Chapter 7.1

After what seemed like the longest day of her life, Tina lied in bed with her heart racing as the image of Jeff spread out in front of her. She couldn't help replaying the events that took place earlier in the day. All she could remember was Jeff's nervousness, his anticipation, his disappointment, and the light in his eyes thereafter.

Had she done the right thing? She could not help but wonder. Of course, she was still going to work with Jeff on his dream home. There had to be a fine line between their private and business lives. However, there was no doubt that things were going to be different between them from now on.

Rewinding back to their meeting, Tina had a difficult time composing herself after Jeff's confession. Usually she was quick to always adjust her feelings whenever she noticed she was slipping. Why could she not do the same this time around?

It was her first time receiving someone's confession. Was she totally clueless all those times men have been onto her? No. She believed that love was indeed a beautiful thing. The only scary thing about it was the baggage that came with it. Like her parents' marriage or her entire paternal family, it was Martha. In Kyra's marriage, it was her husband's unsatisfiable ego.

The unpredictability of love was what drove her away from it. She did not want to be involved in something could one day be out of her control. Like her mom, she did not want to be tied down by love. Love is freedom. At least, she believed that love should be freedom. Could Jeff give her that freedom?

Undeniably, she liked him too. Every word of his confession voiced out everything in her mind. She had scolded herself repeated to not mix pleasure with business. The first time she saw his profile, she praised him for how detailed he had been. The first time she saw him, the sense of familiarity was astounding. When they worked together, they moved in sync. She enjoyed being around him.

Every time she drew a clear demarcation with work, she could sense his disappointment and her heart would waver. At the end, she'd let herself slip again, and the cycle continued. Well, they'd only known each other for a week now, so it wasn't much of a cycle.

Seeing how relaxed he was after dropping the bombshell, after putting the ball in her court, she got a sense of how much he must have struggled to make the decision of whether or not to confess. But what was she to do now?

Brush him off with "I don't think I am ready for a relationship yet?"

'Ha! I'm already 27 hitting 28. I am more than ready for a relationship,' she thought to herself.

"It wouldn't look good for me to date my client?"

'Our work together will end someday, so that excuse was plain useless.'

"I have no desire for you?"

'My heart says otherwise.'

"We live in different worlds. I am a salary earner, you are a CEO?"

'CEOs get salaries too. Plus, CEOs cannot always marry CEOs. Cinderella wouldn't exist if that was the case. Then again, Cinderella wasn't a pauper, she was a count's daughter or was it a watchmaker? Too many remakes.'

As she struggled to come up with the perfect excuse, her thoughts trailed off to what Cinderella's father's occupation was. She totally forgot about the anxious man in front of her.

After what seemed like forever, which actually was since both their ice creams melted already, she regained her calmness and looked deep into Jeff's eyes.

She gently spoke up, "can I get another cup of ice cream, please?"

Although it wasn't the answer Jeff wanted, he still did as the lady asked, getting her a cup of strawberry ice cream.

She received it with a nice smile and scooped a bit into her mouth and her whole body seemed to be filled with sweetness.

She spoke up again.

"I am the first child of two girls. My sister's name is Lina. My parents are still together. Dad works as a civil engineer. Mom works in finance. My sister's a mechanic. She loves taking things apart."

'Too bad she can't loosen the screw on granny,' she laughed in her head.

"You know what I do. I love everything strawberry… ice cream, macarons, cake, short bread, juice, smoothie. I am not a huge outdoor person, so we might spend date nights on the couch watching Barbie life in the dreamhouse. I enjoy listening to music and reading online romance novels. I love eating good food. I am a quality over quantity kind of person. I am not a picky eater."

"My favorite color is purple, favorite shade is black. I met someone who said black wasn't a color, so yeah. I love cycling when I can. You don't need to match your likes to mine. Just be you and I think I wouldn't like you any less."

After she was done with her rant, she saw the confused look in Jeff's eyes as if asking if her answer was YES to the date or NO.

"I guess what I am trying to say is Yes, I would do you the honor of being your first and last girlfriend."

"I will give you the chance to know me, and hopefully get to know that you aren't so bad."

She relaxed into her chair and placed her empty cup on the table.

She smiled.

She wasn't only giving Jeff a chance, she was also giving herself a chance.

After what seemed like another forever, his eyes lit up and he stood up abruptly!