Chapter 8: The Gift Before The Wedding

I stared at the beautiful flowers that the wedding planner arranged into the stairs of the luxurious Xiu Grand Hotel. It's the dream come true, and it's finally happening. 

"Hey, are you alright?" Rodney asked while walking towards me. 

"Yeah, I'm good. I was just amazed at the flower arrangements. They look really wonderful and classy," I said. 

"Just tell me if you need anything, okay?" He said.

"Yeah, sure," I said while he turned around again to talk to the wedding planner. 

"I want to make sure that everything is perfect, alright?" Rodney said, I was just behind him so I will hear him clearly. 

"Yes sir," said the wedding planner. 

Everyone is busy, except me. I looked at the lobby and saw a man stopped by the grand door with a cart of dirty ice cream. He was waving his bell so that he could attract others to buy and when the other staff heard it, they eventually went outside to buy so I poked Rodney. 

"Rodney, I want one," I said but he didn't respond. 

"Rodney, I want ice cream," I said as I poked him again. 

"Sorry, you want what?" He finally asked and I immediately pointed my finger at the lobby where the other staff were buying some ice cream. 

"Oh, that? Are you sure?" He asked. 

"Yes, please?" I said as I convinced him. 

"Come on, the vendor just stopped by, he will get going again soon," I pulled him into the lobby. The staff widened their eyes as they saw us walking towards the ice cream man.

"Two ice creams on bread, please," I said to the ice cream vendor. 

"What flavor, ma'am?" He asked.

"Can you mix it? I want it all," I said as the staff were looking at us strangely. 

"What are you waiting for? guys come on, just dig in and get one. Your boss here will pay for it," I said as I pointed to Rodney. 

"What? No. Sushmita," He annoyingly said to me but I just smiled at him and wink at him.

"Damn it, alright. Fine, fine," He said as he handed me over a one thousand peso bill. 

The staff clapped their hands while saying, "Thank you, sir Rodney!" 

I turned around to Rodney and said, "Thank you, we will talk later," 

"Can I go back there? I have something to do," He excused himself. 

"Yeah, sure, love you!" I said as he turned around to walk but he stopped and came back to me again. 

"Did I just hear you say you love me?" He asked and I froze. Damn it, did I just say that I love him?

"W-what? No. I didn't say anything, I just said, yeah sure," I said as I took a bite on my ice cream bread. 

"Oh, I'm really hearing things, damn it," He said and walked away again. 

It's almost close but I just smiled at the staff and we enjoyed eating ice cream outside. 

"Thank you, Ms. Garcellano," The employees said and I just smiled at them. 

"Just keep up the good work," I said to them as I waved them 'goodbye' 

"Rodney," I said as I walked towards him. 

"What?" He asked in a tired voice. 

"Can we just call this a day? I'm tired," I said. 

"Okay, here's the key to the Suite, just wait for me there. You can also sleep if you feel sleepy," He said as he handed me the key to his private suite in the Hotel. It was 6:00 p.m and I'm really exhausted because of the wedding arrangements. 

I headed to the elevator to go to the Suite and when I got there, I took off my shoes immediately and went straight to bed and I let my thoughts flow as sleep was taking me away to go from a different world. 

I woke up when I felt a heavy thing on my belly, someone was hugging me so I turned around and saw Rodney with no mask, just his tired face. He's asleep. I tried to touch the thick scar on his face but I stopped myself because I might wake him up.  

He reminds me of someone named Rod. My first love. I wonder where he is now. I don't have any news. 

"What are you doing?" He said and I was shocked by his question. I thought he was sleeping, he then opened his eyes to see the expression on my face. 

"Uhm, nothing," I said. 

"What did you do earlier?" He asked.

"About what?" I also asked him. 

"Treating the employees for an ice cream,"  He said.

"Well, I just showed them that their boss has a heart," I said and he shook his head. 

"You're incredibly unbelievable," He said and smiled at me and I just smiled back.

"I have something for you," He said as he turned around and jumped out on the bed. 

He handed me a long dark blue satin box. 

"Open it," He instructed.

"Rodney, you don't have to," I said. 

"Sushmita, I want you to wear that on our wedding day," He said as I opened the rectangular shaped dark blue satin box.

It's a white-gold necklace with a heart pendant. It was so beautiful and looks expensive and it's personalized because I saw my name engraved on the side of the heart pendant. 

"Do you like it?" He asked and I came back to my senses again. 

"I'm speechless, this is really perfect, thank you, Rodney," I sincerely said as I reached out to his hand to gently press it. 

"Allow me," He said as he grabbed the necklace and carefully placed it on my neck. 

I can see our reflection on the big mirror in front of the bed where we were sitting. 

"You have a very lovely neck," He said as he looked at my face in the mirror and quickly pressed his lips on my neck which brought chills on my body. 

"Are you sure it's just my neck that you wanted to kiss?" I asked and he chuckled. 

"What kind of question is that? Are you trying to seduce me, Ms. Sushmita Garcellano?" He said as he grabbed my hair slowly and smelled it. 

"Smells like wild berries,uhm.." He said as he continued doing that. 

"If I say that I want you right now? Would you give in to me?" I asked him. 

"Sushmita darling, you still don't know me. I still don't trust you. Come on, we started dating a week ago and you want me to believe you? I won't be easily swayed by honeyed words. Try harder next time," He said. He then let me go and started to put on his shoes and tuxedo. 

"Where are you going?" I asked. 

"I'll take you home," He said and I just prepared myself too.

I stared at the city lights on the window of Rodney's car, waiting for sleep to come. 

I don't understand Rodney anymore. Sometimes he's all good, nice and thoughtful but somehow, it looks like I'm starting to see his devil side. How bad could that be?