Ryn looked around for her phone in the bedroom. But to her puzzle, she could not find it. She put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes. Where could her phone be? She remembered the last time she saw her phone was here, on the bed. She quickly took the blanket off the bed, then the pillows. Still, no phone.Where could her phone be?
"Jeremy, have you seen my phone?" she finally remembered him and jumped back to her feet. She went downstairs to get to him. He should see her phone, right?
She found him in his studio, listening to something. At first, she did not want to disturb him but she desperately needed her phone. She needed to inform her mother that she has arrived and also contact her manager to get an update of her schedule.
She tapped his shoulder to get his notice but he was too engrossed with whatever he was listening to. She finally pulled the headphone down.
He forgot that she was there and was about to lash out to whoever brave enough interrupting him. But luckily he saw her before he shouted. His expression softened and a wide smile appeared on his face.
"Love, what are you doing here?"
"My phone. Have you seen it?" she asked.
He turned around and pulled her to sit on his laps. Then, he turned back so both of them were facing the computer. He even slid back a little bit to accommodate both of them. He put the earphone to her ears.
She wanted to ask him what he was doing but cancelled her intention. She paused and closed her eyes, listening to the music carefully.
"What do you think?" he asked after she finally took off the earphone and put it on the table.
"The arrangement is so beautiful. Is this the song for Mika"s wedding? Is it going to be live or…?" she asked excitedly.
"Hmm… And… I want you to sing it during the wedding with me," he whispered close to her ear, sending s.h.i.+ver to her whole body. Even her toes curled listening to his husky voice. "Can you do it?"
"Hmm…?" she rubbed her tingling ear unconsciously, even trying to put a gap between their head but he kept leaning forward, refused to separate from her.
"What are you doing? I can do it myself," she cried, trying to push him away.
"Let me hug you. I"m scared this is just a dream and we"re… you are not here," he whispered.
She smiled. He sounded so desperate… almost like a child. He looked nervous too. Despite him being the CEO of Full Moon Corp. a very popular singer and songwriter, there was a vulnerability in his eyes when he looked at her.
It was like he was scared this was just a dream.
She cupped his cheeks and pressed her forehead against his. "Maybe both of us are dreaming right now."
He closed his eyes. If this was a dream, this was the best dream he had so far.
"Say yes," he said suddenly.
"Say yes to what?" regardless of who was asking her, she would not easily give her agreement. She needed to know what she was agreeing to.
He was about to say marrying her but he managed to hold himself. It was not the right time yet. Besides, his Ryn deserved an event for the proposal.
"Be my partner for the wedding. I"ve arranged the songs to suit your range," he asked full of hope. He never once considered other women for the songs. He always wanted her to partner with him for the songs.
"It"s been too long for me to sing…" she choked out.
"It"s okay. We still have time to practice," he rea.s.sured her.
"But… J, there are a lot of female artists you can choose from and I have no doubt they will love to sing at Mika"s wedding," she said. The pressure to sing in public, even though so far Mika claimed there would be among family and close friends but knowing Grandma Long, there would be people from the business world as well as some of the leaders in the country. She did not want to make a fool of herself.
"Don"t worry. I will help you practice," he coaxed her, stroking her back almost absentmindedly.
"But…"
"Don"t worry. We have a lot of time to practice. You can even choose to practice here, in the karaoke or in the studio," he winked.
"Ergh… here," she replied quickly before gasped. "J, you fooled me!"
"Did I?" he asked innocently.
"J!"
*~*~*~*
Mika wrapped her arm around Jason"s arm happily as they walked down the stairs carefully. They had to be careful because there were so many people watching the movie.
"I love it so much," she said before grumbled, "But I hate it when there were too many misunderstanding between them and they did not even try to clear them quickly."
"They want to create suspense for the movie. And I saw you crying, babe, so I know you like it," he teased.
"Of course I like it," she mumbled.
He chuckled. He led her toward their favourite restaurant, knowing she was famished by now.
She smiled realizing they were heading toward a familiar restaurant. Her Jason really doted on her.
They stopped at the entrance and Jason told the server about his reservation. The waiter even greeted them with their name because they were always here and all waiters recognized them.
The waiter then brought them to a table. Jason pulled a chair for Mika before took a seat himself. The same waiter came to bring them a gla.s.s of water each.
"I will bring your order in a few more minutes, okay?" the waiter excused herself with a smile and went to the kitchen to inform them the couple has arrived.
Jason grasped Mika"s hand and gave her a tender look. She blushed and ran her eyes from him shyly. He chuckled.
"Even until now, I still feel like we are still in school, having our date," he said, "And a few more months you will be mine. I am so happy, love, and I can"t wait for us to be together."
"You…" she moaned shyly. She quickly picked up the gla.s.s and drank it, trying to stop blus.h.i.+ng. Why was she acting like a teenager who was facing her crush? Jason was her fiancé and soon-to-be husband. She should not get shy this easily… shouldn"t she?
At the same time, at the entrance of the restaurant, a group of three girls were looking at the menu.
"Ella, so expensive," one of the girls commented.
"It"s okay. Let"s go in," Ella said. Her eyes tried to look inside the restaurant. She swore she saw him entering the restaurant. She wanted to see him. She did not believe he would reject her in public.
The waiter brought them to an empty table. Ella tried to change the table closer to Jason but the only table left was reserved. She tried to change the waiter"s mind but the waiter was a professional and with a smile, brought the trio to the empty table quite far from the lovebirds.
With a grumble, Ella took her seat. She made sure she was facing Jason so just in case he turned toward their table, he could see her.
Jason, unaware of Ella"s arrival, focussed all his attention on Mika. Nothing else entered his eyes.
"My favourite. Thank you, baby," Mika leaned to reward a kiss on Jason"s lips when she saw the entre of their dinner.
"Anything for you, my love," he grinned and reached for his cutleries to feed her. He made sure everything was small enough so it would not make her jaw tired from chewing.
Half an hour later, the couple was done with their meal. Jason handed his credit card with a grin. He loved watching his love eating. He put down his signature and then took Mika"s hand.
"Are you happy?" he asked.
"Hmm… thank you, love," Mika rewarded him with a kiss, ignoring that they were in the middle of the restaurant.
"Shameless… shameless…" Ella choked out. Her eyes threw daggers at the couple. Her hands gripped hard in anger. Those two spent half an hour to eat three plates of food!
A plate only had half of the usual portion and the price hundreds more than what she could find in the stall. Watching how Jason did not blink an eye at the price made Ella even angrier. Why would he spend hundreds of dollars for that woman when he already had her?
"Ella, are you okay?" one of her friends asked slowly. She and her friend noticed that Ella kept looking toward a couple. They did not recognize them. Well, they thought they once saw the woman but they could not remember where.
Did Ella know them? If she did, why didn"t she go to the couple? She could introduce them to the lovebirds and maybe they could get some freebies from the man. It seemed like the man was loaded. They saw the price for the food here and even the cheapest meal cost almost a hundred dollar!
Ella did not answer them. She quickly reached for her bag and stood up.
"Let"s go," she muttered and headed to the door.
Her friends shared a weird look but still followed behind.
"Miss, you have to pay first before leaving," a waiter quickly stopped them.
Groaning to herself, Ella handed her credit card to the waiter. She was tapping her foot impatiently while the waiter processed the payment.
"Miss, your card cannot be used," the waiter came back.
"That can"t be. Try again," Ella told the waiter, crossing her arms furiously.
"I"m sorry, Miss. We"ve tried several times already but your card is rejected. Do you have another card or… cash?" the waiter asked politely. The smile maintained on her face even though the three women in front of them did not seem to appreciate it.
Ella friends looked at her expectedly. It did look weird when Ella"s card was rejected. Didn"t Ella say she can pay for the meal?