Time of Trial
1561 Words
Chapter 31
Seth's POV
"Yes. I'll be there in a minute. No, nuh-uh, I have a schedule. Yeah, thanks." I put my phone down on my desk.
"Celine?" I glanced at Win and nodded while checking at my sketch. He giggled. "Something's changing. I told you over and over again she already had feelings for you."
"What are you talking about? She's not the one who called me. It's Ms Anna. She wants me to have dinner with dad, but I already have a scheduled meeting with Celine."
"See? You know what I'm trying to tell you here." I forced a smile.
"You're so nosy. Cut it out." He laughed.
I was not happy with what Win discerned, as I knew full well the silence of the situation between Celine and me contradicted the other aspects around us. I managed to get a hold of Celine from the refusals and ghosting. She responded to my calls and messages. Her patience reached an end.
Shut the storage room door, a place where I put the art materials I used. I carried a pile of the previous catalogue of the clothing designs I made during my years in London. The university asked me to bring my creations, a promising student who could play around and still produce excellent results.
A hand gripped the jute twine tied around the catalogue and rolled pastel papers with different sketches.
"Hey." I glared at this man. So annoying.
"Yeah?" He followed me to walk in the hallway. I had not expected that Chinnie's cousin was a junior executive of a company where dad had significant shares. Ugh.
"You seem so busy. Do you need a hand?" asked Johann.
"Nah, thanks, though."
"Hoo, anyway, we'll be having a year-end party at the company tomorrow night. Celine's gonna be there since your dad invites her." I looked at him. He smiled cheekily.
"What did you say?" He chuckled and tilted his head a little.
"You're easy to read, man." I faced upfront and stepped foot on the elevator. Johann entered as well.
"Shut up. Wanna clarify what you've said."
"Celine's not feeling good today. It's like she's overworking herself with her business-"
"Dude, why are you telling me? If you're interested in her, then court her or something." He smiled.
"Oh, are you sure?" I clenched my fist and turned my head to face the man. I forced a smile.
"Try it. I'm not gonna make your life easy." He laughed aloud.
"Chill, man, I feel like being an older brother to Celine. She's this unique personality, but she's not my type anyway."
Depending on what your type was, this wouldn't convince me anymore.
"Just one thing, she seems confused about what she was. If you wanna know how much weight her feelings are on a woman or man, I think you need to test her before you make a move on her." My eyebrows creased. The elevator dinged on the third floor, and he patted my shoulder. He added, "Don't just pour out your feelings to a person. Try to have control of your feelings."
He's good at advice, but still, since he's close with Celine, it's stupid to trust him.
After work, I met with Celine in a Japanese restaurant and booked a VIP room.
"Then, they thought I wouldn't come. When they saw me, they were speechless. They didn't invite me. It hurts," Celine mumbled whilst scooping a mouthful of ice cream.
"Hey, will you control your eating? That's not good for you-" I cut my words as she pointed the spoon at me.
"Don't scold me!" I moved back a bit and lifted my arms to sign of surrender.
"Calm down." She pouted and played with her food.
Damn it. I looked at the waitress who entered the room. My eyes turned to Celine. Busy with her phone, I snatched it.
"What?"
"Stop using your phone while you're with me, lady."
"Ha, why? Am I interrupting you if I do?"
"You're annoying. Just obey me!"
"Argh, give it back! I'm talking to one of our business partners. I don't want him to think I've seen-zoned him!" Her hand leaned on the table as she stood up a little to take the phone away from me. She ran beside me. I laughed.
"No. Nope, haha, move back, or I'll pin you down!" I chuckled as she obliged. Our eyes locked with each other. She rested her arms on my thighs as I was sitting Indian style, and she sat down in front of me. Damn it. Wait. I needed to divert my attention to someone other than her.
I glanced at the waitress who cleaned the table a little, taking away the empty plates of sushi.
"Oy," I eyed Celine. "I know you're looking at her. Want her number?" My eyes widened a bit. That's kind of surprising. Well, she had already done this many times before. I smiled. I was confused over my feelings for her.
"You want me to leave you here?" I probed with a smirk on my face.
"It's okay." She sat down properly, facing the table.
"What's the difference between okay, and yes or no answer?"
"Hmm, I guess, it's somewhat?" She ate the pudding I was eating.
"Celine," I called her. The waitress bowed a little later, and she closed the door, leaving. Celine's busy with food.
"Aren't you jealous?" She looked up at me.
"Why would I?"
"My attention. What if I found someone I'd give my time and attention to her more than yours? Won't you be mad?"
She solely stared at me. I wanted her to be honest with me sometimes. Her feelings for me, I didn't know anymore. Yes, we'd never been so close before. I'd never been so close as this before, just to anyone I was not even dating. I was glad I got most of her free time, but on the other hand, I was restless.
"Have you found it?" My heart skipped a beat. I nodded slightly. She smiled and laughed.
"Wow, good for you. Wait, is she the waitress?" My mind went blank.
"What?"
"Is she the waitress you are looking at all this time? She looks simple, but she's pretty. You like mestiza ha?" she whispered.
Ugh. This girl! She couldn't read from words! I made a facepalm and touched the top bridge of my nose. Calm down, Seth.
"No. She's not the one."
"Oh, who's among them?"
Geez, she's always like this, trying to make me admit it, and clueless if she was only interested in knowing or wanted to know because she'd get jealous. I stared at her. She stared back at me a bit and ate again. Eyes lowered. Damn this slow girl.
"Hey, Celine," I called her attention again.
"What is it? Uy, try this. This is so delicious. It tasted creamy." I took the spoonful of ice cream she offered. I shook my head a little and blocked my hand to stop any more than once. I was not into sweets.
"It's good, right? Omg, can I bring some home?"
"Celine, listen to me."
"Oh? What is it, I'm listening?"
"But you're not that interested. I told you what you would do if I found someone-"
"Then, I'll move to the side. Is there anything I can do?" She stared at me. I wanted to kiss her.
Slowly, I leaned my forehead on her shoulder.
"Why? I'm not gonna get mad or anything if you have already found the person you want to get serious with. It's a good thing. Of course, you need to introduce them to me to give you feedback, whatever. However, it's still up to you." I reached her left hand on the table and slowly played with her fingers.
What should I do? I yearned to admit my feelings towards her, yet why was this so hard? Why couldn't I even tell her how much I wanted her? Why, with other women I'd met, the confession was easy, so why with her, it was like this?
I put down the towel around my shoulder and accepted the video call. I watched Celine lying on her back on the bed with the laptop in front of her. She eyed me.
"Shower?" she asked.
"Yeah, what are you doing?"
"Business," she replied and showed me a slide of a chart.
I put on my eyeglasses which she gave me as a birthday present. I loved it, and I liked to wear it all the time, maybe because I simply loved the person- I pulled down the towel on my neck.
"I'll be attending a meeting tomorrow night. I need to cancel our date, lady."
"Ay, I'm excited about going to an amusement park." I sighed inaudibly.
"You have to find someone to accompany you." I looked away, searching for anything which would draw my attention, not all for her.
"Seth."
"Wait." I took Win's schedule for me and sat down on the rolling chair to face her.
"Ah, it's nothing." I looked at her in the eye as she was evading it. She put the laptop on the side of the bed and wrote something in a notebook.
"You seem busy."
"Not much."
I need to draw my attention to other things. I couldn't afford to lose control of my emotions again.
- Writer
