October 2005, NYU

Liam wanted to drag Zach out of the cinema.

“Stop that,” he told his friend.

“Stop what?” his friend asked with a chuckle, threw another popcorn and this time it landed on Cameron’s head.

Liam rolled his eyes and elbowed Zach when his friend threw another piece.

“What? This is the main purpose why we followed their date, right?”

“This was your idea, not mine.”

“Shh!” The lady beside them said.

Zach said sorry and threw another cheesy ball.

“One more and I’m going out,” Liam warned. Cameron was busily looking around for the third time. Chanty said something to him. Liam watched as the guy leaned forward and started kissing her.

“Oh-oh,” Zach uttered beside him.

Liam reached out and grabbed a handful of popcorns and sent them flying toward the kissing couple.

2013

Chanty paced around her office. She had given up work ten minutes ago. Liam’s eagerness to go on a date made her feel uneasy.

She had attempted to call him or barge inside his office and announce that they couldn’t go on a date; that he didn’t have to take it this far; that she was not ready; that he was not Willie’s father; that it was all just a lie that went bad. But how could she? She didn’t know how he would react.

Looking at her phone, she looked for Angelica’s number.

No, she couldn’t call her friend. She might be in some kind of domestic dispute right now and Chanty didn’t want to hear any evidence of guns or knives thrown--most probably toward Henry.

She typed Cassandra’s name.

No, her friend/sister-in-law was probably on hunger strike while secretly chewing on crackers that she always kept inside her drawer in case she had to go on hunger strike if ever she and Philip fought.

Chanty was about to call Julianne but the lady was probably with Zach. That was not a problem, really, but she knew Julianne would panic if she was to talk about the lie that the girls just told her last night. Julianne was not very enthusiastic about the lie as Cassandra and Angelica were.

Giving a big sigh, she opted for the first option.

She called Angelica. Who else could she talk to?

“Yeah?” Angelica answered groggily.

“Is it safe? Can I talk to you?”

“What do you mean it’s safe?”

“You are not in the middle of a fight with Henry?”

“Chanty, I am always fighting with that man. He’s in the bathroom, taking a shower. I was about to join him when you called.”

“He’s not that angry?”

“Of course, he is! But he thinks it’s better not to talk about it.”

“He told you that?”

“Of course he didn’t. I just figured it out. No big fight, really. He treated me with so much silence. Enough of that. What do you want to talk about?”

“Liam told me to get ready for our date later,” Chanty said with a grimace.

“Date?” Angelica laughed out loud after she said that. “He is really serious, is he?”

“I feel so damned guilty right now, Ange, I could blurt out the truth.”

“You can’t do that just yet. Remember Willie. Remember Cameron. And that Beth the bitch. Remember them.”

“You don’t really give good advices.”

“I am just telling you the truth. Well, of course, you can tell Liam. But didn’t we agree last night that you will settle things before you tell him? You have a lot of dirty stuff to throw at Cameron, right? Get them ready and throw them until there’s nothing left. As of now, don’t get confused.”

“Why do I get this feeling that Liam likes this?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, he kind of likes the idea of us dating. He doesn’t appear to just be doing it because of Willie. I get this feeling that he really wants this.”

“The forever ignorant Chanty,” Angelica said with a sigh. “You really don’t have any idea.”

Chanty frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t act like you haven’t known, dear.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“You don’t really know?”

“What?!” Chanty was losing her patience.

“Liam has always liked you since I could remember, moron! What the hell is wrong with you that you haven’t even noticed that? Oh, wait, Henry’s done showering. Need to act like a good alcohol-free wife and fix him breakfast. Call you later.”

And with that, with that statement that Liam had always liked her since forever, her friend was gone like she just said something not entirely important.

All Chanty could do was stare at her phone with her mouth hanging open.

Liam was pacing around his office when Kyle walked in carrying a bunch of papers.

“What’s wrong with you?” the man asked.

Liam looked at him and blurted out, “Where do you use to take her?”

Kyle frowned. “Take who where?”

He cursed under his breath. What the hell. “Chanty. Where do you use to take her to dates?”

The architect just looked at him with a frown for a while before his face softened and a smile broke out. “Don’t tell me you’re still bothered about the past--”

“No, of course not,” he cut in. “I just want to know where you used to take her.”

“Why?”

Liam walked to the door and closed it. Then he turned around and faced Kyle with a serious look on his face. “Just tell me.”

The man shrugged. “I don’t know. We went out for dinners, movies, coffee--anything random. Why do you ask?”

Liam just nodded. “What are those?” he asked to change the subject.

Kyle must have thought it strange as it was apparent on his face but he let the topic go and said, “The layouts for the stores in the ground floor. Just thought you might want to check them out.”

“Yes, I would. Thanks,” he said, taking the papers. “Is there anything else?” he added when Kyle did not make any move to walk out of the office.

“I’ve never really done fun things with her. You might want to try that.” And then he was gone before Liam could say anything.

Fun things, Liam thought.

Chanty almost threw her phone out the window.

Angelica just texted her that Henry was really serious about arresting any of them, Cassandra and Julianne included, if he caught them driving for the next three weeks.

“Three weeks! Like hell!” she blurted out. Deep inside, she knew she had no choice. Henry could be quite persistent and consistent with his words.

“Hey,” Liam’s voice distracted her from her thoughts.

“What?” she snapped at his head popping through her door.

“Be comfy later. No dresses and high heels,” he said before disappearing.

Chanty closed her eyes and prayed for things to be over soon. She didn’t know how Cameron took the newspaper article, but she was hoping he’d take the hint and back off. Chanty badly needed her life to go back to normal. That included not telling lies to someone like Liam. And when everything was over, she hoped no one was going to be hurt.

After lunch, Chanty received a call from Liam.

“Shall I pick you up later?”

“No, you have to take me home.”

“Why?”

“Because I can’t drive for the next three weeks!”

She heard him chuckle from the other end of the line. “Henry was really serious about that?”

“Yes. So you have to take me home. I can cook for you later.”

“What do you mean cook for me?”

“I don’t think I would like to go out tonight.”

“Chanty, I told you I’ll take you out on a date. No backing out. I’ll take you home, you get dressed, then we’ll go somewhere.”

“But--”

“If you’re worried about Willie, I already asked Zach and Julianne to watch over him.”

“What? Why them?”

“Because I can’t contact Philip. And you haven’t really introduced me to your mom and your grandparents yet so I thought they are out. And I am not sure Angelica will be up for the challenge of taking care of our son.”

Our son.

Oh, God, Chanty groaned inside her mind. “And you think Zach would?”

“No, but I think Julianne will. And she already said yes. Just get ready by four. We’ll go home and drop Willie at the hotel.”

She tried not to panic. What if Angelica was telling the truth earlier? That Liam had past feelings for her? How could she deal with that? How would he deal with the truth?

“You know, I see myself in you right now, man,” Zach said with a meaningful smile.

Liam snapped his head toward his friend. They were watching Chanty giving Julianne instructions about Willie’s bedtime routine. “No, I don’t think you see anything similar between us.”

His friend chuckled. “You are trying to win over Chanty like I did with Julianne. Desperately.”

He scoffed. “I know how to properly do it, unlike you.”

Zach shrugged. “At least I got the girl. What about you?”

Liam looked at Chanty. “I don’t know, but I’m trying.”

“Start by telling her about NYU.”

“Shut up.”

Chanty felt the intense awkwardness. She didn’t know about Liam, but she was intensely restless. She fidgeted from one position to another. “Where are we really going?”

“The amusement park,” he grinned.

“What?”

“That’s why I told you to get comfy,” he said as he maneuvered the car out of the hotel.

“No, I can’t ride rides.”

“Come on, Chanty, it will be fun.”

“I haven’t even done it with Willie. I just can’t ride those things!”

“Then let this be your first time,” he said with a wink.

She didn’t know why she suddenly remembered the kiss they shared a few days ago. She hated this. She hated everything about this! She should be at home right now taking care of her son and not at some place where she would be thrown around, whirled around and tossed around for a fee!

The amusement part was actually Zach’s idea.

Liam thought it was ridiculous, but after racking his brain for the whole day, his friend’s suggestion was the only one he had left.

“I took Julianne to a Halloween Fair once. It was kind of fun.”

“Yeah? I heard you were freaked out.”

“I had to act like I was freaked out,” his was lying when he had said that earlier. “It actually worked.”

Liam had always loved amusement parks since he was young. “It’s been a long time since I visited one, actually,” he told Chanty.

“When was the last time?”

“The day my father left.”

Chanty’s head turned to face him but didn’t say a word.

“You don’t have to say anything. That was a long time ago and I miss riding the rides. I wonder if they still have the same ones.”

Of course, there were a lot of rides that still existed from years ago, but there were also new ones--scary ones.

“It’s getting late, I think it is not safe to ride that,” Chanty said when Liam pointed at the free-fall ride that seemed more than a hundred meters high.

“Come on, Chanty, this is going to be great!” He took her hand like an excited child. Chanty almost remembered the Liam she once knew from NYU, the one who had thrown popcorns at her and Cameron numerous times in a movie theater, the one who dressed up as a zombie with Zachary to scare her off and the one who had always persistently followed her around like an irritating shadow she didn’t want around.

She let him guide her toward the entrance and before she knew it, she was strapped in a chair that slowly ascended up in the air.

“Ahhh! I’m going to die! I don’t want to die!”

She heard his laughter from her right. “Relax! It’s going to be fuuu-aaahhh!”

“Ahh!”

They didn’t have much time to talk because they were suddenly dropped down the ground. Chanty’s hair, which she forgot to tie, flew up in contradiction to gravity.

Her voice was barely a whimper when they finally touched ground.

“Are you okay?” Liam asked.

“Chanty? Are you okay?”

He jumped off his seat and walked toward her. She was bending down and breathing heavily.

“Hey, Chanty. Don’t joke around. Are you okay?”

She shook her head and gripped his shirt in her fists before throwing up right all over his shirt.

“I told you I can’t ride these things!” she cried before she gagged again.

Liam didn’t dare breath through his nose, but he had to take her somewhere first. “Okay, just keep it in for a while,” he soothed her, trying to ignore the condition of his shirt. A few people looked at them but soon realized that they were just witnessing a common scene and walked off. But Liam saw the sympathy in their faces when they saw his drenched shirt.

“This is your fault, this is your fault!” Chanty cried as he dragged her to an open space far from the rides. He looked around and saw two kids sitting on a bench, eating cotton candies. Guiding Chanty toward them, she fished for a few coins and gave them to the boys. “Go get another bench.”

They did as he asked after counting the coins and skipped away.

“Here, sit,” he ordered. She did as he asked and rested her elbow on her knees, burying her face in her hands. “Wait here,” Liam uttered and walked away.

Chanty felt like she was suffering from another hangover. Good thing she was sitting and closing her eyes and she thought she had fallen asleep when Liam finally returned. Tilting her head up, she saw him slowly take his shirt off and put on a shirt with the amusement park’s logo printed in front.

“Here,” he said, pushing a bottle of water at her face. He looked around for a while before throwing his soiled shirt under the bench. “You okay?”

Chanty just glared at him.

“I know, I know, I’m sorry. I never really thought you were serious earlier.”

She continued to glare at him like she did years ago.

He sighed. “Okay, this is not working. Let’s go somewhere else.”

When she didn’t move, he bent down to grab her hand. “Come on, Chanty. Let’s not spoil this.”

“I can’t do another ride, Liam. Please. Let’s just go home.”

“One last stop. One,” he said, almost begging.

Chanty sighed. “Fine. One last stop.”