Chapter 11: Chapter 11

Isabella's pov;

"Did I give trouble last night?"

I asked Mr Martinez, who had just opened the door, to come out of his room.

He looked at me and asked, "I thought you'll wake up in the afternoon."

"I forgot to turn off my alarm."

He gave a nod and walked past me to go downstairs.

I walked behind him and asked, "I'm sorry for last night."

"You remember?"

"Yes, I didn't get wasted that much so I remember what happened in bits and pieces."

"Can you explain the part where Harry met you?"

Why is he asking me that?

He said, "Looking like that part wasn't included in your bits and pieces. Anyways, what do you want for breakfast?"

"Are you mad at me?"

"Why should I get mad at you? I don't have the right to get mad. Tell me, what do you like to have for breakfast."

"I'm fine with anything."

"Take a seat."

He walked into the kitchen while I was at the dining table. He's mad. That was clear. My heart raced as he was walking here and there, but not in a threatening way. It's more like his anger is directed towards me. When he got to the table, I couldn't look at him anymore. Why wasn't he asking about Harry? Should I tell him about Harry? No, it'll only create more problems. Let's leave it like that. Moreover, Harry has been nice to me recently.

Mr Martinez returned with a glass of juice and placed it in front of me, and asked me to drink it.

I stared at the glass for a few seconds before complying, taking my seat at the dining table once again. It wasn’t long before he came back with his own cup and sat down on the other end of the table from me, leaning back in his chair and sighing.

While I was drinking the juice, Mr Martinez asked, "Do you want pasta or noodles for breakfast?"

"Anything is fine."

He gave a nod and went back into the kitchen.

I asked, "Do you need any help?"

"If you would like to offer, you can."

I walked into the kitchen, saw him washing the vegetables. I took it from him and said, "How do you want it to be? Chopped or sliced?"

He let out a chuckle when I asked him.

"What happened?"

"When you asked me, it reminded me of the time when we both cooked for the first time. You also took some to your mom. Do you remember that?"

I nodded and said, "Yeah, my mom loved it. And, that was the first time I saw you in worker clothes apart from being in a suit. Even though you worked in the garden since morning, you didn't hesitate to cook." And smiled thinking about the moment.

"Chop the vegetables in smaller pieces." And went back to looking at the boiling pasta.

I chopped the vegetables and gave it to him. He started cooking on the other side while the pasta was being cooked in one pot.

"What are you doing?"

"California pasta salad."

After finishing cooking, he placed the pot on the table.

I took a spoonful of pasta and tasted it, "Delicious."

He gave a nod and started eating.

While we're eating, I asked him, "What are you going to do today?"

He thought for a while and said, "Maybe some gardening stuff."

"Can I help?"

He gave a nod and said, "You can."

Why is he behaving like a stranger? I don't like it when he does that. He’s been acting strange since morning, not himself at all. He’s become distant and has started speaking to me like someone.

In the garden,

Mr Martinez said, "I'll take care of this part. You can do that part." Gave me a shovel and continued, "Use it to gather all the dried leaves." And went to do his work.

I used the shovel and started gathering the dried leaves in the place he gave me. Everytime i gather the dried leaves in a particular place and look around, there's a new set of leaves appearing again and again. How does it happen? I let out a sigh and gathered the leaves in a place.

Once more they appeared, so I let out an annoyed groan before picking them up, throwing them away and starting over. The process continues for another hour, until all of the leaves are gone and the ground is littered with crumbled sticks and leaves.

"Mr Martinez, what should I do with these leaves?"

"Dump them in the pit."

I did what he said and asked, "I'm finished with dumping the leaves into the pit, What should I do now?"

"Using the garden knife, cut the unwanted weeds in the flower beds."

"Okay."

I squatted down and started cutting down the weeds like he said. The sun beat down on me, but I didn't feel any different than before—just hotter. My body felt as if it was wrapped in an uncomfortable towel in a sauna. It wasn’t much, just a couple of hours spent sitting out here with my head down made me sweat a lot. When I cleaned before, I got more stamina since I was taking part-time jobs and playing basketball but now it looks like I become weak after quitting both the job and my sport.

When I looked at him, he was so serious about his job. I looked at the garden knife in my hand, its end was sharp as a needle. I know what am I going to do now is stupid but I don't have any other choice to grab his attention on me.

I let out a deep breath and suddenly cut my finger.

"Argh!" I screamed out in pain. Idiot! That hurts!

When I looked at my hand, blood was gushing out of the wound that I made. My head felt light as I tried to keep myself awake and focused on moving forward in spite of the pain.

Mr Martinez ran to me and asked, "What happened? Why did you scream like that?"

I showed him my hand while being in pain.

“Why are you crying?” He asked me while looking at my hand, the tears were dripping from my eyes and I was trying to hold them back. "How did you get your finger cut like this? Come with me."

He made me sit under a shade and said, "Wait here." And ran into the house.

I'm an idiot!

After some time he came back with a medical kit. He opened it and cleaned the wound with cotton. Before pouring the disinfectant he said, "It's going to hurt. Hold on to me."

I held his shoulder like he said.

When he poured the disinfectant, it stings. I squeezed his shoulder while he was cleaning the wound.

While he was dressing the wound, I saw him being careful while sticking a bandage on my finger. It has been a long time since I had seen those eyes that held so much concern for me.

After he was done with the wound, I gave him a hug saying, "Thank you."

He patted my head and said, "You sit here. I'll do the work."

He took the garden knife from where I dropped and placed it in the nearby stand after cleaning my blood on it.

While he was working, he said, "You go back into the house if you feel hot."

"It's fine. I don't feel the heat under the shade."

He gave a nod and went back to working in the flower beds.

After finishing he asked, "Let's get in."

I gave a nod and stood up from the place where I was seated.

When we entered the house, it's already 1 pm.

"What do you want for lunch?"

"What about chicken wings with red sauce?"

"Okay."

He smiled and walked into the kitchen.

I walked after him and said, "I'll help you too."

He pointed at my wounded finger and asked, "With this finger?"

"My bad. Wait, then how will I eat?" I tried to hold a spoon nearby to check if I could hold the spoon in my hand properly but I couldn't.

Mr Martinez took the spoon and made a gesture like feeding me while saying, "I'll feed you." And started cooking.

While I was watching him cooking, he said, "You can go and wait at the dining table."

"Mr Martinez?"

"What?"

"Am I troubling you?"

He shook his head and said, "A little."

"Huh? What did you say?"

He let out a chuckle and said, "It feels like I'm taking care of a baby whenever you're being like this."

I pouted my lips.

He said, "Don't pout too much otherwise your lips will bleed."

I smiled and asked, "Did you talk to Ethan? How was he? Last time I spoke with him was before joining the college. He called me to congratulate me. After that, I didn't talk to him. How about you? Did you have a talk with him?"

"We didn't talk but I heard that his restaurant business is going well through Mr Johnson."

"Wow! I should learn from him about how to run a successful restaurant."

He gave a flick on my forehead and said, "First, pass all your test papers. Then think about the restaurant business."

"See how I am going to perform in all the upcoming tests. Then, I'll ask for many rewards from Big brother. He's going to suffer thinking about what he is going to present me hereafter." And giggled.

"Why are you troubling him?"

"I'm not troubling him. Did you forget what he said? He's the one who said to give me a reward whenever I get higher scores so I'm using it up."

"Why aren't you asking me anything?"

"What are you expecting me to ask from you?"

"Anything you like."

"I'm already studying college because of you so I don't want to trouble you more, Mr Martinez."

"What are you talking about? Ofcourse, I should be the one to make you study because…" he stopped for a while and continued, "Because I said I'll take care of you."

By that time, he cooked the food and kept it on the table.

He tore apart the chicken pieces and dipped it in the sauce and gave it to me. I took a bite from the spoon he offered.

"How does it taste?"

"So good."

While he was feeding me, I asked, "Why aren't you eating? Eat with me."

He gave a nod and started eating along with me.

I made a joke, "It feels like we're newlyweds." And laughed.

He smiled and continued eating.

After finishing eating, I let out a yawn.

He asked me, "Do you want to go to the room?"

"Nah! I want to go outside."

"To the garden?"

I shook my head and said while pointing out of the house, "Outside."

"Where do you want to go? We just ate lunch or are you still hungry?"

I shook my head and said, "Let's go on a drive."

"Okay."

"Wait"

"What?"

"How will I change my dress?" And showed my wounded finger.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Wasn't it obvious?" Looked down and smiled shyly.

In my room,

He opened the wardrobe and asked, "What do you like to wear?"

"Something not difficult to put on. Like without buttoning up."

He took out a tshirt and asked, "What about this?"

I gave a nod and said, "And that denim shorts over there."

He stood in front of me with the outfit I chose to wear and asked, "What should I do now?" He looked nervous while looking at me.

I let out a chuckle and said, "I was just teasing you. I can wear my clothes on my own. You can leave."

He let out a sigh and said, "Okay. I'll go and get changed."

I laughed after he left my room.

I changed into a shirt and shorts and came out of the room.

"Can we go?"

I gave a nod and followed him behind.

We got into the car. He leaned on my side and put on a seatbelt for me.

I looked at him, confused. “What are you doing?”

"Helping you out."

"Thank you."

He started the car and drove us out of the house.

I don't know where we were headed, but he kept driving for a long time until we reached the outskirts of town.

I looked outside while he was driving the car.

The wind was blowing and my hair was flying around me. I loved it when the weather was like this because then I felt that I could be as wild as I wanted without fear of being hurt or getting in trouble.

"Isabella, Do you know how to drive a car?"

"How the hell did that pop in your head?"

He laughed and asked, "You don't?"

"Don't make fun of me like you know how to drive even before you were born."

"Do you or do you not?"

"No, I don't even know how to drive a bicycle."

"What!?"

"Why are you getting shocked? My mom took me to kindergarten and elementary school. The middle school was near my house. When I came to high school, I travelled by bus. And, now Mateo is taking me to college by car. So I didn't have a need to learn how to ride a bicycle or any other vehicle in my life."

"Do you want to learn?"

"Huh?"

"I can teach you. Learning can help you for some time."

"Like what?"

"For example, You drive by yourself if you want to go somewhere."

"I don't have places to go other than your house and college."

"I will teach you and you're going to learn."

"No, I don't want to."

"You have to."

He stopped the car suddenly.

"What are you doing?"

He got out of the car and opened the door on my side and said, "We're learning from today."

I held onto the dashboard and said, "No, I don't want to learn."

He gave me a stare and said, "Step out."

I showed my wounded finger and said, "Look at my finger. Do you think I can drive using this?"

"You can use your other hand. Come on."

When I got out of the car, he made me sit in the driver seat and talked about the parts of the car.

"Do I have to remember all of these?"

He smiled and said, "Just remember the brake, accelerator and clutch. That's what makes the car move on the road. And, for turning it on right and left, there is a steering wheel."

"Do I have to learn it today?" I leaned back on the car seat.

He made me learn to start the car.

"This is enough for today. I will explode if there is too much learning."

He let out a chuckle and asked me to get down.

I happily stood up from the seat which made me bump into him and when I was about to fall down, he held me in his arms. He looked right into my eyes without blinking.

"Um… thank you."

He let go of me and nodded his head.

While Mr Martinez was driving, he asked me, "Do you want to go somewhere?"

"I have a place in mind but I don't know if it's still available to visit."

"Where's it?"

"My house. The house I lived in with my mom."

"I'll take you."

After some time, the streets looked familiar. This is where I walk to my school. It made me happy when looking at the streets I used to walk on.

He stopped the car and asked me to get down.

"Do you think it's still there?"

"Come with me to find out."

I walked along with him inside the street.

The houses and buildings looked familiar. It's been years since I came here.

Suddenly, Mr Martinez closed my eyes from behind.

"Wh-What are you doing?"

"I thought of taking you here but i didn't get time till you remember it."

"Okay, but Why are you closing my eyes?"

"Since it's been years, it has to be a surprise, right?"

I chuckled and walked along with him.

He stopped.

"Did we come?"

He whispered into my ears, "Yes."

"Take your hands. I have to see." I seperated his fingers which were closing my eyes and peeked through it.

"A cafe?"

"I didn't sell it literally. I renovated it a little and changed it into a cafe. Even though not many people come here, it's still a hotspot for the houses and schools around here…"

While he was talking, I wrapped my hands around him and hugged him and leaned onto his chest. He wrapped his arms around me and buried his face in my hair.

He caressed my head and said, "Do you like the place?"

I lifted up my head while hugging him and said, "I love it." And smiled at him.

He ruffled up my hair and said, "You've been hugging me since morning. What happened to you?"

I came to my senses and broke the hug and said, "Let's go in." And walked towards the cafe.

When I entered the cafe, the atmosphere was so cosy and warm. There were only a few customers and they seemed to be all on their phones or chatting with each other, but it was still cosy enough for them to sit together in an open area, with tables scattered about the place. I smiled at the sight of the cafe while sitting at a table near the window. Is it because it was once my house?

A guy came and asked for the order.

"Um… I don't drink coffee. What do you have other than coffee?"

Mr Martinez said, "One warm milk and an Americano."

The waiter left.

I looked around and saw the decor and how they changed the place.

"Take a look around."

I nodded hurriedly and walked around the cafe and looked at the decor and there was a wall with pictures on them. When I took a look at them, there were pictures of people having coffee happily together, one had a guy kissing his coffee cup, one had a couple holding coffee together. So cute.

Mr Martinez asked, "Do you want to be in there too?"

"Huh? How?"

He took me to a photobooth which is in the left corner of the cafe and said, "Get inside."

"Me?"

He nodded and made me go into the photobooth.

I sat facing the camera and smiled. It felt different. I pulled Mr Martinez inside the booth and said, "Let's take together to remember this day."

He squeezed himself in since he's bigger than me.

I stood up from my place.

"Where are you going?"

I sat on his lap and posed for a picture.

"What are you doing?"

I shushed him and wrapped my hands around his shoulder and said, "Look at the camera and smile."

While I was posing for the camera, he wrapped his hands around my waist and pulled me closer and posed for a picture. It was nice having his arm around my waist as if this was just something casual. The photobooth flashed light on both of us clicking so many pictures at the same time.

I waited for the picture and when i got it, i saw the pictures and grinned with a smile on my face.

Mr Martinez took the picture from my hands while saying, "Show me too." After looking at the picture, he said, "You look beautiful in this picture."

I took the picture from his hands saying, "Stop flirting with my picture." And walked to the table.

The waiter placed the order on our table. When I was about to give the picture to him, Mr Martinez took the picture from my hands and said, "I'll keep it."

After the waiter left, I asked him, "Didn't we take the picture to hang it on the wall?"

He said while looking into the picture, "This is the first picture we took where we're together. I want to keep this."

Yeah, thinking about that, we never took pictures together. I'm not photogenic and he… he doesn't look like who poses for a picture. Or maybe we were both so preoccupied with our own stuff we never had time to get close enough to do it.

I let out a chuckle and said, "It took us three years to take a picture together."

"Yeah. Three years." He still continued looking at the picture.

"Why are you looking at the picture while I'm sitting in front of you?"

He said while showing the picture, "We too look happy together."

"Aren't we happy now?"

"Huh?"

"Nothing." I continued drinking my milk along with biscuits.