“Kimmy,” Gerald knocked the next morning.

     “Enter!” she said, and the series of voice activated locks opened once again in less than a fraction of a second.

     “Are we still going today?”

     “Going—?”

     “—to the park?”

     “Crap.”

     “What?”

     “You remembered,” she said, getting up with a smile.

     “Where you going?”

     “Bathroom?”

     “I’ll come with you,” he said making his way to the end of the room.

     “No way, mister. You stay right here,” she said trying to push the door closed, but Gerald was pushing it open. Finally, Gerald let go and Kim closed the door. With a chuckle, Gerald made his way back to her bed.

     ‘It smells just like her,’ Gerald thought, lying down. He made himself comfortable under the comforter and grabbed one of her pillows, hugging it.

     By the time Kim got out of the bathroom, she saw that Gerald had fallen asleep on her bed. ‘Tingnan mo nga naman ‘tong lalaking ito. Sya nang nagyaya, nakatulog pa,’ she thought, sitting at the edge of the bed. She brushed his hair with her fingers. ‘Hayaan ko na nga ito. I love him too much.’ She lay down beside him, put an arm around him, and fell asleep as well.

     Gerald woke up with a smile. He opened his eyes and saw Kim’s beautiful face in front of his and her arm and leg around him. He smiled. He imagined waking up every morning to see that face. Just then, Kim opened her eyes and met his gaze. She gave him a bright smile. “Hi,” she said.

     “Hey,” he greeted back. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

     “You looked tired,” she explained. “I didn’t wanna wake you.”

     “Aww,” he said, pulling her into a hug. “Thanks.”

     “No problem. You know I love my baby.”

     “I love you too, baby.”

     “Wait. We’re supposed to be on a date, though,” Gerald said, remembering.

     “I know. That’s why I have something planned. When I saw that you had fallen asleep I didn’t want to wake you. But I knew that you’d be whining about our date so I called Manang Nita and Mang Mario to set something up for us.”

     “I feel guilty, though.”

     “Why?”

     “I don’t want to have you go through all the details. I want to make you happy, too. From what you’ve told me, I think you deserve to be.”

     “I see. Tell you what. We’ll take turns. This one, I’ll do it, and next time, it’ll be your turn. Deal?”

     “Deal.”

     “C’mon. Hinihintay na nila tayo sa baba. Kanina pa.”

     When she led him to where they were going to be spending the afternoon, he saw that it was the reading garden.

     “Why are we at the reading garden?” Gerald asked.

     “Because I love reading, and growing up, this was one of my favorite places in this house,” Kim said, sitting down after Gerald pulled her chair out for her.

     “Really? I never thought you’d be the reading kind.”

     “And what’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, laughing.

     “No, no. Don’t take it the wrong way, sweetie. I just thought that you’d be more into skating and computers and TV than reading. Why do you ‘love’ reading?”

     “Well, I’ve told you about my problems with my parents, right?”

     “Right.”

     “And growing up, I felt kind of alone. I wanted to leave when I was a kid. I wanted to run away. Books helped me do that. Every book that I read was a brand new adventure. Sometimes I’d be hanging over a waterfall, or climbing a tree. Then in the blink of an eye, I’d be standing face to face with death.”

     “Wow. I never thought that I’d meet someone who shared the same perspective on books as I do,” he said, leaning back.

     “You do? You think of books that way?”

     “Uh-huh. When my mom died, I was all alone. I started wandering around the streets, looking for odd jobs just so I could make it through one day. Sometimes I can’t find a job so I go through the garbage. Most of the time, I’d find books in the garbage cans or streets. Luckily, my mom got me through at least 6^th grade so I knew how to read. I was actually reading a book called ‘Kingdom Keepers’ when your dad found me.”

     This got Kim thinking. Growing up, she never noticed how much she had. She got everything she could ever ask for. ‘Everything?’ a little voice inside her head asked. ‘Are you sure?’ It was only then that Kim noticed that even with everything given to her, she was never happy. She had everything anyone could ever ask for—except for happiness. She’s only shown that she was in desperate need of it four years ago, when she’s been like that all along. Tears filled up her eyes as reality hit her. There was so much time wasted being miserable, but what could she have done? She was just a kid when she was introduced to disappointment and depression. But there were more who had it worse than she did, and she never even gave it a second thought.

     She grabbed hold of his hand and said, “I’m happy that he did; because if he hadn’t—I never would have met you.”

     Gerald gave her a warm smile and got up. He walked over next to her and held out his hand. “May I have this dance?”

     Kim looked at him, his beautiful brown eyes, “Yes, you may,” and she took hold of his hand.

     The couple walked to the center of the garden where there was a round platform surrounded by rose bushes. Kim’s hands made their way to the back of Gerald’s neck, while his made their way to her waist, pulling her even closer to him. They swayed to the music that only they could hear as Kim laid her head on Gerald’s shoulder.

     What the two of them didn’t know was that, two pairs of excited, happy eyes watched them in each other’s arms.