The Best Mistake (GL)

~ Too Precious to Forget ~

~ • ~ • ~

SHE woke up early in the morning filled with enthusiasm. Considering what her best friends told her last night, she knew this time that she was indeed in love. While she was still lying in bed she contemplated Aly's plan. Thinking about it filled her heart with excitement she had never experienced in her whole life.

A moment had passed before she decided to get up to start her day. She didn't see anybody around when she descended from her room. She was used to meeting her twin sister in the kitchen every morning, but Arqui was out of town in the meantime because of business matters. Arqui was indeed more of a business-minded individual, which she undoubtedly inherited from her parents. She, on the other hand, failed to gain even a little interest in running a business. If it wasn't only for the papers which certified that she and Arqui were twins and the looks she got from their mother, she would've already assumed that she was adopted.

All of their businesses were managed by Arqui. She was actually thankful to her because she didn't want to carry a lot of responsibilities. Having only the racetrack was enough.

She did not bother to eat breakfast, and went straight to their underground garage to fetch her favorite car. When she had a glance at the rearview mirror, she found herself smiling and blushing. Part of being excited, maybe? She told herself.

She drove all the way to the town and dropped by a flower shop where Aly reserved a bouquet for her. Her best friend volunteered to do it so that she wouldn't have a problem anymore.

"Good morning, ma'am." The frenzied florist welcomed her.

She returned the smile the florist gave her. "I'm here to get this," She presented the confirmation message on her phone.

The florist nodded before turning on her heels to get her order. When she got back, she handed her the bouquet, together with a cute-sized brown teddy bear and a box of chocolates. It confused her for a moment because Aly did not mention the bear and chocolate. Perhaps the florist got some orders mixed up.

"Uhm... I believe I did not order the teddy bear and chocolate." She stated.

"You are our hundredth customer for this month and we always have a special promo for the lucky customer." The florist explained politely.

"O-okay." She uttered while nodding her head.

Her phone rang all of a sudden, peeling her attention off of the florist. She mouthed, "Thank you." before completely turning around to answer the call. "Hey, I got it!" She affirmed to Aly.

"How was it?"

"Beautiful. By the way, I've got extras; a bear and a box of chocolate. Promotional thingy, I guess. Thank you so much, Aly. I owe you one."

"Not a problem. Good luck."

"Yeah."

When she ended the call, she felt a bit nervous. This is it! She had all the pieces of stuff she needed. A sweet smile did not leave her lips as she resumed driving to get to the farm. Unlike the usual speed she always preferred, she drove today as sane people would. She couldn't be careless this time if she planned to be with Ayen for a lifetime. She used to get girls effortlessly, that's why courting decently was the hardest thing to do. However, Ayen was different— a special kind who only deserved to be wooed properly.

She scrambled out of her car as soon as she arrived at the farm. She decided to leave the stuff behind in the meantime to save herself from embarrassment, especially when she saw a few people around the farm. Most of them greeted her, and she offered a smile in return.

She saw Ayen's father come out of the house as she walked toward it. Her nervousness suddenly increased as if it was the first time they had met each other.

"Hey, Heathe. What are you doing here? Ayen didn't mention you were coming." Mr. Santiago uttered.

Her brows constricted. "Where is she?"

"She's in town. Her childhood friend came from the city, so they're catching up."

"Have they gone long? When will they get back?"

"I think it's been almost 2 hours since they left. They should be going back by now."

She was honestly a bit disappointed by the fact that Ayen went somewhere with somebody she had yet to meet. Whether it was a boy or not, she didn't wanna know. But, she couldn't shrug it off. She must've really become possessive.

Although her dismay escalated, she had to remain cool, especially in front of Ayen's family. She forced a smile. "Will it be okay if I wait here?"

"You don't have to say it. You're welcome here anytime." Mr. Santiago beamed. "Let's go inside."

"Thank you."

She followed behind the mister as they entered the house. Waiting was something that would surely divest her patience but when it came to Ayen, she was always willing to stay no matter how long it would take. Nonetheless, the thought of Ayen enjoying someone's company was testing her tolerance. It started to make her feel uncomfortable.

"Feel at home." Mr. Santiago uttered before he disappeared into the kitchen. It didn't cost her a blink before he reappeared. "Forgive us if no one can stay here with you. We have to inspect all the crops for pests, so everyone is busy on the farm.

She nodded. "I understand."

"Since it's the harvest season, Ayen is also determined to help out. She really wants to save for her education."

Speaking of which, she remembered that it was almost enrolment. Ayen made it clear to her that she couldn't make it this semester, or possibly for the whole school year. She felt sad for her and wanted to do something, but things about studying were still vague at the moment. Because the only thing that mattered was courting the only girl of her life.

"I have to go back to the field. You'll be okay here, right?"

She affirmed as the mister made his way out.

There she had the liberty to scan the house. The entirety of it was like the size of their master's bedroom, not to brag. Nonetheless, that space was just enough for a family with four members. The wall paint gave out a cool ambiance and was neat to the eyes. Looking further, she noticed a portrait that was displayed on a shelf. It was covered with a beautiful frame and the photo inside it consisted of four children smiling lovingly at the camera. She undoubtedly identified one of the two girls, who was Ayen. If she wasn't mistaken, the other girl was the one Ayen told her about— her late elder sister. Ayen and her sister looked identical. They were both adorable. If she had been alive, she might've had a lot of suitors. But she was sure that even if they had met each other, Ayen would still win her heart. Standing and beaming on each of their sides were the two boys whom she had already met as Ayen's older brothers.

There were also other frames that were smaller than that portrait. A series of photographs that seemed to be telling the family's story. When her sight coasted through the other frames, there were photos that only consisted of a single shot of each sibling. She had a chance to see the grown-up sister of Ayen. It seemed to be her last photo as she was not present in Ayen's graduation picture with her family.

She was right to think that the girl was as gorgeous as Ayen. They could almost be mistaken for being like twins had the sister lived 'til now. Even though she did not get a chance to personally meet her, she still felt sorry. No one, be it a girl or a boy, deserved to be assaulted. If there was one thing she could do to make Ayen happy, she wouldn't think twice about wishing life back for her sister.

She looked up to see the graduation portraits of Ayen that were proudly hung on the wall. Underneath was the proof of academic awards she had received. Ayen was the gem of the family, considering the achievements she had earned when she was studying. She couldn't have been more prouder.

Her attention was taken by the peals of laughter coming closer. She turned to see Ayen and fought the urge to frown after seeing that she was with a guy. They stopped abruptly upon seeing her presence.

"I didn't know you'd be having a visitor today, babe." The guy stated, which instantly put a crease on her forehead..

Babe? Why did he call her babe? Are they really fond of calling Ayen babe? First was Cole. Tss!

"Uhm, she's Heather La Rivas. The one I've been telling you," Ayen responded.

She was used to being anyone's topic and she couldn't care less. But she didn't know what to feel after hearing that Ayen was talking about her when they weren't together. Was it only right for her to assume that she was also thinking of her?

"Oh, Your Highness." He blurted out before extending his hand to introduce himself. "Pleased to meet you, Miss La Rivas. Call me Jack."

Her eyes averted towards Ayen instead of accepting the handshake. She didn't care if Jack found it rude and uncomfortable. Anyhow, she still shook his hand before he had withdrawn it. "Just Heathe. I don't fancy being addressed formally."

"Heathe, nice name."

She ignored his compliment by smiling a little and winced inwardly when Jack purposely winked at her. She took back her hand while hiding her disgust.

"I didn't expect that you would be friends with each other," he added, before putting his arm around Ayen's shoulders.

She cleared her throat and looked away. First, he called Ayen babe, and now his gestures amplified her irritation. Who was this guy, honestly? Ayen did not have any idea how hard it was to fight the urge to confront her at the moment. If this was what they so called jealousy, then she was doomed.

"What are you doing here, Heathe?" Ayen asked.

That was when she remembered the reason why she went there, as well as the gifts meant to be given to Ayen before the day ended. She could't afford any setback to transpire on the very first day of the courtship as she didn't want it to have an effect on the forthcoming days. It was indeed the season of pest invasion. How could she proceed with her plans if there was a nuisance barricading the girl she liked? She needed to think further.

"Actually, I want you to see the proposed design for the renovation." She lied. But if she had to present proof, her dad's secretary or her best friends were one call away.

"Pro—"

"Please stay out of this, Jack."

She grinned inwardly after hearing Ayen chastise Jack. At least she did not have to do it by herself.

Ayen looked at her suspiciously. She knew she wouldn't believe her unless there was a piece of evidence to present. "We can go to the place if you want me to show you the plan."

"W-here are you going? Can I come with you?" Jack, who couldn't behave, butted in.

She and Ayen shook their heads almost in sync.

If her unprepared plan was ruined, she'd like to give the honor to Jack. Just great.

"You should stay here, Jack," Ayen, who seemed to appear exhausted, asserted.

"But you promised me that you'd take me on a tour while I'm here. I was hoping we'd go to the hill. It's been so long since we went there, so I wanted to make the most of our time together. Ever since we discovered that terrain, I have never gone there alone because that was our hideout. Our favorite place."

Jack's statement left her in confusion. She turned to Ayen with the intention of getting an answer. As far as she could remember, Ayen told her that it was because of Cole that they had discovered the place uphill.

"Jack," Ayen called, looking like she was running out of patience and about to get enraged any moment.

"Okay!" Jack surrendered, throwing his hands in the air. "I just wish I could come. Also, I'd like to know more about Heathe. But it appears that you both don't want me to be with you," he said in a gloomy tone.

The way he acted only made her feel irritated because it was obvious that he was just trying to look cute.

"That's enough drama for today, Jack." Ayen chuckled, nudging Jack to his side as she walked towards her. "I think we should go."

As much as she wanted to taunt him for being repeatedly castigated by Ayen, she chose to behave otherwise. Her intention was to impress Ayen, not to lose a good point, because she catered to Jack's taunting behavior. It was already enough that he was nagged. She had had her revenge, somehow.

She was about to follow Ayen when all of a sudden Jack held her arm. "Am I not really allowed to go? Could you convince Ayen?"

She shook her head. "Not my call." Before gently pulling away from Jack.

Ayen was merely standing outside, waiting for her. When she remembered the reason why she wanted to see her she immediately felt ashamed. Her heart pounded in agitation while she felt cold sweats forming on her temples. As she strode past Ayen, her feet were seemingly wobbling. She thought she was going to tumble at any moment. She then realized that the execution of her perfect plan was not like a walk in the park.

They both reached the car without saying a word. She opened the passenger side door for Ayen. When Ayen was settled in, she jogged around to get to the other side.

Perching behind the wheel while realizing that Ayen was with her already made her blood run cold. Her heartbeat accelerated. She had no idea what was going on with her, all she could tell was she was not like that. She couldn't be this highly strung if she wanted to make her plans work as they intended to.

"I'm honestly excited to see your plans," Ayen uttered, breaking their silence.

"Hmm..." Starting up the car's engine had never been this difficult for her. She tried three times until it successfully stirred up. "Need for a little workout." She nervously chuckled.

"Are you okay?" Ayen asked with wrinkled forehead.

"O-of course."

She tried to focus on the road but she couldn't keep herself from not noticing Ayen's little movements. She was drumming her fingers on her lap while occasionally glancing in her direction. She reckoned on putting up a conversation between them to somehow lessen the tension. But nothing was up in her mind and she was afraid that her tongue would get twisted once she started speaking.

It wasn't a long drive, but it seemed that they had taken an endless path because of their unbearable silence. She couldn't take it anymore. "There's no proposed design yet." She stated as she felt highly strung in her seat.

"I know." Ayen met her eyes but she turned away instantly.

"Y-you know?" She uttered in a nervous tone.

Ayen scoffed. "You're a terrible liar."

She rubbed her free hand on her nape. "Am I that obvious?"

"Maybe I'm just a good observer. That's why I immediately noticed."

Her lips pulled into a thin line as she felt her cheeks flush due to embarrassment. Her grip on the wheel tightened, as well.

"Aside from the fact that there's no projected design yet, what else are you not telling me, Heathe?"

She decided to pull over to completely heed to Ayen. Lots of emotions were taking over her senses and she was scared of the idea that they might bump into an unfortunate event.

Ayen stared at her in silence, but a myriad of questions were already written in her face. She couldn't reciprocate the stares, unfortunately.

She took several deep breaths before saying, "I wanna try to make it all right."

The crease on Ayen's forehead deepened. "What do you mean? Have you done wrong lately?"

"Not like that. Um..." Her eyes moved to the rearview mirror and saw the reflection of the stuff she had at the back. "Just..." Her hands were trembling when she pointed behind. "C-can you get..."

Even if she didn't finish what she was saying, Ayen was intelligent enough to perceive it. Twisting in her seat, she peeked at the back. She felt uneasy when she saw her hesitate.

"Heathe..." Ayen murmured.

"Uhm, that's all for you."

She wasn't able to say anything at all when Ayen turned back with the stuff entrenched in her hands. The look on her face was priceless. She could feel that Ayen was happy but somewhat curious.

"What are these for?"

Unable to provide a proper response 'coz she was like a cat on hot bricks, she shrugged.

Ayen chortled. "Are you courting?"

She was confident that she was able to control her emotions, but her bright red face meant otherwise.

"Cute." Ayen mumbled as she took a good look at the things in her hands while she had a sweet smile etched on her lips. Then her eyes hovered towards her. "Hey. Say something, will you?"

"Well, you see... I don't really know what to say."

"Don't tell me that you're going to pursue me in silent mode?" Ayen chuckled.

"Exciting, huh? Is that really what you want?" She asked in mockery while glancing at her.

Ayen shrugged her shoulders."Fine by me."

"You're just that easy to talk to, aren't you?" She frowned because it seemed that Ayen was teasing her. "I'm just joking, alright? Bear with me 'coz I am not used to this kind of thing."

Ayen looked at her intently for a moment before she burst out laughing. She could agree if Ayen saw her as a joke at that moment.

She shook her head as she chortled. "Gosh! This is harder than what I'd expected. Uhm, you see? I don't even know where I should start... w-when all I want is to ask your likes and dislikes."

"Then we've got a lot to talk about. But I don't want to just sit and go over the list because we're not going to finish that in a day. I think it's better that we let ourselves get familiar with each other as the day goes by. Hold on, is that the thing that bothers you?"

She firmly nodded. "It's just that, I don't want to make mistakes."

Ayen's lips were torn into a smile. "Mistakes are inevitable. It only signifies that you're doing something. I just hope that you're doing the right thing so it'll be justifiable once you mess-up. And rest assured that I possess a broad understanding and I don't judge easily."

"But—"

"Heathe," Ayen put a hand against hers. "Stop thinking too much about what my likes and dislikes are. Let's just be honest and real towards each other and that set-up won't be hard for either of us."

Ayen's words never failed to bring comfort to her.She felt gradually unburdened after hearing them. Aside from having been convinced, she got more attracted to her. There was nothing she could offer at the moment but a sweet smile in return for Ayen's compassion.

After their serious conversation, they both agreed to have felt kind of starving. They decided to pass by a drive-thru for their lunch and took it uphill. There was still an hour and a half left before lunch time but they decided to have had once they had arrived at their destination.

"By the way, why did Jack say that it was you and him who discovered this place? You told me that—"

Ayen interrupted, "I was curious about your reaction if I mentioned Cole. It only proves that you are indeed overcompetetive towards her."

She made a face and clicked her tongue. "That's not true."

Ayen giggled while shaking her head. "On the other hand, having a concrete renovation plan is abrupt. That's why you were unbelievable when you told me about it earlier." She changed the topic as if she wanted to doom her more into embarrassment.

She rubbed her nape. There's no sense in lying because Ayen was smart and she couldn't argue with that. "If I could've only focused on planning a design, I would've never done this official courting to you."

"Had I known about your intentions earlier, I would've told my parents that you're courting me. I'm sure there would've been a lengthy conversation before you could've taken me here."

"I can do that, FYI, just to prove that I'm not playing around." Her hand slowly crawled on top of Ayen's hand and held onto it. "I want you to be my girlfriend, Ayen. Not just a past-time lover. I don't know if I should be telling you this but, there is a future that I'm seeing. And that future is being with you." She uttered while her eyes remained locked with hers.

She couldn't care less if she looked crazy while saying those words. She didn't even know how she dared to utter them when, in fact, they were still too young to foresee their future together. But how could she disregard these outlooks? She even believed that she'd be delirious if she couldn't be with Ayen.

"F-future?" Ayen's forehead wrinkled. "You haven't even gotten my answer yet, you're now thinking in advance."

"Why? Is it wrong to have even just a glimpse of the future?"

"Well, no. I just think that we should not expect too much."

She carefully caressed her face. "Just let me think that way."

"What if I reject you?"

She was too confident in always getting what she would've wanted to forget the possibility of rejection. Ayen was different, there was no denying about that. If she was rejected, that would be the first time. She still couldn't tell how her heart would react, especially because Ayen was her great love.

She cleared her throat. "If that's so, I would respect your decision."

Ayen might not have been expecting her answer, hence her astonishment manifested. "That's it? You're not going to go further to change my mind?"

She shrugged. "I respect you so much, Ayen. I will respect everything that you have to say. All I ever wish is nothing but happiness for you. So, if being with me isn't one, then I take that, however painful it will be."

Ayen smiled a little. "When did you become full-grown?"

"What do you mean?"

Instead of answering, Ayen only giggled.

How could she forget such a lovely memory?

~ • ~ • ~