Unlikely To Fall In Love

by Esmeralda, Debie

  “You are not sleeping here for two nights straight.” He pointed out.

  He was taking count of the nights that I wasn’t at home, and it was irritating me. I couldn’t help throwing him a glare, staring at him to shut up and mind his own business. I was doing this night job because of him. Couldn’t he see that I would do anything for him?

  I sighed. It was better if he knew less than learned about the fact that his sister was a prostitute. He would felt guilty once he found out that I was doing it for him, since I could not let him work that much because of his school load.

  “I’m out.” I walked out as fast as I could so he would not be able to question me anymore.

  I closed the door gently behind my back and glanced at the man standing by a silver Maserati. I thought he was driving an Aston Martin? Did he buy a new car? Wow. Anyway, what was he doing here?

  “Damon?”

  “Hi.” He stood next to his car in a dashing navy blue three-piece suit that made him looked so powerful.

  “I’m on my way to your penthouse.” I couldn’t help but feel the butterflies fluttering in my stomach again.

  “I know. I just got out from the office and I drove here so we could go to my place together.” He smiled at me and I couldn’t help smiling back.

  How could they make a man so romantic like him?

  He opened the car door and held it as I walked towards him. I eased inside the sleek car with a goofy smile on my face.

  Later that night, we ate dinner together on his expensive dining table. He made lasagna and boy, he could definitely cook, and he looked so hot in an apron. Lasagna was not the only one that made my mouth water at dinner.

  After dinner we talked about like we always did, it was kinda like a routine for the both of us now. Sat and talked about random stuff, and it made me felt more sated than sex with any other guy I have been with.

  We lay on the bed and talked some more while staring at each other’s eyes. Trapped in our own bubble, we were, as we talked and laughed together. He held my hand as he listened to my stories about Aiden. Then later excused himself again and left the room, just like last night.

  I turned again to the other side, the one facing away from his side of bed, and closed my eyes. He did this same thing last night, left me alone then eventually came back, so I just waited. A few minutes later, he was back. I felt the bed dipped when he lay next to me, my back was facing him as he wrapped his arm around me and inhaled my hair.

  I couldn’t help but smile as I let his proximity warmed me. He made my heart beat crazy as if I was about to have a heart attack, made my internal organs did a weird somersault and made my head cloudy. All I could think about was Damon, especially when he was cuddling me like this.

  No guy had ever cuddled me the way he did.

  Guys, they only cuddled me just to touch and cop a feel of my body. But Damon was not like them, he was different. He always was different from the rest of them.

  And while I was lost in my train of thoughts, Damon murmured something. It was so low that I was not able to catch what he was murmuring against my hair. Then he planted a soft sweet kiss on the top of my head.

  And my heart just stopped beating.

  Five

  Who was I kidding?

  I was in love with Damon Rhodes.

  The thought crossed my mind as fast as lightning the moment he kissed the top of my head and now, I couldn’t take them back or buried them to extinction. Finally revealed to me, I love him.

  I just lay there in his bed staring at the wall because sleep would not come to me. I just lay there and listened to his breathing, his chest rising and falling against my back and his arm still wrapped around me like ivy.

  I couldn’t help feeling scared while I listened to his relaxed breaths. I love him, and it was frightening the shit out of me because I knew that Damon and I would not happen.

  It was impossible.

  Impossible in the same context as having a snowstorm in the Philippines (it was a tropical country) and seeing a unicorn (it was a mythological creature). He was so high and I was so low. He came from the Upper society and I was the girl from the wrong side of the tracks. He was a Greek god and I was a mortal. Damon would not fall in love with a girl like me. He would always choose someone that came from the same circle as he was. Not some girl he picked up from the sidewalk.

  When I sure he was sleeping, I crept out of his bed and carefully untangle him from me. It took me a long time to unwrap his arm from my waist. He clung to me as if he was afraid I would run away from him.

  I sat up carefully, trying to make the smallest movements I could make so I wouldn’t wake him up. When I was already out of his bed, I kneeled on the floor and stared at his face. His eyes closed and his lips slightly parted. He looked like an angel when he was sleeping. I couldn’t help but smile as I took in every lines and angles of his beautiful face.

  I was in love with you, Damon.

  I couldn’t do this, I have to go. I got up from the floor and walked out of his room, took my coat and purse on the main room and left his home without making any noise. I pressed the down button and put on my coat then combed my hair with my fingers as I waited for the elevator to arrive.

  Ding!

  The elevator door slid open and I took one more glance at the penthouse foyer then took a step inside and continued to stare at it as the elevator door slid close.

  I reached my apartment at three in the morning and the lights were all out. I took the cab back home and it kinda hurt my wallet, cab fare was too much for me. I opened the door and took notice of my twin’s loud snore blaring like it was broadcasted on high-end stereos, resonating in every corner of the living room up to the kitchen. I was glad that he was sound asleep because I was not up for another round of interrogation with him. No matter how much I love my twin sometimes he was just so exasperating.

  I walked straight to my room, removed my coat then lie on my bed, and just lay there. I couldn’t sleep because my mind was clouded with thoughts about Damon. I was in love with him, when I should not have. Love was impossible for us, to me, and I have to stop this before it burned me.

  So I made a decision, I wouldn’t continue this thing with him. I would stop myself from seeing him. I would put an end to this relationship, whatever it was, whatever we were having. This thing was not healthy for me. One-night stands were much healthier than this.

  I couldn’t sleep and I just continue to lay on my bed as I made the decision. My face was soaked with tears I haven’t even realized were already streaming down my cheeks.

  I fell in love and it smacked me right in the face.

  ~***~

  “Amanda.” Margaret said as she approached me while I was wiping a recently vacated table. “Damon’s coming.”

  I snapped my head up and saw Damon outside the establishment. He just got out of his limo and was on his way to the front door of the diner. Panic instantly rose inside of me. I couldn’t face him, not now, so I finished cleaning the table in second’s time and ran at the back of the diner with Margaret trailing behind me.

  “What are you doing?” She asked as she continued to follow me.

  “Hiding.” I untied my apron and exited through the back door. “Mags, I cannot talk to him now.”

  “I am right, am I? I am so right. You are in love with Damon Rhodes.” There was no need to point it out to me. She didn’t have to say it to my face. Realizing it myself was making me crazy already.

  “Mags, can you cover for me? Please.”

  “Okay. I will. But promise me that you will tell me everything later.” I nodded.

  I hugged her. “I will. Thank you.”

  I walked alone back home, stared down at my feet as I took a step one after the other. I could not face Damon now, maybe some other time when my feelings for him were under much controllable circumstances, but now was not a good time.

  I continued walking in the way police officers asked drivers suspected of driving wh
ile drunk were. I knew how silly I looked but I didn’t care. The only silly thing for me was my stupid heart, of all the men I could fell in love with, why did it has to be Damon Rhodes?

  Stupid heart.

  I reached the apartment after about thirty minutes of walking back home while I kept blaming my heart for loving Damon. I hated myself for developing unprofessional, unnecessary, inappropriate feelings towards the billionaire. He was a billionaire for crying out loud! Why did my feelings couldn’t choose someone more appropriate with my economic status? Someone that was not impossible to attain, not someone like Damon Rhodes.

  “Amanda?” A voice suddenly interrupted my thoughts.

  I looked up and saw my twin brother standing a few feet away from where I stood. He might have come home early from class.

  I tried to smile so my brother would not suspect anything. But my lips wouldn’t lift up, even just the corners of it, a traitor like my stupid heart. I could feel the tears threatening to fall down my eyes. I tried my best to stop the tears but it only stung my eyes.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” Aiden sauntered towards me in alert, the moment he reached me he immediately wrapped both his arms around my body and just stood there embracing me in silence.

  We didn’t need to be verbal about things because silence was enough for us to communicate. He stroked my hair as I let his warmth and affection soothe my frustrated heart. If only I could find someone like my brother who would be able to take care of me and made me feel that I was loved.

  Oh, yeah I already did.

  He just happened to be a billionaire, which only complicated things. A man that I knew wouldn’t be around for the long run, someone who would never be mine.

  Ugh! I hated myself for falling in love with Damon, for loving no one else but him, for finding love through him.

  I felt the tears on my cheeks and my brother immediately tried his best to soothe me. “Hey, don’t cry. We could figure this out.” He murmured, which only made my heart squeeze tighter.

  If only things were different.

  I felt him pressed me closer to him and before I knew it, I was crying on my brother’s chest. I just cried and cried, cried like a child. I must have looked ridiculous but I couldn’t help it. Aiden softly murmured soothing words to me and I couldn’t thank my parents enough for giving me a twin brother like him.

  Nevertheless, my heart was still broken and shattered into pieces I was not even sure I would be able to put back together.

  Aiden led me inside the apartment as I continued crying on his chest and soaked his shirt with my tears. He wrapped protective arms around my body as he led me, and did not even let go though we were already inside the apartment. He just held me, closed to his heart and let me cry. How I wished my tears could wash away the ache I was feeling inside my heart.

  ~***~

  “Amanda.” Margaret called aloud and I walked like a zombie out of The Walking Dead TV Series to open the front door for her. I felt really tired and exhausted. I have never felt this exhausted in my life before. It felt like all my energy was sucked up by an unknown force.

  “Hey.” She said the moment she saw me. She immediately wrapped me up in an embrace as I sobbed again. I was really turning into a crybaby now, I hated it but I couldn’t stop it. When would my tears stopped from falling?

  Margaret let me cry until I could no longer shed a tear. She listened to me as I poured out all my emotional baggage at her like a good ‘ol therapist to me.

  When I was done with whatever I was doing, she stared at me for a long time in silence, and then fished out something from her purse. She produced an elegant invitation card made of an expensive cream-colored paper with a champagne colored ribbon wrapped around it. She handed it to me without saying anything and I just stared at her thrusted hand. And despite my blurry puffy eyes (a product of my nonstop crying) and low self-esteem, I managed to lift a brow at her. She gave me her famous bitchy stare and I couldn’t help but sigh. I knew I was obliged to take the card from her no matter how much I would hesitate. So what else could I do?

  I took the envelope and tried to feel it in between my thumb and forefinger. I wondered whom this was from.

  My heart was literally pounding inside my chest like a hammer pounding on a wall made of pure cement. I slowly opened it with trembling hands. The card inside has engraved gold colored lettering that made it looked quite expensive as I expected it to be. And as I comprehended the words and the letters formed, my whole body went numb. My world stopped from revolving as I took in every word, confusion and frustration raised up a level higher inside of me.

  A black tie party? Me? Charity event? Charity I could do, but a party made only for the elite class of the society. Definitely, I could not do.

  Why me? Damon was inviting me to come with him to a black tie party. Me. Could you believe it. It felt like a fairytale, as if I was suddenly becoming Cinderella. I wondered when the magic would expire.

  “Damon said he will call you about that later. He really was confused when you left the diner. He was so sure that he saw you there.” Margaret told me.

  I continued staring at the invitation as if I had not heard Margaret at all. My head was spinning, trying to process all of this―this unbelievable thing happening to me.

  “Amanda, I was on your side with this thing, you know that right?” Margaret said. “But the moment he spoke to me saying this and that, I could clearly saw in his eyes that he found you to be someone special to him. I’ am not concluding for love here, but I can see in his eyes that he does like you more than you think of.” My friend stared at me and I couldn’t help staring back at her, not believing her words. But as I looked into her eyes, there was something in her brandy colored depths that told me she meant every word she said.

  So did this mean that I have to stop from running away and protecting myself? To let him passed through the barrier I have created for a long time. To let him break the boulder I used to guard my heart. To break all the defenses I maintained for a long time just to give him a way to my emotions.

  “Mags, I know you meant well but there are things that I need to protect in order to survive. I cannot love him, I really can’t, because if I do I would not be able to work as a hooker anymore. Every time I’ll come with some random guy who picked me up I’d still be hoping it was Damon who’s with me. I would not do my job properly. I don’t want to get use to this and him being around me all the time.” I said as I felt those stupid tears coming back to make a show. Not only did I have a stupid heart, I also did have stupid tears. What more? What more could you add to my freaking ridiculous life?

  “Amanda, tell me something, what do you feel with Damon?”

  “Feel?” I couldn’t help lifting a brow at her.

  She shrugged nonchalantly. “I mean when you are with him. What do you feel? Butterflies in your stomach, skipping heart beat. You know something like that.”

  I tried to think about that question. What did I really felt for Damon, felt when I was with him. “With Damon, I don’t know. I just felt comfortable when I am with him. He was the first man with the exemption of my twin brother who snuggled in bed with me with all my clothes on. He was the first guy who cared what I want for breakfast.” I said with all my barriers down.

  “You’re scared with what you felt for him, don’t you?”

  Actually, I was not just scared. I was very scared of my feelings for Damon Rhodes. “It was so big that I was overwhelmed by it to the point I couldn’t save myself anymore.”

  “Amanda, you don’t have to look at the future now. Focus on the present and everything will work out.” Since when did she believed in this thing that she was telling me?

  “It’s easier said than done, Mags.”

  “I know, but give this thing a try. I don’t want to see you regret something like this in the future.” She said with a smile, and I tried my best to return it back.

  ~***~

  I stepped out of the limousine Damon sent to
my apartment to pick me up and brought me to the venue of the party. There was a photographer and some tabloid reporters waiting on the sidelines behind the purple velvet barricade. This looked like every charity event I had seen in glossy magazines.

  I felt like a princess in the yellow strapless ball gown Damon bought for me. It has an elbow length gloves and matching silver shoes, my hair was curled and pinned up showing my neck. I found the gown on my doorstep earlier a few hours after Margaret left. It was inside a gold colored box with a black organza ribbon wrapped around it. Tucked inside of it was a note that reads:

  Amanda, can you be my date? Please.

  Damon.

  P.S. Hope you like the dress.

  He was the sweetest man I have ever met. Now, could you blame me for developing inappropriate feelings for him?

  I ran my hand over the invisible wrinkles of my gown the moment I took a step out of the limo. The driver gave me the warmest smile he has as held the door for me and I smiled nervously back at him.

  As I walked inside the hall, I could feel everyone’s eyes on me. My usual instinct would be was to feel self-conscious by constantly tug my dress, my head lowered down and my shoulder hunched. You know, how I usually acted whenever I walked into the lobby of Damon Rhodes’ penthouse building as people stared at me as if I was infectious.

  But tonight, the way they stared at me boosted my confidence. This dress made me feel like I belonged to this side of the world―a world that was full of glitter and was always the focus of the lime light, a part of the town where money, fame and power took over the weaker ones. The world where I knew someone like me would not belong.

  The event has started when I walked in. The women wore varied gowns of different colors and styles that cheered up the monochromatic colored walls. The lighting fixtures illuminated the room. You could see from here the courtyard with a fountain and trees with benches underneath. It was like a piece of a fairytale in here, like stepping into a book. It was enchanting.

  “Champagne?” A waiter with a tray full of champagne flutes offered me one. I smiled as I took it and cradled it between my hands, careful not to let it slip. “Thank you.” I took a sipped and roamed my eyes around the place. I was really out of sorts in a place like this one and it was overwhelming.