S. F. - 49

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New.

I groaned as I felt a pang of pain in my head the moment I woke up.

"Oh, fuck," I muttered as I massaged my head. "Shit, I'm never drinking again."

"Hi, babe. How are you?"

I gawked at Tay who placed a tray on the bedside table and that even made me wonder how on earth I was able to come home last night. The last thing I remembered was talking to Luke on the dance floor.

"H-how did I get home?" I asked nervously as I watched him remove the blanket and helped me sit up.

"Oh, Gun sent you home last night," he casually replied as he got the bowl and started feeding me.

"You're lying," I unconsciously blurted out. I didn't really remember what happened but I could sense he was lying as he couldn't look at me in the eyes.

"Okay, fine. I fetched you from the bar last night," he heaved a deep sigh as he placed the bowl back to the table.

"Babe, tell me. Is something wrong? Why did you get drunk last night?" he asked as he held my hands tightly.

I swallowed the lump in my throat as I stared at Tay's eyes and for some reason, tears started welling in my eyes again.

"D-don't you have work? You're gonna be late," I muttered lowly to change the topic.

"I can't leave you alone in this state. Come on. Tell me. What's wrong?"

"My head's painful. I wanna go back to sleep," I tried removing my hands from his grasp but he grabbed them tighter instead.

"Is it about Apple?"

I froze when he mentioned her name. H-how did he know I already knew about her?

"H-How did you know?" I stuttered as I evaded his gaze.

"You told me everything last night. Babe, you trust me right?"

"Then marry me," I blurted out without second thoughts. If he wasn't really cheating on me, he wouldn't fear the idea of marrying me.

"Wh-what?"

I bit my lips as I looked at the startled expression on his face.

"See? You can't even marry me. Why? Do you love her that much? Is it because she can bear a child and I can't??" I exclaimed as I pushed him away before covering myself with the blanket.

"Of course not, New. Come on," he tried getting the blanket off me but I held it tightly.

"See you're not calling me babe anymore!" I whined underneath the blanket and started sobbing. I didn't even know what hurt more. If it was my head or my heart.

I felt him hug me from outside the blanket. "Babe. Come on. Don't think like that, okay? I love you. I really really do. Just trust me on this, okay?"

"No. I'm tired of guessing how many women you have in your life. Stop hurting me, Tay. I'm getting tired already," I tried so hard to not cry but my eyes betrayed me again.

He didn't say anything and just continued hugging me.

"Do you really wanna know the truth?" he muttered lowly and I let him remove the blanket from my face.

"Y-yes," I stuttered as I stared at him.

"Then eat and take medicine first. I'll take you somewhere right after, okay?"

I slowly nodded my head and he helped me sit on the bed.

We were silent the whole time he was feeding me. Only the sound of our breaths and the occasional clinking of the spoon against the bowl could be heard inside the room.

I could feel my heart racing. I didn't know where he was taking me and I somehow wanted to back out. What if I confirmed my hunches and ended being left all alone?

"Here. Do you want me to help you take a bath?" he asked tenderly after I took the medicine for the headache. The pain had somehow subsided.

"No. I can manage," I replied sparingly.

"Okay, I'll wait until you're done. Just take your time," he kissed me on the cheek before heading out of the room.

Just like he said, I took my time preparing. Though no matter how I tried to deny it, I was trying to take longer than usual because the idea of finally knowing the truth scared me.

I found him sitting on the sofa the moment I went out of the bedroom.

"Shall we?" he reached out his hand for me to hold and I didn't hesitate and took it.

No one was talking in the entire duration of the ride. I was afraid to ask or should I say, I was mentally preparing myself for what was about to come. For some reason, my heart was racing and I didn't even know why.

After about a two-hour ride, we stopped in front of a modern villa house. I eventually thought it was where Apple lived.

We both quietly got off the car. I noticed that just like me, he looked nervous.

The minimalistic three-story villa had a large grass lawn. It looked exquisite and luxurious yet homey, definitely a house that I would want to live in.

I followed Tay as he went inside and I eventually fell in love with the interior of the house.

The walls were painted cream and the furniture were in dark brown. There were also plants in every corner of the room. At one side was a glass wall showing us the view of the swimming pool and the backyard. The glass wall allowed the perfect amount of sunlight, illuminating the entire room.

The walls were bare but I could say that hanging picture frames on them would complete the entire aesthetic of the house.

"So, what do you think?" Tay asked lowly as he nervously looked at me.

"Think of what?" I asked in confusion.

"Th-the house. Do you like it?"

"Does my opinion even matter? It's not my house anyway," I muttered lowly because why on earth would he ask my opinion about someone else's home?

I continued roaming my eyes around the house and wondered when was Apple gonna show up. But the moment my gaze landed on the table beside the TV, I literally stopped breathing.

With light steps, I approached the table and slowly got the picture frame on top of it.

It was a picture of me and Tay during our trip to London for our first anniversary.

"What is it doing here?" I muttered to myself as I looked at the picture. Why would our picture be in someone else's home??

I turned to look at Tay and gasped the moment I saw him kneeling on one knee.

"Y-yaaah, what are you doing?" I clutched the frame to my chest as I looked at him. My heart was racing against my chest to the point I could hear my own heartbeat.

"Babe, I'm sorry for making you feel unloved these past few days. I was just busy with preparing everything. The reason I come home late every day is this. I wanted to finish everything as soon as as possible because I've been dying to let you see this. I intentionally didn't let you use my phone because I was afraid you'd see the photos of the house the interior designer sent me. I've been secretly looking after the construction of this for months already. And recently, it's on the final stage so I wanted to be hands on with everything."

I bit my lips as I listened to Tay's every word. I noticed that his eyes were red and it seemed that he was about to cry.

"I've already given you my mother's engagement ring so I thought that I should give you something else. I wanna propose to you with something else. Something that would encompass the way I feel every time that I'm with you. So I thought of this, our future home because it may sound cheesy and all but that's how I feel when I'm with you. I feel safe. I feel at home."

I could feel my heart racing even faster as he uttered every single word. Tears started falling down my cheeks as he confessed whilst kneeling in front of me.

It was then that I remembered the times he would casually ask the type of house I wanted or the type of furniture I liked which I just ignored thinking that he was just probably helping a friend choose a house.

"I'm not supposed to show you this yet because we're still doing the final touches and decorations, but I didn't want to hurt you. You just don't know how it broke my heart when I saw you crying in front of me last night. I will never cheat on you, babe. I'd rather starve and die than cheat on you. You just don't know how much I want to spend the rest of my life with you, to come home to you after a tiring day, to see you every time I open my eyes every morning, and to see you get wrinkles and gray hair. I love you more than the greatest definition of love and to spend my lifetime with you is something I want to do. So, babe, will you be the one I come home to each day and the one I'd grow gray hairs with? New Thitipoom Techaapaikhun, will you marry me?"

My tears fell uncontrollably as he uttered the question I'd been wanting to hear and I felt bad for doubting him.

"B-babe?" he asked nervously as I didn't say anything and just continued crying. I mean, how couldn't I? Right there in front of me was the man I'd ever loved proposing to me with an entire villa.

I sloppily wiped the tears from my face as I approached him and helped him stand.

"H-hey, are you okay?" he asked as he helped me wiped my tears.

I nodded continuously as I couldn't find my voice to speak. I was just too overwhelmed with everything.

"Yes," I finally found my voice to answer him.

"Is, is that the answer to the first question or...the second one?"

I chuckled as I lightly his chest.

"Both. Yes, I'm marrying you and yes, I'm just fine."

I chuckled even more when he grabbed me into a tight hug.

"Thank you, babe," he muttered as he buried his face in my neck.

"You don't even have to ask me in the first place. I'd marry you anytime, anywhere because no matter what happens, you are and you will always be my home."

"Oh, shit," he suddenly exclaimed as he broke our embrace.

"Wh-why? What's wrong?" I asked nervously as I noticed the worried look on his face. Was he gonna take back his words??

"I was too nervous I forgot to give you the ring," he panicked as he went out of the house.

Confused, I followed him outside and saw him rummaging through his bag which he just got from the car.

Once he found what he was looking for, he immediately went back to me and knelt on one knee and opened the box in front of me.

"New Thitipoom Techaapaikhun, will you be the husband of the most handsome guy you've met in your whole life? Please, marry me."

I laughed as he proposed again in the middle of the lawn.

"Tss. You're crazy. Come on, put the ring on me!" I chuckled as I held out my hand.

He immediately stood and I could only bite my lips as he inserted the ring on the same finger where his mother's engagement ring was.

"I thought you're proposing to me with the house. Why do you still have a ring with you?" I asked in wonder as I stared at the two rings in my finger.

"Well, I was thinking it wouldn't be considered a proposal if there's no ring."

"Tss. You and your wealthy ass," I grinned as I wrapped my arms around his waist and kissed him on the lips, the frame still in my hand.

"Speaking of ass, do you wanna test the durability of the bed upstairs?" he muttered lowly in my ear.

"Wait, you haven't answered me yet," I immediately pushed him away as I remembered the reason we were there in the first place. "Who is Apple???"

He just grinned at me and grabbed me back into a hug. "She's my second degree cousin. She's a renowned interior designer in the US and I literally begged her to design our house."

"Tss. I thought she's your woman. She sent you a kiss emoji."

"Hmm. So you got jealous with her that you intentionally went to my office?"

"E-excuse me. I was around the area that time so I thought I should visit you."

"Hmmm. Well you can visit me anytime. I've already had the chair replaced so we can test its durability one of these days."

"Are you crazy??"

"Do you always smell this nice?"

I squirmed as he started sniffing my neck.

"Yaaah, I still have hangover."

"Oh, let's get to bed so you can rest then," he grinned as he started dragging me inside the house.

"Tss. As if you'd let me rest," I muttered as I willingly followed him.

"We need to test every furniture in this house so we'd know if they're durable."

"You're crazy! You said this isn't done yet. What if somebody comes in here? You know, the workers or something?"

"Well, I'm just crazy when it comes to you and don't worry. I let them have the day off so you could be loud all you want. The room's soundproof by the way because I know how loud you can be," he grinned as he closed the bedroom door behind him and dragged me towards the bed.

"Tss. You insatiable beast! We just did it yesterday," I exclaimed as he started taking off my clothes.

"Well, this is to make up for the times we hadn't done it because I was busy," he grinned as he pushed me on the soft matress of the bed.

And well, the bed was indeed durable and the walls? Trust me, they were soundproof.

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