[ Saturday, December 10 ]
Things feel like coming back to the way they used to. I'm back in the city, bringing the kids with me and have no reason to go back to the island. My family has united again and I'm beginning to fix things with my dad little by little. My rebellious spirit is not far from being completely gone and my favorite part – having Summer back.
Whenever I look back at how things were when we didn't talk because of my decisions, I wasn't expecting for her to forgive me. I broke her heart by deciding to choose to be away without even us making an agreement about it. In a relationship, it matters that the other knows the decisions of each other and let the other comment about his or her thoughts about it. But that wasn't the case, for I already expected her to say that it's a bad idea. That was selfish of me because I didn't let her know about all of my plans.
But now, none of those matters anymore. I should focus on the present and the future.
Our future.
My phone began vibrating from my pocket which snapped me out of my thoughts. I pulled it out of my pocket and answered the call from the person I was just thinking of – Summer.
"Hey kitten, I'm planning to go to the mall today for Christmas shopping. If you're available, can you come with me?" Her voice sounded like in a bit of a rush, I can imagine her packing up her stuff in her office while the call is ongoing.
"Did you just call me, 'kitten?' Aren't you satisfied with the fact that you named your cat Shawn?"
"Don't you think that's cute?"
"What? No. Definitely not." Long before I explain why I hate being called as kitten, my room's door cracked open, revealing a little cute girl, Agatha. She grinned as she sees me and hurriedly ran towards me and hugged my knees. As funny as it sounds, she's too short, her height is only a little above my knees. That or I'm saying that I'm a tall guy.
"Kuya Shawn, can we eat somewhere out? I miss eating at fast foods, those kinds of things aren't available on the island," Agatha requested, her eyes are communicating 'I'm way too cute for you to say no.'
As if I can say no.
I pressed my phone to my ear to hear Summer better. "Hey, you hear that kid? She wants us to eat at some fast food store. Mind if she'll come?"
"Oh," her voice gave me a hint of disappointment. I can be wrong, but perhaps she also sees this Christmas shopping thing as some kind of date. "It's fine, of course."
"Where are you right now? I'll pick you up somewhere. Although I do think that you have your car with you. For once, can you leave that behind?"
"I'm actually driving right now," she chuckled. "On my way home, just to drop some things and also, I kinda see that coming. I already assumed that you might think of saying that."
I like how she used her intuition. Although she doesn't always use it, for I'm far more intuitive than her.
I lifted Agatha from the floor and carried her like a baby, and the kid giggled in excitement.
"Whenever you carry me like this, I feel like I'm flying, because you're too tall!" she laughed and covered her lips with her hands.
"Nah, you're just too short."
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After picking up Summer from her place, the three of us dropped at the mall. Summer headed to the department store and knowing how exhausting it will be when shopping with her, I had to give an excuse and that I'll just catch up later. If I'm not mistaken, the longest time that I waited for her was like four hours. Sometimes it makes me wonder where she's getting all the stamina because clearly, she's got lots. I can't imagine myself doing that – although I know that girls are normally into shopping and knowing how many options they've got; they want to check everything out.
Agatha and I headed to a jewelry store and she looked around the entire store, fascinated with the sparkling gems of silver and gold in the entire place. Most customers are women, but I focused on the ring sections and nothing else. One ring caught my eye for its uniqueness among the ones beside it – a ring made of two different metals – 2,925 sterling silver plated with rose gold, adorned with 2mm round cuts of Alexandrite, sapphire, and diamond.
"Can I have a closer look on this?" I asked the saleslady while pointing the ring with my index finger.
Agatha gave me a look, curious about why I chose that ring. "Who will it be for?"
"Who else do you think?" I asked as I crouched in front of Agatha. She giggled as I crouched as if looking forward for me to tell her who it was for. "We'll keep it as a secret, okay? Don't tell anyone. Can you promise me that?"
Agatha nodded, innocence is seen in her eyes. "I won't tell anyone."
"It's for Summer because I'll propose to her soon. It has to be a surprise, of course. So when we meet up with her later, don't tell her that I bought her a ring, okay?"
Agatha reassured that she won't say a thing, although I don't really trust her. She's a kid. Kids can spill secrets. But for now, all I can do is to trust and do some good acting. Either way, I purchased the ring and kept it in my pocket. There'll be no takebacks now.
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"I need your help. I'm in the perfumes shop on the second floor near the exit. I'm carrying some bags already so I'll appreciate some help. Where did you and Agatha go anyway? What's taking the two of you long?" Summer's question is something that I can't answer, but I don't want to make it look obvious. I don't want her to get hints that I got her a ring and I'm going to propose sometime soon.
"You called just on time. Agatha and I will follow you there. We just strolled around. It's her first time to be in a mall so, you get the idea."
"Right, right. I'll see you later then."
The moment I hung up, Agatha pulled the hem of my shirt, her eyes full of questions. "Are you going to propose today?"
I can't help but chuckle as I hear the words, but I'd rather play things safe and do more preparations for my proposal. As funny as it sounds, one of my weird goals is to make Summer cry when I propose. The question's how. I'm not the romantic kind of person, but there's always been room for creativity.
"No, but I will in a few weeks. You'll see."