30 Days Marrying You

chapter 27

I love you.

The words echoed inside her head. Jessica knew she should say something, the right thing. Daniel was still gazing directly into her eyes. He was unmoving, though his face flushed red, he wasn't taking this confession lightly.
It was different from
Xavier' confession.
Xavier confessed to her in the burst of anger and he didn't stay long enough to hear her answer. But, Daniel was definitely persistent, waiting patiently for her to give her response.

Daniel was such a nice person. He was nice. He cheered her up today too. Then are you going to keep on living like this? She had to admit it, she felt something when he told her that.
From now on until forever, are you going to live your life avoiding places where there are memories you want to forget there? How will you live if every little thing from your memories always hurts you easily? His words struck her hard. She knew she had been stuck in the past with the memories of her parents.
But now, she felt like Daniel was pulling her forward, breaking the chains that were binding her feet to the past and freeing her from the scarred heart.
And she knew, because of him, she could face the memories bravely now.

But Xavier ? What about Xavier ? She realized with a jolt of surprise. There was Xavier . She was still his wife. No matter how much her heart was wavering because of the sincere confession, she knew she couldn't accept Daniel because it would be unfair to Xavier . And how could she answer Daniel's confession when she wasn't even sure of her own feeling?

"I... I... I'm..." she randomly spoke just to stall time, wishing she had a few more words to say to make it take even longer. "That... Um..."

She knew she should say that she couldn't accept his feeling but as she looked at his hopeful eyes, she lost all the words that she wanted to say. While she hovered with her words, one of the staffs working at the place came and interrupted them.

"I'm sorry. This place is about to close in a few more minutes, so you should prepare to leave soon."

Jessica broke their eyes' contact with a sense of relief. Saved by the staff – how cliché. They were both saved. Daniel was saved from hearing a hurtful answer. Jessica was saved from being the cruel woman she loathed.

"Oh, we're leaving now!" She replied to the staff.

No wonder there were no people around, she thought as she looked around her. Attracting people's attention was the last thing she wanted in this situation.
The staff left, leaving the both of them alone. They were filled with silence, and Jessica decided to let her eyes fall on her feet.

Daniel ruffled his hair slightly. "Your answer..." he said, breaking the silence, "you don't have to give it immediately."

"O... okay..." She whispered, all she could manage from her dry throat.

And that was the end of the conversation.

Jessica didn't remember much about their ride home. She just remembered that it was filled with more silence.
As Daniel dropped her off at the apartment and left, she didn't immediately go inside. She had a feeling Xavier still wasn't back. And to return to a dark and empty place sounded lonely. One place came to her mind and she hailed a cab. A taxi stopped.
She slammed the door shut behind her and the taxi took off into the night.

(A/N: in the place jessica's heading to)

"Cucumber?"

"I'm allergic."

"I'll try to remember that. Apple?"

"Ummm..."

"What? Childhood Snow White's trauma?"