"I have taken a liking to your friend."
"Ana? Oh, that''s so sweet. Who would have thought that you would even develop feelings for anyone? You barely had a heart."
I blushed, feeling guilty at the truth I found in her words but that was all a past interpretation of me. "Not now. I''ve grown past those horrible habits and believe me, I have changed." I dered then lowered the octave of my voice. "You have to help me win her over.
ra''sughter attracted several stares from all corners of the club, prompting me to slink back into the shadows, embarrassed for the life of me.
"Ana is still single though." She informed me after herughing fit had died down. "You know, judging from the oue of her past rtionship, I doubt she wants to let anyone into her life. Most especially, you."
"I have changed and I can be better. I just... I can''t get her out of my mind."
"So, you''re obsessed?"
"No!" I whisper-yelled at the absurdity of that thought. Obsessed? Well maybe not the way she put it but my feelings came from a genuine ce of affection. "That''s a strong word. I''m just smitten by her and you''re not seeing the bigger picture here. I wanna be with her every step of the way until myst day."
I caught a shudder from ra as she took a sip from her cocktail. "Okay, Mr Shakespeare, that sure is intense. I''m happy for you."
"Stop ying around, ra." I urged with an exasperated sigh.
"I''m not promising but I''ll do my best for you." She promised.
She fulfilled her pledge by bringing Ana to the club that night. The night when all crumbled before me. It hadn''t been the same for her since then and I eased up a bit.
It was t
torture but it was only proper of me. After her first rejection, instead of stayingpletely away, I drew nearer, finding myself incredibly maed to her side.
"You have experienced first hand how tough and strong-willed she can get. If she rejects your advances one more time, take it in good faith." ra advised the second time I crawled to her for help again. That depended on what good faith was to her. To me, it meant picking yourself back up and trying again despite all.
"Dennis?" ra''s voice broke into my reverie, pulling me back to the present. "You''re about to break the steering into half."
Linstantly lessened my grip, embarrassed that I was revealing in in sight for ra to see how broken I was about Ana.
"You haven''t answered my question." She informed me her stare drilling into the side of my face as she waited. "We''re still on the topic of Ana."
"I don''t know, okay!" My voice was raised by a fraction before I could gain control. "I don''t know why I''m
still hung up on her. Is it love? Obsession? I can''t tell but it sure hurt when I learned from somebody else about her trip instead of from her directly. How do you expect me to feel?" I added in a deted tone.
"Give her more time."
"But I have. I am still." A chuckle slipped out of my mouth, more out of pain than anything remotely funny." I''m losing my sleep over her."N?velDrama.Org owns this text.
"Don''t be like that. Some people heal faster than others. "You know what? Let''s talk about something else. How about we go pay a visit to Amie?" She announced in a cheery voice.
Our conversation continued, steered away from Ana as we drove to the hospital. With Amie''s present in hand, we entered into the kiddie''s ward where I remembered the little girl was admitted into.
"Aunty ra? Uncle Dennis!" She shot off towards us, dodging the nurses who tried to gain hold of her. You came! Is that for me?" She pointed to the gift bag.
Clever kid.
After ying her for a while, she drifted off to sleep, leaving I and ra to fawn over the drawings in her sketchbook.
A call came in. "Business." I informed ra before stepping out briefly to take it. When I returned, I walked into the most absurd scene; ra tearing pages from Amie''s sketchbook.
My heart sank and anger boiled as I watched her discard the pages in the bin.
"ra," she turned with a jump, startled at the sound of my voice. "What are you doing?"