Chapter 16

MISCHIEVOUS WINK

Diane’s P.O.V.

It was a good thing that the road was wide enough and had four lanes, so we would not disturb the other motorists here. Although while moving my head to search for a familiar landmark, I could tell that we were in an almost secluded part of the village.

“Shit! I am so sorry, Diane. We lost gas. Tsk, I think I should have it full next time! I should have never been too confident,” Liam said apologetically.

“It’s okay, I can manage.” I smiled. Incidents happen when you least expect them, so I had to understand the situation.

He closed the roof of his car then patiently looked around the area until he decided to get out of the car. Perhaps, he would go and ask the owner of the store I was looking at. “Wait, stay here.”

“I’ll join you,” I offered.

Because of that, he opened the door again and pulled off his keys. I did not wait for him to open the door beside me and just got out of his car directly. I looked at my wristwatch, and it was ten minutes past eleven o’clock. Fortunately, we did not end up in an entirely secluded area where rape and other heinous crimes were previously reported in Quego del Mar.

“Sadly, the gas station was still far from here, sir. There are also no public vehicles passing by here at the wee hours of the night. If you want, you can spend the night in the nearby hotel on the side of the road. It is just a walking distance from here. I will have my husband watch over your car.” I heard the old woman, perhaps the store owner, explained.

She was about in her fifties who was wearing a floral-styled dress that hugged her large figure. I thanked God because there could still be some people in the world who were very kind, compassionate, and not abusive.

“All right, ma’am. Thank you so much. I will make sure to pay you first thing in the morning tomorrow,” Liam said with a smile. A kind of smile that was drawing me closer to him.

“Oh! It is nothing, Hijo. Do not make a big deal out of it. By the way, I am Alma, and this is my husband, Bruce. He will be the one to take care of your car until tomorrow.” She introduced his husband, and the old man simply smiled and waved at us.

“Still, I want to thank you both for your good deed, Alma and Bruce. I really appreciate it. By the way, I am Liam—Liam Evangelista.” Liam bowed as a sign of respect for the two elders. I just smiled and nodded at them.

“Oh, son… so, you are L-Liam Evangelista? Now I knew the reason why you seemed familiar to me. You are in the newspaper! Wait, aren’t you this man?” Alma squealed before stealing the newspaper that Bruce was reading and handed it over to Liam.

It was not my attitude to interfere or be curious about what other people were talking about, but I couldn’t help myself but peek into the newspaper where I could see a glimpse of Liam’s face printed on the first page. This was what I could see from the headlines:

Rich and young business tycoon, Liam Arthur Evangelista, is now back in the Philippines.

“Oh, honestly… I was not expecting this. It was quite embarrassing being in the news, but I guessed we could both agree not to divulge to other people that we are here, Alma. Is that okay?” Liam humbly insisted.

He was certainly blushing when he returned the newspaper to the old man. Being a famous businessman who was published in the newspaper, he might probably have a lot of fans nationwide, and he did not want them to cause a commotion here.

“Oh, you do not even have to ask, Hijo. You can count on us. Fortunately, the owner of the budget inn was my son, so you won’t have any problems with your wife. You two won’t be publicized here, I assure you. Anyway, Bruce! Take care of the store, and I will just go with them for a while, okay? We will close it after,” Alma instructed her husband before she left the store.

The old man just smiled and continued reading the newspaper that his wife had previously grabbed to give to Liam. Now I knew why Alma had the guts to recommend that hotel—because it was owned by his son. I genuinely smiled, for it was such a nice way to help his son find new customers to spend the night there.

Alma accompanied us to her son’s budget inn. I took that opportunity to finally introduce myself to her.

“Hmm… hello, I am Diane, and I am not Liam’s wife.” I awkwardly smiled at her while telling the truth. I just wanted to clear things out because I did not want to be the star of a random gossip here.

And because I already thought in advance, any rumor might reach my mom even though our subdivision was still far away from here. Mom would end up hysterical if she would know that I was allegedly married to someone when I did not even have a boyfriend in the first place.

“Oh really, Hija? I am so sorry for speculating. I guess I have to blame my big mouth. But to tell you honestly, you two looked so good together. You are both beautiful and handsome! I am sure that your future children will also be like the two of you,” she ecstatically remarked with a gentle tap on my right arm.

Liam tenderly placed his arm around my right shoulder and smiled sweetly. “Oh, my girlfriend was just sensitive, Alma. Don’t worry about her, it’s fine. Diane was just too shy,” he announced before he playfully winked at me.

Although I could feel hundreds of volts that electrified my whole body the moment Liam touched me, I did not utter a word but silently kicked him on his side using my left elbow. And he even had the nerves to introduce me as his girlfriend when tonight was just the first time we had met? Like Leandro, Liam was also impossible. But I guessed I liked his actions more than his brother’s.

The three of us had already reached the eight-story budget hotel that was owned by Alma’s son, and Liam was still holding me. It looked like I was starting to love Liam’s gesture towards me—it was not suffocating.

“Unfortunately, we only have one room available. Is it okay for you, guys, to share a single room? It was already the start of ‘ber’ months, so we are quite fully booked. Tourists are coming in to have the secluded-forest tour, and most of them are staying here,” said Alma's son, who introduced himself as Marky. He looked like in his thirties.

“It’s okay! We can stay in one room,” Liam declared while looking at me.

Did I hear him right? I glared at him before I looked away.

No way! I won’t ever allow that, and why would we even stay in one room? I could stay with him if she was a girl, but he was not! I have only met him now, and it wasn’t even reaching two hours, then we will have to be together in the same room right away? What would he think of me? Easy girl? Not because I am working in a club, I would go with someone so easily! Let alone stay in one room. My mind just could not help but scream.

“Hmm, Marky… perhaps, you can double-check? Maybe, someone had already checked out earlier, and it just happens that your booking database was not updated? Please,” I contended with light wrinkles on my forehead.

“But ma’am, I am so sorry. There was only one room left no matter how many times I refreshed our booking page.” Marky was scratching his head while looking at the computer and scrolling the data unstoppably.

Liam and I glanced at each other again before he mischievously winked at me.