SEVENTEEN years to Live

17 ●○► DEPTON CITY

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

●○► DEPTON CITY

The city looks very awake when midnight comes. I think we’ve reached the middle of the city now and Bryan is still finding for a hotel for us to stay in. Janine is curled up at the back seat, sleeping. Her hands are put together so she can rest her head on it.

“Now,” Bryan mutters, as quietly so that Janine won’t wake up, “where do we stay?”

“Haven’t you decided a hotel to stay in yet?” I ask.

“There are a lot of hotels in Depton City, but almost all of them have the same expensive price. Ten thousand deps in one night. That is for each person.”

I bite my lower lip after he said that. Ten thousand deps for each person in just one night? I think. Unbelievable!

“I think we should sleep in the car instead,” I tell him. “Bryan, you’ve done great things to us already and we don’t even know how to pay you those great things back. We can sleep in the car. I’m sure Janine doesn’t want to owe you big also.”

There is silence.

“Are you sure, Mary?” he continues. “I mean, not that I am boasting, thirty thousand deps is just nothing for us. I can afford it.”

“No, Bryan,” I say immediately. “If thirty thousand deps is nothing for you, well, it is very much for us. You’re the son of the mayor. While I’m just . . . me.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Bryan smile. “You’re just you,” he whispers. He glances at me and claps a hand on my shoulder. “And you’re perfect. Perfect for me.”

For a moment, I turn to look at him. His bright eyes are glinting like the city lights. I form a smile, an appreciative one. The last words he said now begin to echo inside my head. Perfect for me. Perfect for me. I do not know how to answer, what to answer. I am suddenly out of words to say.

I never knew that this is how generous Bryan is. And it’s making me insane.

After a few minutes of driving in Depton City streets, we finally pull up into a large, luxurious hotel. Bryan parks the car in its wide parking lot in the front, while I turn to the back seat to wake up Janine. She moans as she opens her eyes. She looks out of the window and wonders why we suddenly pull up.

“What time is it?” she asks.

“It’s past 12:00 o’clock,” I say quietly. “Bryan finds us a hotel. A better place to stay for the night.”

Bryan turns the engine off. He opens the car door then steps outside. When he’s out of the car, I hear Janine reply to me. “Mary,” she begins quietly, smiling. “Don’t you know how lucky you are to have Bryan?”

I shoot her a quick smile, startled by her question. “I know,” I mutter after a few seconds. “I’m lucky to have him.”

“Do you know that you’re one of the luckiest girls to ask a guy?”

“I know, Janine. I’m one of the luckiest girls.”

She laughs. “If were you, I wouldn’t let him go. He’s too perfect. He’s the kind of guy every girl in Depton Republic wants to ask to be her boyfriend.”

There is a short moment of silence after she said that. I look at her in the eye and let her words sink in first. “I’ve never thought about that yet,” I say instinctively.

“Well, you should have.” She pauses. “And you should know that too.”

I take a deep breath and nod. “I’ll keep that in mind,” I tell her.