NEW BEGINNINGS

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

"Of course not. I only said I was going to think about it. I didn't say yes"
"So why is he acting as if you said yes to him already?"
"Maybe you should ask him yourself"

She said as she rolled her eyes. She still did that. He smiled. There was just something about her, something he could not move on from. She stared at her phone again

"It is midnight. There is nothing to see"

The words were barely out of her mouth when the whole place became lit. It was beautiful. Apparently, it was an abandoned park. Nobody would have guessed what it was in the dark. She smiled

"Wow," she said. She couldn't say anything else
"Yes, wow. That was the first thing I said when I first saw it too. That was like the only thing I could say"

He said, looking at her. She looked back at him. She could feel her heart melting. This wasn't supposed to be. She said to herself as she looked away. After a while, she headed back to the car

"I should really get home"
"Yeah, totally"

He took one good look at the park again before heading to the car. The drive to her house was a silent one. He wanted to start up a conversation but he wasn't sure how he could do that so he kept mute and she did the same. He dropped her off

"Thanks for the ride, and dinner"
"Thank you for coming. It meant a lot to me"
"You're welcome," she said as she opened the door
"Wanda!"
"Yeah?"

He looked at her and he sighed

"Take care of yourself for me will you?"
"I would, you should too. Have a safe drive back home and you should let me know when you get home"
"I would"

She got down and he drove off immediately. When she got in, she had a shower, texted her brother, and headed to bed. She woke up the next day. It was Sunday. She should probably get back to church-going but she wasn't interested. She would rather stay home on her bed. It was one of the few days she actually had to rest. The month was almost over. Once it was, she would start to work from home for the next three months and that was one break she needed. Left to her, she would rather work from home than drive to work. She picked up her phone. She had slept till noon. Her brother had called her twice and Dylan had called her four times. Arthur called her once. She didn't know who to call back first so she didn't call anybody. She heard the doorbell ring. She got up from her bed and found her way down to the door. She looked into the peek hole and saw Arthur

"Oh damn!"

She said as she opened the door

"Hey"
"Why haven't you been picking up my calls?"
"Nothing, I have just been really busy and I couldn't pick it up. I was going to return them later in the day"
"Later in the day Wanda? Do you know how worried I was?"
"I don't know because I don't think there is a reason for you to worry about me"
"Isn't there? You are my girlfriend-to-be! I have every right to be worried. I have every reason to be worried"
"I didn't say yes to you Arthur"
"You said you needed time to think about it and I have given you more than enough time Wanda. You have to say yes now"
"I have to say what? You are way too intelligent to act this way, Arthur. I didn't tell you I was going to say yes. You can't force me into saying yes. You can't make me say yes to being your girlfriend"
"I have never been turned down in my life and you wouldn't be the one to start that bull shit!"
"Welcome to the real world Arthur. It is full of disappointments and hell no! I would not be your girlfriend. If that is the reason you are here, you might as well leave Arthur. I have things to do"
"You can't be serious!"
"You really do have to come down to the real world Arthur. I'd see you around"

She said as she slammed the door in his face. In her life, she had never been so disgusted by someone's arrogance. She has seen arrogance before. Dylan was a very perfect example of arrogance but this one was just different. It was stupid, she thought. She went back up and dropped onto her bed. Her phone rang again. She groaned. Was the world against her or something? She looked at the caller's ID, Helen

"Good afternoon Wanda"
"Hey, sis. Good afternoon, what's going on?"
"Nothing much. Richard and I have to go out for the week and I was thinking if you would want Tracy and Tristan over just for one week"
"Of course I do but what about school?"
"I already called their school bus to pick them up from your house for the next one week"
"You really do have things sorted out. Where the hell are you going to anyways?"
"Bahamas"
"For what exactly? I thought Ken was supposed to get married this Saturday?"
"We have been thinking of what gift to give him and we decided to get a vacation ticket so we are going there to have a first-hand experience ourselves before we get them the ticket. We would be back by Friday morning and that would be more than enough time to prepare for Ken's wedding"
"If you say so"
"And then we would be coming to your house so we can all go to Ken's wedding together"
"Uhm okay, sure. How do you plan on bringing Tracy and Tristan over here?"
"Actually, our flight leaves by 10 pm tonight so we were thinking you could come to pick them up please?"

She definitely couldn't say no to her sister

"See you in an hour," she said