Chapter 46: Mine For Today

< Shirley >
"....It feels like an intense hit of joy. As you might expect, love fills you with intense, overwhelmingly happy emotions, leaving you feeling like—"
"Oh, shut up! I get it!" I snapped.
Zinnia has been blabbering about love for the last twenty minutes. I had been dying in my own thoughts and she was babbling about love.
"What did you get?" She grinned.
"I get it that I am in love with him," I declared. I instantly covered my mouth with my palm.
What did I just say?
"Took you long enough to admit. Geez, I was getting tired of preaching to you."
"Was that your plan from the beginning?" I twitched in anger.
"I am an experienced person, so I can tell. When you were staring outside the window while playing with your food, I immediately understood you were having mixed feelings about someone." She put on a smug look.
"You bloody bitch." I tried to strangle her, whereas she started laughing.
"Let's put aside the female dog thingy, tell me about the person in detail."
"Like hell, I am telling you." I crossed my arms and puffed my cheeks.
"At least, show me a photo of him," she insisted. I took out my phone, found a photo of his from my gallery, and put it in front of her. "I hope he is really handsome," she prayed before taking the phone.
I rolled my eyes, already knowing what her reaction would be.
"Holy shit! He is smoking hot. I think I have a crush on him," she exclaimed with excitement. "Are you sure you aren't in love with his looks only?
"I have been crushing on Dylan for a few months now." I frowned.
"Makes sense. But damn, he is gorgeous. Is he a model or something—"
"If I had that amazing photography skills, I would've become a photographer. And no, he is not a model. Dylan is a businessman—"
"—and a racer," she completed it for me.
"Eh?"
"Dylan Lewiston. Age: 25, Birthday: 20 December, Height: 6'2 feet, Eye color: Gre—" she started reading out from her phone.
"Hey, hey, what's with that biodata? Where did you get it?" I slammed my palm on the table.
"He is famous, buddy. At first, I thought he was a model, then I remembered I saw him somewhere else. That's when it hit me, he was the one who won the—ugh, I forgot the name of that famous car race but never mind that. But geez, he is so handsome."
"Don't stare at his photo like that! He might get jinxed."
"Jealous much? Any girl can see his photo, after all, there are thousands of photos of him all over the Internet. Don't just stop me."
"Aren't you getting married next month, you cheat?"
We both talked for a long while until the lunch break was over. I already knew she was going to keep bugging me about it for the rest of my life. When I was about to pack up my things for leave, my phone rang. Zinnia peeked at the screen and smirked.
"Your beloved is calling you," she teased and sipped her shake.
I rolled my eyes and picked it up. "Hello?" I responded.
"You asked me to help you with shifting. What am I supposed to do? Carry your luggage? Help you arrange the furniture? Also, when should I come? Where is it, anyway? Is it even in the city? I am telling you—"
"Hold your questions right there. Geez, so many questions at one go. I will let you know everything later on," I told him.
"I need to arrange my schedule accordingly," Dylan urged.
"Why do you even have work on Saturday?"
"That's not official work."
"Then book the whole day just for me," I declared.
"No way."
"Yes way." With that, I hung up the call.
"Uh-huh, demanding the whole day from him, I see." Zinnia smirked.
"Just fuck off."
———
"Oh, gosh, why do I have so much stuff, to begin with?" I huffed.
The helpers had already delivered all of the carton boxes. Now I had to unpack them. Why did I even have to pack them when I was going to unpack them anyway?
The apartment already had the basic furniture. The decorations and useless stuff were to be arranged. It had two rooms. One was my bedroom, and the other was the guest room. The kitchen was big and spacey. The living was also large.
Ting! Ting! Ting!
"Geez, one time is enough. You don't have to ring it thrice to get my attention," I hollered before opening the door.
"You know, I can hear you from outside."
"It meant t—" My words remained in my mouth when my eyes landed on him. My heart almost skipped a beat.
In front of me stood a gorgeous-looking Dylan. He was wearing a white t-shirt underneath a denim hoodie jacket, along with black jeans and white converse. His hair was more disheveled than usual, making him look younger and sexier.
I was having doubts like Zinnia. Did I fall for his looks?
He snapped his fingers in front of my eyes. "I know, I look good but you don't have to stare like that."
I blushed and looked away from him. "A-aren't you a bit early?" I questioned.
"Yeah, I'm early. I planned to get here at 10 o'clock."
"Wow, you're half an hour early," I said sarcastically.
"Now move aside."
"Sure, welcome to my home sweet home, my first guest." I smiled and traditionally welcomed him.
He rolled his eyes. "Thank you very much for letting me in, Ms. Hamilton." I chuckled at his humor and followed him inside. "Oh, love the messiness!" he commented sarcastically as soon as he stepped inside.
"Since you love cleanliness so much, I left it for you. You would do it, right?" I flashed him a tight-lipped smile.
"With pleasure." He gave me a sarcastic smile. "But do you remember what you promised?"
"Of course, you won't do a thing without your benefit."
As Dylan would assist me in shifting, I promised to do something for him in return. I wondered what he would ask me to do. His work meant danger. Danger freaked out.
"So what shall I do?" he asked.
"Just stare at me." I scowled at him.
"Good for me."
"Argh, unpack the damn cartons," I ordered and he chuckled.
"Aye, aye, Ma'am."
We were almost halfway done with our work after a few hours. Dylan started with the living room since it was the first place that came in view after entering. I was working in the kitchen, placing the utensils and appliances.
"The living room looks decent enough now. But it needs more decorating," Dylan said to me.
"You think so?" I hollered from the kitchen. I left the work I was doing and went to the living room. Everything was arranged neatly on spot.
"Yeah, maybe adding more decorations would help."
"Why bother?"
"Since you are so lively and vibrant, your living room should represent that, right?"
I blushed, playing with my fingers. "Hmm. You are right. You know, you should have been a home decorator?" I complimented, approaching him.
"I know, right? I am the best after all." He had a smug look on his face.
I rolled my eyes.
"Let's see the kitchen." In the kitchen, all I did was stuff everything, so it wasn't really appealing to him. "Seriously?"
I let out a nervous laugh.
"I will have to do it again. You go arrange your own bedroom. I will work in the kitchen. But that reminds me, it's lunchtime. Let's go out for lunch," he suggested. For some reason, he avoided looking at me.
"But I wanted to cook myself for the first time in life." I pouted, throwing around my arms like a kid.
"You can cook dinner. On top of that, there is no grocery. You don't want to cook air and dust, do you?" he retorted.
"Then we will have to buy groceries and decorations later on," I made a mental note.
"What do you mean by 'we'? I am not coming with you for that," he objected.
"Did you forget you are mine for today? We will buy groceries after having our lunch, okay?" I smiled and held his arms to drag him with me.
"Won't you change your clothes?" he asked, making me stop on my tracks.
"Why? Is this bad?" I childishly tilted my head.
"No, it's not bad at all. It just looks really messy right now." He scratched the back of his neck, looking away.
I was wearing a loose grey tee which was supposed to be tucked inside my black denim shorts. I glanced at my appearance and immediately turned away from him. "Crap!"
As the t-shirt was very loose and I was working without any care, it was hanging loosely around my shoulder, showing off my cleavage. I immediately rushed to my bedroom and tucked it properly. I didn't unpack my clothes so I couldn't change into another dress.
But gosh, that was embarrassing.
I took a deep breath before walking out of my room and saw Dylan chilling on the couch.
"You could have said it sooner, pervert."
"No, I am not a pervert. I thought you would notice it anyway," he objected, standing up to face me.
Now that he mentioned it, he avoided looking at me. Oh, well, it wouldn't hurt to tease him.
"No, you are a pervert."
"No, I am not."
"You are."
"I'm not."
"Ar—"
"I am starving. Let's go out already." He made a peace sign.
"Okay. But do I look okay?" I asked and glanced at myself, before grabbing my purse.
"Yeah, you look just fine," he replied.
"Just fine?" I flashed him my puppy eyes.
"Yeah."
"Nothing more?"
"Okay, you look like the most adorable girl in the universe." He gave up and walked towards the exit. I grinned to myself. He hollered, "Now can we go? Or I am leaving without you."
"Yes, coming!"
I couldn't believe I was in love with such an eccentric, sarcastic person. At least with him, I would never get bored in my life. It would always be fun to bicker with him.