Chapter 143: Chapter 143

The love of her life on his knees

"Say freaky!!" Ashley who had already pre-assumed by Maya, later on, met them in the manicure and pedicure shop hollered as she took a selfie picture of Jasmine as expected indulging her, Jessica's brow was arched in disbelief, there was confusion in Melissa's eyes and Maya was laughing yet it was the perfect picture that was able to capture just a hint of that moment, the memories.

***

Maya smiled even as she helped Melissa hold her shopping bags as her phone rang while they were on the cab, on their way back from what was a ridiculously fun and long day. Jasmine has gone overboard with shopping hence the bags that they were surprised they could manage to fit into the car with themselves. They also bought nice charm identical bracelets now on their wrists that although was cliche especially as Ashley had said it was going to be a sort of BFF identification, Maya couldn't help but love the glittery beauty on her wrist but she didn't know about the BFF thingy because, for today, her only BFF was Jasmine who was holding on to a tub of chocolate delight and a bottle of red wine.

Jealousy gnawed at her as she discovered it was Bryan who Melissa was talking to so she looked away outside her window trying to drown her chuckles reminding herself again and again, that she didn't need to be angry that her friend's relationship was blossoming. She should make lovey-dovey faces like the rest of the girls but she couldn't. Although she was genuinely happy for the couple who were just unbelievable cute together, she was too tired to continue to lie to herself the way she had done all through the outing with the girls so they couldn't tell behind the smiley exteriors, her mind was latched on to the thought of Xavier.

She missed him. She wanted to hug him and tell him this to his face. She wanted to love him freely and without restraint, she wanted to be in his arms and just know without words she was home.

The car come to a halt jolting her back to her senses especially as she found herself doing the one thing she had promised hard not to do today which was her birthday to not ruin the day. Think about Xavier but it was no use since she was failing obviously and miserably at that too.

She left the girls who were arguing about who was cuter between two guys that Ashley had claimed were gay because, unlike the other male population they had come across, they had not gawked at them or even stared once.

Maya chuckled tiredly while slipping her legs out of her boot heels wondering how the girls managed to keep up with such a burst of energy while she felt so drained already.

She dropped her bag in the pitch-black room while looking for the light switch as the exact time the room was flooded with light making her yelp, drop her mouth open in shock at what her sitting room has been transformed into which suspiciously had Ashley signatory intricated into which made her turn back to glare at her jokingly and then she had chuckled when she had raised her hand in surrender admitting what Maya now knew. She didn't stay behind to talk to any client but to design her house and judging by the unsurprised yet big goofy grins on the girls' faces, they all were on it.

"Surprise!" Heads poking from behind her chair made an entrance and tears welled in her eyes as she took in the people in front of her who had come to Boston just for her in pure disbelief.

There was Mrs. Laura which was quite shocking but not as surprising as Philip, Xavier's secretary she had only met once but yet had come all the way. She hugged Mrs. Salvador tightly, ruffled Alex's hair, glared at Tyler who had ruffled her hair, groaned at Bryan who was already kissing Melissa, smiled at Jared and she had Chuckled when her assistant, Jessica gave her an uneasy smile as she approached her and though she knew she had taken her aback by enveloping her suddenly with a hug she couldn't help herself.

"Wow, guys." She turned to look at Melissa in surprise, her eyes shining in gratitude even as she slightly rolled her eyes at Ashley who she wasn't the least surprised was now arranging her camera to no doubt start filming.

"You girls have already done too much __" she sniffed, "This is the most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me."

Jasmine patted her arms while Melissa who was at her right-hand side grinned at her.

"You think so?"

"Are you kidding me! This is fucking insane and amazing. I wonder who came up with this idea." She mumbled the last part more to herself.

"Inasmuch as we would like to take credit for all of this, we weren't in any way the mastermind behind it. We only collaborated with the Idea." Melissa whispered, making the smile on Maya's face disappear and be replaced with confusion.

The silence that suddenly enveloped the room, didn't help especially as she could hear footsteps on her porch making her arch her brow at the girls wondering what in God's name they had planned this time.

"And we present to you, your last surprise of the day," Jessica muttered at the same time the door swung open and Maya caught a sniff of cologne, an aura she could identify regardless of how overwhelmed she was and the name escaped her lips even before she saw his face.

"Xavier."

She sniffed trying to restrain the tears that burned against her eyes as she tried hard not to get her hopes high. He just might be here to wish her a happy birthday, she reminded herself.

But the minute, Xavier dropped to his knees right in front of her making almost everyone in the room gasp showing that no one has been briefed about this milestone of a surprise, Maya placed her hand above her mouth to muffle her surprised gasp as she let the tears she was holding drop.

She had always thought that the term seconds stood still and time froze dramatic but there was no other word that could describe that moment as she stared at Xavier trying to discreetly pinch herself and make sure this wasn't her dream making him up and he was really right in front of her, she could see Ashley's camera rolling in the distance and Jasmine was sobbing while glaring at Tyler who had made to hold her.

But she couldn't bring herself to focus on that regardless of how slow everything in front of her suddenly was playing Because right in front of her was the love of her life on his knees.