Present Day
Mara has now successfully got out of traffic and is now on her way to her son's nanny where she left him. Well, Richard really can't be called as nanny, but who cares.
Richard has long volunteered to take care of Marco while she's at work. He gets to play with Marco the whole day while being at home working on his business. I don't want kind of business he has, but he sure is earning a lot to be staying at a luxurious condominium.
Marco adores his Daddy Richard and is always excited to stay at his house. He even calls Richard's husband (yes, he got married abroad), Marion (yes, still him), as Dadzy Marion. He is like the son they have wanted. They do want to adopt in the future, but they would rather shower Marco with love for the mean time. They adore Marco as much as any other parent would for their child.
I even feel a bit left out at times since they can definitely spend more time with Marco that I can since my job always makes me stay late for further reports.
Ughh! Reports! Never liked them.
Reaching the condo's building, she slowly parked her car when her phone started ringing. Marco is on a video call.
"Mom!" he beamed on the screen.
"Hi baby love!" blowing kisses on the screen while picking up the cookies from Alisa. "Guess what? Alisa gave you cookies."
His eyes turned as big as saucers. "Wow! Please! Please bring it to me now mom."
That earned him a laugh from me. He loves sweets as much as she does. "I am on my way up now. I'll be picking you up so that we can go and visit granny at her house and we'll get ice cream before going home. Is that all right with you?"
"Of course! Please hurry up, mom!" You can feel the excitement in his voice. "Daddy has something he wants to say to you."
Richard's handsome face is what I see now in the screen. He is as handsome as ever, she thought as she pressed the up button of the elevator. "Hey handsome."
Richard cringed on the screen. He hates being called handsome. "Mara! You know how I hate being called as handsome! I am beautiful!" That earned a laugh from her. She enjoys teasing him.
The elevator opened and she went in. There were already people inside, but there is still a lot of space for her. It was a good thing then that she pit on her airpods before getting of the car. She then slowly deposited herself at the backmost part of the elevator, force of habit, beside a man who is hugged by the woman he is with. Maybe not hug. She is almost stuck to him. Like a magnet to an iron bar.
Eew! She thought. Can't they just do it somewhere else?
She remembered Richard is still on the other line. "Sorry, Chard. I am in the elevator now. What was it you wanna say?"
"Somebody moved in today beside our condo. Guess who?" Richard is almost squealing like a girl on the other end.
"Mark---" Richard was unable to finish.
"Mark." She heard the woman beside her say.
She looked up and saw Mark's brown eyes staring at her.
Fuck.
***************************************************
5 years ago
Mara felt like she had been crying for days after such an emotional breakdown. But it had never felt so right just to cry. She hadn't known that she had such fear in her. Well, it's not that she didn't really know, but she didn't want anybody to know. Especially not Mark. The guy isn't the closest person to her. But nonetheless, it felt good.
The feeling of elation after releasing such pent up emotion is too much that she hugged Mark back harder after she calmed down and all after all her sobs have subsided. However, Mark seems to still think that she is crying since his hold on her is not slacking a bit, at all.
She is a bit unsure on how to tell hin that she is all good now. Make a joke? Push him? Say it's fine?
She went with a joke. "Ahm, that was unexpected. I never thought I could cry that much." Mara added a laugh to that. She tapped Mark's back to signal that she's okay now. "All's good now, man." He didn't budge though. He seems to still be thinking that she is still crying. "I am not crying anymore. I feel much better now." Still no response. "Mark?"
He did move this time. He turned around too quickly. She just noticed then that he is sniffling. She even saw him raise his arm to wipe something off of his face. Wait- Is he...
"Are you crying?" she's holding in her laughter. "Are you?" she hasn't thought about seeing such big a guy cry. "Hey!"
He faced her this time without saying anything. He really was crying. His red eyes and nose says it all. That hit something deep in her. She's touched that he would be able to comfort her without a word, and that he would shed tears for her.
That earned a smile from him. A real smile. "Thank you." She whispered. She can't get her voice to come out because she feels like tears were about to pour again. "I appreciate that. Really."
He still did not say anything. He is just quietly staring at her. Again. However, she really appreciates his silence this time. She doesn't know how she will handle any kind of useless talk at this point in time. The kind of comfort he offered really helped her.
But, this is too much melodrama for me. Time to shift gears. "Oh well, that's it. You really helped me a lot. I am feeling much better-"
"Can I ask you to be my girlfriend?"
"...now-- WHAT?" she couldn't wrap her mind around what he just said. He is nit joking though. His face looked as serious as ever. "Why would you ask that? Are you out of your mind?"
No response from him. He is still looking at her as if she didn't ask him a question. That caught her off guard. He is waiting for an answer.
"Well, that's a HELL NO! What's up Mark? Have you gone cuckoo?" Mara even had to do the action with her hand to emphasize the matter at hand.
Mark didn't seem shaken by the answer. He just shrugged his shoulders as if it's not a big deal for him.
See? He wasn't invested on the thought of being in a relationship with me.
That irked Mara. Especially when just said goodbye and then turned around.
Well, damn! Was he that uninterested? "What would have happened if I said yes?" She called him out. She just wanted to mess with this guy who just messed with her.
He turned around, looked at her with those telling eyes and said, "This."
Not in her whole life would she have imagined what would happen next.
Mark's soft lips is now kissing hers.