Meeting Halfway (Under Revisions)

Road Twenty-Six

JANELLA

"Hey, is there something wrong?" Elmo's baritone voice snapped me out of my reverie. I turned to him with a small smile.

He took my hand and clasped it with his.

I smiled at the gesture.

I can't still believe that this is happening.

Can't believe na magkaholding-hands kami ngayon ng crush kong CEO, imagine, the guy whose nose flares up in anger every damn time I'd call him Elmo and not Mr. Magalona is the same guy I'm holding hands with right now.

Parang kalian lang, lahat na lang ng gawin ko ikinakagalit niya but he's here now confessing that he likes me.

Well, can't blame him. No one, absolutely no one can resist my charm.

I snuggled closer to him. "Nothing's wrong, I was just enjoying the view. Thanks for bringing us here." I told him with a grateful smile habang nakatanaw kay Mama na halatang nag-eenjoy sa pagtanaw-tanaw sa baybayin kasama ang nurse na ini-hire ni Elmo mula sa balcony ng second floor ng resthouse niya.

"No big deal Jea, you should know by now I'm doing this to at least to compensate for hurting you the last time. I was being a big jerk at that time", he said apologetically, squeezing lightly my hand.

"Buti't alam mo", nakangisi kong wika sa kanya.

"And I am so so sorry for that." He slightly lifted my hand and kissed my hand gently.

Again, I smiled at the gesture.

But that smile disappeared when I remember that weeks from now, he's going to marry that brat and even if he confessed that he likes me already, that won't change a thing.

Maybe he doesn't like me enough for him to stop his engagement with that Chinese girl.

***

"Hey Elmo Moses Arroyo Magalona, you don't throw people like that especially if it's a woman!" my voice echoed in the beach while his annoying ass was laughing non-stop at me after he suddenly scooped me in his arms and throw me at the beach without a word.

After lunch, we decided to take a dip in the beach while my mom decided to take a rest pagkatapos mapagod sa pamamasyal sa baybayin kanina. Her nurse decided to accompany her in her room kaya solo namin ni Elmo ang beach.

Elmo's still laughing and he's holding his stomach right now for laughing so hard that I can now see tears welling up in the corners of his eyes.

That annoys me.

"Hey Mr. Magalona, stop laughing, will you?", I yelled at him, not trying to hide my irritaion but that didn't stop him from laughing. In fact, he's laughing harder this time. "I swear if hindi ka titigil sa kakatawa, uuwi talaga ako ng Manila ora-mismo!"

And that did the magic, he stopped but I can still see the glint of amusement in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I just really lost it when you called me by my complete name.", he said, suppressing another fits of laughter. "You're hella cute when you're angry." Wika niya sabay pisil sa mukha ko.

I pouted in return while suppressing a smile. Who would thought that the intimidating CEO of Zapline has a childish side.

I wonder if ganito din si Elmo sa manipis na intsik na yun.

Napasimangot naman ako sa naisip. Hindi ko mapigilang mainggit, ako yung gusto ni Elmo pero iba ang pakakasalan niya.

"Hey, nakasimangot ka na diyan, I'm really sorry, alright?" mahinahong wika ni Elmo.