S. F. - 34

***

New.

"You're avoiding me."

Earth announced the moment I opened my unit's door.

I cleared my throat as I mentally prepared my explanation, but he suddenly grabbed me into a tight hug.

"I miss you," he whispered as he tightened his arms around my waist.

"I-I just got busy with work," I stuttered whilst hoping that he'd buy the only logical reason I could think of at the moment.

He then broke our embrace and dragged me inside.

"I brought some of your favorite food," he said as he placed the plastic bag he was bringing on the coffee table and made me sit on the couch.

"You like chicken with cashew nuts, right?"

He then went to the kitchen to get some plates and utensils.

"Sorry for not being able to meet you for days. I just had so much to take care of at the company," I muttered. It was actually a lie. Well, partly true at some point.

I indeed had several things to attend to at the company, but the main reason I wasn't able to meet him for several days was Tay and that made me feel guilty.

For the past week, Tay would just randomly appear in front of my office, inviting me to dinner which I couldn't even reject in the first place. How could I when he'd literally drag me to his car?

Earth then started laughing and leaned closer to tousle my hair.

"I'm just kidding, okay! Why are you so serious? I totally understand. And besides, I'm also very busy with the new project."

I timidly smiled at him and got the plate he handed.

"Oh, you bought a new ring?"

I gasped as he grabbed my other hand and inspected the ring I forgot to remove earlier.

"Uh, y-yeah. You know. Kind of reward for myself," I stammered as I got nervous by the way he was staring at the ring.

"This looks like an engagement ring though. But anyway, I heard your company's starting to recover and that's such great news."

I heaved a sigh of relief as he let go of my hand and started placing food on my plate.

"Y-yeah. I'm glad, too," I muttered as I hid my hand from his view and silently hoped he'd no longer ask questions about it.

***

I stared at the ring in my hand against the low light coming from the lampshade and wondered how Tay got the perfect size.

I didn't really intend to wear it earlier, but something inside me told me to check if it would fit and it did.

I was about to remove it from my finger when my phone started ringing.

P'Tay calling...

Yes, I already saved his new number and I couldn't think of any name for him, so I just used P'Tay.

I cleared my throat before answering just to make sure I wouldn't falter.

"Hello?"

"Hi. Did I disturb your sleep?" Tay asked on the other line.

"No, I mean I'm not yet sleeping."

"Then care to look out your window?"

I cocked an eyebrow as I didn't quite get why he wanted me to look out the window at such hour.

"Huh?"

"Look out the window. I wanna see you."

It was then that I realized what he meant. I immediately rolled off the bed and peeked through the curtains.

"Holy shit," I cussed as I gawked at Tay who was looking at my window whilst leaning against his car.

Tay chuckled as he heard me cursing over the phone.

"What are you doing here?" I asked in utter wonder and surprise but he just chuckled and waved at me.

"Wanna go somewhere with me?"

"At this hour??" I asked as I looked at the wall clock. It was already quarter to 10. Too late to go somewhere.

"Yeah. I mean it's a Saturday tomorrow so we don't have to worry about work."

"But, where are we going?"

"Do you wanna go somewhere? I can take you anywhere you like."

I fell silent as I thought of somewhere we could go but I couldn't think of any.

"I-I don't know. I couldn't think of any place."

"Then I know some place. That is, if you want to go with me."

I bit my lips as I weighed things. A part of me wanted to go with him, but I was still kinda hesitant.

"But I'd understand if you wanna rest. You've had a long day and I don't wa—."

"I'm coming over," I blurted out unconsciously.

"I-I'll just get dressed."

I could feel my heart racing as I abruptly ended the call.

"Ugh! Do you have to sound that excited??" I scolded myself.

I quickly put on some pants and changed my shirt before putting on my jacket.

I tried to not look as excited as I was feeling as I approached him. I didn't want him to get the idea that I was that eager to see him.

I clenched my hands into fists inside my jacket's pockets to control myself but then eventually stilled.

"Hey. Are you okay?" Tay asked as I suddenly stopped on my tracks.

"Y-Yeah. Where are we going?" I asked and acted as naturally as I could.

"You'll know when we get there," he grinned at me and opened the passenger seat so I could get in.

I took it as a chance and immediately removed the ring from my finger whilst he walked around and entered the car. I secured it inside my pocket and acted as normally as possible despite my racing heart. I didn't want him to find out that I wore the ring he asked me to keep.

I gasped when he leaned closer and I caught a whiff of his perfume.

"Wh-What are you doing?"

I silently prayed my heart wasn't beating that loud or he'd definitely hear it.

But he just grinned at me and I heard the seatbelt clicking.

"Safety first," Tay smiled before driving off.

I stared out of the window as he drove for I feared that I might end up gawking at him.

I was in the middle of my own thoughts when he suddenly handed me his phone.

"Huh?"

"You go play some music," he replied without his eyes leaving the road.

I hesitantly took the phone from him. I mean, yes I used to do that but him handling his phone to me with our current state was kinda...weird?

I gulped as I tightened my grip on his phone. It was the same one he had before.

"Are you sure you want me to use your phone?" I asked. As much as possible, I didn't wanna invade his privacy.

"Yeah. Why? You used to do it before."

I swallowed the lump in my throat as I stared at his phone in my hand and clicked the power button to lighten it up.

But my eyes widened the moment I saw his lockscreen photo. It was a picture of us in his unit. It was the last photo we took before he left and I didn't expect him to still have it.

I immediately swiped the screen and scowled when I was prompted by the pin code interface. As much as I could remember, he never put codes on his phone.

"Uuhhh... it requires passcode," I hesitantly told him.

"Your birthday."

"Huh?"

I was confused. Why would he mention my birthday all of a sudden?

He chuckled and the car came to a halt. I silently cursed the traffic lights for I'd rather Tay fix his eyes on the road than fix his eyes on me.

"Your birthday. It's the code," he repeated as he stared at me for a while before looking back at the road.

I gulped as I punched in my birthday which I didn't know how he got. I never told him my birthday. Not even once.

0130

The amount of surprise I had earlier when I saw his lockscreen photo tripled as I gaped at his homescreen wallpaper.

It was a photo of us after the sex we had a week ago. He was snuggling me whilst I was sleeping next to him.

Like, why would he use an after sex photo as his wallpaper???!

I glanced at him in the corner of my eyes and saw him widely smiling.

I was about to reprimand him about the photos but his phone rang.

Mild calling...

I unconsciously tightened my grip on his phone as I looked at the name on the screen.

"Who is it?"

"M-Mild."

"Can you answer it for me? Just put it on loudspeaker."

"H-huh? Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Frank might need something."

"O-okay."

I awkwardly pressed the answer button and put the phone on loudspeaker. I started scratching my pants with my fingers as I felt like I was gonna invade something private and it made me uneasy.

"Hello, Mild?"

"Tay. Where are you?"

"Why? Did something happen?"

"Frank's been whining about seeing you."

"Let me talk to him."

"Daadddyy."

"Hi, baby."

"Can you come here? I mith you..."

"Uhm, baby, daddy is in the middle of something important. Can I see you tomorrow instead?"

"Okaay. But I want park."

"Oh, you want to go to the park tomorrow?"

"Yeth daddy."

"Okay. We're going to the park tomorrow."

"Promithe daddy??"

"Promise baby."

"Thank you dadddyyy!!"

"You're welcome, baby."

"Tay. I have to go somewhere tomorrow. I can't accompany you and Frank."

"It's okay Mild. I can handle Frank."

"Are you sure?"

"We're gonna be fine, okay? Promise I won't tire him out. He's gonna be fine."

I bit the insides of my cheeks as I listened to their conversation.

Why do I feel like I'm invading a family affair??

"Okay, then. By the way, I already told you to stop Frank from calling you Daddy."

"It's okay, Mild. I don't see any problem with that."

"But I do. He might get used to it."

"Okay, fine. I'll talk to him, okay. I've got to go. Bye."

"Bye."

I actually didn't know what to do when they finished talking. If I should play some music like the initial plan or just hand the phone back to him.

I glanced at Tay who had his eyes fixed on the road and then at his phone in my hand.

"Uh, I guess I'll just put it here," I hesitantly placed his phone on the holder and looked outside the window.

"You don't wanna listen to music?"

"Nah," I replied nonchalantly without looking at him.

We drove in silence and I found it comforting and disturbing all at the same time.

Comforting because of his presence and disturbing because of what happened earlier.

"We're here," Tay announced, thus snapping me out of my train of thoughts.

I furrowed as I looked at the tall building in front of us.

"Uh? What are we doing here?" I asked as I got off the car.

But Tay just smiled at me and grabbed my hand.

I roamed my eyes in amazement as we entered the hotel. I figured it belonged to their family based on the interior of the building.

"Here it is, Sir," a staff approached us and handed him a key.

"Is everything prepared?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Okay, thank you."

To say that I was confused would be an understatement as Tay led me to the elevator which turned out to be a VIP access.

Tsss. The perks of being a hotel owner.

I remained silent the whole time we were inside the elevator and so was he. But I caught him stealing glances at me casually.

The elevator stopped at the highest floor and I just let him grab my hand and lead me to God- knows-where.

I was expecting he'd take me into a room, but instead we headed towards the rooftop.

"What are we doing here?" I asked as I could no longer handle the suspense.

Why the hell would he take me to the rooftop late at night??

But he didn't answer and just opened the door with the key the staff gave earlier.

Words were not enough to describe how I felt upon stepping on the rooftop.

There in the middle was a makeshift movie theater surrounded by different fairy lights. I turned to look at Tay who was grinning from ear to ear.

"Come here," he held my hand and led me towards the center.

"I hope you like it," he said as he scratched the back of his head.

I suppressed a smile as I sat on the matress and grabbed the nearby pillow.

"Tsss. I thought we're going somewhere far," I muttered as I starting pinching the edges of the pillow to project the emotions I was feeling at the moment.

He sat beside me and held my hand.

"What do you want to watch?" he asked as he grabbed the laptop without letting go of my hand.

"A-anything," I replied sparingly as I could no longer think of anything else but the warmth of his hand against mine.

"Okay," he smiled as he surfed through the web and selected a movie.

Love, Rosie.

That was the title of the movie he selected, but I was no longer paying attention to it as Tay started drawing random shapes on my legs.

"I miss you," he said out of nowhere which made me turn to him.

"We just saw each other the other day."

"But still."

I gasped when he lied down and placed his head on my lap. He then started playing with my fingers, completely forgetting that we were actually watching a movie.

We remained silent as the movie continued playing in the background. I gulped as I noticed him staring at my lips, evoking several emotions from me that I couldn't even explain.

"What will you do if I kiss you right now?" he asked which made my breathing inconsistent.

I stared into his eyes and the more I stared at them, the more I drowned, deeper than I intended.

And without hesitation, I dipped down and kissed him fully on the lips.

***

I groaned as I felt the warmth of the sun against my face followed by the tightening of Tay's arms around my waist.

"Tay. It's already morning," I nudged him to wake him up but he just groaned and scooted closer to me.

I blushed as I remembered how we made out last night and how I ended up straddling him whilst he roamed his hands against my bare skin.

"Good morning," Tay muttered with his eyes closed and grabbed me closer.

"We have to go. It's already six in the morning. The sun's gonna burn us if we stay here any longer," I replied as I removed his hands from my waist and fixed myself.

"Can we just stay like this forever?"

"And end up toasted. Come on Tay. I'm gonna leave you here if you won't get your ass moving."

He languishingly dragged himself up before smiling at me.

"What??"

"The hickey on your neck looks nice. Why don't we add one on the other side to maintain the balance?"

"Tay Tawan!"

***

"Tay. Step on the gas. We won't reach my unit at this rate," I glared at him but he just pouted at me.

We'd been on the road for almost an hour when we could have reached my unit in just 30 minutes.

And the reason?

He'd been driving ever so slowly that the cyclists already went ahead of us.

"Should I just drive back to the hotel?"

"Tay. You still have to take Frank to the park."

He sulked even more but thankfully, he started driving at a normal speed.

"Why don't you want to go with me? I mean, we can take care of Frank together. He's actually excited to see you."

"I promise Gun I'll help him with his wedding preparations. It's only a week from now."

"Okay. I understand."

We remained silent during the entire trip and I could feel that he was still sulking.

"Why don't we spend an out of town trip once the wedding is over?" I blurted out all of a sudden.

I was actually still weighing things in my mind and I didn't intend to speak my thoughts out loud. But it was already too late to take back what I said, especially after seeing Tay's face light up like he just won the lottery.

"Okay, that's a promise then! You can't take it back."

I awkwardly nodded as I watched him hum to an unfamiliar song whilst driving.

"Uhhh, thanks for last night," I timidly uttered the moment we reached my unit.

"Anything for you. Remember your promise, okay?"

I nodded and got off his car. I could sense him not wanting to go as he peeked through the window.

"Come on. Frank's waiting for you."

He pouted as he waved at me and drove off.

I bit the insides of my cheeks to suppress the smile that was starting to creep on my lips as I watched the back of his car.

I immediately went to my unit to prepare for my meetup with Gun. I was in the middle of removing my clothes so I could take a shower when I remembered about the ring I placed inside my jacket's pocket.

But I eventually froze when I realized something the moment I thrusted my hands inside.

The ring was no longer there.

***

A/N: This is the closest "after sex" photo I could find on Twitter, so let's just pretend they're cuddling and Tay's shirtless. 🤣😂💙💕