“It’s okay, ire.” I replied, slowly wiping the tears off. “I’m just doing what I need to do.”


    “No, no. Ximena is actually really worried about you. She specifically told me that the work she left behind should be done by me, you, and the rest of the team. At this point you’re the one who’s doing most of the work.” ire shut myptop off and took it off the table.


    “Hey! Where are you going with myptop?” I asked dumbfounded as she walked out of my office with myptop in her hands.


    “Hiding this.” she said casually. “Tomorrow you have a day off. Don’t worry about us, we will be doing just fine.”


    “ire, I was just doing my work !” I protested.


    “No Miss Malik. Your work is finished. That was giving a name to the makeup palette, the rest was our work and we’re going to finish it. So you can as well pack up and go home and give yourself a nice bath, because you deserve it.” With that she walked out of my office with a content smile on her face.


    I leaned backwards on my chair and sighed deeply. It was hard hearing the truth from ire. I wanted everything to be perfect, because I know how much thisunch means to Ximena. But that’s why she also has other people working in this building.


    I tend to forget that sometimes.


    I packed up my stuff and closed my office. When I walked passed ire, she gave me a warm smile and said: “Have a great day Miss Malik.”


    “You too, ire.” I replied back, smiling.


    I passed other cubicles and said my goodbyes to my other colleagues, before exiting the building.


    …….


    When I arrived at my apartment, it was empty. Reina was still at work and she would probably have dinner with Luca and his parents who were currently in town.


    I took a nice bath and dressed up in a my skimpy peignoir and ordered pizza. After my dinner -pizza- arrived I turned onflix and watched Riverdale. I felt so rxed.


    The front door opened and Reina came in. “Hey.” she greeted, putting her bag on the table. “Hi, how was dinner?” I asked, as she plopped down next to me.


    “His parents were too… happy.” she sighed, grabbing a pizza from the box. “No, happy is not even the right word. Let’s just say excited. Overly excited, to the point where they started talking about baby names.”


    “Wow.” I chuckled, “That’s a lot for meeting them for the first time.”


    “I know right, but they are nice people. Their english is funny and the dad kept using google trante on his phone to talk to me.”


    “Nice inws you have there.” Iughed.


    She rolled her eyes. “I’m going to take italian lessons.”


    “Really?” I asked surprised.


    She nodded and smiled. “Hard to believe right. I swore to myself that I wouldn’t learn any other foreignnguage after English. But here I am, thinking about taking Italian sses.”


    “The things you do for love.”


    “The things I do for love.” she sighed chuckling, taking a bite of her pizza. “So, how are things going between you and loverboy?”


    “Will you stop calling him loverboy? That’s so… high schoolish.”


    Sheughed loudly. “Okay, what should I call him then? Prince charming? Gentleman in a bugatti?”


    “Yikes no, Flynn is fine.” I said after hearing the awful nicknames she had for him. Gentleman in a bugatti? Really, is that the what they call prince on a white horse in this century?


    “Yeah whatever, so are you guys dating?”


    I shook my head. “Nope, just friends.”


    “Really?” she said disappointed. “I thought you guys were already passed the friendzone.”


    “Why would you think that?”


    “I don’t know.” she shrugged, “He’s so nice to you.”


    “That’s true, but that’s what friends are supposed to be. And bytheway he reminds me a lot of him.”


    Her eyes widened. “You mean one night stand guy?”


    I nodded. “Yeah, I know he’s not the one. If he was he would tell me right? He wouldn’t keep it a secret.”


    “What if he is the one? But he is afraid to tell you?”N?velDrama.Org holds ? this.


    Reina’s question made me think for awhile. I haven’t thought about that.


    “But what if he knows, but he doesn’t want to remind me about it, because it was just a one night stand.”


    “Mmh, that’s another way of thinking about it. You will never know if you don’t ask him.”


    “So you are telling me that I should ask him?” I said, looking horrified. “Are you crazy? What if he’s not the one?”


    “Then he’s not the one.” she simply shrugged.


    “No, no. If he’s the one he should tell me, because he remembered. I don’t. And it’s only fair if he does, because he left me without a note or something. And that’s already a hint that it was just a one night stand. Nothing less, nothing more.” I stated.


    “But you fell in love. Maybe he did too. You never know if you don’t ask hunny. You said it yourself. You guys didn’t fuck, but made love.”


    “Maybe he is not even the guy. Maybe I was being delusional. Maybe it was someone else.”


    “You will never know until you ask.”


    “And I will not.” I said, crossing my hands across my chest.


    “What if he’s the one?” Reina said, “How will you feel about it?”


    “Mad of course.” Iughed, “I mean all this time he knew and didn’t bother telling me. That’s lying.”


    “But,” I added. “He’s not the one.”


    “Are you sure about that?”


    “Pretty sure.” I replied confidently.


    I was just being delusional.


    …….


    I was getting ready for my pic date with Flynn. I wore a baby pink scalloped skirt with a whitece top and I put my hair in a messy bun. I applied some makeup and I was ready to go. Earlier today Reina went to go sightseeing with Luca and his parents and she told me she would be home by midnight, because Luca was nning to take her for dinner tonight. And with dinner, I don’t mean five star restaurant. More like his apartment andce. Lots ofce, probably handcuffs too.


    I heard a knock on the front door and walked out of my room to open it. Flynn was standing there in a pair of brown jeans and a denim shirt. Like always, he looked handsome.


    “Hello pudding.” he greeted, shing me his oh-so dazzling smile. My panties just melted and I didn’t even wore panties.


    “Hey, Vasilios.” I said smiling, closing the door behind me.


    “Ready to go?” he asked,cing his fingers with mine.


    I nodded. “I’m excited.”


    We exited the apartment and in his bugatti we drove to the ce he was taking me. He brought me to the East River State Park. It was not a fancy ce, but the view of Manhattan is breathtaking. The park was  flush against the river, offering stunning-and previously fenced-off-views of Manhattan’s skyline. Aside from the barbecue tform and children’s yground, it’s a mostly wide-openwn dotted with pic tables, making it a perfect locale to set up nkets and have the most amazing pics.


    I stepped out of the car and saw that Flynn was holding a basket in his hand. “What’s in there Vasilios.” I asked curiously.


    “Food of course.” he replied, taking my hand in his and walking down the park.


    I rolled my eyes. “I know, but what kind of food?”


    “You will see in a minute.”


    We stopped in the middle of the park and he put the basket on one of the pic tables. I sat down and looked around. It was beautiful. There were not a lot of people and the view was breathtaking. And I wasn’t even talking about the Manhattan’s skyline. That’s just a bonus.


    I watched Flynn as he took the stuff out of the basket. Subway sandwiches, strawberries, apples, juice, water, yogurt, and chocte cake.


    “Did you made that yourself?” I asked, pointing at the chocte cake.


    He nodded disappointedly. “Nope, bought it.”


    “Oh.”


    He handed me a subway sandwich and poured juice for me. “Have I already said that you look stunning?” he asked, giving me a once over.


    “Well you just did.” I chuckled, “You look great too.”


    “You look better pudding.” he winked, sitting down.


    “Oh I know.” I flipped my hair and smiled at him.


    He just shook his head andughed loudly. “Cute.”


    We ate in silent, Flynn asionally throwing bread crumbs at me. After that we talked about ns for the future. And then about Ximena and family.


    ###Chapter 14


    Half way he stopped talking, and held my hand. His touch sent shivers down my spine. “I want to ask you something.” he said nervously, grabbing something out of his pocket.


    If he’s asking me to marry him, I swear I will drown him in that river.


    “No.” he said, as if he could read my mind. “I’m not going to ask you to marry me. Who the hell goes from friendzone straight to marriage? Even though I wouldn’t mind, it’s just unrealistic.”


    Oh thank goodness.


    “But,” he said. He pulled his hands out of his pocket and my eyes widened at what he was holding. A round cut white fire opal gold ring. So goddamn pretty. “This is a promise ring. I swear I didn’t meant to fall in love or I thought I wasn’t capable of falling in love. But then you appeared and yeah how cliche it may sound, I started wanting everything. Your smile, your jokes, you. Just all of you. I’m not the best, but I promise I’ll love you with all my heart. So Jill Pudding Malik, this is my way of stepping out of the friendzone. Do you want to be my girlfriend?”


    I couldn’t hold back my tears. This was all so unrealistic. I thought this only happened in fairy tales. Reina was right. He is the modern version of prince on the white horse.


    Gentleman in a bugatti.


    My heart was pounding against my chest and I wiped my tears away. “Of course, oh my god. This is so cute.”


    The things I felt for him right now were indescribable. Butterflies were erupting in my stomach as he slid the ring on my ring finger of my left hand. I was so surprised that it fit perfectly.


    “It’s so beautiful. Oh my god Vasilios !” I squealed walking around the table and straddling him. I didn’t care if there were kids in the park. He tilted my face and nted a kiss on my lips.


    “Will you pleasee up with a better nickname pudding?” he whispered against my lips.


    I chuckled. “Maybe, but I like that one.”


    “Myst name is not a nickname pudding.” he put his hands around my waist and at that moment I realized  I was wearing a skirt.


    How did I managed to straddle him in a skirt?


    “ck thongs. Cute.” Flynn whispered in my ear, making me jump out of hisp, but he held me firmly in ce.


    “Vasilios, let go of me.”


    “Oh pudding. The only time I will let go of you is when I’m gonna grab your ass and right now is not the right time since we want to keep things pg-13 for those kids over there.” he smirked, pointed at two kids ying on the grass.


    As I already mentioned before. Flynn without dirty jokes, is not Flynn.


    He ced another kiss on my jaw, when his face turned serious. “I need to tell you something.”


    “What?” I asked. I remembered him saying the same thing when we were in the ne, before I fell asleep. “You said the same thing in the ne, but I fell asleep and you never told me anything afterwards.”


    “Well,” he said, “Because it needs to be said at the right time. And I think this is the right time.”


    “So what is it?” I was starting to get curious.


    “Remember that—”


    I put my finger on his lips when my eyes darted to a couple behind him. The man looked exactly like Flynn. Well, a little older.


    It was creeping me out and Flynn’s story could wait. This was way more important. Why was there another Flynn in this park, with a beautiful woman. They were old, yes, but even a person with a bad eye sight could see that the old man was a copy of Flynn.


    “Flynn.” I whispered, “Why does that man look like an older version of you?”


    Flynn turned his head around and his eyes widened.


    “Mom, dad?! What are you guys doing here?”


    Jill Malik P. O. V


    “What are you doing here, son?” The old man, Flynn’s dad, asked astonished as he looked back and forth at Flynn and I. “And who is thisdy? Why are you on my table?”


    “Dad, as far as I know this is a public park.”


    His mom giggled. “Oh honey, you don’t know the history don’t you?”


    “What history?” Flynn asked confused, he loosened his grip from my waist. I took that as an opportunity to get off hisp. I straightened my skirt and sat down next to him, looking at his parents.


    They were old. Probably in theirte fifties or early sixties. Now, I can see where Ximena got all her beauty from. Her mom looked stunning, for an olddy.


    His dad cleared his throat. “Well, I ask your mom to be my girlfriend on this very same table.”


    “What?!” Flynn and I eximed simultaneously.


    Talk about history repeating itself.


    “Why do you sound so surprised?” his mom asked, and then looked at me with a warm smile. “And who are you youngdy?”


    “She’s Jill.” Flynn answered for me. “My girlfriend.”


    His mom’s eyes widened. “Really?! Since when?”


    “Since a couple of minutes ago.”