Chapter 32: Chapter 32

JAYSON'S POV

I'm still in shock at what just happened between me and Cherry.

I initially wanted us to play like this, but I never expected it to go this far, and that was why when she hit me on the head, I feigned a little pain and rushed into the kitchen.

I need to heal my aching heart.

I never knew she could be so much fun, even as she is all grown up.

Looking around, I decide to wash the dishes, even though she lost.

It's the least I can do in appreciation of the meal she made for me.

Smiling I remember when she had come to meet me outside, demanding I come wash the plates.

I know she would have been in shock when she saw all this and I just laugh.

Arranging everywhere, I wipe the counter clean, clear the trash, and make sure the kitchen is looking sparkly and clean.

I came from a home where I was not allowed to do anything, or help anybody but that doesn't mean I don't know my way around a house, definitely I know how to clean, it's just cooking that's my problem.

Wiping my hands dry with the kitchen towel, I walk out to the living room, but she's nowhere to be found, and the game cards are still littered everywhere.

Packing them, I put them in my pockets and go to look for her.

I go upstairs and check her room which surprisingly is open but she's not there, I check the balcony and I see her there staring into space, the night moon giving her warm glow.

She's holding a wine glass, and I go and stand beside her, hoping she won't send me away, and she doesn't instead she says, "You care for a drink?" She asks breaking the silence, and I think because I dont even know what to say.

"Just say yes if you want." She shrugs without looking at me. "Yeah, okay." I say and she hands me an empty wine glass, and pours some wine in it.

"Thanks." I mutter and sip the wine as an uncomfortable silence creeps in.

I steal glances from her. She's really beautiful, her light toned skin fitting her perfectly, I sigh trying to think of something else.

"Can I ask you a question." She says not looking at me and my mind skips a beat, she's creating small conversations, she wants to talk to me.

Biting my lower lips nervously and shyly like a little kid, I say, "Sure, go ahead."

She takes a deep breath, and that's when my thoughts wanders to what she really wants to ask me, I didn't even put it in mind, I just said yes. Fuck!! I curse silently, I just hope I will be able to answer her question.

"Why did you leave me?" She says and I become lost, not as if I am not expecting this question, but I'm not just prepared to answer it.

"You don't want to say anything right? You promised me you wouldn't leave, giving a little girl hope, and then knocking on the gates of your home then and being told by a stranger that no one lives there." She stops and sniffs, oh she's crying, and I don't like it.

"Cher' it's not like...." I start to speak but she cuts me of, "Wait, I'm not even done yet. You left me for 10 years, good 10 years, no calls, no letters, nothing. Just poof, you vanished into thin air, making me have hallucinations and thinking if you were ever real. I suffered again when you were gone. I suffered trauma because of your absence, and when I finally found you, you changed your name, everything about you, you were hiding from me."

"Cher' I can explain." I say but she interrupts yet again, "Explain what actually, the fact that you left, the fact that you lied, or the fact that you have come into my life once again to disrupt the peaceful haze and atmosphere I've created, so you can shatter it and run away like before huh."

"I'm not going anywhere, I promise." I say and she laughs amidst her tears which are now flowing slowly down her cheeks.

"You promise, like you promised last time. Who do you think you will deceive, I'm not the little senseless girl you once knew, I'm all grown now as you can see." She says making a point of turning around and showing her sexy body to me.

She continues, "Why did you come now anyway, when you never cared about me, my life was ruined without you then, I needed you so badly but you never cared. Why Jay why, why are you back to cause me more pain? Why are you asking for forgiveness, when we both know you'll leave me again, what is your mission, what!" She yells and burst into tears, "Cherry." I call but she's already leaving to God knows where, I call after her as she walks away, going upstairs into her room and shutting the door firmly on my face.

*********

CHERRY'S POV

I lean on the door and slowly sit on the floor, backing the door and resting on it.

I let the hot tears stream down my cheeks.

This is always what he does, he always makes me cry.

Why did he make me like this? Why did he do this to me? I ask myself, whimpering and sniffing continuously.

"Cherry, please open the door, I don't like you crying." I hear him say and I laugh sarcastically, "You don't like me crying, but that is what you do to me everytime, you make me cry. Just go, Jayson, go away."

"Open the door please." He says again, and I yell and burst into more tears, "You don't need me, you never needed me, so why should I open the door, how is that going to help the both of us. Please just go away."

"Look, Cherry okay hear me out, I didn't mean to leave that time, but I got the admission for the school in Korea, which you detested, and I desperately wanted to go there and my parents got jobs there too. The leave came by surprise and was imminent, everything happened in a flash, I didn't know how to break the news to you, that's why the little boy back then felt it was better to leave without saying anything." He pauses and I just cry as I listen to him over and over again.

'He got the admission to the college in Korea. He left with his parents. He.....!' Gosh! I don't even know what to believe, listen or do anymore.

I hear him continue, and I try to tune him out by covering my ears but I just can't, cause I want to hear every bit of what he's saying, "Cherry, I swear, I regret every bit of it, you were always in my heart Cherry.... Please just give me one more chance. Just a chance, I know I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I'll try to earn it back, earn back the loving Cherry I once knew, my Cherry. Please just give me this opportunity." He says and I sob uncontrollably.

The tears don't even seem or want to stop.

Everything he's saying however true they might sound, doesn't sit well with me yet, and I'm still not satisfied, I can't even face him yet.

I think he has gone because I don't hear him say anything for a while, and I decide to stand up and change my wet shirt soaked with my tears and I hear him again, "Cherry please......" He's drinking something, cause I hear him gulp down something maybe wine or whatever.

He continues, "I beg you... I need you back in my life.... I am incomplete without you Cher', I was really foolish leaving you, I admit it, but now I have realized my mistakes and I can't just move on without you. Please give me a chance to prove my love, the love I've had all this while for you Cherry."

I'm silent, cause I don't know what to say, he loved me, or he loves me now. I did too back then, but I'm not so sure right now.

"Cher', just a chance. I won't leave here until you forgive me, I want you back my Cher'. I love you." He says and my heart melts but I don't say anything.

"I love you from the deepest part of my heart, I've always loved you. From the first time we met, the time you came to my house, I had all these feelings for you, but I just couldn't express myself back then, and I decided to make you my only best friend. But now we are all grown up......" He pauses and drinks whatever he's drinking, and I hear a wine bottle clank on the floor, as he drops it.

He continues, "I can't hide my feelings anymore, we are grown now and I just have to man up and tell you how I fucking feel. I love you, I fucking love you. I want to feel you, kiss you, taste you, see you smile lovingly at me, I see my future in your eyes, I......" He stops and I think he's done but I hear him crying and sobbing like a baby.

He's sobbing seriously like a baby, and I don't want to do it but I chuckle, wiping at my tears.

He loves me, Jayson really loves me, it dawn's on me, but........

TBC