Wonderings: She Picked Neither

[Terrence]

I arrived at my father’s house. When I entered, my grandparents along with my father were waiting for me.

“Dad, what’s going on?” I asked. He motioned for me to sit on one of the chairs in the living room. When I sat down, Grandpa spoke.

“Terrence, your parents and I have made the decision to marry you off to Marks Hiro’s daughter, Eliana. You know each other, right?” He said. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. 

“What?! Why would I do that?” I raised my voice. My father stood up and looked at me.

“Don’t raise your voice at your grandparents.” He said. I sighed and covered my face with my hands. 

“The Marks family is one of our biggest shareholders. It’ll be a big help to the company if our families were to join together.” Grandpa explained. I don’t want to marry her. She’s a cheating, good-for-nothing woman. 

“Especially now that the partnership with DRIVEA is secured. The projects our companies are planning to make require a lot of resources and this marriage can help us.” He further explained. No matter how many times you explain it, I still won’t change my mind. 

“But I don’t want to marry her.” I replied. 

“Terrence, it’s for the company.” My father said. To hell with the company. 

“What about me, Dad? I did everything you want me to do for the company. I even sacrificed my dream for the company. This is where I draw the line.” I said. I stood up and walked to the door. I turned back to say one last thing. 

“I will not leave the company. I’ll still do my job but as for the marriage, I won’t do it.” I walked out without hearing what they had to say. I drove back to my villa and immediately went to bed. I just want to put this night behind me. I have a meeting with Kael tomorrow about the projects. I want to be well-rested for it. 

After the meeting with Kael, I went to the public library to visit Amelia. When I called her yesterday, she mentioned she got a job at the public library. Although I felt disappointed because she refused my offer, as long as she’s happy, I’ll accept her decision. 

When I arrived at the library, I went to her desk to say hello. She saw me and waved. I waved back. She pointed to the clock and motioned the number 5 with her fingers. Her shift ends at 5pm so I’ll have to wait. A few minutes went by and I saw someone enter the library carrying a bouquet of roses. He seems to be a delivery guy. He went over to Amelia’s desk and gave her the bouquet. I couldn’t hear who it was from but I’m guessing it’s from Kael. The delivery guy left and I saw a smile on Amelia’s face when she looked at the bouquet. 

After her shift, she motioned for me to meet her at the door. She carried the bouquet with her. When we left the library, I looked at the bouquet in her arms.

“Is it from Kael?” I asked. I didn’t mean for my tone to sound jealous but it did. 

“Yeah.” She answered. 

“Is it his way of apologizing for treating you badly these past few years?” I asked. She looked at me and let out a giggle.

“I guess so. By the way, why are you here?” She asked. I was so distracted by the bouquet; I completely forgot what I came here for.

“I wanted to ask you to dinner since the last time, we were… interrupted.” The last time I asked her to dinner, I got punched in the face. 

“Sure. Where do you want to go?” She asked. I opened the car door for her and she went in. I went to the driver’s side and started the car. 

“We’re going to this Yoshoku restaurant I heard from my colleagues. They said the food was great and the place was not too bad either.” She agreed and I drove to the restaurant. When we got there, the hostess led us to our table and we ordered some food. 

“So how was your first day?” I asked. She took a sip from her tea. 

“It was great. The work is somewhat similar and it’s quiet there.” She answered. She looked at me and it seemed that something was bothering her. 

“Is there a problem?” I asked. She shook her head.

“Nothing, it’s just…” She trailed off. I looked at her and gave her assurance. 

“I want to say sorry for not accepting your job offer.” She said. That was bothering her? I looked at her and smiled.

“You don’t have to say sorry for that. As long as you're happy with your job, I’m happy too.” When I said that, I saw her beaming with joy. It seemed that it was bothering her for quite a while. A few minutes went by and our food arrived. I ordered a rice bowl and she ordered ramen. 

“Itadakimasu!” She said. I looked at her and thought to myself. She’s finally showing her true self. She’s so cute. I didn’t notice that I was staring until she called me out. 

“Is there something on my face?” She asked. I shook my head and started eating.

“Their Katsudon is amazing.” I said. She looked at me and smiled. I had the urge to grab a piece of pork and feed it to her. She looked at me with an eyebrow raised. 

“Taste it, it’s delicious.” I said. She smiled and ate the piece from my chopsticks. I felt my face getting hotter. Seeing her cute face so close to mine made my heart skip a beat. 

After dinner, we went for a walk in the nearby park. I want to hold her hand so badly. 

“So how’s everything at Grimes Corp?” She asked. 

“It’s okay. It’ll be busier when we start our new projects with DRIVEA.” I turned to her for a reaction but she only had a smile on her face. 

“That’s good then. Hey Terrence, can you promise me something?” She turned to me, eyes sparkling. 

“What is it?” I asked. 

“Promise me that you and Kael will stop fighting.” She said. I was taken aback by her request. I didn’t give her an answer. She must’ve noticed my silence and held my hand. I turned to look at her.

“You two are my only friends and I don’t like seeing you two fighting. Can you promise me that?” She flashed her puppy dog eyes on me. I looked away but I felt my face getting hotter. She affects me so much. I sighed and nodded.

“Okay, I’ll try. I don’t know about him, though; but I’ll stop teasing him.” She smiled at me. 

“Thank you.” She said. This girl is really something. 

“It’s getting late, I should take you home.” I suggested but she shook her head. 

“No need. My place is just near here.” She said. We walked back to where I parked the car. 

“Are you sure? It’s not a problem for me to take you home.” I asked but she shook her head. 

“You should get going. Drive safely, okay?” She said. I nodded and went in my car. I waved goodbye before driving off. 

It’s been a month since I last went out with Amelia. We would meet in a coffee shop once in a while but I can’t really stay for long. The projects we were working on needed our attention and neither Kael nor I can slack off. We often text each other but I really miss being with her. After I promised her that I’d stop teasing Kael, there’s been a truce between us. Perhaps Amelia made him promise too. Her presence alone can affect us so much. 

“Sir Terrence, there’s a Ms. Eliana waiting for you in the lobby.” My assistant said while placing coffee on my table. What is she doing here? 

“Let her in.” I said. My assistant excused herself and a few seconds later, Eliana walked in. 

“Terrence!” She ran towards me but I stopped her.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. She took a step back and smiled at me.

“Is that how you treat your fiancée?” She asked. I scoffed at her remark.

“The wedding is not happening. I’d rather lose everything than marry you.” I said. She looked pissed. 

“We’ll see about that.” She said before turning on her heel. She left my office and I slumped on my desk. 

After work, I decided to ask Amelia out. I drove to the library but when I arrived, I saw Amelia talking with Kael. He beat me here. I walked up to them and when Amelia saw me, she waved at me. 

“Oh Terrence, you’re here too.” She said. Kael turned to me but didn’t say anything. Amelia looked at the both of us expectantly. Does he want us to greet each other? 

“Hey Terrence.” Kael said. I was surprised but I pulled myself together.

“Hey.” I said. Amelia smiled at the both of us. I was finally able to look at Amelia probably. She seemed to have lost weight. Did she get sick? I was about to ask when she spoke.

“Since you two are here, why don’t we go to the festival together?” She said. I looked at Kael and he seemed to have agreed so I agreed as well. Amelia was ecstatic. She held both our hands and pulled us. 

“We can walk there since it’s so near. You can leave your cars here.” She said. We just allowed her to do what she wanted. We arrived at the festival. There were booths, rides and games available. As we were walking, Amelia stopped by a stall. I noticed she was staring at a stuffed pig hanging by the stall. Oh it’s a shooting game. Kael and I looked at each other and we both knew what to do. We both slammed money by the counter. The merchant gave us a toy gun with three bullets. The goal was to knock out the matchsticks that were standing at the end. Those who can knock three sticks consecutively get the big prize. 

“You should go first.” I said to Kael. He nodded and shot three matchsticks down. He chose the pig as the prize. It was my turn and I also knocked three down. Since Kael got the pig, I decided to take the bear. We gave the guns back to the merchant and we turned back to Amelia. She had a huge smile on her face. We both gave our prizes to her. 

“Eh? Why give it to me?” She asked. We both shrugged and handed her the prizes.

“Oh well, thank you.” She said while smiling. We walked around the festival and decided to buy something to eat. Kael brought back Takoyaki and I bought Taiyaki. We sat at a bench and ate silently. I looked over at Amelia and she had a sweet smile on her face. After eating, while walking, Amelia suddenly excused herself to use the bathroom.

“Can you hold these please?” She handed the stuffed animals and she ran to the bathroom. Kael and I were awkwardly waiting outside the bathroom for her.

“Do you really like her?” Kael asked suddenly. I looked at him and nodded.

“I do.” I answered. 

“I heard about your engagement with Eliana.” He said. I sighed.

“I’m not marrying her. My grandparents decided for me and I’m not putting up with it.” I explained. 

“I promised her that I would stop picking fights with you.” He said. 

“I promised her too.” I said. He looked surprised. 

“I’ve done a lot of awful things to her in the past. You must think I don’t deserve her. I think that way too but just this once, I want to be selfish. I can’t imagine my life without her in it.” He said. I could tell he was serious. But we can’t both have her. 

“That’s how I feel too. Her presence alone can make me happy. But it’s not our decision to make who she picks. Let’s let her decide.” I looked at him. He cracked a smile and put out his hand. 

“May the best man win?” He said. I laughed and shook his hand. Just then, Amelia walked out of the bathroom. 

“Did I miss anything?” She asked. Kael and I looked at each other and shook our heads. 

“Nothing. Let’s go.” I said. She smiled. We spent the night trying all sorts of games. It was getting pretty late when we decided to go home. We walked back to the library where we parked our cars. Kael and I looked at each other. Who’s going to take her home? 

“You don’t need to take me home. Drive safely you two.” She said. We both nodded and got in our car. She waved goodbye to the both of us and we drove off.