Chapter 7 - Never Want To Fall In Love

"Your father is determined to love me even if I'm the devil incarnate." Shenise said exasperatedly while sitting on the sofa in the living room of Gaville's apartment.

Gaville plopped his body beside Shenise and gave her usual black tea. Shenise drank her tea while Gaville opened his canned beer and put the lid in the box that Shenise had brought before drinking his drink.

"It's like he was programmed to like me no matter what." Shenise complained again.

It's true. It had been a month since they started sabotaging their engagement. Shenise did everything that they know Gaville's father wouldn't like, and it still has no effect. Deive agreed with everything she said and the older Eclaire can also find excuses to Shenise's uncouth behavior.

"Lucky you, it's better with my Dad because he's already getting slightly turned-off with you- with all your talks about business and profits. Have you seen how his face turned sour with you being a hardcore capitalist?" Shenise said before drinking her tea.

Gaville sighed. "But it's not enough if only your Dad will get turned-off. It needs to be both of them. Uncle Heath will not break the engagement if my father is still very determined."

At that moment, they both sighed at the same time.

"You're right. My father is programmed to like you no matter what. He'll accept you, not caring about what you are, just to fulfill Mom's promise."

Shenise looked at Gaville. What is it that she heard in Gaville's voice? Was it bitterness laced with sarcasm?

"Well, it's really like that. Our dads love our moms very much." She said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Yeah, loved them so much to the point that there's very little space in their hearts to love anybody else, even their own kid."

Shenise halted at Gaville's comment. She stared at him. There was a cold and defiant look in Gaville's face. "That's not fair, Gaville. They also love us." She replied. Gaville shrugged.

"Maybe in your case. But that's not the case with my father." Gaville said casually, like he was just commenting about the weather.

He chugged the beer from the can that he's holding. "The only person my dad loves is my mother. He only loves me because I am the son of the woman he loves."

Shenise smiled. "You know, I think my situation is like that too. Dad always say that I look like Mommy. I guess that's true, looking at the pictures of my mom." Her smile widened. "You should see our house. Anywhere you look, there's a picture of her."

She looked at Gaville and stopped. Gaville did something that Shenise had always thought he was incapable of doing- smiling.

It was not a smirk, the sarcastic one that had been Gaville's trademark or the practiced dazzling smile he had to cover his dark plans. The smile on Gaville's lips right now was wishful, unguarded and genuine. And for some reason that she didn't understand, it felt painful for Shenise.

"Lucky for you." Gaville said as he looked away from her. "Your dad likes to look at you and be with you because in a way, he sees your mom in you. My situation is different. My father don't want to see me. It's painful for him to see the things that his loved one left. That's why all the pictures of my mom was removed from the house. He don't even want to talk about mommy- that's his way of love. He loves my mother to the core that knowing that she's gone is just too painful for him." He shook his head. "I never want to fall in love that hard." Gaville's handsome face is serious. Shenise drank from her tea cup again before thinking about Gaville's words.

"You know, we're really opposites." Shenise said softly. "Me? I want to experience falling in love that hard even if it means going through all those pains. I want to experience a lot of intense emotions. That's the point of living, isn't it? To feel? Or else, you merely existed."

Gaville chuckled which caused Shenise to pout. Is it right to laugh at her when she's all serious here? Asshole, she said in her mind.

"You really are the most idealistic person I've ever met. Sometimes I wish I can also think the way you do." Gaville said, still smiling. This time, his smile was friendly and playful. Shenise can't help but erase the pout on her face.

"Why not try?" Shenise said shrugging.

Gaville smiled, shaking his head. Shenise stretched her hand and massaged her neck weakly.

"Muscle pains?" She heard Gaville asked.

"Yeah. Yesterday, a friend of mine held his birthday at the orphanage and we played with the kids." She laughed upon remembering the children. "The kids were so hyper. We played all day long and it looks like my body was shocked."

"Here, let me help you." Gaville reached for Shenise's shoulders and started massaging them gently. His fingers adeptly stroked the sore and tensed muscles of Shenise's neck and shoulders.

"Wow, you're good." Shenise leaned her head down to give more access to Gaville's hands. "Where did you learn this?"

"My primary school teacher told us that massaging is a good way to relieve stress. I tried learning from books before."

"Hmm... why did you want to learn? Don't tell me, you're already perverted at a young age and you want to use massaging to turn girls on- ouch!" She shouted when Gaville's fingers pushed hardly on her skin.

"I did it for my father." Gaville said icily.

"Sorry. I'm just kidding." Shenise said chuckling. Gaville continued massaging her shoulders, prying his mind off of the way Shenise's warmth seeped through her clothes and towards his working hands.

Shenise caught eye of the airplane figurines that was hanging from one side of Gaville's ceiling.

"Hey, Gav, are those airplane figurines expensive? Larkin- the boy that we saw and brought to the hospital was sent to a home and I was assigned to him. He said he wanted to be a pilot and there are a lot of kids who also wants to be a pilot. So I thought I could give them something like that as a present."

"Yeah, those are expensive because they're custom-made. But if you want, I still have a lot of spare parts. I'll assemble it and I'll give it to you for a low price."

Shenise snorted. "Heh, and here I thought it's for free."

Now, it's Gaville who snorted. "Wake up, Shen. There's nothing free in this world anymore. You're lucky I even gave you a discount."

Shenise rolled her eyes. "Why do you have that many airplane models anyway? And you have spare parts too. And there are trucks and battleship models in the kitchen. Do you have a fixation on toys or something?"

"I wanted to be a toy designer." Gaville said, continuously moving his hands on Shenise's shoulders.

They were quiet for a few seconds.

"You wouldn't ask why I did not became a toy designer?" Gaville broke the silence.

"No. I already know the answer." Shenise simply replied.

"Huh, and what is it? That I don't have my own thinking and that I let my dad decide for my future?" Gaville's sarcastic and defensive mode came back.

Shenise shrugged. "No. I think you did that simply because you love your father." Gaville's movement stopped. Their gazes met. "I'm correct, right?" Shenise said, face and smile smug.

Gaville just snorted again and continued massaging her shoulders. "Whatever." He said.