Chapter 64

FAMILY CELEBRATION

Diane’s P.O.V.

“Congrats to us, sissy! Oh my God, I didn’t expect that our graduation day could be this tearful. I’m so happy, yet at the same time, morose…” Karen congratulated me. She couldn’t help but look up to keep the tears rolling from her eyes. Her false eyelashes were even flickering while she was blinking back her tears.

“Oh my God! It doesn’t suit the hell out of you, Karen. So eww! Stop being dramatic, or do you want me to pull out your fake eyelashes?” Lorenz barked. He was not seated beside us, but now, he was even squeezing himself to us.

In fairness, his eyeliner, liquid foundation, and lipstick were even thicker than Karen and I’s makeup. I was beyond astonished when Liam sent a glam team to our house earlier this morning, but I could not argue with him anymore.

I just told the hair and makeup artists to apply my makeup as simple as possible, and my hair merely curled at the bottom. They actually dedicated too much time to Mom, who reasoned out that it was not every day that she was beautiful.

“Well… you have to understand her, girl! Karen would be leaving us for her flight to Cebu tomorrow, and she would stay there for good,” I glumly said, making Lorenz stop with his mockery.

“What the fuck! Are you even serious? Why didn’t you, guys, tell me? So, you two were keeping some little secrets from me, huh? Oh my God, I’m getting betrayed here!” And our gay friend even held his chest to show us that he was actually hurting.

Karen scowled at him, then kiddingly slapped him in the face. Well, she wasn’t even kidding at all because her hand produced a loud thump to Lorenz’s left cheek. “And why would I even tell you, you witch? I’m fucking leaving because I don’t want to see you again. Damn it! Did you even look at yourself in the mirror? Hell crazy, I couldn’t stand you!”

And she cupped Lorenz’s face with one hand only. “You look even better than me, brazen punk! So much for clear skin and even had no pores at all? What’s with your beauty secrets, and how many makeup artists did you pay for, asshole?” She scoffed before the three of us laughed together.

With a gentle face, Karen’s attitude was really unbelievable. It was indeed the opposite of her angelic face. She was so used to different profanities as if cussing was only normal and already a part of her daily life. I would have opened my mouth and meddled between my two best friends here when my brother approached me.

“Excuse, sis. The car that big bro sent to fetch us was already waiting outside. Are we ready to go?” David asked in a faint manner. He appeared to be sick with his sullen look and down shoulders.

“Oh, okay. Maybe your big bro Liam was already in the restaurant, wait…” I told him before turning my attention to my best friends again. “Guys, we’ll be leaving first! Sissy, be careful with your flight tomorrow. Call me as soon as you get there, okay?” I faced Karen.

“Sure, I’ll call you as soon as possible! But this fucking gay beside me had no place in my heart anymore. I won’t contact this shit head ever again. I’m glad that he will be out of my sight anyway,” Karen replied before she burst into laughter and jokingly pulled Lorenz’s styled hair.

The latter just yelped while removing the former’s hand on his head. “Hey, hellcat! Let go of me, duh!”

Karen then painted a sweet smile on her lips before she let go of Lorenz. “And of course, I wouldn’t go abroad, sissy. Just in Cebu, and I’ll only take care of our business there. I promise to come back here real soon after resolving everything.”

For one last time, the two of us took a selfie together. Then, David took the three of us some pictures with different poses using Lorenz’s DSLR camera. I even kissed the two of them on their cheeks before David and I finally left the area. When we strolled out, Mom and Denise were already waiting inside the car.

“I’m so proud of you!” Liam whispered to me while we were taking pictures during our family celebration before kissing my left cheek. Liam took a selfie of us, and I emphasized the gifts on my lap.

He gave me a bouquet of mixed carnations, gerberas, lilies, and roses, as well as three gift bags that I was yet to open. After picture taking, one waiter took care of those, and I thanked him.

We were the only ones here: me, Mom, my two siblings, and Liam. I didn’t invite him to come to the graduation ceremony. With his overflowing handsomeness in his blue tuxedo, I was afraid that instead of graduation, the commencement would become Liam’s autograph signing.

It was quite advanced to think that people could easily go gaga over him, which might even lead to a stampede. For sure, not even the students, but also our professors would get into trouble too, while unstoppably asking for him to have selfies or group pictures together.

We were in the five-star restaurant where Liam first brought me for a dinner date five months ago. It was located on the ground floor of one of the well-known hotels in Quego del Mar. Just a few months ago, I had known that the hotel was even owned by Liam.

He told me that he was already a hotelier at twenty-one aside from being a businessman. How could he manage his time now when during our relationship, he never ran out of time for me? He always treated me as his priority. Maybe because a lot of people were already working for him.

“You’re so beautiful, most especially when you received your diploma. You’re glowing on the stage, and I couldn’t keep my eyes away from you. I came, Diane. I couldn’t miss one of the most important events in my girlfriend’s life,” Liam confessed that made me slack-jawed.

“Really? You’ve tricked me!” I squealed while tapping him on his right shoulder. I couldn’t believe that he actually came and watched over me while receiving my certificate and awards on the stage. My boyfriend was indeed full of surprises.

“Yeah! I only wore my shades, a plain white T-shirt, ragged shorts, and rubber shoes. Then, I blended in the crowd and was able to see my angel in a black graduation robe. I guessed I have to give a high tip on your makeup artists. You looked even more gorgeous with what they did,” Liam teased me with sparks in his eyes.

He was even raking my body that was covered in a red halter dress where the hem was above my knees. It was paired with matching heels at four inches. These were all branded and already given to me as his advanced graduation gifts.

For every week since he became my boyfriend, he had been showering me gifts. I wanted to refuse, but he wouldn’t like it. He even bought me a smartphone when he learned that Socorro gave my number to lots of men, thus unknown numbers had been texting and calling me every now and then. A new sim card would do, but Liam insisted me to accept the cellular phone instead.

“I hate you! You should have approached and waved ‘hi’ to me.” I pouted my lips before I continued my sentence.

“But thanks, Liam… for all the things you’ve been doing for me. You’ve helped me so much… not just me, but my whole family. I don’t know how I would be able to make things up to you anymore,” I told him. I held his right hand, and at the same time, I let out the sweetest smile that was only reserved for him.

“I’m not asking anything in return, my love…” he said before pressing his mouth even closer to my right ear, and that alone could tickle me with ecstasy, “but if you really want to make up for it… just be with me tonight, and it will be more than enough for me.” Then, he smiled foolishly, showing his complete set of white teeth.

His dimple that was quite gentle before also showed, but now, it looked like Liam would not do any good at all. I knew the meaning of his smile, so I ended up pinching him on his right side. “Hey, stop it. You, pervert!” I only mouthed the last word, afraid that Mom and my siblings could hear about it.

“Ouch, hey! What are you talking about, sweetheart? I just want the two of us to celebrate together. I think there’s nothing wrong with that!” He pretended to be innocent, but he gave me a mischievous wink.