Caraphernelia

I could not remember much of the event that happen after Oliver had sent me home. All I remembered was waking up next to a man who was happily snoring that could wake the whole town. With his hands holding me tightly as he lay behind me, his face was conveniently buried in my hair. You can imagine how frighten I felt when his snore blast through the back of my head. I was jolted awake, thinking that my house had been exploded with a bomb but after I felt a hand still linger on my hip, I looked down and finds Jaime. He was happily and might I add, peacefully asleep even when I had roughly pushed his hand away from my hip.

I looked outside the window. I guess from the look of the sky, it must be late afternoon. I must have been sleeping for more than an hour then. I rummaged my dishevelled hair. Frankly I still feel tired after my morning treatment. It is so tempting to continue my sleeping but hearing the loud snoring from my boyfriend, I rather choose to stay awake. It will be impossible to sleep with the noise that Jaime is currently orchestrating.

I wonder where might be Oliver now. He should already leave the house by now. I should at least call him with Jaime enjoying his snoring. I swipe Jaime hair from his forehead lovingly, even he is in his deep sleep and his mouth moving to the tune of his snoring, he is still a very beautiful person that I had been so stupid enough to leave him 14 years ago. I had wasted a lot of time but I vow now that I will not let a single day slide pass without staying close from him.

My current health condition might not permit me to stay forever with him. Worst, anytime from now, my life could easily end and there is so many things that I need to do before that might happen. It is just not enough for me to just confess my love for him and cherish all our times together. I should be doing more than as it is, but for now, I just want to watch him sleeping, and snoring.

I lean down to kiss his forehead first, and the tip of his nose.

Jaime then, gulping for air and, from my action, he seems to be waking up but right after that, he turns his body to the other end of my King size bed, and continue his sleeping, not forgetting his rhythmic snoring. I just shake my head and stood up from the bed, walking out of my bedroom to the direction of the staircase that led me to the first floor of my 3-storey bungalow.

As I descended the staircase, my eyes immediately caught the white note lying, almost hidden at the back of the photo frame of my dearest padre. My hand quickly grabbed the note and read it:

Take good care of your health, Marcela. I might not know the seriousness of your suffering but nevertheless, do take care. You don’t deserve for the pain that you seems had to endure.

Sykes.

Deserve?

Well, newsflash Oliver, there are lots of things that I don’t deserve. My top on the list of the unfairness for the whole situation is that I don’t definitely deserve to lose my only son Perez to that freak accident. My illness, I treated it like a ticket to heaven so that I could be reuniting with my Perez. However, God has His weird way to show of things that I might miss if death do comes to bring me home.

Jaime Preciado, an unexpected reunion, although I did intended to look for him back in San Diego, but only to seek forgiveness. Not to pick up the pieces of our relationship. Well, not that we ever had a proper relationship back then.

Do I deserve him?

Shaking my head as to clear all the emotional now filling up in my head, I crumpled Oliver’s note and goes to throw it at the kitchen bin. Oliver definitely does not deserve my attention now, although I do appreciate for his kindness. My intention to call him just died down after reading his note. I’m sure he will take the opportunity to dig deeper than I am willing to tell.

Maybe I should say to him – ‘Yes, Oliver I am at Stage III of my Liver Cancer and the only chance for me to stay alive is through Liver Transplant. And no, I don’t want your liver to stay alive because I don’t deserve to be alive! I just want to be with my dead son Perez. Because, living with him for just 3 years was just not enough time for me to even remember his cutesy laughter!! Fuck off!!’

Of course, that conversation only happens in my mind. I definitely have no guts to say such a ruddy remarks to anyone in particular, even to a mouse. Oh God, I’m such a coward person.

“Marcy? Where are you baby?” It is Jaime. I turn to the direction of his muzzy voice that comes from the staircase that I had previously descended. I just wait for him to emerge from the staircase, without uttering a single word as I am standing at the side of the kitchen island.

“Sweetie...??” Jaime finally emerges and upon seeing me, he walks wobbly to my direction with his eyes close. I stifle a laugh. When he finally reached me, I know that he purposely slumped against me, with all his heavy weight on me. I almost lost my balance as I shriek when I felt his dead weight against my smaller frame. I quickly hold him off me just to keep our steady balance with the support of the kitchen island.

“Jaime,” I whine as I give a quick nip at his skin on the neck. “You are heavy!”

Pulling off from my body, he dives in to capture my lip, kissing me unexpectedly. He said to me in-between our kisses, “I love you...so much.”

As the need for oxygen rise, I pull away from his lip. Looking at him directly in his eyes, “I love you too, Jaime. When did you get in? I thought you will be here much later.”

“Well, Vic wants to end it early. Our band practice session. So I thought as I had nothing much to do with the rest of them, I might as well be here,” he said, with his voice sounding heavy with sleep. He kisses my forehead again before making his way to sit by the stool in front of the kitchen lounge.

I joined him at the opposite of the kitchen lounge table. “So what do you want to do now?” clearly I am avoiding the question of him reaching my house earlier, when I am still asleep and whether did he meet Oliver in my house earlier. If given the chance, from the state that Jaime is currently in, I know he wants to continue his adventure of snoring.

“Let’s go out. I did not buy our dinner as promise. So therefore let’s go out to my cousin’s restaurant instead. And from there, we can think of what to do next,” suggested Jaime at length.

“I want to spend my times with you...” I said softly. Jaime, who is by now, has gotten up and making his way to the nearest bathroom, turns to look at me. Nodding his head, flashing his cheeky grin that tells me to expect a fun night together after the dinner, “Of course, I will want that too.”

♠♠♠

“Come on, eat it,” coerce Jaime as he keeps on pouring a spoonful of ‘Chili Mac N Cheddar Soup’, the Mexican interpretation of Mac’ N Cheese dish, but it has been cook in a soup version. It tastes awful. Don’t get me wrong, I just hate any dish that said ‘Mac N Cheese’.

I scrunched my face as to show my dislike of the dish. I did not even try to hide my unpleasant face. But Jaime keeps on prodding me to give it a try. He scoops a spoonful of the food and try to feed me but I turn my face side-way.

“No Jaime. I don’t want to!!” I exclaimed as I push his hand away from my face. “I did not mean to be disrespectful. But I am a chef and clearly, that food is just plain awfully.”

Jaime then, giving up in his attempt to feed me as he put down the spoon and scoop the rest of the soup, from my plate into his. “Well, my cousin is not a Michelin Chef like you, Marcela. But he does KNOWS how to cook, after all doesn’t this is his restaurant, to begin with?”

I know I have hurt his feeling. There is definitely a note of sulking in his voice. I bravely takes one of his hands into mine, just held it, “Sweetie, I did not mean to insult his dishes. But I just hate Mac N Cheese and for only this dish that is definitely not my taste. I know he is no Michelin Chef but he did have great food that he serves here in his restaurant, I’ll admit that.”

Silence

“Please forgive me?”

Jaime who has been avoiding my eyes, and did not as much holding my hand, now turns his gaze on me. “Well, maybe I need more than that, you know. It must be more convincing.”

I smile. I know what he wants in that mind of him. “Of course,” I bring his hand to my lips as I kiss each of his fingers, “Didn’t you know that I am good with desert?”

Wiggling his eyebrow, “I want to have a taste of that desert...” he said.

Standing up from my seat, Jaime looks surprise by my action, smiling my ever sexy smile, “Let’s go then.”

“What? In the toilet? Cela, this is my cousin restaurant. What if we get caught? I’m sure I will be ban forever from entering this premise,” exclaimed Jaime chagrin.

“Of course not, Jaime!! We get home first where we have wider space for...the desert!!” I wink at him as I strutted out, in the direction of the restaurant main entrance, leaving Jaime to pay for the dinner.

Meanwhile, from across the restaurant, both of the lovers did not realise that they had been watched by Oliver Sykes. He has been meaning to approach the couple but reminding himself that he might be intruding their quality time together, he decided not.

Oliver remembered the tired looks on Marcela early this afternoon during their lunch together. Also those pills that Marcela had asked him to pass it to her. He knows right away that those pills belong to someone who is facing a cancerous illness. He knows it so well, from his past.

‘How could a beauty like her have to face such an evil illness? This is so unfair!’ he wonders to himself. He is dining alone tonight. He is suppose to be dining with Austin but the episode of earlier today, makes him feel to be on his own. He thought that he will not meet anyone, which he cares now, to be having such a deadly illness.

Does it not enough that he had to lose someone that dearest to him, in the face of the same enemy?

He might not know Marcela that much too even care for her, but he knows when he first laid his eyes on her, she will be someone special in his life even though she is with another fellow musician Jaime Preciado.

Marcela is special to him. “And I will find out more of her suffering. She can’t be alone in her battle against the enemy!!”

With that, Oliver stood up and goes over to the counter to pay for his dinner, before heading out of the restaurant to the direction of his park Chevrolet.