章節 16: Chapter 16

"Are you sure that it is alright to come up here? Someone might see us up here." Dei said while going up to the rooftop.

"It is pass 9 pm already and probably most of the students are already heading home." Richard said while they opened the door to the rooftop. There they saw an old man approaching them "OMG, Mr. Tony how are you? You still work here?" Dei surprisingly said.

"Yes I am, but I will be retiring soon." The old man replied "How are you Dei? You look prettier now than when you were still in college. It looks like your husband really takes good care of you." He added.

Like earlier with Mrs. Azon, Richard immediately butts in before Dei could correct Mr. Tony's statement "Are we all good Mr. Tony?" He asked.

"Of course Richard, everything is all clear. You know that you don't really have to ask the president. This is my territory. You can come here anytime." The old man brags. "Alright just like the old days, and students are still not allowed here .... except the two of you of course. More than a decade ago you guys almost owned this place." Mr. Tony said laughing.

"Thank you very much Mr. Tony." Richard said.

"I'm delighted to see you again, Mr. Tony." Dei added.

"You're most welcome, Richard. And I am happy to see you guys together until now. Take care of each other and always be happy." Mr. Tony said, smiling. "I'll leave you two now. Enjoy your night of going back to how it all started." Mr. Tony meaningfully said.

"Thank you again Mr. Tony, please take care of yourself." Richard said.

"Thank you also Richard and Dei." Mr. Tony said before he left.

When the old man left Dei looks around as if she was looking for something which made Richard very confused. "Looking for something, your highness?" He asked.

"Don't you remember? We made a little vandalism here." She said while she continued looking. "Maybe it's gone. I think they had this building repainted, most probably it was erased. Do you remember what we wrote then?" Richard asked.

"I can't remember. That's why I am looking for it so that I can recall" Dei said then sat on the floor like how she used to. Richard sat beside her and started to reminisce.

"Mr. Tony was right, this place was ours. We created so many memories in this place." He said, smiling.

"Yeah, here was where you usually sleeps when you wanted to skip you class because this building is far from the business administration building." Dei replied, smiling.

"And here was where you eat all the food that Ms. Virgie used to prepare for me." Richard recalled.

"Excuse me, I just don't want your food to go to waste, you said you like those foods in the canteen than the one cooked by Ms. Virgie. Don't you realize, how much you owe me, from saving you from Ms. Virgie's rants once she learns you prepare to eat food from the canteen and not those she cooked for you." Dei said defending herself.

"I was unable to save that time, because I buy my food since you were eating all the foods that I brought for me." Richard continued teasing.

"It's alright, you are a rich kid anyway." Dei said laughing.

Too many things were reminisced, good and bad things which they just both laughed at. "In this place was the first time I saw you cried. That was when Rizza got into an accident. In this place, I also saw you very scared because you almost did not make it for the graduation because of your heated argument with your professor? In this place too, I happy you were when your Dad finally allowed you to drive all by yourself." Dei recalled.

"In this place, I learned how you much love spicy foods. Also, in this place, I saw how much of a sleepy-head you were. In this place, I learned that you ate a lot. You can barely finish one whole pizza. In this place, I learned that you bit your nails every time you get tensed. In this place, I saw how worried you were when your mother got sick." Richard, too, recalled. "In this place, I saw how excited you were on your try-out in the Junior Swimming varsity team and in this place too, I saw how you cried out loud because you did not make it to the team." Richard added.

"Before, I cried when I think about that failed try-out moment, but now, I'll just laugh at it every time I remember that." Dei said laughing. "I will not forget those days when I bothered you to use your connections so that I can have my practice in the campus pool. You know what, being a businessman suits you really well, you get many connections." She added.

"I hope you realized how annoying you were then." Richard said. "But, I liked it. I enjoyed being annoyed but only by you, my queen. Because those were the times that I felt, you see nobody else but me." He further said.

"Hayyy … I can't believe we have many memories in this place." Dei said, beaming.

"Remember? Also, in this place, you told me that you were pregnant." Richard seriously recalled.

Dei looked at Richard straight to his eyes. "Why did you do that?" She asked.

"Do what?" He also asked.

"Why did you marry me?" Dei straightly asked in reply.

"That is the right thing to do. We have no one, but each other that time." Richard honestly said.

"If those are your thoughts then, how come it took you three weeks to ask?" Dei again asked.

"I need to think things over. And what would you expect, I just graduated and was starting to learn about our business, it was not an easy decision to get married immediately after graduation? I want to make sure that it was the best decision." Richard sarcastically replied.

"I know it was not easy. And I told you that you don't have to do that." Dei seriously said.

"But I wanted to. Yes, we could have waited until you finish your college and I became capable enough to raise a family." Richard said. "But that's not what my heart wanted. When I told you that we are getting married, I was sure of myself that it is what I want to do and not because we need doing that," He added.

"Don't you regret it? We still ended up living separately." Dei asked.

"If I am regretting that decision then why am I pursuing you to again?" Richard honestly replied.

"We were so young then, you could have met other girls, better than me. Someone more ..." Dei said but suddenly interrupted by Richard.

"I do not like any other girl." Richard said before Dei could even finish her sentence.

"You did not even give yourself a chance to fall in love with another girl." Dei said. "Like Elise, you could have given her a chance instead of sticking with me because we got married at a very early age."

"I don't like her. I don't like anybody else. It is only you that I have wanted, from the start until now." Richard declared.

Dei just looked at Richard. She didn't even notice that tears were already streaming down her cheeks. "Believe me my queen, when I asked you about marrying me, I thought about it really hard. I know you don't love me enough to marry me. But I wanted to do it and I am willing to do it again and again and again because I love you too much."

Tears continue flowing down on Dei's cheek. "I hear it again. After we got married, I can't remember hearing those words from you, just until now. But please don't get me wrong, it is perfectly alright. Even if you hardly say it before, you were able to show how much love you me. And it made me so scared because I could not even reciprocate the same amount of love you've given me. I felt I was so unfair to you."

Richard grabs Dei to hug her "I'm sorry your highness, you know I was not good in words when it comes to expressing my feelings. I have fear of rejection, and you know that, especially if it concerns you." Richard said. "I am not asking you to reciprocate the amount of love I have for you. Whatever you could give, that's enough for me. You gave me Charmaine and Athena. What else could I ask for?"

"It is nice when you actually hear it. It gives a different kind of feeling. Honestly, it made me happy, your highness." Dei sincerely said.

"I missed you so much, my queen." Richard said beaming while still hugging Dei. "Wait a minute. You called me, your highness? Did I hear it right?" Richard asked and Dei nodded smiling widely. "Ohhh … you made me extremely happy." He said. Dei just smiled while he wiped her tears. "So does it mean we are back together?" He excitedly asked.

"Don't be too assuming, your highness. You said you wanted us to start from the basic, so I am just addressing you how I was addressing you before. But yes, there is a little chance of a 'yes' on that part." Dei replied chuckling.

"But, isn't it the same?" Richard asked.

"Of course not, prove to me first that you are worthy of that second chance." Dei declared.

"I guess I have no other choice, and I accept the challenge, if that is the only way to have you back. Now tell me, how I can prove it to you?" Richard asked.

"Impress me, though I don't know how you'll do it." Dei said.

"Why? Does this date do not impress you enough?" Richard asked again.

"It does... but only a little." Dei said then laughs.

"Alright, I'll settle on that but just for now, at least I get to see a little light at the end of the tunnel." Richard said. "Thank you my queen, you made me very happy tonight. All my efforts were paid off." He gladly added.

"Thank you for doing this for me, also. I am happy too, very happy tonight." Dei replied.

"I think I already remember what we wrote on the wall then?" Richard teasingly asked.

"Really? What was it?" Dei asked.

"Dei means, by God's grace. While Richard means, a powerful ruler." He said. "And so, we wrote, by God's grace for a powerful ruler. And, it can also be read as, Dei for Richard." Richard proudly said.