Diane’s P.O.V.

There he was, right in front of our brown gate, and leaning at the side of his white Lexus was none other than Liam. He looked like a model, who was smiling and attractively waving at me. From that moment, I felt a jolt of electricity that covered my whole body. I became deliriously happy, even giddy.

Some passersby would either stop to look at him or turn their heads while still walking, then look at me afterwards. I could see their faces enveloped with envy and shock.

Sorry, girls! He’s only looking at me like no one else matters to him.

Seeing me at our balcony with someone as alluring as Liam waiting for me outside was indeed strange for them. I guessed it was because I used to politely reject everyone who tried to court me here in our subdivision. Like in our school, I was labeled as the kind man-hater.

“Hey, what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in the office?” I was still talking to him over the phone. I quickly looked at my phone to verify the time, and it was eight in the morning. It was impossible for him not to be working on Mondays. He was even working on Sundays.

“I’m the boss, remember? I can ditch work whenever I want to,” he conceitedly remarked. He was all out smiling at me, showing his gorgeous dimple. It was so deep that I could even see it despite our distance. He also brushed his hair up, which added to his irresistible aura.

Why so handsome, Liam?

“Yes, I know, and I don’t forget about it, Liam. But it doesn’t mean that you can always ditch your work whenever you want. How about your employees, huh? What will they say about their boss? How can they look up to you?” I sermonized him. Although he worked yesterday, it doesn’t mean that he would be skipping his work for today.

Who would have ever thought that I could lecture like this to Liam Arthur Evangelista—the famous CEO and rich business magnate?

“No one had ever talked to me like that, Diane. But the way how you speak each and every word? I just couldn’t help myself from falling for you even more,” he confessed, and that made my heart flutter.

“Wait there, I’ll be quick,” I instructed him, trying not to mind what he told me. But action speaks louder than words. It felt like my cheeks were about to blush again due to sudden heat.

By turning my back, I hurried inside my room, opened my cabinet, and put on my bra. I was flexible enough to do all these while my cellular phone was placed between my ears and shoulders. Fortunately, my sleeveless top was quite thick, and my nipples were not protruding too much.

“But to answer you… just this day, Diane. I just wanted to see you,” he said affectionately. Then, I left my bedroom and rushed down the stairs.

He continued, “After all, I rendered overtime and finished everything yesterday. Now, I just want to be the first person you will see in the morning, like how I used to be the last person you were with last night. Of course, other than your family. I guessed I was lovestruck. I didn’t expect that I would be missing you so soon, Diane.”

Shocks, oh my God! Who would not fall for Liam when he’s always like this?

What he said got me thrilled to the bones, abruptly urging my heart to jump again. I couldn’t help as well but bounce at my every step. I ended the call, then went to the main door and unlocked it.

Liam would only be wasting his cellular loads if he would keep talking to me when he was already here. It would be better if we would just talk face-to-face. It would be much in favor of me.

Our walkway or simply the garage was small, so I couldn’t help but wonder why it suddenly became long while reaching for the gate. While my heart could not stop from throbbing, I opened the gate for him. My mind was completely fluctuating—making me feel extreme excitement towards him—and it was too late for me to realize that I wasn’t able to lock the gate.

I motioned him to come inside the house and let him sit over the white couch. We were happily living here even though our house was just small. After entering the main door, you could immediately find yourself in the living room, with two white sets of L-shaped sofas facing each other and a black coffee table.

Liam was wiping his sweat all over his neck, but he still seemed to be so hot to look at. While looking at him, it felt like I could already smell his musk.

It was the same fragrance that I sniffed the first time I climbed inside his car, and it was drawing me closer to him now. I just opened our large and vintage ceiling fan so that it would not be too hot. He might have waited too long underneath the sun.

“Hmm, are you alone here? Where are they? Anyway, for Denise…” he asked as he handed me some grocery bags. I glanced at it slightly and found that it contained some ingredients for adobo. There were lots of potatoes plus chocolates he had previously promised to my baby sister.

“Oh, you shouldn’t have bothered to buy these… but thank you,” I told him while putting those on the table first.

Then, I continued, “Yeah, I’m all alone here… but don’t worry, I locked the door and the gate earlier when Dave and Mom went outside to consult a doctor—you know, Mom’s check-up. Anyway, Denise is already in her school. I’ll give her the chocolates later,” I replied to his questions as I lowered and bent my back while getting the messy objects dispersed all over the floor. Liam opted to offer me some help while cleaning, but I refused.

Still, he helped me. Coincidentally, he ended up touching my hand on the parquet floor, and we just smiled while looking at each other.

These were merely paper dolls and toy houses by Denise. It would only be a year before she finally became a teenager, but she was still fond of playing these.

“No worries. Denise might say that I am not fulfilling my promise as her new big bro. Hmm, but may I know what you are working on? I mean, the one you are finishing earlier?” he curiously questioned me with light wrinkles on his forehead as he gave me some of the paper dolls.

“Ah, that? Our documentary thesis,” I replied. “What’s left is just double-checking of wordings, computations, and I would be all set. However, I have this one problem that I couldn’t solve for almost two hours, and the deadline for submission is today. My friends would kill me for sure, but I don’t know what to do anymore. Hmm, wait here!”

After placing Denise’s things on the cabinet at the side of the couch, I climbed upstairs. I went to my bedroom, picked up the laptop, and quickly returned to the living room.

I placed it on top of the coffee table with the problem on screen, then went straight to the kitchen while carrying the grocery bags that he gave me. I immediately placed the pork and the chicken in the freezer so as not to damage them.

When I returned, I gave him one from the two glasses of mango juices that I was holding. I rushed back to the kitchen and got some home-made chocolate cupcakes from the refrigerator. Denise and I baked them yesterday because I couldn’t sleep before going to work.

My baby sister got so engrossed with baking aside from playing with her paper dolls. It was a good thing because when she had no classes, I was confident enough that she would only stay here in the house. She already knew how to bake lots of desserts all by herself, sometimes with the company of Karen’s thirteen-year-old brother—Michael.

“Denise and I baked the cupcakes. I hope you’ll like them,” I boastfully mentioned.

“Really? Then I might eat them all! Now I know why these cupcakes look pretty delicious, thanks!” Liam exclaimed while getting a cupcake and put it into his mouth. He made a bite while his eyes never left me. “Hmm, I loved the taste… it made me remember something delicious from last night,” he commented before licking his lips, and that made me blush again.

I wasn’t born yesterday, and I wasn’t too naive to know that he was talking about what we did inside his car last night. He might be referring to my lips, isn’t he? Or the hickey he left on my skin? I ended up gulping and averting my eyes away from him.

He might have felt the awkwardness that started to reign between us. That might be the reason why he spoke again after eating the cupcakes. “Anyway, I can help you with this one. This is just Taxation and Business Math. Wait,” he told me, and that made me look at him again.

He took a sip of his mango juice before he grabbed the laptop and started typing on it. I quietly stood in front of him while I couldn’t help but stare at his handsome face. I raked my eyes around his perfectly toned body covered by a black polo shirt and pants. Minutes passed, but still, I couldn’t get enough.

Until… “There, it’s done! You don’t need to worry about anything now,” he said while handing me back the laptop. I clasped it using my left hand while my right fingers were scrolling the mouse pad. My eyes stretched as I became bug-eyed while reviewing what he had done.

Wow, really? But why so quick? There was no way he could immediately answer this without knowing the background or statement of the problem! And his solutions are indeed accurate, huh?

How was he able to do this in just a short time? Like in just three minutes? I’ve been solving this for two hours already! In fairness, he was also good at using ‘ACC MZ Xcel,’ huh? This is a new software that was only released last year for Accounting students.

“I thought, you will help me in solving this? So, why did you do everything?” I smilingly questioned him. He was amazing, and our feelings were indeed the same. I couldn’t help but fall for him even more with each passing day.