END OF THE BEGINNING

23: I Like Surprises Of Course, Babe

'I Like Surprises Of Course, Babe'

I TOOK IN a deep breath and stared up into Philip's eyes.

He had done a very big job at surprising me. I wasn't expecting him to ask me to be his girlfriend.

"What do you say?" Philip demanded, bringing me closer to his chest.

I touched the side of his lips. "Yes."

"Yes?"

"Yes." I repeated and played with his hair.

Philip ran a finger down my cheek and smiled. He smiled. Philip smiled like he had just won the lottery, not that it would actually matter to him. Yet, he smiled.

"Why are you smiling like an idiot?" I demanded, wrapping my hand around his neck.

"You just made me the happiest idiot alive." Philip replied.

I smiled and leaned in for a kiss. Philip pulled back from the brief kiss and I stared at him, baffled.

"Allow me." He whispered and held me gently by the crook of my neck. After staring into my eyes for a while, his lips swooped down on mine bearing fire and so much energy.

Two minutes later, we were still in a fierce lip battle, however, the sounds of hands clapping startled us. For an instant, I thought Philip had orchestrated it, but judging the flustered look on his face, he didn't know what was going on.

Standing before us was Philip's parents, Gabriel and Adeline, their daughter, and her cousin Tanya.

Instead of the sour looks I expected, I received  warm smiles from Gabriel and his wife.

"Don't be such a traitor son, I asked you to bring her in." Adeline spoke, moving towards me.

"Mom..."

"Hush... Florence, I believe we've met twice. Under different circumstances though." Adeline embraced me and pulled away after giving me a chaste kiss on my cheek.

I smiled awkwardly. "Yes we have."

Define awkward.

Alice and Tanya stood there with stupid grins on their faces. Alice made kissy faces at me and I scoffed at her behavior.

"Behave yourself Alice." Tanya scolded Alice.

Gabriel cleared his throat. "Before they lose it, let's go inside." He placed a hand on my shoulder and gave me another smile.

I noticed there was a car waiting for them a couple of feet away.  Gabriel drove his wife and the girls while Philip drove with me.

"Why didn't you tell me that you had all these planned out?" I queried as Philip drove past the automatic sliding gate. The security men there gave him a polite bow and he nodded.

"I like surprises of course, babe."

"Babe? I like that." I smiled at Philip who stopped the car beside his dad's.

"I love you, Florence." He placed a kiss on my lips and shrugged off his seatbelt.

"I love you too."

💭💭💭

"So, Peter has gone on full  gangster mode with Maya." Alice informed me while we sat on my bed in my room.

After yesterday's dinner, the girls invited themselves over to mom's house for a sleepover. I just couldn't resist them.

"The little witch." Tanya added with a frown.