I'm Guilty, My Beauty

"I think I"ll be forgotten if I don"t write first."

(Your Romeo,

Sorry, was not able to write for days now. A lot of things happened. I think you"re also busy since I got nothing from you. Anyway, I have a question. A little personal. Here it goes, how do you know you"re in love with a girl? Or how does a girl know she"s in love with a man?

Confused,

Beauty)

. . . . .

At this moment, Clarence was having a conference call with his parents and with some restaurant managers. Thus, Beauty was left waiting for Your Romeo"s reply.

"Come on Your Romeo, when are you going to reply."

She fell asleep waiting while her computer was still on. Suddenly, her mother came into her room thinking she was still awake. Her mother heard a ding sound from her computer. A new email came from Your Romeo.

"Who is this Your Romeo? I don"t like the sound of the name." Bella said to herself.

With curiosity, she opened the email.

(Beauty,

I don"t understand why you keep on asking me with such questions. Allow me to make a guess. You might be falling in love with a guy now. Is that Clarence? I a.s.sumed it"s him for you didn"t mention other man"s name to me at all. Is he the person you are referring or someone else? I hope you would be honest with me if not I will not answer your questions.

Your Romeo)

. . . . .

Bella checked Beauty"s email folders then saw a specific one for Your Romeo.

"She seems to be in contact with this guy for quite some time now. Do mother and father know about this? I can"t remember them mentioning this certain Your Romeo."

She also read the latest email her daughter sent to this person. She giggled while reading it.

"Oh my, my daughter has grown up. She has Clarence as a suitor, and she might be in love with him now. Who would not fall for such a refined man? It"s nice to be young. I"ll tell her Papa about this."

Before leaving her daughter"s bedroom, she made sure to click "as unread" Your Romeo"s email.

. . . . .

Beauty woke up later and saw the email.

(You"re really unfair. You"re like a gossipy old lady. First, you have to read my questions again. I said, "how do you know you"re in love with a girl?" I didn"t say I am in love. I don"t even know what is falling in love means. My second question was, "how does a girl know she"s in love with a man?" So do you understand my questions now?

Beauty)

. . . . .

Clarence got the reply as he was about to close his laptop. As he read her mail, he was laughing to himself for daring to probe the girl through Your Romeo. He felt this alias came in handy sometimes but not always. It could also be his folly.

"I thought it would work but epic fail. Never mind, no need to probe. I believe she is now falling in love with me."

. . . . .

(Beauty,

Fine, I don"t want to be called the gossipy old lady and I don"t think you want to be called same way. So we"ll just leave it that way. To answer your query, just search your heart if you miss him or not. Do you want to see him and hear his voice every day? Do you always think of him? If the answer is yes to these two questions then you"re now in love.

Sleep well Beauty, the girl who is in love now. :-P

Your Romeo)

. . . . .

The girl was blus.h.i.+ng as she read his reply. She asked the two questions to herself and realized the answer was really YES.

That night she hadn"t had a good sleep. When Clarence came to get her the next day, he could not hold himself from laughing after he saw her bedraggled state. Her eyes had eye bags. Her hair was a mess and pajamas were crimped. He was laughing for he believed his email was the cause.

Beauty was really blaming Your Romeo. She could not sleep for the question "Do you always think of him?" kept ringing in her mind and made her keep on thinking of Clarence.

"Do you want to go now or back to sleep?" asked Clarence.

"Go now. I need money for my tuition fees, so I need to work."

Her parents were just observing the two youths in front of them. They could not stop them from falling in love with one another. To counsel and guide them was the best they could do so they wouldn"t stray to commit something they would regret for the rest of their lives.

"Clarence, take good care of Beauty and drive safely. It"s a long journey."

"Yes, Uncle, I will."

. . . . .

While Clarence was driving, Beauty got a text message.

"From who was it?" asked the former.

"Why do you ask?"

"Just asking. . . for it might be from John." Pang of jealousy hit his heart.

"Yes, it"s really from him. Do you wanna ask more?" She wanted to make him jealous.

"I have no right to touch your privacy." His heart was hurting all the more. His face was totally betraying him. He could not keep his calm.

She laughed loudly. "Haha, it was not from him. It"s only Ronald asking what time we"ll go."

She continued to laugh recalling yesterday"s change of plans.

"You, you have the guts to test and make me jealous." Clarence could not hold himself anymore. He gave the steering wheel a shove to park hurriedly at the street side. His burning gaze was warning her that he was ready to devour her. She felt afraid. He really wanted to kiss her now. Somehow, held himself in check after seeing her scared face.

While holding the steering wheel he knocked his head on it. The pain kept him from touching her. Scaring her was the last thing he would do.

"Beauty, please don"t ever do this again. I beg you. You know how much I love you. I can bear other jokes but not this."

"I"m sorry. I won"t do that again." She was remorseful. To see him angry was the least she wished to see. She admitted her joke had gone too far.

"Why did I want to see him jealous? Is this part of being in love? How can I tell him that I love him now?"