CHAPTER 67: IAN’S FEELINGS
Themis’ POV
“Uncle Ian!”
I turned my head to the door as soon as I heard Elisse call that name.
“Where’s Winter?”
“She’s in her room, Uncle Ian.”
“Oh, is that so? By the way, I brought you pretzels!”
“Wow! Pretzels!”
Upon seeing me, Ian’s smile faded and became serious. “Y-You’re here.”
“Yeah.”
“Ian?”
We both looked at the stairway as soon as we heard Winter’s voice. She was wearing a yellow dress and her hair was down. She even put on a sunflower hairpin to make herself look adorable.
I thought they were just going to a company. Why does she have to dress like they are going on a date?
“Oh, you really prepared for it, huh? Are you really that excited to see me?” Ian suddenly teased her.
I cleared my throat, which made Winter and him look at me.
“Just call me when you’re finally going home.”
“Okay.”
“You don’t have to, I’ll be driving you here, though.” Ian blurted.
I looked at him. “You don’t have to, I will just fetch her and we’ll go home here together. Just make sure it won’t take you too long outside. I-It’s dangerous.”
“Alright, I promise to call you. Bye, Elisse!”
“Bye, Miss Winter and Uncle Ian!”
I even saw Ian glaring at me before they stepped outside.
Jerk.
Ian’s POV
“Don’t you think that man is being over-protective towards you?” I asked Winter while we were inside my car going to my newly built restaurant and I asked her to have a look so she could give me suggestions about what I need to improve.
She looked at me with furrowed brows. “Man? Do you mean Matthew?”
“Exactly. He acts like your real husband when you don’t even really have that kind of relationship. He only married you because of your family’s wealth, right?”
“He’s just really like that. He always worry about me because grandpa entrusted me to him. And to tell you the truth, I don’t think Matthew married me because of my family’s wealth. He is a good man and he cares about me and grandpa. At first, I also thought he has a bad plan, but as I get to know him, I realized that he is not after our money.”
“Then, what does he want?”
“A home. You see, his parents died when he was just a kid, so he probably wants to have a family.”
I shrugged. “I don’t think that’s the reason. That guy still seems suspicious to me.”
“And he’s suspicious of you, too. You know what? You guys should hang out together some other time.” she laughed.
“There is no way I would hang out with that guy,”
That guy likes Winter. But for sure that’s not the kind of feeling that is appropriate, he just wants their family’s money. And by marrying her and showing her that he loves her, he would be able to get their trust, and soon enough, he will run with their money.
“This restaurant is quite big, huh? The exterior is so nice and eye-catching!” Winter immediately commented just as soon as we stepped out of the car.
I smiled. “Really? Well, I really chose that because I thought it would really catch the customer’s attention.”
“Although you don’t need them anymore because for sure your fans are going to support your business no matter what happens.”
We stepped inside, and the staff of my restaurant greeted the two of us. Winter also got surprised when one of them handed her a bouquet of tulips.
“T-Thank you. What is this? I should be the one giving you a flower because you showed me your newly-built restaurant.”
“I am giving you flowers because you went here with me during the first opening of my restaurant. We should thank you for that.”
She shook her head while smiling and I couldn’t help doing the same just by staring at her. I don’t know what’s with her, but I think she became more beautiful when she left showbizness. Maybe because she’s no longer stressed? She’s beautiful ever since, anyway.
“This steak is really something, Ian! And this salad, too! And also this one! All of them!”
“You’re complimenting all of them. Maybe you’re just saying that because I treated you.”
“Of course not! You know how honest I am when it comes to you. I never even sugarcoat everything. That’s why when I say that this food is delicious, then that’s the truth. For sure your fans are going to love this.”
I laughed. “You are actually right. You really don’t know how to sugarcoat your words, that is why when I confessed my feelings to you back then, you immediately said you don’t like me.”
“That’s right because I didn’t want to give you false hopes. And besides…”
“You’re in love with Winston.”
She got surprised when I mentioned that name, but it’s a range because her eyes didn’t sparkle anymore. All I could see was sadness.
Winston is the first man that Winter loved.
But then something happened to his sister and all of our schoolmates believed that Winter was the one behind that.
“Do you still think about him?” I asked her.
She put her cutlery down and looked at me. “There’s not even a day that I never thought about him and her sister. I actually hope I could see them again just so I could apologize.”
“You don’t have anything to be apologized for, anyway. You never did anything wrong.”
“Even so, I’m still one of the reasons why that happened. I just want to apologize and explain myself to them since I didn’t do that before.”
Before she even burst into tears, I changed the topic. “Now I can’t help but laugh whenever I remember me threatening you about that.”
“Right, you were such a jerk. I really hated working with you back then, though. Seeing your face pissess me off a lot.”Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.
“H-Hey! I feel the same too! I also feel so bad whenever I see your face!”
“And who would feel bad whenever they see my face?” she said, staring right at me.
Damn it, nothing has really changed. My heart still beats so fast whenever she’s so close to me.
I just averted my gaze, then stood up. “How about we go to our old school? Just to reminisce some things from the past?”
“That’s a good idea!”
After eating at my restaurant, Winter and I decided to go to our alma mater. It took us three hours to get there and she even fell asleep inside my car.
“Nothing has changed here,” Winter mumbled while looking at the old school with a white-painted gate.
“You are right. I can still remember how excited I am going to school back then.”
“That’s the opposite of me, though. I am not that excited to go to school since I didn’t have any friends back then. I’ll just go to school because I need to.”
We entered the gates and a strong gust of wind welcomed us. It was as if we traveled back in time and became those teenagers again.
“That was our classroom!” she pointed at the old classroom that didn’t even change a bit except for the new color of its door. We walked towards that and peeked inside.
There weren’t any students since it was the weekend.
“I remember so many things here,” Winter said as she roamed her eyes around the classroom.
Watching her, I could already see how much she longed for the people she once met. And I know that the memories and the heartaches that she got back then still lingers in her heart.
If only I could erase those memories of her and the sadness in her heart, I won’t hesitate to do it.
After that classroom, we proceeded to every spot in that school where we used to go to before, then we ended up on the rooftop of the English building.
We sat on the bench while looking at the view of the whole campus.
“I used to go here whenever I want to be alone. Seeing the view of the whole campus makes me feel calm every single time.”
“Me too. I always go here whenever I feel like being alone. I even saw you here one time, I think that was the first moment I fell in love with you.”
“Really?”
I nodded my head with a smile on my face. “I saw you talking to yourself while crying. I thought you were cute.”
“You really are a jerk. You’re saying that you fell in love with me because you saw me crying?”
“Right.”
“Anyway, it’s so nice to go here. A part of me feels nostalgic and sad, but the other part feels happy because of the fun memories I had here.”
“If you can turn back time, would you still choose to meet the people you met here and experience all the things that you experienced here?” I asked her without taking my eyes off the scenery.
I heard her heave a deep sigh before speaking. “Even if I can turn back time, I won’t change it. I would still choose the choices I made before because that’s what made me I am right now. But maybe… I would also refuse to befriend Winston and her sister.”
“Why is that?”
“Because I only caused them pain. If only I didn’t come into their lives, they wouldn’t be miserable.”
Silence enveloped us for a moment. Then Winter suddenly spoke again. “How about you? If you could turn back the time, would you still choose to confess your feelings to me even though you already know I would reject you?”
“I will. Because if I didn’t confess my feelings, you wouldn’t know what I felt for you. I don’t want to live carrying that regret in my heart. But also, maybe if I could turn back time, I would keep my eyes on you so you wouldn’t have to experience the painful things that you experienced before.”
She didn’t react at first, but then she laughed. “You really are my savior, ever since. I don’t even know why you liked me. Is it because I’m pretty?”
“It’s because you have such high self-confidence,” I said to tease her.
We stayed in that school for two more hours, then after that, we already decided to leave and go to another one. We spent the whole day together going to different places and I couldn’t be any happier.
“We’re already here, Winter.”
Just as I was about to look at her, that’s when I found out she was sleeping. For sure she got tired from all the things that we did. I couldn’t help but smile while staring at her.
She never really changed. Not even a bit.
The Winter that I knew and fell in love with, she’s still the same as the Winter I know now.
“If I confess again, I wonder if you’d still have the same response?” I whispered while looking at her as if she could hear what I was saying.
Since I didn’t want to wake her up, I just decided to carry her up to their house. I got surprised when I saw that man standing by the door again as if waiting for Winter.
“I’ll take her in. You can go now,” he said as he gently took Winter away from me and carried her in his arms instead.
Before he could even close the door, I called him. “Hey.”
He looked at me with his usual cold gaze. “What?”
“I will watch you. If you have a plan, I will make sure to know that. I won’t let you hurt Winter.”
“Say that to yourself,” he said as he slammed the door in front of me.
And who is he to say those things to me?!
He’s just a poor man who can’t even afford to buy Winter branded bags and shoes!