Arriving to work early, Bosco beamed proudly of his own punctuality. Approaching Macy after not being able to find Tavia, his heart sunk when Macy stated, “Tavia’s not here today. She took the day off to job hunt. She will only be volunteering once or twice a week now.” 

Disappointed yet again, he wondered why Tavia didn’t tell him beforehand. Casting a quick sideways glance, Bosco flipped open his cell phone and dialed Tavia’s number. instantaneously, he was sent to her voicemail. Frowning, Bosco stared at his phone, and didn’t even realize Bobby walking out of his office, towards him.

“Bosco! Get off that phone now, you know you shouldn’t be talking on the phone!” Macy snapped.

Bosco’s head snapped up, catching a quick glimpse of Bobby and then hastily stuffed his phone back into his pants pocket.

“Bosco! Why do you look so sneaky?” Bobby asked when he approached him.

“Oh, nothing…I’m..uh..just…”

“Bosco just told me that he is treating us for lunch today!” Macy interrupted.

“Oh?” Bobby asked, raising an eyebrow.

Bosco cast a glance at Macy, who was grinning daringly. He shot her an evil eye, but Macy just giggled in response at his silly expression.

“Alright then, I can’t wait.” Bobby stated, his lips parting into a quick smile.

“BOSCO!”

Bosco snapped out of his stare down with Macy and faced Bobby. “Go check up on the patients.”  Bosco nodded and trailed after Bobby before he caught Macy grinning extensively and mouthing the words, “You’re welcome.”

Bosco stuck out his tongue and held his head up high as he stalked off.

- - -

Glancing up into the sky, Tavia shield her eyes with her hand from the bright sunrays shining down at her. Early this morning, she saw the weather forecast on television indicating that it was going to rain in the evening. She ran off this morning without remembering to bring her umbrella and she truly hoped that it would not rain anytime soon.

She gazed down at her attire, she was wearing a light blue dress shirt tucked in black pants, black heels and her hair was tied back into a ponytail. She intentionally dressed in formal business attire today for her job hunt and in case there was any interviews that were given to her on the spot. So far she handed her resume in a couple of places that required one, and had one interview at a clothing store at the mall.

 It was a new opening store, and they were in frantic search for employees to hire. Although she did not have much experience in the past, they were eager to hire her and affirmed that she could start working the following day right after her interview. She was glad to have such progress in a day, but was hoping that she would be able to work in higher salary positions such as a business corporation.

Although she and Patrick were not in need of money, she wanted to be able to earn a living and help pay her share of the rent with Patrick. However, she knew that if she were to work, she would have to start right from the bottom for she did not recall any of her past experiences and she did not finish university. Therefore, Tavia agreed to her manager to start working the following day, unless a better opportunity was given to her.

Tavia was exhausted from walking around so much and she was sweating from the heat. Fanning herself, she walked down to the bus stop when she tripped over a rock, almost falling facedown but she held onto the bus pole just in time. Walking in heels was such a pain, she thought. Her heels were so many inches high and she just wasn’t used to walking in them. Reaching for her pocket for she wanted a ride from Patrick, she realized that she had also forgotten her phone at home.

Completely frustrated while waiting for the bus, she heard a honk from a silver car a few feet in the distance that was driving down towards her. The car slowed down next to her and she frowned as the window scrolled down, thinking who this was ert that was honking at her. The car stopped right in front of her and she stepped right up and leaned down to take a peek and possibly even take out her anger to the driver inside. To her surprise, it was none other than Raymond.

“Raymond?”  She blurted out at the sight of him.

He grinned, as he leaned his head forward, “Need a ride?”

Grinning, Tavia opened the door and hopped in. As soon as she buckled her seatbelt, Raymond drove off again.

“Don’t you have work today?” Tavia asked, casting a glance at him. Her eyes trailed down his profile, as Tavia thought how handsome he was.

“I just got off early today.”  Raymond answered, staring straight ahead. He could see her staring at him through his peripheral view. He smiled and turned to look at her. Their eyes met, and Tavia quickly turned away and gazed out the window. This caused Raymond to grin wider as he scanned her up and down.

“Where were you today?” He asked.

“I was job hunting.” Tavia said. She then started to explain her day to him, while Raymond listened attentively.

After a while, Tavia realized they had passed her apartment. “Ray...mond. Where are we headed?”

“Uh, do you have somewhere to go?” Raymond asked.

“Oh no, I’m not in a hurry to go anywhere. Just thought I would head home.”

Chuckling nervously, Raymond said, “Well, actually Jack brought two tickets to a movie but he couldn’t go and he gave it to me… so I was wondering if you wanted to go with me?”

Raymond’s eyebrows creased as he lied, realizing that he sounded so stupid. “I mean I should’ve asked you first…”

Tavia giggled. “That’s alright; I’d love to watch a movie with you. I don’t think I’ve watched one in the theater for years.” She joked. “It’s just that in this attire, it would be quite odd.” Tavia pointed out.

Relieved, Raymond responded, “You look beautiful, as always.”

A moment of silence followed as Tavia blushed and murmured a ‘thank you’ and Raymond murmured back a ‘you’re welcome.’

They finally arrived at the mall theater and being a gentleman, Raymond got out of the car and walked around to Tavia’s side, opening the door for her. They walked together towards the mall entrance and stood before the theater.

“So what movie are we watching?” Tavia asked.

“I heard this movie was really good, it came out not long ago. It’s called Inception. I hope you’ll like it.” Raymond said. They gave in their tickets and walked into the theater and chose a seat.

Although the movie was incredible and they were indulged into the movie most of the time, they couldn’t help but lose focus once in a while. Their thoughts wandered as Raymond thought whether or not he should hold her hand while he would occasionally look down at her hand. Tavia on the other hand kept on wondering if this was a date or just a simple outing with a friend.

The movie ended a good two hours later and they both stepped out of the theater dazed. People all around them were discussing about the movie, as it was quite confusing to some.

Raymond smiled and glanced over to Tavia. “So what did you think of the movie?” He asked politely.

“I loved it.” Tavia admitted, although she was quite confused because her attention wasn’t entirely diverted to the screen.

“Me too.” Raymond agreed, while thinking of what they should do next. They both turned around when they heard a loud gasp.

“MOM! It’s raining!” The little boy shouted, pointing out the glass window while jumping up and down.

Simultaneously, Tavia and Raymond glanced out the window. “This isn’t good.” Raymond muttered. His car was parked outside and it was a long walk to the car.

“Wait here.” Raymond said, as he ran out to get his car before Tavia could protest. She watched him go as she admired his caring ways.

He ran into his car in the pouring rain, his hair dripping wet. Driving towards the mall entrance, he parked right outside and ran up to the entrance while holding his jacket over his head. Opening the door to the entrance, he held it open with one hand, while reaching his other hand out to Tavia. His jacket hung over his head.

Giggling at the sight of him drenching in water, Tavia laid her hand in his and hurried out the door. Together, holding hands while they each held onto the ends of his jacket over their heads, they ran over to his car.

Tavia couldn’t stop laughing as she was overjoyed with excitement as she felt like they were runaway lovers. She couldn’t shake the silly thought out of her head. Raymond approached his car first and opened the door to let Tavia in. Then he ran around to his other side and hopped into the car.

“Well that was quite some adventure.” He chuckled, his adorable dimples showing.

Tavia couldn’t help but to stare as she never noticed it from him before. Raymond started to drive off, while Tavia reached for tissues inside her bag.

Astoundingly, the car jerked forward, shaking for a few seconds. Groaning, Raymond pulled his car off to the side, and parked it near the sidewalk. He turned off the engine, and then attempted to restart it, but it wouldn’t budge.

Defeated after trying a multiple times, he mumbled, “I’m so sorry. I have been experiencing issues with my car recently, but I haven’t had the time to bring it to the autoshop.”

“Either you have bad luck, or I do.” Tavia joked.

“I have to say though, despite all that has happened to us, every moment spent with you was definitely memorable.” Raymond said, sincerely.

They were suddenly at loss of words, staring straight ahead. Finally breaking the silence, Tavia turned to Raymond and offered him her tissues. Drops of water were dripping from Raymond’s hair, rolling down to his face. He took the tissue and began wiping himself with it.

Tavia watched him, but then frowned as he was missing some areas and he was wiping extra slowly. Taking out another tissue from her bag, she unthinkingly leaned towards him and wiped the drops of rain from his face. She froze when she noticed Raymond’s eyes on her.

For a long moment, they just stared at one another. Their faces were only inches away from one another and Raymond was breathless as his heart skipped a few beats. Once again he was feeling this way towards her, and he acknowledged it. Frankly he didn’t know when he had developed such feelings for Tavia, but he knew right from the start, from the first day that they met that there was something special and interesting about her, and he was indeed attracted to her.

Tavia could feel butterflies in her stomach, but unlike Raymond, she didn’t understand what she was feeling towards him. All she knows is that despite what has been happening lately with the flashbacks and nightmarish dreams with Ron, she knew that her comfort was reminiscing the moments spent with Raymond.

Somehow, just the thought of him calmed her, made her smile uncontrollably, and made her feel invincible. She longed for the day that she would meet him again. When he’s around she feels so giddy and content for no reason at all, but when he’s not around she feels this lonely, empty feeling within her. She did wonder whether or not she had ever felt this way before towards anyone…even with Ron.

Everything seemed to happen so fast, when Raymond swiftly grab hold of her arm and whispered wholeheartedly, “Tavia…Will you be my girlfriend?”

The words pounded in her head, and she didn’t know what to think. She wondered if she even heard him right. Raymond’s gaze was still on hers, while she hesitantly processed what he just said.

She shifted her eyes away from his, as the flashbacks of Ron ran through her head. She admitted to herself that she realized that she does have feelings for Raymond, but she also acknowledged that she and Ron had been through so much together and there must’ve been so much more that she has yet to remember. She begins to question herself whether or not to accept Raymond.

Slowly, Raymond lifted her chin up and once again their eyes met. It was at the moment; more than anything in the world she wanted to be with him. She wanted to embrace him, to fall into his arms, to spend countless moments with him and to create memories of a lifetime. She doesn’t know what had happened in the past, and she doesn’t know what will happen in the future, but she does know that the present is all that really matters to her.

“You know…This feeling it’s unexplainable. Being with you, you arouse so many emotions out of me. You made me happier then I thought I would ever be capable of. You were there for me when I was completely heartbroken. I had fallen for you Tavia…And I have this feeling that you too, feel the same way.”

Tavia nodded. She was speechless, but she was beyond happy. She embraced him tightly, and he did so in return.

Right around the corner, Bosco was driving in the rain. He glanced up to the sky, studying the clouds above. It was dark, as the grey clouds loomed above. Glancing back on the road, he made a swift right turn. Driving along, he noticed a car parked along the sidewalk. The back headlights blinked rapidly, indicating that something was wrong with the car.

The traffic light turned yellow, causing Bosco to slow down to a stop just as it turned red. Tapping his fingers on his steering wheel while he waited for the light to turn green, he turned to look out his window, to have caught a couple kissing inside the car.