CHAPTER 7: THE NEXT MORNING

"Hey Baby." He texted at 6 AM in the morning.

She woke up from her sleep and smiling. She saw her phone notification and it is from him.

She still tries to get up from her dream and sleep, still half awake, she replied to him, "Heyy... I just woke up."

He then added, "Just got back home..."

"Hello, good morning to you. How was your night? Hope you had a good night rest. It's 9:55pm over here."

She replied, "It was good. It's 10 am over here."

He just laughed at her.

She then added, "Sooo... you are located in New York?"

He replied, "It's 10 AM... and you just woke up?"

Feeling embarrassed that he knows she's not a morning person she replied, "Yes Haha..."

He replied to her New York question, "Nope, Georgia."

She replied, "I see.. does Georgia share the time zone as New York?"

He replied, "Nope. Slite difference. Like 2-3 MIN DIFFERENCE."

"Ahh I see, which part of Georgia? I want to put in my world clock so I know what time is there for you :)" She genuinely wants to know about this because at this stage she still doesn't trust him.

He quickly replied, "Atlanta."

She then replied, "Thanks, baby. <heart emoji> I've put it in hehehe..."

He replies with heart emoji and then added, "So tell me any plans for the day?"

She replied, "Not much... I have a meeting call with my boss in an hour. But other than that, it's not much. How bout you?"

For the first time ever, she feels normal again with him a day after she unblocks him. Like they just picked up where they left off... like nothing is happening in those two weeks of emptiness without Ivan... they just converse like normal people dating each other, start to opening up with each other again, and chat like it's a usual thing to do.

He replied, "Nothing much, I just have to talk with you a little before I head to bed. I guess that's the reason you woke up by 10 AM... It's fine."

She thought to her self 'Wow he's going to call me, is he? This is the first time after a while and after I blocked him. This should be interesting... What does he want?'

She replied, "Sure... I'm on the phone with my friend now. Hahaha sure..."

Ivan replied, "So tell me you wanted us to talk about something earlier? About this?" He forwarded the chat earlier about "What did you see in me?" question.

She replied, "Sure, you can call me now. I have 30 mins before my boss call."

He then called her a minute after she sends that message to him. It's been a while and it's really good listening to his voice again. She thought 'I really missed this.'

They talked for about exactly 30 minutes. He explained to her what he sees in her. Things like, 'I love you, Baby. You meant a whole lot for me. I can't help but fall in love with you. I care so much about you. I know what I want. I've been looking for a woman like you for ages now. I see a woman who is unique, true to her self, beautiful, interesting, honest, caring, and accepts me for who I am."

Her heart is warm and she smiles over the phone. 'Thank you. I'm glad that you see me like that.' She replies to him on the phone. Besides that, they talked about their day and it felt like really normal like nothing is happening. After 30 minutes and saying 'I love you' to each other, they hung up.

After the phone call, he then texted her, "I missed talking with you. Feels good hearing your voice again."

She replied, "Aww...thanks baby."

She then shares her concert picture with her artist to him and he said, "That's lovely."

He then asked her, "What's the name of the artist performing?"

She answers, "LOLO and BOYA, they're from the UK and the Philippines."

He replied, "That's cool... it's lovely. I would love to come for one of your concerts. We could go together and probably have fun."

She smiles and answers, "Of course... but I will probably be backstage tho... <heart emoji>"

He answers, "I don't mind...as long as I'm there for you, I don't mind."

She thought, 'he is so lovely! and nice....'

She replied, "Aww..."

After a short thirty seconds, he then messaged her, "Baby, I have to go now. I already feeling sleepy." It's 10.57 PM in Atlanta and he wants to go to bed. So she replied to him with "Have a good rest then. See you soon baby."

"Thanks love, <heart emoji>... Bye."

They send each other a kiss emoji. And they go back to their normalcy of day to day life. Hours went by quickly as they just continue in doing their work and routine.

At exactly 10:41 PM he then misses her and texted her, "Hey baby"

She sees the notification and quickly replied, "Heyy... what have you've been up to?"

He replied, "Hey, sorry for the late reply. I have been replying lots of mails from my clients."

"You've been busy then." She frowns.

He replied, "I have a big seminar coming up. Would be travelling to Australia."

She texted, "When and where is it? That's really cool. Maybe you could stop by Jakarta? My best friend is from Australia. Would love to go there again."

He quickly replied, "Sydney."

She thought, 'whoa cool.. my fav place...' She then texted him, "Ahh, my favourite city. I used to live there. Will you be stopping by Indonesia? It's close."

He replied, "Wow, are you serious? You never told me."

She replied, "Yes. I studied theatre there. I did tell you."

He quickly replied, "I would really love to meet you. Probably after the seminar."

She texted, "That's cool we can meet up. <heart emoji>"

He replied, "Of course."

She replied, "When is the seminar would be?"

He replied, "It's a one-week seminar."

She replied, "I see.. when is it? Is it in April?"

He replied, "The date has not been officially fixed yet. But I guess it should be by next month. A lot of preparations."

She replied, "I see, all the best for the prep."

He replied, "Thank you so much, I would still keep you posted when exactly the seminar would be."

She replied giving him encouragement, "Yes please do :) and if you are stressed in prepping them, you can always talk to me."

He replied being appreciative of her, "Thanks so much, baby. I really appreciate. So tell me what have you been up to?"

She then tells him about her day, "No worries, I've been eating medium french fries and got two cold stone ice cream. Haha."

He laughed and replied, "I see, I guess you gave yourself a good treat today."

She quickly replied, "Yes. I got out of the house which is good for me and sing karaoke using SMULE app. My Favourite song right now is Harry Styles's Falling."

He is curious about her living life, "Are you always indoors?"

She replied, "Yes, sometimes. When I don't have anything to do job wise or after a concert, there's a period where I don't have gigs or project... So I stayed at home most of the time watching Netflix."

He laughs, "I guess you are a good singer?"

She replied, "I don't know <question emoji> You can look me up and listen for your self. Haha"

He then questions her, "Your job. You said you really enjoy what you do right?"

She replied, "Yess. But it's a gig."

He replied, "You can send some clips for me."

She replied, "Feel free to download Smule and search my name. I think I'm a mediocre singer. Haha."

He replied, "Ok then, I guess I would do that when I get back home"

She replied, "Hahaha sure..."

Then he asked this question, "Are you paid well?"

Arising suspicious in her mind comes back, what does he want? she thinks.

She then replies, "I think so. But when there's no gig, it's hard for me."

He's like confused, "What do you mean by gig? Really don't understand."

She quickly replied, "Gig means projects."

He replied, "So... you are not being paid when there is no project..."

She is confused where this conversation going but she just said, "Yes. Although every month now, I will receive a monthly payment from my boss as his PA. But it's not much."

Twenty seconds later, there's no answer from him. She thought this is getting weird. What does he want out of her? Why is he asking this question? What's he's proposing? It's like really confusing.

After much thought, she then added, "Alright I'm off to bed. Good night."

After 3 seconds, he finally replied, "Good night baby."

Wow. Ok. I still don't trust him. What does he want out of me? Why does he's asking those questions? At the same time, my feelings are growing for him. To be honest, I've been waiting for his messages the whole day. This is getting unhealthy for me. But what else I can do for now? I don't have anything to do besides him. He fulfils my day. Even though it's just a text. But knowing him really means a lot for me. It's nice that someone out there really does care for me. Even though logically, this thing is too good to be true, but I kinda like it. Arrghh... this is not right. Mark would be mad if he knows that I've unblocked him.

What should I do?