A delicious shiver ran from her neck down to her spine. And no, it wasn't because of her tumor. His manly smell is slowly filling her nose and going straight to her head, intoxicating her. Damn, does this man affect her!
Mark was still waiting for her to respond to his question. Not taking the first move, but waiting for her to let him do so. But, that is not what she has in mind right now. She might not be able to say much if she goes down that road. How she wants to do so, is out of the question, since she really wants to.
She responded by licking his lips. Slowly. All the while looking straight into his eyes, not severing that delicious sexual connection burning between them.
The fire in Mark's eyes just burned brighter. He tried to hold the back of her bread to deepen the kiss, but Mara made sure to stay away from his grasp and said, "Nope. Not now." She stood emphasizing that to Mark when he tried to reach out to her again. He looks confused, but he said nothing. He lowkey tried to cover the slowly building part in his pants, but she tried to brush that thought away from her mind. Or else suffer from regret later.
"Before you try to ask any questions, let me lay down my reasons first." she cleared her throat as a sign that she is serious. "I am leaving in 2 weeks." He tried to speak, but she stopped him by raising her hand. "Let me finish first." He settled down. "I have listed 10 things that I want to do before leaving for...for my treatment." She felt sad all of a sudden thinking about the reason why she has to leave her perfect life. "So, I need you to be my boyfriend for the whole two weeks to achieve all of my goals, before I leave." She wanted to sound as perky as possible, but it didn't come out as happy as it should be. "Are you down for it?"
**************************************************************
'She's leaving?' Mark is still trying to fully digest the idea of Mara leaving, of her asking him is she can be her boyfriend for two weeks, of her receiving her treatment.
"How long?" he quietly asked.
"Hmmm?"
"How long will you be gone?" his voice was slowly losing volume.
She was unable to look him in the eyes this time while giving her answer. One thing you should know about Mara, she is bad at lying. Whenever she can't lie about something, she will look down and then tell the truth, no matter how much she hates it. Like what she is doing now. "They said it's a year. But could be longer."
More than a year. That's too long for Mark. A year. Even a month will already be too much. Counting the hours and days will be painful, but Mara comes first, so he will wait. No matter how long.
"Are you gonna be okay?"
The question seemed to have surprised Mara, but she smiled happily. But it didn't reach her eyes. "Of course! Mom will make sure I get great doctors."
She's unsure. He can feel the quiver in the voice that she was trying to hide.
"They promised that I will get better." She said quietly. "They promised." Quieter. "They have to." Very quietly this time.
This is not the Mara he loved. Not the Mara who could laugh out loud after people pretend to not notice or hear her. Not the Mara who could laugh out freely after beating all the girls in class in the 50-meter dash. Not the Mara who will do everything to prove that she is a wallflower but keeps on catching his eyes.
'This is not my Mara.' This thought to himself.
The pain is real in her eyes. And so is the fear for a future she is not sure she has. A future she may not see in a few weeks.
Life truly is unfair. It is taken too early from those who deserve it. And Mara deserves it more than anyone else he knows. She needs to know that she is a butterfly that is yet to go through her metamorphosis for her to see that she has beautiful wings. She has to spread her wings.
"They have to!" He unconsciously repeated louder than necessary.
That seemed to have taken her out of her bubble. He could see her eyes boring into him. Almost asking him to just repeat it to assure her further that she will make it. "They have to do their best. Because I will have them make sure to do so." And that he will do.
Her face started to light up. Her eyes are smiling and her lips did so after.
'This is my Mara.' And so God helps him, he is willing to do everything to make sure that smile stays.
"You say stupid things," she laughingly said, "but, thank you. I never thought I will be comforted by you." She is full-blown smiling now. And that got him. He could just look at her.
"Um, about that thing we talked about." she continued. "Are you down for it? Will you be willing to be my partner-in-crime in completing my bucket list?"
He is actually more than willing to do it with her. If it could make her smile more like the one she had a while ago, he will do anything. "Of course, when do we start?"
That lit her up! And when he says lit her up, she jumped him and hugged him. "Thank you," she whispered. "I will make sure to make use of you fully," then laughed after she let go of him.
'I sure hope you make USE of me FULLY." He thought. And so many other thoughts came to mind with the word USE and none of them are rated PG. They were all delicious thoughts of skin to----
"First we start with a harana." A harana is a Filipino tradition where a man serenades a woman to show his sincerity in courting him. "You have to serenade me. Can you do that? I want you to play and sing a song for me." She looks so hopeful while asking the question. Then doubtful. "Well, I never saw you play any instrument nor heard you sing, so I don't really think you can do it. But you should still try, at least." She is now looking at her fingernails.
That got him raising an eyebrow. 'This woman really doesn't think that he can play any instrument.'
*****************************************************************************
'I don't really think this guy can play shit. That's why I had this listed at the top. Just to make things a little different for him.' She thought. 'He couldn't be that perfect. He can't be handsome, sexy, intelligent, sexy, athletic, sexy and can play and instrument and sing as well. And did I say sexy?'
She saw him raise an eyebrow at her and then he quietly stood up. 'Gotcha!' she winningly thought to herself. Which she lost after he came back with a very nice-looking guitar. A well-used one at that.
"I didn't know you could play!"
He just raised his shoulders to answer that. "You never asked."
"I was never interested."
"Your loss." He smiled at that response. "Are you ready to have your socks knocked off?"
And damn did he knock her socks off. He may have even knocked her underwear off.
The first few notes floated in the air and she could tell that he has done this so many times, and he is good at it.
Then he started singing. She fell in love with this voice. She seems to be enveloped by his voice. She liked listening to it.
And then the words registered in her mind.
'When she was younger, she would pretend
That her bedroom was a castle, she was fairest in the land
And she got older, and it all changed
There was no time for make believe
And all the magic slipped away
Until the light and in her eyes, it was all but gone
'Cause all the dreams that she had, turned out to be wrong
So keep your head up, princess, before your crown falls
Know these voices in your head will be your downfall
I know it gets so hard but you don't got far to go
Yeah, keep your head up, princess, it's a long road
And the path leads right to where they won't go
I know it hurts right now but I know you'll make it home
So keep your head up
Yeah, keep your head up'
He was singing to her while looking straight into her eyes. No, not to her eyes. To her soul. He is comforting her soul.
'One day you'll find your way back to the start
One day you'll live in your dreams
One day you'll wake up and girl, you'll be a queen
So keep your head up, princess, before your crown falls
Know these voices in your head will be your downfall
I know it gets so hard but you don't got far to go
Yeah, keep your head up, princess, it's a long road
And the path leads right to where they won't go
I know it hurts right now but I know you'll make it home
So keep your head up
Yeah, keep your head up'
The last notes of the song were strummed. She hasn't moved. Not even when he put his guitar down and moved closer to her and wiped the tears from her eyes.
Tears. She was crying. Because of his song. A song that touched her in more ways than any other comforting words will ever affect her.
"You can do this, My Mara. I believe in you."
And then the dam broke. She just bawled her eyes out while holding him close. For less than 24 hours, she has cried in his arms. And boy did it feel to good to deny.