Letters from Spring Street

Chapter 10

A/N: #62 in fanfiction! That was quick! Thank you for all your reads, votes and comments. Oh and putting this little story of mine in your reading lists. The best kayo. 💛

Again I'd like to apologize for the slow updates, nalulunod ako sa trabaho 😂 Oh and all errors and typographical errors are mine, sorry. I usually work on this on my way to work and back home. I hope it still all makes sense 😀

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Maine stares down at her hand still intertwined with Richard's hand as they dashed towards the Le Chateau's garden patio.

She feels the familiar sensation whenever their skins touched, followed by a wave of calmness. Like every encounter she had with Richard, this moment had the same odd familiarity. Why do you affect me this way, Richard?

He came to an abrupt stop and she lightly landed on his back. "Maine! Are you okay??" He turns around, grabbing her shoulders, a worried expression etched on his face.

She lightly laughs and he sighs in relief, "Okay lang ako, Richard. Ikaw naman kasi, sobrang excited mo. Para kang five year old na pinabayaan sa toy store."

"Hindi ko rin alam, pero parang palagi akong excited whenever you're around."

She smiled at his response, cheeks feeling warmer by the second--she was blushing crimson again. She avoids his gaze and replies, "You almost always say whatever it is you're thinking. I never thought the CEO of the largest hotel chain in the country could be as carefree as you are."

"I hope that's a good thing, Ms. Maine." He comments, and finds himself gently rubbing his thumbs on her shoulders. Surprised at his own boldness, he hastily drops his hand from her shoulders and smiles apologetically.

I seem to lose control all the time when I'm with you. I always seem unable to help myself when it comes to you.

Why do you affect me this way, Maine?

"Of course it is, Richard. Carefree and happy suits you better than uptight and stoic."

"That's good, because I wasn't always like this." Richard replies as he offers his arm for her to take as they start to walk around the hotel's garden patio. "Long ago, I was more uptight and stoic than carefree and happy. You probably wouldn't have liked befriending little Richard."

"Little Richard? Ang cute mo!" She laughs at him and slaps his arm playfully, "But don't you worry, I was a bright and friendly kid, I would have made friends with anyone. Kahit na kay uptight and stoic little Richard."

******

Silly.

That was how Maine would have described this side of Richard she saw that afternoon. He took her around the perimeter of the hotel and told her about all the adventures he used to have there as a kid.

He led the way to the garden maze, and Maine realized how it wasn't so huge and scary now that she has fully grown. "So you say you got lost here when you were a kid?" He asks her.

"Almost? Sort of?" She laughs at the memory--her Tisoy helping her walk out of the maze after tripping and lightly spraining her ankle. Tisoy was so obnoxious then. He even called me "kid." Hay nako.

"Understandable. Kung tutuusin, this thing felt so much bigger and scarier when we were younger, ano? Pero ngayon its just beautiful to look at."

She hums in agreement, still lost in her memories of her childhood best friend when she heard him speak up again. "Dami kong adventures sa garden na to, I used to pretend that I was a prince that was going to save the princess in the middle of the maze. I even remember some of the hotel employees pretending to be the villain's spawns out to get me." He laughs, his eyes disappearing into slits, but his happiness very much evident.

She held on to his arm as they walked side by side and found herself staring at him while he continued to talk about his adventures when he was younger. She surmised that he had such an active imagination, that he must have been a happy child growing up, being surrounded by so many people and living at such an amazing place.

The more she hears about his childhood, the less she could imagine an uptight and stoic Richard.

When they finally stepped out of the garden maze, he leads her to a gazebo a little to the left of the maze. She looks to the right and sees a glimpse of the greenhouse from her peripheral.

"I bet you had an amazing childhood!"

"I guess it was okay." He smiled at her as they sat down, his arms casually draped around her shoulders.

"But you grew up here, and its still honestly one of the most beautiful places I've seen."

They were both staring ahead as they talked, with the light rush of wind and the sound of running water from the fountain not far from the gazebo. "It gets lonely at times. Only child lang kasi ako, and I was taught early on that all of this," he raises his arms to make a point, "will be mine some day."

He smiled sadly at her, "I grew up thinking about how all of this will be my sole responsibility when the time comes. The hundreds of people and their families who worked here would someday be my responsibility."

"So when I was younger, I used to refuse going out--because I knew eventually want to do something other than be my parents' heir. I might end up not wanting to come back." He notices her mouth turn into a slight frown, "Hey! It wasn't so bad, I guess. But I knew I was lucky so I never complained, I had everything I wanted, I was more blessed than others. So it was a small price to pay."

"So it was the prince who actually needed saving, huh?" She asks, giving him a kind smile.

He finally laughs and replies, "Parang ganon na nga."

"Was someone brave enough to save Prince Richard?"

"Prince Richard talaga?" He feigns annoyance, "But yea, someone did. And to this day, I still call her my little miracle. When I met her, everything changed for me. I started getting curious about what I really wanted to be, if I had been given the option to choose. She made me feel like it was okay to make a choice."

"She must be one special girl then."

"Oh se definitely is."

********

Richard notices Maine staring at his mother's private greenhouse, currently under renovation and smiles.

I have to take her there sometime.

"Nice, isn't it?" He asks her, shaking her out of her reverie.

"Huh? Ano?"

"Yung greenhouse. It used to be filled with all kinds of flowers and plants. Punong puno yan dati. Pero ngayon medyo napapabayaan na."

It was beautiful, I perfectly remember.

She hums in agreement and he continues, "Now that I'm back and I'm finally getting the hang of maintaining the hotel, I'm thinking of renovating it. You'll even be more amazed when it's done, I promise."

Maine notices the way his eyes sparkle talking about the hotel, and despite practically being strangers, she feels equally happy that he still finds excitement being back here despite all that he told her. And for some reason she decided to give him this moment and allowed him to think that he was the first person to ever take her there.

"I'm sure I'll love it, Richard. I can't wait to see it."