardiness, she swore to death that she'll make better of her work by being more dynamic. She quickly changed into her working clothes and sped to the counter. However, to her dismay, she doesn't seem to find the occasion to show off. It's raining hard outside. Nobody dared to open the restaurant gate and eat. All were PROBABLY shut in their houses, listening to the radio or something...
Natalie WISHED hard for a customer to come in the restaurant and eat. She would then be able to serve him/her enthusiastically and so Mrs. Chan would be very glad... but ten minutes have passed, no one is shoving the oriental door, there was not even a shadow that can be reflected... and that ten minutes turned into half an hour. This time, Natalie gave up, deciding to eat in the kitchen and play with Tobey. But as she stood up, her most awaited shoving of the door happened and it took her all in surprise....
SHUUG. The sound of the door echoed. Natalie turned her eyes to see who did it, to her surprise, it was---- oh wait, I think she nearly fainted, obviously losing her sanity this while!
"You..." she piped as she deliberately pointed her index finger to the person who just came in.
It was Andrew.
Of all the person, it was Andrew...
"What are you doing here?" she asked in a very confused manner. She doesn't know if she'll be angry or happy.
Judging with her reaction, Andrew knew he had to make up some excuse. A sensible one though. This moment, one wrong move, you're "checkmate" (or is it dead?).
Andrew smiled, one of his rueful smile before staring what seemed like a speech.
"Uhmm, well, ah... you see..." he stuttered, blushing (but trying to hide it) all this while.
"Hell, why are you asking?! What is it with you?! Well, I uhmm... decided to eat here! Is it wrong?! Or has a new law was formed prohibiting me to enter here, you... you strut!" he yelled. Mrs. Chan giggled at his words, sensing something fishy. Andrew noticed this and tried to calm himself.
"Did I say something like that, imbecile?" Natalie incredulously yelled at him too, surprising herself too in the middle of it.
"Well, I probably assumed so..." Andrew answered, his calm voice is back.
Natalie finally smiled, composing herself too. Andrew was glad to see her at this. It was high time...
"What do you want?" Natalie asked Andrew finally.
Andrew grew excited at this.
'How can he read my mind?' he thought to himself wondrously.
"Uhmm, sir, what do you want?" Natalie repeated.
Gaining his senses, Andrew replied, stammering, "Well, I... you see, just want to talk to you. You know. So we can clear--- " his voice was cut off with Natalies sudden interruption.
"I'm asking you your order sir, not the thing you went here for!" Natalie bellowed, making it clear to him.
"Well, I'll order, but you wait, you brat! We need to talk first, this is something ur---"
"If you'll not gonna order then better leave this place you stupid, moronic idiot!" Natalie tersely demanded.
"I'll never until you've talked to me!"
"Shut up! I'll never talk to you again!" Natalie answered back.
The argument went on for some time, only with the same topic—talking to each other. Natalie's rigid not to talk to Andrew. For her, everything is closed. There shouldn't be a connection between him and her. Because she knows, she'll drive herself into the pit if she'll do so.
At last, Mrs. Chan finally meddles. Knowing how Andrew feels, she persuaded Natalie to talk to him too. Natalie strongly opposed. But when she saw the eyes of Mrs. Chan turning to killer ones, she decided to go off.
They've talked outside. It's raining hard but no one seemed to care about that fact. Silence crept the environment. They were not talking to each other. Andrew seemed to be lost for words, well that was only until—
"Remember this?! The same as we first met..." Andrew indicated.
"It was not our first meeting!" she objected.
"Oh, oh yeah! But for me it was..." he said, smiling.
"It's not. And our first meeting is not beautiful!"
"It is... you've took care of me," he gently replied.
"Oh, you're hopeless," she finally remarked, shivering at the same time.
It's getting cold and it will not be a long time before Natalie will catch a cold.
Noticing this, Andrew removed his extra polo and wore it around her. Natalie was surprised at this. She looked at him, and saw him smiling sweetly.
"You might get sick you know. Let's retreat to a corner," he invited.
They sat on the wooden bench inside the waiting shed of their street. Nobody's on the road. They felt much comfortable in that habitat.
"Here, for you," he said as he handed up a bouquet of white and red roses to Natalie.
"What's this?" Natalie blatantly asked, though she's very touched.
"Roses, idiot!"
"I know, I mean, what's this for?" she asked again.
Well, Andrew guiltily replied, "Don't give it a malice, you girl! I know you! I just gave that as a... uhmm... thank you for the things you've showed me," he yelled, stopping midway. Andrew's really regretting his words. Hay, the longer he's with her, the worse the words that come out from his mouth. Of course, he's expecting another rude answer from her, but to his astonishment...
"Thank you," she gently said, as she smelled the fragrance of the lovely thing on her hands.
Andrew's heart jumped at this, blood rushing out to his cheeks. At that moment, he wanted to freeze time, study her perfect face as she dips he nose to the flora. It was a picturesque scene. He hoped it never ended. But of course, it did.
"Thank you," she lovingly repeated, adding the blush in his cheeks, which he, as usual, tries to hide.
Well, to hide his growing fondness to her. He decided to be foul again.
"Haha! I told so! You never received such gifts, right?!... I can see it with your actions! Have you encountered with roses before?! You really look like you've grown from the mountains! Smelling STUPIDLY those flowers like that?! Well, I won't blame you now, you're to stinking to be liked by any man---' Andrew mocked but was cut off.
Natalie grew impatient with his insult.
"Hey, you, foul-mouthed asshole! You think high of yourself just by giving me these roses?! Then, you take this!"
She thrusts the bouquet on his face.
"Well to tell you thick madman, I don't need those roses! You know what, I have been given like that by millions of men who all think that I can be carried off easily like that. And unfortunately for them, I've dumped them all! So I wouldn't mind a bouquet of roses, a mere sign of gratitude, be thrown to a foul-mouthed creature like you!!! I don't need that! It was simply a bouquet!" she yelled, panting, catching her breath for a moment.
"I don't need those roses because you know what?! It's nothing compared to a much larger bouquet of blue roses which are straight from Italy given to me by that stupid Student Council Treasurer; and to the patient but nonsense act of Jason of throwing pink rose petals on my---" she stopped halfway, realizing how much she've blurted out.
Andrew was shocked to hear this. He's not the first after all. He has been wrongly confident to assume that he's the first one.
'She's beautiful after all. I have to consider that. I can't blame people liking her because she's really attractive and loveable,' he reminded himself.
"I was just joking. It never occurred to me that you'll react like that. Stuck a nerve?" he casually replied, trying to hide what's on his mind.
Natalie grew ashamed of what she did. But somehow blames Andrew for that reaction.
"Is that how you joke?" she asks, her brow rose.
'Well yeah..."
"I see." Natalie said, sighing. She closes the matter to herself. It's no big deal.
"So, what're we to talk about?"
"Umm, I just want to talk to you to say... Uhmm....you know, to what happened this afternoon," he replied. He couldn't easily say "sorry".
"What" she asked dumbfounded.
"I'm..."
"You'll say what?" she asked, finally knowing what he means and trying to force him say the word sorry.
"Are you dumb?! You already know what I mean!" he yelled, losing his patience.
"Hey, I'm not a fortune teller you know! How should I know what you're about to say?!" she said though she can't wipe the smile that has been there to tease him more.
"Then if you don't know idiot, I'll not gonna tell it either! You figure it out yourself!" he remarked in a way of closing the matter. He really can't tell sorry to her.
'After all, she still didn't apologize to Hillary,' he thought.
Natalie sighed a bit loudly, trying to catch Andrew's attention. Andrew quickly turned to see why.
"Hay, if only I knew, how much I have just wasted my time here. I would have just stayed in the restaurant than to hear your nonsense blabbers... well, let's go na," she finally said to him with the purpose of urging him to say sorry to her than actually go back.
"Wait, okay I'll tell it!" Andrew finally resented. He didn't want to go back to the restaurant yet. He wants her company.
With this a smile formed on Natalie's face. 'At last, you'll finally say sorry. I would really be very glad to hear it. I promise, once you say this word, I'll forget everything that happened; all the misery, all the insults and all the times he have hurt me before, I'll erase it in my mind'
"I'm..." he stuttered. Natalie's eyes widen with hope.
"I'm," she repeated.
"Can't you still get it?! You know it!"
"I'm," she insisted.
"Stop it! I can't!"
Natalie sighed.
"I guess you're a real hopeless matter," she muttered.
Her words zippered his mouth. He doesn't know anything to say (or he just can't say it) while Natalie has nothing more to say. and so, they kept quiet, letting silence lingers for minutes. All the while, sighs are only heard from them as they watch the rain pours powerfully on the good earth.
At last, Natalie spoke, breaking the earsplitting silence.
"I want to go back. Why wouldn't this rain stop?" Natalie whined.
Andrew was struck by her words. He bluntly stood up, walked towards where Natalie was and looked towards the sky. This was the first time Natalie saw Andrew in a dreamy state and was of course surprised with his action.
'He's so cute,' she thought.
All of a sudden, Andrew averted his gaze to Natalie, adding to her surprise, confusion and excitement. Their eyes soon locked with each other. His gaze was of no ordinary one. It was a piercing gaze as if he's looking beyond her eyes, to what's something inside of her. He's looking through her. Natalie can feel her heart beat fast.
"Why..." he finally started "...do it always rain when we're together? It never ceases to fall every time we're close? Haven't you notice that?" he asked as he reached his hands to feel some rain drops on his palm.
This time Natalie didn't giggle, though it was weird to see him so sentimental at a moment. She could feel that his words have some weight; that his small wonder if pondered could be so sensible. However, she doesn't know the answer.
"I don't know. Maybe because of the heaven," she replied back.
"Does that mean you're heaven-sent to me?" he asked.
"No idea. Why'd you think of that?" she asks back, stunned.
"I also don't know. But I could feel it though," he said.
Natalie gazed at him. Andrew gazed back. The rain poured heavier turning the scene into dark purple.
"Could you be my angel?" Andrew asked earnestly. His eyes are searching for answers.
"I can't answer that," Natalie honestly and gently replied.
Andrew hugged her again, leaning to her shoulder this time.
"Then, if you're my angel, could you ease up the pain inside? Could you?" Andrew asked, acting like a small child.
"Is the pain too painful?" she gently asked, she could somehow feel his pain.
"It's killing me."
"Hillary might not mean it," she said.
"It's not that. The pain is not that. It's the absence of something... Something I couldn't explain," he answered.
"You'll be loved, you'll see," she said as she hugged him back, at the same time tapping his head gently as if she was caressing a small child.
"I feel no hope, but I trust you..." Andrew bluntly answered.
Just by then a group of gangsters passed by with their bicycles. The whole of them laughed at the mushy scene.
"Hey! Get a room you two!" one of them shouted.
"Whoo-hoo-hoo! P.D.A.!" another teased.
Andrew turned and angrily face them. he stared angrily at them and was about to attack them when Natalie cut him short.
"Don't mind them. They just have nothing to do."
Andrew stopped and Natalie was caught again with her own surprise to see him follow her.
Meanwhile, with Andrew's not-so-easy stare, the gangsters grew scared. They decided to leave the spot.
'He's not an easy enemy,' they reminded themselves as they biked away.
"Oh yeah, the rain ceased! Yay! We could go back to Mrs. Chan at last," Natalie rejoiced as she gestured him to go.
"Natalie wait," he said.
She spun around to hear his say.
"I... I... I'm sorry," he finally said as he faced his head down.
(At last, after 50 golden years!)
Natalie just smiled at him with a reply, "Apology accepted. Friends?" She placed her hand forward.
Andrew's face lit up at this. He took her hand and shakes it.
"Friends," he shortly replied, though he's not sure if that's what he really wants.
Their smiles greeted each other as they knew it would be start of something good. And now, they are friends now and that's all I have to say. All will be changed after this day.
It's getting dark and Andrew decided to escort Natalie back into the restaurant.
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"Hey, you might need this," Natalie said before she opens the door of the restaurant. She hands a light green card with something scribbled in it.
"It might help you especially when you're feeling sad and down. It gives you courage to go on with life... don't lose hope, please..."
"I'll not, I promise. I'll take this piece of advice anyway," he smiled as he took the card.
Natalie smiled and sighed a relief with a change in Andrew's aura. She turned to finally open the door and bid Andrew goodbye.
Andrew bid back, a smile on his face. As the door closed, he now also turned, heading back to his house at last but with more happiness and peace in him.
He opens the neatly folded green card. Here what's written with it:
'Surrey Oriental Park... a nice place to unwind... Charleston St. Surrey Village. I go there every morning. It's a very nice place. Hope you'll pay a visit.'
'Great!' he thought.
It's Saturday tomorrow and he has nothing to do. He'll go there.
A/N:
It's me again, requesting to review my story... Please review!