Starting All Over Again

New York Part 2

Daniel’s POV

Wow. I’ve never seen such busy streets before like New York. Indeed it’s called the Big Apple for no reason. As I walk along the streets of New York, my mind starts to clear from all the invalidated information I just received from Luke. I’m like a 10 year-old kid wandering around the streets of New York staring with doe eyes each shop I find interesting like the one displaying antique furniture and stuff and I ended up checking it for real. Inside the shop smells like old wood and incense sort of like when after it rains you can smell the ground, the grass and the wet tree trunks. It reminds me of my childhood memories when I was 5 years old playing on our backyard after a heavy rain. Mom usually tells me to be careful because it’s muddy and slippery and I always say yes but ended up covered in mud after running and jumping on puddles of water I call little ponds. I look around the shop and saw a violin hanging between an odd looking clocks. I stare at it for a minute and pictured myself playing effortlessly. I always wanted to play the piano and violin but mom refuse to enrol me in one of those music classes. I don’t always get it when she says we have just enough for my schooling so I tried to understand her until one day I understood what she meant and it was even clearer when I enter college up until now. After examining other interesting artefacts I decided to just leave the place because the owner of the shop keep glancing at me like he’s telling me to buy something or get out.

After experiencing nostalgia inside the antique shop I decided to cheer things up by ordering a strawberry milkshake and blueberry cheesecake to a nearby shop where they sell fancy cakes of all sorts of design and flavour. Sweets always made my day not even bothering if diabetes would just appear in my medical record. It’s not like I eat sugary sweets everyday to increase my chance of acquiring diabetes. It’s only when I’m in for a treat for myself or whenever I’m sad.

After that wonderful treat, I’m back to my old happy self and smiled at the lovely waitress as she handed my take home strawberry cake for David. After what happened at the party, I decided to just buy him a simple treat for ditching him. You can’t blame me reacting so stupidly while David is having one of the most wonderful time of his life, for the second time around. I can’t just ruin his image in public and shove that innocent lady out of the picture by shouting “Hey I’m Daniel, his assistant and we’ve been fooling around.” Anyone who’s having brain issues would do that. I for certainly wouldn’t do something stupid that would hurt the people I love. I sighed deeply as I decided to just apologize to David for acting like a moron not even hearing the entire story.

As I walk towards Central Park, I didn’t notice I was walking the entire day and not even feeling tired nor exhausted. I just love being outside like other people do, appreciate every little things around me. I suddenly felt hungry and immediately spotted a hotdog stand. As I approached the stand, I saw two men holding hands while walking their dog, a beagle I guess, and they look happily and contented with each other. People don’t mind such bold movements when you’re in an open city like New York. I can’t help but smile at them and admire them for their bravery and boldness. I wish I could be like them, with David, but with his social status, I don’t know when that will happen. I’m not saying that will never happen because in the end, people will just suck it up and deal with it or accept it whole heartedly.

“Can I have one of those and one of these?” I pointed at one of the deliciously looking hotdogs and burgers and the vendor happily served it but maybe wondering why I ordered too many. What? Blame my hungry stomach for not having a decent lunch. I paid the guy and sat on the grass near a huge tree overlooking at the lake.

I don’t know how long I’ve been in the park to notice that the sun is setting down so I checked my phone for the time since I still don’t have a wrist watch and surprisingly, it’s dead and I don’t know when. I stayed for a bit looking up at the sky as the colour changes from sky blue to yellow to orange until a few stars appear.

Last night was the most wonderful night. David took me to a fancy restaurant and we had our very first date as he promised and it was perfect. He was such a gentleman which I haven’t seen in him ever since I started working for him. We talked about our past experiences which is mostly about me since he keeps on asking questions about how I ended up as his ‘unfortunate secretary’ and other stuffs like why I chose journalism and the like. After the dinner date, we went to see movie entitled The Conjuring which wasn’t the conventional genre for a first official date but it still ended great other than the scary parts where you literally jump out from your seat. After the movie, we had a quick walk. After our mini city tour we decided to call it a night and went back to the hotel where we ended up sleeping together with smiles on our faces.

“Thank you David for this wonderful night.” I sincerely thank him for making me so special as I rested my head on his shoulder and hugged his muscular arm. It felt great when I’m touching him. “Good night David.” I kiss his cheeks and turned around immediately hiding my blushing face under the pillow.

He pull out the pillow and kiss the top of my head before saying “Thank you too Daniel. I’m glad you liked it. You made me the happiest person in the world. Good night.” After another kiss on the neck he hugged me tightly and closer to his half naked body. I can feel his warmth and heart beat and we ended up cuddling the entire night.

I chuckled as memories of what happened last night came rushing. So that’s what happened.

######

I asked the receptionist for our room key but she said David took it minutes ago. I wonder where he had gone to after the convention. Maybe he went to a fancy restaurant to celebrate with the lovely lady. What was her name again? Lisa? Right. A frown formed on my face as I picture them having a lunch date at a fancy restaurant. People will turn their head to look at them and I admit they look perfect for each other.

As I’m about to knock at the door, it opened harshly as if he sensed I’m back from wandering around the city alone. “I brought you..” as I lift the bag of treat I was engulfed with a tight hug that practically squeezed every air in my lungs.

After David noticed I’m out of air, he gripped my shoulder and distance himself arm length. “Where have you been? I’ve been trying to call you but I can’t reach you? Are you alright?” he examined every part of my body like a doctor examining his patient for bone fracture, worries and concern written all over his face.

I felt guilty by leaving him without even saying a word and that caused a frown to form on my face. “My phone is dead and I enjoyed too much without noticing time flies so fast.” I showed him my phone but he just stares at me like he didn’t see me for a long time and that makes me more guilty.

“I should’ve informed you before leaving but you were having fun so I decided to not ruin your moment with her.” I look around not wanting to look at his beautiful and worried eyes feeling a bit jealous just the thought of him with Lisa. I squeezed the handle of the bag trying to control myself not wanting to show any jealousy.

“What do you mean? Lisa? She’s just there to congratulate me.” His eyes don’t leave mine as he tries to look at me with the most sincere expression and I know he’s telling the truth.

“Er.. I brought you a treat!” I quickly lift the bag towards his face to change the subject and he stares at it like it was the strangest thing he ever saw. “While I was having my city tour, I thought I should get you a treat. I know it’s not that fancy or something but it’s one of my favourite. Strawberry cake.”

“Don’t’ you ever do that again! You had me worried the entire day and I don’t know where you are. What if you got lost and don’t know how to find me?” he scolded like I’m a preschooler who came home later than expected and immediately smiles from ear to ear after venting his emotions.

“Sorry.” Was all I said bowing my head guilt washing my entire body but at the same time happy that he cares and worries about me the entire day and I know he meant it.