I'm No Cinderella

Chapter 29

A/N:- LAST CHAPTER!

It was my twenty-fifth birthday and no one had called me to wish me, not even my parents. Granted, it was a Saturday and everyone was probably sleeping their weekend away, but I wished at least one person would call me. I checked my phone for the umpteenth time and there wasn’t a single call from Ryan, not even a good morning message. I can still remember the kiss at the airport and the promise of seeing me again after his week at the UK. We’ve been going strong for a month and I’ve never had the best times until the day I told him how I felt for him.

                    Since that day, he would text me every day without fail and the fact that he hasn’t texted me even once today worries me. I decided to call him in the afternoon. It took him twice longer to answer the call.

                    “Hi, are you busy today?” I asked him.

                    “What? No, I’m not that busy,” he said and somehow I can sense that he’s distracted. What could he be doing on a Saturday afternoon?

                    “Do you want to meet up?” I asked him, hoping he’d say yes.

                    “Well, how about dinner?” he asked, “I’m a little tied up at the moment.”

                    “Sure,” I said as he hung up before I could say another word. Did I do something wrong to him? I tried to recall back but I can’t think of a single thing. Thinking too much only made my head hurt, so I took a nap until evening. He usually fetches me from my place when we went out so I waited for him as my heart sank to my stomach. My parents hadn’t even called me once to wish me happy birthday and the feeling intensified when I entered Ryan’s car and he never so much as turned to look at me. This has got to be the worst birthday ever.

                    “Hi,” I said, trying to ease the tension as Ryan pulled out of the parking lot.

                    “Hi,” he said and then lapsed into silence. What did I do now? We’ve never had a single argument since I told him how I felt, so there can’t be something I said to make him cold. Tentatively, I reached my hand forward and placed it on his – something I wouldn’t have done, probably a month or so back. He looked at me slightly and turned his palm upwards to cup mine, bringing it to his lips and kissing it. My heart fluttered in relief to know that he still loves me. He rubbed the back of my hand across his chest, something that he loves to do now that he could hold my hand without it turning to be a fight.

                    “Where are we going?” I asked him.

                    “I thought we could have dinner at the first place we went for a date on,” he said as I tried recalling back our first date – if you could call it a date.

                    “The lake?” I guessed as he shook his head.

                    “No, the Cherry Blossom restaurant,” he said as I frowned. That restaurant brought back bad memories.

                    “I thought you hated me back then,” I said softly as he snickered.

                    “I never hated you even once in my life,” he said, “I did get annoyed with you, but never hate.”

                    I kept silent because I didn’t want to bring up the memories that I so hard tried to bury. He pulled up at the car park and led me inside. I was surprised to see the restaurant almost empty.

                    “There aren’t many people here today,” I remarked as he led me to the middle of the restaurant. I turned to see him busy typing on his phone. What could be more important than our date here? “Ryan…”

                    “Hmm Sam,” he said as I looked into his green eyes, “There’s some people here that I want you to meet.”

                    Just then, from behind me, my family and friends appeared, shouting, “SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”

                    My heart almost jumped out of my chest as my mom rushed over and hugged me. Dad patted my back awkwardly while Andrew gave me a quick hug.

                    “Is this why you guys didn’t text me at all today?” I asked mom as my eyes start to fill with tears.

                    “Yes, Sam,” mom said in a loud and conspiratorial whisper, “Why didn’t you tell us about your boyfriend? He booked a hotel for us here.”

                    I looked over to Ryan standing there with both hands in his pocket and my feelings for him just overwhelmed me. Leah stood beside my family, looking all tall and gorgeous in a red dress.

                    “Happy birthday Samantha,” she said, hugging me tightly, “I hope you don’t mind that I stole Ryan off for a few hours today to plan this?”

                    “You planned this with him?” I exclaimed, “Thank you Leah!”

                    “Who else was going to call your family?” she laughed as I greeted my work friends and colleagues. By now, everyone at work knows that Samantha Layton is dating the President and apparently most of them weren’t even shocked by the news. Sammy told me that most of them had a bet that I’d end up dating Ryan by the New Year anyways.  After circling the room, greeting everyone, I ended up in front of Ryan.

                    “Happy birthday, sweetheart,” he said softly as I smiled up at him, my insides warming up.

                    “I can’t believe you did this,” I said chokingly.

                    “Well, believe it.”

                    “It’s a tough act for me to follow,” I said as he placed his palm on my cheek and smiled.

                    “You don’t have to do the same for me,” he said, “Just keep making me feel like this and you’ve done enough.”

                    “I love you, Ryan,” I said and I really meant it. The past year has been the most tumultuous of times with all the arguments and misunderstanding that we had. If only he had told me he liked me, or if only I’ve told him I liked him earlier on, none of the arguments would have needed to happen.

                    “I love you more than anything else in the world,” he said, reaching behind me, pulling me close for a kiss. I didn’t care if we’re going to argue tomorrow or the week after. I didn’t care if my parents were going to force me into a more serious relationship with Ryan. All I cared right now, at this moment is that anything seemed possible with him in front of me. I long to see the sun shining in his eyes and his smile lighting up his face the way he does when he looks at me. I’m in love with him and for the first time, I’m glad he feels the same too.

                  ~ THE END~

A/N:- Thank you so much for reading until the end. Do vote and comment your thoughts. I'd love to hear them. Oh, I'll let you on in a secret. There will be a sequel to this story - no worries. You still don't know what happened to her red shoes (left in the hands of another man a-la Cinderella) and more. I am also planning to do a spin-off story on Aidan, so follow me and keep a look out for more stories from me. CIAO! Thank you!