Chapter 99

CHAPTER 99:

HER ACTION FIGURE

Diane’s P.O.V.

“Well… what else can I say? Thank you, guys! Thanks for the time and effort to come here. Thanks for the surprise. I really appreciate everything—I mean, all of these. So, this was the main reason why both of you clocked out earlier, huh? Seriously, I didn’t expect this. Thank you, you’ve made me happy!” I said softly.

My heart was full of gratitude the moment I kissed them both on their cheeks. Then, I put all the presents down on the black coffee table at the center of our living room.

“Oh, it’s nothing… so, you don’t have to worry about it! We’re friends and you mean so much to us, Diane… so, you’re always welcome. Well, it’s just you who’s totally secretive and mum because you’re keeping something from us.” Sheena implied with raised eyebrow.

“Hmm, what do you mean?” I frowned.

“Well, let’s just say… it’s all about who really is Mr. Handsome, dear! And I could bet all of my savings that it wasn’t Mr. Lorenz.” Sheena was clearly teasing me.

It looked like I already knew what Sheena was talking about. I forgot Liam for a little while, but I couldn’t help myself to remember him now. What my colleague hinted made me immediately blush, but it was indeed a perfect timing that Miss Shey interrupted to save me and change the course of my conversation with Sheena.

“Happy birthday, Diane! By the way, I hope you wouldn’t mind if I brought my sister with me, huh? She doesn’t have a companion in the house right now. That said, I want you to meet Neyrah,” Miss Shey said and placed her arm over Neyrah’s shoulder. I had never seen her at EGC before.

“Happy birthday, Miss Diane!” Neyrah greeted me with formality and a genuine smile. Based on the tone of her voice, it looked like she might have lived abroad for a long time.

Concurrently, they gave me two separate gift boxes that were quite hefty. I never judged something based on the cover, but just looking at the wrapper made me think that these were expensive.

“Let me handle this one,” Karen whispered. I wasn’t able to carry the two boxes at the same time, so it was a good thing that she was attentive enough to help me and place one box on the floor right away. I just did the same thing by putting the next box on top of the other.

“Oh… it’s nothing, so don’t ever think about it, Miss Shey! It’s a pleasure to have you both here with us. Thanks for the gift, and also… thanks too, Neyrah. Anyway, I’m sorry if it’s quite messy here in our house. I hope you don’t mind,” I apologetically told them before I turned my attention to Denise and Mom.

“Happy birthday, dear!”

“Happy birthday, big sis!”

They greeted me in unison, and I kissed them both on their cheeks. Because we used to save money, we were no longer used to giving gifts when there was something to celebrate. Mom would cook dinner, and we were all set. Actually, just seeing them safe and healthy was already too much of a blessing for me.

“Thanks, Mom, Denise,” I told them. I even squeezed the bubbly cheek of our youngest. “Wait, where’s Dave? He owed me one when he called me, but why did he suddenly disappear here? Is he locking himself again?” I asked Mom with lines visible on my forehead.

“Don’t worry about your brother, Diane. David is just in his room, but he’s no longer locking himself anymore! I’m sure of that. Maybe, he’s just setting up Karen’s camera. You knew how much he loves to take photos, right?” Mom replied with a smile.

“Okay, I hope he learned his lessons well. I just don’t want him to become miserable again…” I murmured.

“Happy birthday, big sis!” Michael suddenly appeared out of nowhere and remained beside Denise. He used to call me the same way as to how he called his own sister, and my siblings had the same endearment to Karen too.

“Thanks, Michael. Wow, you looked so tall now!” I jestingly commended him, although I had only seen him right after graduation three months ago.

After that, I messed up with his wavy black hair. Kidding aside, Denise was taller than him by one inch. Maybe next year, he would be taller than Denise.

“Tall? From which part? I’m still taller than him, duh!” Denise snarled.

“I’ll be taller than you next year, so you better wait for that… cutie pie!” Michael faced Denise and mischievously poked my sister’s waist, causing the latter’s nostrils to flare with anger.

“Cutie pie, your face! Stop calling me names.” My baby sister retaliated, and the two just chased each other until they both exited the main door.

I was about to tell them not to get out of the gate when my eyes caught David. My brother conceitedly made a handsome sign when he looked at me—with his right thumb and index finger forming a ‘check’ right under his chin.

With his overconfident moves, I could tell that my brother was already back to the way how he used to be. He even winked at me while a DSLR camera was hanging around his neck.

David was also pushing a trolley. A large box with a red ribbon was currently placed on it. It was a nice thing that it even fitted in our constricted living room because of its towering height, but what could be inside of it?

“Happy birthday, sis! Anyway, sorry because this is all we can give you as a gift, but we all contributed here. Open it before we can all have our dinner. But wait, there’s a twist…” David instructed before he continued.

“Before you remove the red ribbon, I’ll put a blindfold on you first so that you could surely feel the suspense. Oops… just pull it later, okay? Don’t be too excited, or the magic will be gone!” My brother commanded me with a smile on his lips as he handed me the end of the ribbon that was tied to the huge box.

David was actually ordering me as if he was born ahead of me. He was only taller than me, but I was still his big sister. However, and above everything, I was glad that he was able to move on and stopped himself from sulking like a broken-hearted guy forever.

“But what’s inside of it, Dave? Stop making me nervous with this blindfold, will you? You owed me one when you dropped me a call, remember? So, you better get ready if this will only cause me tremor! Anyway, did you get me a Spidey’s life-sized action figure?” I was laughing after throwing him my last question.

My hands fumbled on David’s fingers, wrists, and forearms while he was blindfolding me. Spider-Man was my favorite movie character played by the American actor and my ultimate crush—TVM.

“Don’t you trust your handsome brother, sis? Believe me, this is much better than Spidey!” David assured me.

He knew how I feared the dark, so was it really required for me to get blindfolded?

As soon as David was done with my blindfold, that was the call for me to pull the red ribbon. I felt that I successfully untied the huge box. Excited to see a life-sized action figure, I groped all over the box until my hands finally opened it and heard a strange sound.

“Can I now remove this blind—” I hadn’t yet finished asking when I felt a gentle kiss on my lips.

Based on its addicting taste, I already knew from whom those lips belonged. I couldn’t deny the feeling, especially now that my heart suddenly throbbed faster again. I knew him, and only him could make me feel this way.

With every inch of my carnal cravings, he was the only one who could make me go crazy, and I was sure that he was the one kissing me right now. He was that special someone I would never trade from lots of action figures.

Liam…

He never knew how I missed him so much. I returned his kisses deeply and fiercely, although my eyes were not seeing how stunning he was right now. I wrapped my arms around his neck while lusciously succumbing to this one moment of heaven.

He even licked the recesses of my mouth and even chewed my lower lip. He caressed my tongue with his, and I couldn’t help but forget that we were not alone here. I did the same thing, returning his kisses with equal intensity.

My back arched and that prompted his arms to swiftly held my waist with his rough hands, supporting my lower back. Then, I heard that everyone was shouting and applauding because they were just too happy for both of us.

“Okay, kids! Cover your eyes,” I even heard Karen instructed our younger siblings.

We continued kissing each other before our lips parted. He tenderly released me from his soft cuddle, and it took me a while before I realized that I had to remove my blindfold to finally see him.

Using my knuckles, I squeezed my eyes because it was giving me a hazy vision while adjusting to the light. But there he was… handsomely wearing a tuxedo, and he was on bended knee in front of me. My body was trembling with mixed confusion and fears, that I didn’t know what to feel right now.

It was indeed Liam… with a diamond-studded ring on his hand.

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TVM* was short for Tobias Vincent Maguire. Tobey Maguire is best known for his role as Peter Parker or Spider-Man in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy (2002 to 2007).

[Source: Wikipedia]