Author's narrative

 

"Young master! How lovely to see you again!" The hotel manager comes out of nowhere to greet Tina just as Tina and Aom are making their way out of the elevator and to the restaurant hall on the 26th floor of the hotel, the highest floor of all. And up there, there's a roof where they can still enjoy their dinner with the view of the beach from the top of the building as well. 

"Bill, glad to see you again." Tina extends her hand to the manager. 

"My pleasure." Bill takes Tina's hand and shakes. 

They both are smiling to each other just as Aom is looking around the area at this 26th floor. And Bill notices Aom immediately.

"Pardon me, but is this your friend?" Bill asks and Aom is fully waiting for Tina's answer as she's trying to smile to Bill. 

Tina seems to realize that she hasn't introduced Aom to bill yet. Therefore, she's making a short introduction.

"Oh,This is Aom and she's not my friend. My future-girlfriend, if you may." Tina smiles and looks at Aom, who is totally surprised by this introduction. "Aom, this is uh, Bill, the general manager of the hotel. He's been working here ever since the hotel started the business."

"Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Aom." Bill offers his hand to Aom and Aom takes it without any hesitation. They both shake hands and Bill keeps smiling. 

"Pleasure to meet you too, Sir Bill." 

Bill shakes his head. "No, Miss, just call me Bill. You don't have to address me formally." Bill smiles. 

"Bill then." Aom smiles. 

Bill smiles widely to Aom then turns to Tina. "Young master-" he nods to Tina then continues "Miss Aom", he nods to Aom and continues again "if you may, the roof is ready. There will be disturbs during your meal time. Are you ready to be taken to the roof?" Bill asks them both.

Tina nods to Bill with a huge smile then Bill gladly guides them both to the roof top by using normal stairs since the elevator can only take them to this floor.

"We're not gonna eat in this hall?" Aom asks Tina quietly which makes it impossible for Bill to overhear. 

"No, I thought you wanted some air, so I changed the plan to the roof top immediately." Tina whispers back. 

"And what did he mean by no disturbs during our meal time?" 

Tina takes a deep sigh before answering the question. "He meant that the roof top will only be accessible for both of us and some staffs. No one else will be allowed to get over there. It's a private place for my family." 

Then Bill opens the door to the staircases and they just simply walk up to the roof.

When they arrive the roof top, the view is taking Aom's breath again. The night just seems so wonderful. The lamp on the roof, with some flowers decorated make the roof look like a jungle. Like a forest she's never been. Flowers are everywhere, and she can feel like the sea is ahead of her.

"Do you like it?" Tina asks just as soon as she realizes that Aom has stopped walking. 

Bill leaves them alone on the roof, and promises them both that their meal will be arriving soon. He makes sure that a table is set on the roof along with two chairs for this couple, and everything is set, then he leaves. 

"I love it." Aom whispers and Tina smiles until it touches her eyes. 

"I'm glad you do."

"You've never told me that you own this hotel and you have such a beautiful roof for this hotel as well." Aom takes a step.

"I don't like talking about my father's business. What's his is his. I don't want people to see me because they see him." Tina frowns. 

"Why is that?" Aom turns back to Tina.

"Because I want people to see the real me. I don't like the fame and fortune I'm having. I mean I'm glad I was born into a nice family. But I've told you before that it's hard to be perfect in a perfect family. And I don't have many trustworthy friends, you know." Then Tina takes Aom's hand and leads her to sit at the table which was set in the middle of the roof. 

"It must have been hard for you to grow up like this." Aom says as she is seated on her seat. 

"It really is hard for me." Then Tina sits on her seat and continues. "People judge everything I do. They try to be nice to me just because of my father. Sometimes I envy those kids out their that they have their normal life while I can't because I'm being noticed all the time. It's hard to sit in a library or a bar without being noticed by those people. Don't get me wrong, you have nothing to do with this. I'm glad you came into my life. But those people out there don't just come into my life without taking me for granted." Tina smiles weakly.

For a while there, Aom feels like she wants to comfort Tina though she knows that she shouldn't because it's better to leave Tina loses into her thoughts instead of saying words to her. 

"Why are you always called Young master all the time, Tina?" Aom changes the topic, hopes to make Tina forgets about her bad feelings for her family.

Tina clears before she answers back. "Because Dad doesn't have a son though I look like a male instead of female. Therefore, he made everyone call me Young master so that they will be familiar with me in the future. He hopes to hand me his business in the future even if I defy him by taking technology and science. He knows that I can be very good with people. He knows that I am persuasive. He thinks all those business parts can be learned later now that I have these two qualifications." She smiles weakly again. 

"Your dad is quite dominant." 

"He is an understanding type of father, Aom. He understands me well, and I love him. He understands every little part of me. Though it's just this part that he wants me to do what he wants. Besides that, I am free to do what I want to do. To be honest, it's the only thing so far that he wants me to do. If so, why can't I do it and all? It's just that I'm stressed sometimes because of his fame and fortune, and that's it." She grins this time.

Aom smiles without knowing what to continue. 

"You look gorgeous tonight, by the way. And charming." Tina reminds Aom again of what she's wearing.

"It's because of the dress!" Aom complains.

Tina giggles. "Well, good thing my staffs have good taste with choosing the dress." 

"How do they know the size of the dress for me?" 

"Because I told them." 

"And how could you know?"

Tina sighs heavily again. "Aom, do you expect me to bring you here without telling your mother even a word? I called to tell her that you're here with me so that she didn't have to worry. Good thing I did, because you didn't even call her. And so, I took the chance to ask her about the size of your dress. Oh, and the size of your shoes as well. Simple." 

Aom opens her eyes widely.

"Crap! I forgot to call my mom!"

"Don't worry. I already called her. She sounded a little bit worried, but we're settled." 

"What about my Dad?" Aom is more anxious about her dad.

Tina looks concerned. "I thought he hasn't come back yet. You see, he still has to go out with my parents again as well." 

"Just asking." 

Tina laughs. "Now that you remember." 

They both sit in a silent moment then Tina breaks in again.

"So, what do you wanna do tomorrow?" 

Aom looks uncertain. "We're not gonna head home immediately after the sunrise?" 

Tina looks confused. "You'd rather going home immediately?" 

"No no no, of course not. I thought you were taking me back and stuff." 

"Of course I will. But I think we should spend more time here before we head back."

"Thank you." Aom whispers.

"For what?" Tina now is uncertain what Aom is talking about again.

"For everything." Aom smiles. 

"Don't be silly. I can do anything for you, remember?" 

"And other girls too?" Aom jokes.

"Kind of." Then Tina puts her fingers down her on chin to make her look cool.

Then a waiter suddenly walks in with foods in his tray delivered to both of them. 

"Young master, here are the food that you have ordered." The waiter says just as he's setting the food down on the table.

"Thank you." Tina smiles to the waiter even though the waiter doesn't dare looking at her.

When he disappears from the roof, Aom raises her question.

"These are all sea food on my plate. What are yours? You know you can't eat any sea food, remember?" 

Tina smiles. "They made me some steak. Don't worry, little kitten." 

"Do I have a nickname?" Aom raises her eyebrows.

"Yes, you do. And you're little kitten." 

"Why is it my nickname?" Aom asks just as she takes a bite of a shrimp.

"Well, your voice is so small like a little kitten. I just came up with that name a while ago, though." Tina chuckles and Aom doesn't reply back.

Then a man with a violin comes in just to play songs for them.

"Why is he here?" Aom asks again.

"I thought it would be more romantic if there's a violin man here while we're eating. I've watched many movies and they all do like this." Tina shrugs.

Aom rolls her eyes. "Yes, they all do like this. But you miss a part. There are also flowers." 

"Oh, you don't have to worry." Tina smiles and she ducks down at the table and opens up the table clothe to reveal the 99-rose-bunch-of-flower. She takes the flowers, stands up, and hands them to Aom.

"For you." Tina whispers as she's standing near Aom.

"I was just joking." Aom doesn't know what to say.

"And I wasn't. I've always been serious with you every time." Tina smiles and comes back to sit at her seat. The musical man keeps playing just as they're eating their food.

---

"I'm full." Aom finally says this word after she's finished her big plate of sea food.

"You should. Good thing I told them to have your plate doubled." Tina chuckles.

"You think I eat a lot, then?" 

"I think you eat like a princess." Tina smiles. 

"A princess doesn't eat a lot." Aom rolls her eyes. 

"But behind the scene, she secretly eats like there's no tomorrow." Tina laughs this time. 

Aom rolls her eyes again just as she has nothing more to say. Then Tina suddenly looks awkward again. 

"What's wrong, Tina?" Aom asks just as she notices the awkwardness. 

"Uh, I'm kind like wondering.... well.... maybe.... uhh... forget it." Tina turns away from Aom.

Aom raises her eyebrows again.

"Just tell me!"

"Well... I'm kind like wondering maybe if you want to have a dance with me." Tina blushes. 

For the first time in her entire life, Aom can finally see Tina blushing because of a request!

"Sure." Aom says quickly without any hesitation at all.

"You're sure?" Tina is quite surprised with a quick positve reply like that.

"Yeah. There's nothing to be uncertain about." Aom offers her hand and Tina takes them immediately.

Without another word from the couple, they both dance nearby their table, hand in hand, eyes to eyes, and smiles to smiles. Tina knows how to make her move with the dance of a romantic song while Aom has no idea what she's doing. Even though she has said yes for the dance, she's still uncertain to herself whether she can dance perfectly with Tina or not since she's never taken many dance classes before. Let alone dancing professionally. 

Tina seems to notice that Aom can't dance well, but she just ignores the flaw and simply dance with the flaw with Aom. 

"Have you ever had wishes that you wish to make them true in your lifetime?" Tina raises the question.

Aom looks thoughtful for a moment.

"Why are you suddenly curious about my personal wishes?" Aom looks back to Tina. 

"Because I want to know." 

"And why do you want to know?" 

"Because I've vowed to myself that I would make your wishes come true someday, Aom. Now just tell me."

"Yes, I do." Aom sighs. 

"Like what?" Tina looks excited.

"You would be mad if I told you one of my wishes." Aom suddenly looks anxious. 

"I don't mind." Tina assures Aom.

"Well, don't get mad, okay? There are three wishes. First, being able to believe in Tomboys. Second, being able to go study abroad. And third, travelling oversea with my favorite person in the whole world." Aom shrugs. while they're dancing.

Just like what Tina has assured Aom, she doesn't even get mad. Indeed, she feels like Aom is an independent person for wishing some important goals in her life. 

"Are you able to believe in tomboys now?" 

"No, I'm not. Even if I'm in your hands right now, Tina, I still feel insecure. I feel like you might leave me someday." 

"Why would you say that?" 

"Because I'm not an optimistic person." 

"But you should be. Not every tomboy is crazy like the way you think of them." 

"I know. I'm not negative anymore about tomboys, okay? I just feel strange about you and about them." 

"Like what?"

"I've never trusted tomboys before, you know that. In fact, I've never trusted anyone. But what have you done to me? I've learned to trust. I trusted you. I almost gave up the bad thoughts about tomboy until... well... until I saw you and Mean. Then I started to realize that I'm not capable of trusting anyone. Not even you.

I'd gone crazy for the whole week, Tina. Just crazy. I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know even if what I did was right anymore. I always shut myself in my room the whole time. Even when I hung out with Van, my mind wasn't with me. I thought about you the whole time. I thought of why you wouldn't consider telling me about the things I saw. Then I began to lose trusts from you. I began to feel like you just didn't trust me. I trusted you that it might have been some mistakes and you would tell me the problem. But you just didn't. 

Eventually, I began to think that the thing I saw was real. I trusted no one else then." Aom sighs, and Tina can feel like the pain when Aom speaks all those words. 

"I'm sorry, Aom. I really am. I just thought that if I didn't tell you, I wouldn't hurt you. I wanted to clear the things with Mean first, then I'd go to you, but you already knew. I've never wanted to hurt you. Never ever in my entire life have I ever imagined hurting you. I can promise you that nothing raelly happened between me and Mean. Do you trust me again?" 

"I will learn." Aom smiles weakly.

"I hope." Tina smiles too then she quickly cups Aom's face by her hand and whispers. "Will you close your eyes for me for a while?" 

"For what?" 

"I'm fascinated by the thoughts of keeping it as a secret until the right time comes." Tina smiles again.

Aom is reluctant but Tina just keeps insisting. "Please." Then Aom closes her eyes slowly, and is afraid that Tina might suddenly leave her alone on the roof. 

Just that quick moment, she can feel the warmth of Tina's breath touching her face like a flame. The uneven beats of the beating heart of Aom suddenly grow wild. She's never experienced this before. Never. She can feel the heat of Tina's face as well just as she's approaching to her. Every cell of her body starts to go crazy as well as her beating heart. She knows this will be coming soon. 

Then, it happens. Soft lips are brushing hers slowly, and passionately. Then she suddenly feel like the temperature of the atmosphere suddenly changes from windy the a hot night of summer. Why is it happening now? Because it's the right time, Aom tells herself. Or is it just a dream? No, it can't be. Though she's never experienced this and she doens't know what to do. She doesn't know how to respond back to Tina.

Then Tina pulls away from Aom as if knowing that this is not the right thing to do.

"I'm sorry." Tina suddenly says this word out loud.

"Huh?" Aom hasn't really waken up from the dream she had a while ago.

"It seemed like you didn't like what I was doing. I'm really sorry."

"What are you talking about?" 

"The... kiss... I really shouldn't have done what I have just done. I promise this will never happen again." 

"I.... I just never did this before. I didn't know what to do." Aom looks away.

"But you didn't.... you didn't kiss me back." 

"That's why I said I never did this before, you stupid! How am I supposed to kiss you back when I didn't know what to do?" Aom shouts back at Tina.

Miraculously, Tina cups Aom's face again and touch Aom's lips with her own lips again. This time, somehow, Aom seems to know what she's doing.