Owned by the Devil

Chapter Eight

Kieth must be losing his mind—iyon ang unang pumasok sa isip niya nang mahuli niya ang sarili niyang kanina pa nakangiti. First of all, smiling was never his thing. Secondly, smiling because of a simple text message was beyond his capabilities before, so why now?

This is definitely not contributing to his peace, but it still amuses him nonetheless.

Ano pa nga ba ang ine-expect niya sa hyperfixation niya kay Jeanna De Lara? Here he was, rereading her message. The universe must be laughing at his face for being this invested.

It has been almost five days since they officially met. Ang daming nangyari sa party ng engaged couple, pero highlight pa rin noon nang sa wakas ay nag-first move na rin ang dalaga sa kung anong plano nitong gawin. Nothing too fancy though, he made sure he could stretch whatever this is to its fullest.

Meeting Jeanna in person and seeing her in an unexpected panic mode was something so worth it. Kung invested na siya sa dalaga dahil sa una nilang encounter, mas invested na siya ngayon dahil alam na niya kung paano ito kapag kasama siya.

He may not have a lot of experience with women in all its wholesome context, but it was so easy being with Jeanna who obviously got caught in fascination over him.

Dahil ba sa mukha niya? Sa height niya? It was conceited of him to be so sure like this, but whatever it was that kept Jeanna focused on him was definitely because she finds him good to look at. Nasabi niya bang buong gabi siyang tinititigan ng dalaga?

For once, there was no denying that both of them were focused on one another to the most of hyper-awareness. Kung randam niyang ganoon ang dalaga, mas alam naman niyang ganoon din siya rito. How would he know that she kept taking in long glances at him if he was not doing the same to her?

May panghihinayang pa nga siya dahil ang tagal niyang iniwan ang dalaga bago sila talaga nakapag-usap. Something came up at the winery and it needed his attention right there and then. Kung pwede lang, ipinagpabukas na niya iyon, pero hindi talaga pwede.

When he returned and found her again, they exchanged names and from there, Jeanna continued asking him for his forgiveness. If there was such a thing called 'panic speech', she did it in a way that had him laughing in his head. Syempre, hindi naman niya tatawanan ang dalaga lalo na at nagpa-panic na nga ito, pero hindi niya itatangging aliw na aliw siya rito.

Kung tatanungin siya, sa unang sorry pa lang ng dalaga ay ayos na siya. His immaturity aside, alam nga niyang hindi naman talaga kailangang humingi ng dalaga ng kahit anong sorry sa kanya. What happened was an accident, and even he was at fault in some angle of the situation. But, the thing is, he let her do whatever it was that she wanted to do. Kahit na nga ba isang speech iyon kung gaano ito ka-sorry sa ilong niya.

Instead of telling her he forgives her, of course, he chose to be a menace and jokingly insisted that he should at least receive compensation for his now fully healed nose. Gaano siya ka-gago para gawin iyon? Sobra. But it was first the shot because he could see more of what Jeanna is willing to do.

Sinabi niyang hindi siya maka-decide sa kung anong pambawi ang gusto niyang matanggap, kaya naman binigay niya ang cellphone number niya sa dalaga. He was willing to insist his number on her even if she does not ask for it, but, to his surprise, ito na mismo ang humingi nito para raw mas madali siya nitong ma-contact.

Naghintay din siya ng gabing iyon kung mababanggit ba ng dalaga ang tungkol sa pagiging 'date' nito sa gaganaping kasal. Hindi naman halatang excited na excited siyang malaman kung paano iyong io-open-up man lang ng dalaga, pero walang ganoong nangyari hanggang maghiwalay silang dalawa.

A part of him was confused because was it not the whole point of it? Hindi naman kaya nagbago ang isip ng dalaga matapos ang oras nakasama siya nito? Now, if that was the case, it would suck, but he would understand it. Sobrang valid na sa personality na meron siya, mapagtanto agad ng dalaga na mahirap siyang kasama.