~The Beginning of Us ~

A month after...

Dolores was standing in front of her full mirror trying to tame her wild hair and it was causing a lot of ache in her arms. Some days before, she had gone to the salon for a haircut but they suggested she kept the hair full. All they did was snip a little out with a pair of scissors and make it into a ponytail with soft tendrils framing her face. It was beautiful until she went to bed. When she woke up the next morning, it was a hairy disaster.

She succeeded at last in putting the piece of work in a ponytail and holding it in place with a rubber band. Her phone rang a minute later while she was rummaging in her walk-in closet for clothes to wear. Today was a special day for her and she wanted to look terrific for Nicolas. It was their one month together and she was excited for what the day had in store for her.

Yes, she finally agreed to be his girlfriend. Images of how deliriously happy he sounded on the phone when he asked her out, couldn't be discarded that easily.

She walked out to pick her phone which was placed in a small custom-made couch designed just for it. Nicolas gifted it to her some days back, stating it was a pre-one month gift.

Adelina's name was boldly flashing on her phone's screen. She picked the call, placing it on her ear. "Hey, hey."

"Hey, biatch!" The latter exclaimed. "Guess what?"

Now, Dolores hated the guessing games Adelina brought up whenever they were talking. She believed a lot of time was going to waste by just making wild guesses of things you absolutely had no idea of.

"What is it, Lina? Spit it out already. You know I hate your guessing games."

"Old killjoy." She spat. "Anyway, this morning when I woke up and went downstairs for my usual coffee, I met Noona and guess what she told me?"

Exasperation was evident in Dolores' voice as she said. "Whatever did she say, Lina?"

"You're so boring." Lina tsked in annoyance. "Moving on, she told me that my parents would be coming home soon." Her sentence ended with an excited squeal that made Dolores move the phone away from her ear.

It was no news that Lina had been living alone with Noona, her fifty something year old nanny and some housekeepers for up to three years without seeing her parents in person.

Like her best friend explained to her, they were always occupied with work and coupled with the fact that they owned different business conglomerates globally, it was always busy for them. Now, they were finally coming home to be with their daughter after what seemed to be an eternity of being away. She just hoped they would keep to their promise this time.

"Oh, I miss them, I miss them so much. Most especially my mom." Adelina was saying on the phone.

There was a pang of pain within Dolores but it was more emotional than physical. She took a hard swallow of saliva before replying. "Who wouldn't?"

There was a brief silence on the phone before Adelina spoke up in a small voice. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to flaunt. I miss my mom but I kinda got carried away."

"It's okay." Dolores sighed, trying to keep her tears at bay. "I'll be fine." Or not.

"Want to come over or you want me to come over? I'm free for today. Did my laundry because Noona made me."

Dolores had to laugh at that. It was rare to see Noona being stern on Adelina but whenever she was, it was amusing to watch Lina try to use puppy eyed looks to win Noona over.

"I'll pass." She sat on the couch next to her. "It's our one month anniversary today. Did you forget?"

"Oh. Wow. That's cute." There was a slight tinge of jealousy in her tone but it was detected immediately.

"Does someone sound jealous?"

"I don't. I'm happy for you both, sincerely. I mean, think about it. We thought it wouldn't work out but have a look at it now. He's doing a better job at being a better person than he first was."

"Yes, he is. I was trying to get prepared before you called. He said he was taking me out and I still have no idea where. He's just too good at hiding whenever we go out on a date. Anyway, I'll talk to you later."

"Okay, bye. Have fun too." Adelina replied. There was another happy squeal from her before Dolores cut the call, laughing.

After returning her phone back to it's initial position, she walked back into her closet. "Now where were we?"

°•°•°•°•°

It was the chime of the doorbell that had Dolores flying down the stairs in a great rush. Her Dad had to look up from his papers where he was in his office working on something.

As soon as she got to the landing, she took several calming breaths before pulling the door open with a smile gracing her pretty features.

Nicolas returned the gesture with a gorgeous smile of his own. One that was sure to make other girls go weak in the knees. He was dressed in a simple gray round necked polo which matched the color of his eyes and black jean with black loafers. "Hey."

"Hey, you too." She replied with her eyes locked onto his.

He brought out his hand from behind him, stretching it towards her. "I brought this for you."

The action caused her to reluctantly drag her eyes away from his face and turn her focus to the object he was offering her. She took it from his hold in awe. It was a transparent gift wrapper which consisted of a box of chocolate, a box of headphones, one stem of a budded rose flower and three novels; all from her favorite author.

She threw her hands around him in a bone crushing hug. She pulled away some seconds after. "This is really thoughtful of you, Nicolas. I'm sorry I didn't get anything for you in return. I didn't want to jump the gun seeing it is just our first month together."

He shoved his hands deep into the front pockets of his jeans. "It's no problem at all. There's always another time, I guess." He rocked on the balls of his feet then. "Aren't you going to invite me in?"

"I was going to say the same thing, Dolores. Aren't you going to let your boyfriend in?" Dolroes turned to look back in shock. It was her Dad descending the flight of stairs with a bag in his hand. When he got to the door, he smiled.

"How'd you do son? I take it you both would be going out. That's fine. Just make sure to bring her home on time else..."

Nicolas nodded quickly in understanding. Even if he was dumb, it wasn't to the extent as to not grasp what the man meant. "I'll make sure to."

"Be good. No funny actions." He gave a firm slap on his shoulder before turning to his daughter. "Honey, I have to be at work now before my secretary leaves. I know it's a weekend but I promise, I'm going to be back home early. You two, make sure to leave before the storm begins. You must have seen the weatherman on TV and the predicted forecast."

"Yes, I did. See you later. Love you."

Her father sent a quick smile before dashing off to his car. Soon, he pulled out of his garage and into the street where he zoomed off.

"Another thought just came to mind. Why don't we spend the day in my house? It seems safer with the storm coming and also your own personal safety. You don't have to worry about driving home in the storm too." She said, after letting Nicolas in and shutting the door behind them.

"I don't think that's a healthy idea. I wouldn't want your Dad or anyone else in the house having wrong ideas. " He opposed her suggestion.

"Nonsense. We could be in the theatre room watching a movie or we could sit here in the living room all day and talk."

"Just talk?" He asked, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

She smacked his arm. "Get your mind out of the gutter." She led him to the couch afterwards.

In a few minutes, the bright, sunny weather outside soon became dark and gloomy with rain. It looked like it was going to rain hailstones and Nicolas was grateful that he had listened to Dolores. If he hadn't, they would both be stuck in traffic as a result of the downpour.

"So what movie do we watch first?"

Her cheery voice dragged him out of his thoughts. Before he could reply, she spoke up again. "Oh, I know. Let's watch some video clips from when I was a baby."

He seemed amused at that. "That looks like a great idea already. Let's do it."

"Promise me you won't poke fun at me after the video is over?"

He raised two fingers in a scout's pledge with an amused smile. "I promise."

~~~{•}~~~

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