Chapter 17
“Can you please answer your phone? It’s noisy.” Hyacinth picked up her phone from the table and threw it to their bed. “Who’s that?”
Caroline checked the screen. “Tim.”
“He’s still chasing you? Wow, you’re a goddess,” she laughed. “I thought you’re going to change your number?”
Caroline shook her head. “I have almost one thousand contacts, and this is my only number. If I’m going to change it, I have to update all of them, the banks and other insurance companies that I invested in.”
Hyacinth laughed. “Are you tired of doing that for almost five years? You’ve been changing your number every time you change your boyfriend. I thought you get used to it.”
Caroline rolled her eyes. She silenced her phone when it rang again, and Lucas’s number flashed on the screen. “Tim will get tired of me soon—”
“You wish,” Hyacinth cut off. “I don’t think that business tycoon would give up easily. He’s crazily in love with you, but unfortunately, you’re crazily in love with someone else.”
She heaved a sigh. She doesn’t know what she’s going to do with Lucas. He’s a good guy, and she doesn’t want to hurt him again. “I’ve talked to him many times to settle our problem, but he’s not listening to me. I don’t want to see him again.”
“But, he gets sick if he couldn’t see you every day,” Hyacinth said and showed her a picture on her phone. It was taken from their cafeteria on the ground floor. “I know that you’re aware of Lucas’s frequent visits to our cafeteria just to get a glimpse of you. But, you’re pretending that you didn’t see him.”
“What do you want me to do? Shun him? Push him away? This is the only way that I know to avoid hurting him more.” She brushed her hands on her face. “He’ll get tired of doing those things soon. I just have to keep on ignoring him.”
Hyacinth sighed. “He’s a powerful man, Caroline. He can buy our office building if he wants, and with just a snap of his fingers, we’ll lose our job.”
“Lucas won’t do that. He’s a good person.” Caroline stood up and walked towards the bathroom. “He just needs someone to talk to. Why don’t you call him?”
Hyacinth stopped on placing her face mask. “What? Why would I do that?”
“Because you’re friends with him, right? Convince him not to buy our office building by helping him divert his thoughts to other things,” she and walked inside the bathroom.
As soon as the door closed behind her, she took out her phone and dialed Café Demitasse landline number. It was just eight p.m, the café close at ten. After several rings, a woman’s voice answered.
“Welcome to Café Demitasse delivery line, this is Leny, may I take your order?”
“Hi, this is Caroline, may speak to Benjamin?” Caroline said in a low voice.
Caroline can sense that the woman from the other line was surprised by what she said. It took seconds before she answered again. “To Sir Benjamin, Ma’am? May I ask who is this again?”
“Tell him that this is Caroline Valdez. He knows who I am,” she insisted and glanced at the bathroom door, hoping that Hyacinth can’t hear her voice from the outside.
A few moments had passed before she heard Benjamin’s low and rough voice from the other line. “Hello, Caroline?”
“Benjamin—”
“Caroline!” Hyacinth knocked on the door repeatedly. “Open the door, I need to pee.”
“Benjamin, I’ll call you back.” Caroline lowered her phone before opening the door.
“What’s taking you so long to use the toilet?” Hyacinth asked, brows furrowed.
“Nothing—”
“Wait, and why your phone’s with you?” The lines in her friend’s forehead deepened. “Caroline, you promised me. And, that was just a few hours since we agreed that you’ll think about it first, right?”
“I know. I was just scrolling on my newsfeed while waiting for my poop to come out,” she said and pretended that her stomach still hurts. “I think I need to take medicine for my stomach ache.”
Hyacinth looked at her suspiciously. She followed her until she went back to bed. “Caroline, you promised me, you should keep it.”
Caroline rolled her eyes. “I know.” And I won’t change my mind, she thought.
*
Benjamin watched how his daughter Anastacia looked at Caroline. Anastacia’s eyes showed admiration and amusement every time the woman talked about something in social media that he never heard of. Benjamin felt like an outcast when Anastacia and Caroline started a conversation about their social media postings and something about vlogs.
“Who wants Cioccolata Calda? I’ll prepare some,” Benjamin asked when he couldn’t keep up with their conversations anymore.
Anastacia chuckled.”Poor, daddy. He’s not familiar with social media terms and trends today. Come on, dad. Stop living like Patrick Starfish.”
Caroline suppressed a smile when she noticed Benjamin’s cheeks turned red. “Your dad is quite busy running your business that he doesn’t have time for social media.”
“Can you teach him the semantics, Tita Caroline?” Anastacia requested with a smile.
“Anastacia, I don’t think it’s necessary—”
“Well, media convergence can help your café reached more people. Posting in social media can expand your business market line,” Caroline said. “I can teach you some ways to promote Demitasse with just a few clicks in your smartphone.”
Benjamin studied Caroline’s smiling face. Her eyes were telling him to trust her. “Okay. Tell me your most convenient time, Caroline—”
“Actually, dad, we can start now,” Anastacia said and picked up her phone. “This is called phone photography.”
Caroline agreed to Anastacia. “We can also film the making of… what you called that? Cioccolata Calda?”
Benjamin nodded. “It’s an Italian hot chocolate drink made of cocoa powder and milk. It can be served with white chocolate fudge on the top.”
“Wow, you can start your own vlog, Benjamin,” Caroline commented and gave him a warm smile.
“This is getting exciting!” Anastacia’s face brightened up. “I should tell Kely about it!” she immediately went to the stairs to call her sister.
Benjamin sighed. She looked at Caroline apologetically. “Caroline, you can say no. I know that you’re busy and you just came here because you don’t want Anastacia to get disappointed. But it’s really fine if you’ll refuse. Anastacia will understand.”
Caroline shook her head and smile. “It’s fine. I enjoyed talking to her because she’s a smart kid. And, by the way, Benjamin. I came here because I wanted to tell you something.”
Benjamin raised both his eyebrows, he scratched the corner of his brow. “I thought you came here because you promised Anastacia that you’ll come back for them.”
Caroline’s cheeks blushed, but it fades instantly. Benjamin finds it cute every time she blushed in front of him. “Of course, I came here for them… but I also wanted to tell you about something—or rather, I wanted to offer it to you.”
He knotted his forehead. “What is it?”
Caroline drew her breath before she answered him. “You told me yesterday that you’re looking for an apartment to live temporarily, right?” when he nodded, she continued. “My house was just fifteen to twenty minutes away from here. You can live there for free.”
“Your house?” Benjamin asked, surprised.
“Yup! You can move in tomorrow, or even today after work. I can help you moved your things—”
“Wait, Caroline. I don’t understand. Why would you let us live in your house?”
Caroline took moments to answer. Her eyes fixated on him. “It’s for the kids, Benjamin.” She smiled. “Please, say yes?”
***
