Socialite's Unwelcomed Cameo

"Everyone deserves to be loved" was Mr. Connor's reply.

At the foot of the entrance stairs, I saw Ansel, a sheer pink silver-bowed bouquet in his hands, as he was rehearsing to himself while he was leaning on his convertible.

The moment after Mr. Connor cleared his throat was a memory truly worth remembering for the rest of my life.

With pleasantly astonished silver eyes, his sharp jaw left gaping open, I took my time walking down the stairs as he practically ran up to hold my hand as I continued the descent towards his car.

Still stunned by yours truly, I broke the silence as I coyly pointed at the bouquet and Ansel finally spoke, "Nikita... You look... Wow... I mean... Wow...." as he nervously handed the bouquet to me.

A handful of lilies of the valley and red camellias, mixed with quite a peculiar kind of yellow roses. The way the yellow roses bloomed had me feeling like I'd seen this somewhere.

"They're so beautiful, Ansel! I do wonder about these yellow roses. I think I've seen them before." I started the conversation as Ansel ushered me to the passenger seat while he practically ran to the driver's seat on the other side.

Signaling me to put on my seatbelt, the fact that Ansel couldn't take his eyes off of me is giving me the ultimate confidence boost of the century.

"Uhmm... yellow roses? Uhm..." A stuttering Ansel is a very cute Ansel indeed. "Oh yeah! They're called Marechal Niel roses. In floriography, they mean, *Yours, Heart and Soul*." Ansel explained as he struggled to put on his seatbelt.

I found myself absentmindedly smiling at the sight while my thoughts wander off.

...............................

The moment we tread on this relationship, we deserve a love that discards doubt and insecurities. The kind of love that will not shy away from calling our stubborn asses out for our highest good. A love that encourages each other to grow and expand. A love that is capable of making hard choices for both our sakes in times of unfortunate events.

...............................

My desire to calm him down took over as I reached for his cheek, giving it soothing loving strokes.

Still taken aback, Ansel slowly leaned back as he calmly reached for my hand and firmly placed his lip imprints on the back of my hand, all while never breaking his gaze off of me.

Under Ansel's loving gaze, he intertwined his fingers with mine, his thumb stroking the back of my hand, he spoke with a rather raspy voice, "You have no idea what kind of power you have over me, don't you?"

Smiling back at him, I mirrored his actions as I gave his hand a gentle squeeze, I replied, "Power over you? Need I remind you that you have free will, to do as you please?"

Beaming with joy, Ansel finally started to drive us out of Gran-gran's estate.

My emerald eyes found their way, completely mesmerized by Ansel's one hand on the steering wheel, driving while adorably stealing glances at me.

"So.. mind telling me about your car? I have a feeling that this isn't some gift from your family. My gut tells me you earned this." Needing to break the silence, I asked Ansel as my wandering eyes tried to take in the beauty of the forest teeming with life.

Watching the wisteria trees sway one hand breeze had me relaxing back into my seat as my thoughts wandered some more.

...............................

Yet in my waking moments, my first thoughts immediately search for Ansel, fearing his existence was a well-curated fabrication of my wishful naivety.

The thought of him being a mere figment of my imagination rapidly filled every cell in my body with dread and desperation.

...............................

Driving by the first couple of neighboring houses, a few miles away from Gran-gran's estate, Ansel proudly smirked at my guess as he answered, "It's a 2017 Jaguar F-Type Convertible. Yes, I bought this with my hard-earned money. Off of random gigs."

Raising an eyebrow, I subtly inquired, "And might I ask, if you'd be willing to sate my curiosity, what are these so-called *random gigs*?"

Nervously laughing as his right hand started rubbing the back of his neck, Ansel muttered, "Selling my art and modeling gigs." as his embarrassed silver eyes did their absolute best to avoid my gaze.

"Modeling in art classes? Do you...?" I asked further as I felt slightly guilty for teasing Ansel like this.

The car suddenly steered to the side to a complete stop as Ansel looked at me, explaining, "I don't do nude! I would never strip down in front of anyone that isn't you!"

My mouth gaped at Ansel's answer as he continued, "I only take gigs where I don't have to take off my clothes. It ranges from hand modeling to avant-garde photoshoots. Blame my idiot best friend for dragging my ass with him whenever he went to the casting. He knows how I don't want to work next to women that's why he calls me up whenever his gigs needed another male model. I never actively do it because I want to. It's just that, it feels reassuring to have my own money."

"Mind showing me your portfolio? Maybe bring your idiot best friend as well?" Ansel's silver eyes darkened to that of the shade of shadowy grey when I mentioned his best friend.

"And give that idiot a chance to steal you away from me? Nope. Not gonna happen. It only took me 5 seconds of seeing you descend the stairs, being the fun-sized goddess that you are, to concoct a 50-year life plan with you in it. The first step is to court you properly." Ansel declared as his right hand finds its way to mine, stealing glances as his sexy smirk is plastered to his handsome face.

Ansel smiled as he resumed driving, informing me that we were getting close to our destination.

This moment should be my focus. Yet I found myself remembering a few hours ago.

...............................

Opening my sleepy emeralds as my hands reached for Ansel, relief instantaneously overwhelmed every fiber of my previously-forsaken humanity the moment my waking world guaranteed his existence.

Hope, after so long, has finally been reignited in my fatigued heart.

Though hope has a reputation to be quite fleeting, I am willingly choosing to indulge in this miracle the universe has presented to me.

...............................

Comfortable silence took over the ride as he turned up the volume to Khalid's "Better".

Smiling back at each other, we found ourselves humming as we passed by a hidden road leading to a crumbling building far off the beaten path.

Pondering, I broke the silence by mentioning, "Jaguar F-Type, my guess would be a toss-up between two engines: the P450 and the P575. All the engines are AWD Automatics. If I indulge my deductions further, with the body style and model.... this may be the F-Type R. Was I close?"

Ansel was impressed by my knowledge of cars, he didn't know I started to dabble in the stock exchange a few moments prior and was considering acquiring stocks from Jaguar and Netflix.

I still felt a bit inadequate with research because it was finals week and I was juggling Forex trading and accompanying Connie in her last treatments. That's why I temporarily cast aside my interest in the stock exchange. My Forex trading journey barely started a few weeks after I turned 18.

Nodding slowly, Ansel inquired, "So when are we getting married? I'll text my family hours after we exchanged our vows. At least I'm courteous enough to inform them that their only grandson is finally a married man. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're not much into church weddings, are you? Garden or beach wedding? I can afford for us to have a wedding abroad. Go ahead if you can even make a dent in my credit limit. It's our wedding after all. The thought of you in a wedding dress~! Seriously, I am the luckiest man alive!"

My obnoxiously loud laughter was carried by the wind as Ansel continued, "Even my future wife's laugh is music to my ears! Speaking of which, do you want an orchestra or are you into bossa nova kind of music for the reception? Of course, you can wear whatever you want for our wedding. My future wife is already a certified goddess in my eyes. Everything looks great on you."

Smiling as I continued to listen to Ansel's excitedly starting his impromptu planning of our wedding, an unusual thought crossed my mind: why would he want to die?

Keeping my socialite smile plastered to my face as I faced the road ahead, my mind wanders back to my unfortunate family problems.

Hating myself from reverting to old ways had me absentmindedly rake my fingers through my chestnut hair as the breeze carries my perfume in the wind.

Beating myself up, my empty green eyes wandered towards the passing woods, I muttered through my gritted teeth,

"When will I let myself be real?"