rekindled past

I followed Femella outside. She's wiping away her tears. I hugged her from behind and planted a kiss on her exposed shoulder. She shrugged me off but I did not attempt to leave.

"No one is playing tricks on you, sweetheart. What I told you is true."

She sniffed.

"You should go now, Maverick. We're done. We're done so why are you still here looking for me?"

I held her to face me and touched her swollen eye.

"It's true that I respect your decision to leave me. So now, I'm going to ask you for a favor to respect me for my decision to come back for you. Let's stop torturing ourselves, shall we?"

I led her to sit on the first rung of the stairs and took her hands.

"I don't like being indebted to anyone. It's bad for business. So I have to bring you back into my life so I don't owe anything to your weird friend."

She looks at me with her puffy red eyes, red cheeks, and red nose that I can't help but dip a kiss on her nose. She looks so adorable.

"I asked her for a favor. I asked her about your location after Trisha talked to me. She said, I can only pay her for providing information on your location if I can make you confess that until now you are still into me. And it turned out that you are. "

She went silent.

"Did you talk to Trisha?"

I lifted my shirt and wiped away her tears.

"Yes. She said sorry for lying to you, to us. She also said something about the past which I confirmed to be true when I regained my memories."

She turned to me with questioning eyes. I held her hand and started telling her everything. Mixed emotions passed through her face as she listened to me. Her eyes turn from longing to sadness and then shock and finally anger.

"That girl!" she shouted in an angry voice. "How could she do that? All along I've lived with the guilt inside me knowing that I'm having a relationship with you." Her face grimaced in pain. "Trish, how could you?!"

She cried in my arms. I rubbed her back and let her release the resentment into my arm.

"I know, Fem. I was also angry when she first told me the truth. And you have all the right to get angry because you remember everything."

She slipped into my embrace and wiped away her tears.

"But I shouldn't be that angry at her. She was young then and she was just driven by her envy for me. She's the less privileged one compared to me. She's the one who grew up without parents. Her life is sad, Maverick. She's alone, lacking in the things I enjoy. She's also just a victim of our parents' selfishness. It's just sad how her lies hurt both of us."

I smiled at what she said. This woman, in all her perfections and flaws, never failed to amaze me.

"You know what, even if you keep insisting that you're a bad person, that you're a user, I know you're a good person, Femella. Even if you don't accept defeat during our argument and you always accuse me of hiding the puzzle pieces, I know you're kind. It's natural to make mistakes. What's more important is what you do with the lessons you learned after committing your mistakes. That's the most important part. I admit I've made countless mistakes but I wear them like a badge of honor. I don't walk out of a scene without getting something that will make me a better person. That sounds so good and noble for someone who had a bad track record but that's true. Like our situation now. What will we make of it?"

I took her hands and brought them to my lap.

"Am I angry at Trisha? Yes, I am. But will we burn more lines now? I don't think that's right. Like you said, she was young then. She's just as affected like us with the consequences back then. Let's leave it in the past and make use of what we get from it in living in the present and in the future. "

I took a deep breath. I am also becoming emotional like Femella. I lifted up her chin and caught her eyes.

"Let's try again, please. Give us another chance. And this time, no more goodbyes. Let's make it work, Fem."

"Why are you asking for a second chance? It should be me. I'm guilty as hell Mav for all I've done. And I'm guiltier for entertaining these negative thoughts. I'm itching to see you. .. to ask for a second chance to you. I'm just being held back by shame because I'm the one who ended everything and left you in the end and then I'll come back and mess you up again just to make me happy. Isn't that a bit too much? "

"I remembered when you told me that you had scrapped the plan of using me to get Trisha when you realized that you don't want me to get involved anymore. But fate had a different plan for us, Fem. Little did you know that we'll meet in that same place. I just saw you for the first time and you woke up to something inside me. Behind your facade, I could see the real you. You got me so intrigued that's why I did everything I could think of just to have you. I witnessed how you avoided me but that only made me want you more for myself. Did you know I blackmailed Vida to get you? When her club was being raided, she was caught in my hotel red handed. That's when I bargained. I'll release her in your place. See? It's destiny that makes the way for the two of us to come closer. I have loved you since then and I will love you forever, "I said passionately.

I don’t know how I can say these cheesy lines but maybe this is what love makes you do. What you feel is so strong and beyond words you can't help but use the sweetest and cheesiest line just to describe your feelings. But even that is not enough.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I used you, Maverick. Can you still trust me despite everything? I don't want to get to the point where we no longer trust each other. I hate to end up that way."

I sighed. She's really hard headed at times.

"I also used you. I used you to satisfy my physical needs. We're even."

"That's different. You paid for me."

I pulled her to sit on my lap and gave her a kiss on the bridge of her nose. It's better this way. I would convince her more if we were this close and we felt each other’s warmth.

"How about this, babe. I love you, you love me. Let's be together and have a family," I sang.

Her serious expression remained on her face so I just scratched my head.

"I didn't for once feel that you used me, Femella. I did it because I wanted to and I wasn't just forced. Do you really think someone can force me? That's what I'm telling you." I kissed her on the lips. "Come back to me so you can get to know me better. No one can force me to do things I don't want to do, not even my family. That's why they threw me here so get rid of the thought that you used me. You didn't and if there are times you felt like you did then don't feel bad about it. I let you use me during those times because I adore you. Got it? Hmm?"

The doubt on her face was gone so I secretly celebrated.

"I don't have a family anymore, Mav. The only blood relative I left doesn't want to be with me. I'm broke. The rest of the money you paid me has been donated to an orphanage. This land and this house, this is all I have left. So technically, I don't have anything to contribute. "

I hugged her by the waist and caged her face in my palms.

"I'm here. My family's here for you. Mom, Gideon and Sheri want you. I'm sure Puffle will like you too. Come with me. Be with me and we'll make one big happy family, Fem . I don't care if you're as poor as a rat. I can finance you. If what you're thinking is that contribution stuff, well, no one is asking for that. Just love me and don't ever fall out of love with me. "

Her tears flowed again so I hugged and comforted her. I caressed her back as her hands wrapped around my neck. She nodded afterwards.

"Yes, Mav. Let's start over again." She raised her face to me. "I'm really deeply sorry for everything. I'm sorry for lying to you, for using you, and for leaving you. I'm sorry I just realized when I left you. I can't live without you. I'm really sorry. "

Relief flooded all over me.

"Come home with me. I feel sorry for your eyes. They're so swollen and red. I never knew that a tiger is a crybaby."

I didn't add that I like this side of her. Sometimes I wonder if she is made of steel. Now I don't have to keep on wondering.

"I will listen to you and you will listen to me too. No more secrets and lies."

She smiled. Finally.

"I liked it," she replied between sobs.

"Finally, you're mine again." I kissed her face.

"I'm always yours to begin with Mav," she said.

I blushed. I wasn’t prepared for what she said. I hid my expression when my face heated up.

But she held my face and inspected it.

"Oh! Did you just blush?"

"Nothing. It's just so hot here."

I grinned and looked at her smiling. I palmed her face and chuckled.

"You sure know how to make a man's heart flutter. It's good that you love me."

"And who told you I love you? You are claiming that without any evidence?" her tempting eyes shone on me.

A warm feeling flowed in my heart. The fact that she's been able to tease me now means that all is well already.

"Really? So who is that beautiful lady by my side saying 'I love you' to me every morning?" I indulged her.

She slapped me on the shoulder. "Hey! I don't talk in my sleep."

I grabbed her hand and kissed her.

"Just kidding. But can you say it? Can you say it, please?"

She just smiled and stared at me. She seems to be searching for something on my face. I presumed she found whatever she's looking for because she gave me her signature sweet smile. And then she laughed while crying. I just stared at her the whole time. It was as if I was enchanted that I couldn't look back.

I gently pinned her hair to her ear when she stopped crying and just stared at me, quietly touching every corner of my face.

She looked at me straight in the eyes and grinned.

"I love you, Fuentebella. I loved you when I was fifteen, never stopped loving you in the eight years that we're apart and now that I'm a full grown woman, that love found its way back to you. It's worth it. So so worth it, my love. Thank you for making me realize that. "

A lump formed in my throat at her revelation. No words could describe what I'm feeling right now so I just uttered the things I would always want to do to her.

"Kiss me ..." I whispered.

She gladly obliged and rewarded me with her sweetest kiss.

Something warm and wet trickled down our faces. We were both crying for a rekindled past and renowned love for the future.

I smiled against her lips before lifting her up in my arms.

Mother, I'm finally getting married.