Serendipity - A Chance Encounter

Samantha was wearing sunnies and had her hair up in a ponytail. She was very casual as she only wore a white s.h.i.+rt, black leggings, and white sneakers.

Meanwhile, Daniel was also low profile with his plain black s.h.i.+rt and black cap; looking extra hot even with the simple attire.

"Meh, it"s alright. I wouldn"t say that I will want to come back and eat here.", he replied before taking a sip of his black coffee.

Samantha nodded in agreement, her food wasn"t that impressive either. The simple breakfast patty tasted bland but she finished her food anyway. She was subconsciously stroking the palm of her hand, Daniel"s gaze s.h.i.+fted to it and noticed something unusual.

"What is that?", he asked, his hands already grabbing hers gently. "What happened to your hand? Why is your hand bruised? Did you fall?", he worried and looked at her in the eyes while his hand was still gently stroking the bruised area.

Samantha averted her gaze, she forgot to tell him about what happened with Andrew the day before. Pursing her lips, she thought about how to tell him without him getting angry. "Will he be angry, though?", she wondered.

"Honey.", Daniel urged her when she didn"t answer.

She breathed out exaggeratedly as if she had inhaled a whole lot of air when she decided that she should tell him the truth, "I met Andrew yesterday at the Hozzby event. I slapped him."

Daniel"s brows furrowed, not sure of what to think at that moment. A small area of Samantha"s palm was a little discolored. It was apparent that she must have exerted a lot of force to cause that area to be a little swollen.

"What happened yesterday that made her hurt that guy?", Daniel already thought of possible reasons in his head, all of them made him angry.

"What happened? Did he do something to you?!", he suddenly exclaimed. The only time that Samantha would resort to slapping someone like that is if that person did something horrible.

She didn"t know how to start telling him, at first she even thought to just dismiss it and tell him not to worry but the look on Daniel"s face was unreadable. "Better not avoid it.", she thought.

"Excuse me, can I get some ice?", he requested from the waiter who just pa.s.sed by them.

Samantha recalled what happened yesterday and Daniel found out that the reason why she slapped that guy wasn"t because he did something to her. Rather, Andrew had spoken ill about Daniel which made her furious causing her to slap that b.a.s.t.a.r.d"s pathetic face.

Feeling touched and conflicted, he sighed after listening to Samantha"s explanation. Though Daniel felt touched that she did that for him, he didn"t like it one bit that she got hurt in the process.

"Love, as much as I appreciate that you want to defend my honor, I would never want for you to be hurt like this.", he spoke seriously.

Samantha"s brows raised, "But this is nothing, it"s just small. It doesn"t even hurt that much."

"It doesn"t matter, even if it is as small as a cell, I would still not like it."

She thought that Daniel was being ridiculous. She was fine, it"s not like she was dying. Samantha snickered, "What can I do? It was instinct. He talked bad about you so I whipped his sorry face, I didn"t even have time to think."

"Well then next time, you should think first. You don"t have to use your hand to hurt people.", he paused and received the ice from the waiter. He took a table napkin and wrapped the ice with it before applying the cold compress onto Samantha"s bruised palm. He continued, "Next time, look for a pipe, a stick or a baseball bat to hit him with. That way your hand wouldn"t get hurt."

Upon hearing Daniel"s suggestion, Samantha"s mouth twitched. She was already feeling touched by how sweet and caring he was but then the second part of his statement was something that she did not expect.

So it was still okay to resort to violence as long as she didn"t use her bare hands? That wasn"t even her main concern, she thought that if ever that happens again, "Where the h.e.l.l am I even going to get a pipe, a stick or a baseball bat at such a time?", she questioned in her thoughts.

After their uninteresting breakfast food, the two of them strolled on the sidewalk with bubble tea drink in their hand. It was 8 in the morning and the street was already full of people going about their way to get to work. The good thing about this rush hour was that everyone was so busy to notice and be interested in other people, so Daniel and Samantha freely roamed around the city center just like a regular couple; they blended perfectly well.

They found a spot at the center of a shopping district and sat down on a bench. Samantha took out the camera that Daniel gave her that morning and turned it on

"Found something interesting that you"d like to capture?", Daniel asked when he saw Samantha pressing some b.u.t.tons on her new toy.

"Yeah."

Looking around, Daniel searched for something that was worthy of being in the frame. "Where is it?", he asked.

Samantha raised the camera before her face and pointed the lens towards Daniel"s good-looking features. "Here.", she spoke in an attempt to make Daniel look her way.

As soon as he turned his head to her, Samantha pressed the shutter b.u.t.ton nonstop. Snapping pictures of his face being blank, confused and then amused.

"What are you doing?", he chuckled.

"You"re something interesting so I"m taking pictures of you.", Samantha expressed. "Pose for me, honey."

Daniel smiled and looked away suddenly feeling shy.

"Oh come on, let me see that handsome face.", she spoke while still clicking the shutter.

He finally gave in and showed a bright smile to her, "That"s it! Definitely gorgeous smile." *click* "Now, stop smiling… strangers might suddenly fall for you. You"re only allowed to smile like that with me."

Daniel laughed heartily at Samantha being possessive.

"Show me arrogance.", she directed and Daniel lifted his chin, not smiling and crossed his arms. Even with this pose, he still looked s.e.xy with the way his eyes were looking at the camera.

Samantha had so much fun taking stills with her man. At one point, she even recorded Daniel as he tried to do an impersonation of being a local tourist guide. They were like a two-man show of a travel channel, with Samantha being the videographer and Daniel being the host. The two of them would definitely make it big with their entertainment skills.

In the middle of their morning date, Daniel"s phone rang. He was still laughing with Samantha while they were talking about Liam"s mishaps during his pre-school years.

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear." he announced before he answered the call. "h.e.l.lo."

The smile on Daniel"s face disappeared as he listened to whatever Liam had to say on the other line.

"Where?", he asked, his face was now painted with worry.

"I"ll be right there."

The call was cut off and he turned to face Samantha who was browsing something on her phone. "Sam."

Smiling, Samantha lifted her head. "Yeah?"

The smile on her face immediately vanished upon seeing Daniel"s expression. "What"s wrong?", she asked nervously.

Looking at her lover"s face, she knew that he had just heard some bad news. She was afraid to hear whatever he was about to say. And when Daniel spoke, she froze.

"I have to go to the hospital. My dad had a heart attack."