Chapter 4

SAMANTHA

Until now I can’t explain my surprise when Sir Simoun introduced me to his friends as his girlfriend! What was his trip in life? And he did that hilarious thing with me?

From time to time I glanced to the side where he is sitting now which was only a few feet away from me. Unlike the last time we saw each other, he’s wearing formal attire unlike now. He looks very different wearing a coal gray Chino pants that it dyed with a black polo t-shirt that is obviously expensive or branded and white sneakers. His attire is simple, but I was attracted to stare at him especially the muscles in his arm that are obviously taken care of in the gym. Plus, its belly fit I know has hidden abs inside its t-shirt. I want to beat myself up again because I'm obviously being carried away again by worldly things that I shouldn't be able to think and feel. You can't be attracted to a man and that's just a headache, Samantha! Do you understand?! I was talking to myself when suddenly there was a warm touch on my left ear where Sir Simoun was sitting.

There was no problem for him to introduce me as his supposed girlfriend to his friends because they were kind to me except for a woman whom Marco called Bea. Her gaze was fierce on me as if she will eat me alive. She’s beautiful, just because of the thickness of its make-up, she almost looks like emo. I just ignored her and just quietly listened to their stories, sometimes they would ask me a few things and Sir Simoun would join me so that I could answer their questions about the two of us correctly.

"Babe, are you okay?" He touched me and I immediately felt the touch of one of its hands on my shoulder. I looked at him and our eyes met. Even how he called me in the way you thought was actually true that we both had a relationship made me even more nervous.

"Ah-hh... I'm fine." I winced in response to him but there was still a smile on my lips so that those with us at the table would not notice how much I liked what was happening to me that night.

Why didn't I immediately complain about what he told his friends that I was his girlfriend?

How can you complain Samantha, she's your boss ... she'll probably fire you if you do that thing! I answer myself.

I just drank water from the glass in front of me and then I heard Sir Simoun speak.

"Bro, Samantha and I will go first. She's early for work." He said with his friends. He already explained where I’m working right now and because of that, we met. This adds to the lies we developed that night.

"Okay bro ... next time bring Samantha back so she can talk to Mariz,” Marco said, he’s one of Sir Simoun's friends.

Before we finally left, he held me close to my waist, which his male friends smiled at. It was only a matter of time before he tied me to his body because he was holding my waist so tightly. I'm so conscious because I don't know what Sir Simoun's friends thought after he acted like that.

Again, I saw Bea's sharp gaze on us. There seemed to be something wrong with the way she looked and acted every time Sir Simoun touched me. We finally said goodbye to his friends and until in the parking area, he still wouldn’t let go of my one hand.

When I looked behind us and saw no one around us. We’re now in the place where his car was parked, I take the courage to speak.

"Sir ..." I withdrew one of my hands holding it. Sir Simoun looked at my hand which I slowly lowered after releasing it. He then stared me in the face as if nothing had happened or there was nothing wrong with what we did before.

He sighed before speaking in front of me.

"I'm sorry okay. I'm in trouble earlier, so I just did those things." He directly explained to me. I bravely looked at his handsome face and he did the same to me. Even though I was confused I had to ask him why he did that thing between the two of us. It's not a joke to lie.

"Sir, I'm confused," I told him directly. He barely sat on the hood of its expensive car while playing with its key.

“Okay, I’ll explain.” He surrendered to me. "I did that because I want somebody to feel that she's already nothing in my life, just like what she did to me three years ago."

She?

Does that mean he had a woman who was an ex-girlfriend with us before? Which of the women with us is he talking about? And I suddenly thought of Bea. The edge of her eyes when staring at the two of us, her actions as if she wanted to rush me ... isn't that what Sir Simoun is referring to?

"But sir ..."

"Don't worry, this will be the last time we do that thing. I'm so sorry if you were surprised earlier by what happened." This sincere apology to me. I felt that he was really just forced to do the lie we had earlier for the woman he says was his ex-girlfriend.

"And thank you for not saying anything a while ago. I will talk to Mr. Stevan to give you incentives for what you have done for me." I was surprised by what he told me. Mr. Stevan is our head so it’s not far off to do exactly what he said which is giving me incentives because of what I have for him a while ago. I was immediately shaken.

"Don't do that sir. It's okay for me to help you." He looks surprised at what I said.

"Really?"

"Yes, you are my boss, so I have to follow your orders." I just told him. I looked down as it barely blinked while still staring at me. The wind and the strength of my heart changed. My breathing was no longer normal, and my chest seemed to be tightening.

I met his eyes as if I was ready to know what he meant by those stares of his at me. Suddenly he spoke again, and I saw from the light of several cars that a small smile passed on his lips.

"Thank you again for helping me." He was silent for a moment and played again with the key he was holding in his palm. "Would you mind if I sent you to your house? I mean ... it's already night and it's dangerous for you to travel alone." His explanation about sending me to my apartment is basically understandable. I just nodded at what he said, and I didn't do anything until he opened the door of his car in the passenger seat for me.

Soon Sir Simoun also got into the car. He stared at me for a moment before speaking.

"Let's go?" He asked me in his low voice. Again, I suddenly notice the way he treated me when I first heard his voice speak while facing the employees of its own airline. Now he speaks as if we have known each other for a long time. He’s just relaxed, but I'm ... here and I'm starting to punish myself for the things that are bothering my mind.

"Yes sir ..." I answered him. I saw him grip the steering wheel and he started to maneuver the car.

As we crossed the long road of Edsa Avenue, Sir Simoun was just quietly driving. From time to time I glance at him to know the reaction on his handsome face. There was a time that he caught me staring at him, and I felt my whole face totally become red because of that. He’s so relaxed while his large body sitting in the driver's seat is just right. He even held his own lips as if he was wiping some stain on them every time we stop because of traffic.

"Why? Is there something wrong? Are you hungry? We can stop in somewhere to buy some food." This question worries me. I was surprised by what he told me just because he caught me looking at him. I was immediately shaken before he realized that I might be hungry but not really.

"O-I'm fine sir ..." I looked at the front of the car and bit my lip because of the embarrassment. He just nodded at what I said.

I couldn’t really get to know myself in the shortness of time we were together. It seems like a while ago before Jenny and I went to the bar I still firmly believed that no man could make my chest tremble, none of them could mess up my whole system and any other man presented to me would not change my mind. But why did this happen to me in a flash?

I told him where my exact address was, and he didn't want to agree that he couldn't take me right in front of the gate of the house where I lived so I didn't do anything, and I told him where I was renting alone.

"Thank you sir for taking me to my apartment." I didn’t forget to thank him, even though he did something I didn’t expect earlier in front of his friends. It was still embarrassing that he even delivered me to my house especially since he was my boss.

"It's okay, I owe you a lot, remember?" He seemed to remind me of how much I had helped him lately, and it was to be his fake girlfriend for a few hours. I would like to be voiced out.

"It's okay sir ... I just hope they don't remember me anymore. And if I'll meet them again, I don't know what to answer in case they ask me something about the two of us" I was embarrassed to tell him and he laughed about it.

"Don't worry, if they will see you at some other time or place again, I'll make sure you're with me." His answer is meaningful to me.

I didn't mind smiling at what he said, I lost myself for a moment. And suddenly I was afraid to speak again.

"Are you the only one living there in your apartment?" His two eyebrows furrowed slightly at his own question.

"A-hhh yes sir, I'm the only one living there." I hesitate to answer him. He became silent for a while, and I was also nervous because of the sudden change in his mood. I didn’t seem to like the discovery I was living alone in my own apartment.

"Okay ... you went inside and it's too late. And make sure you lock all your doors." I looked at him as he said those things. Did I feel the melody from him right? It was as if he worried about the way he reprimands me.

"I'm your boss, right? It's natural for me to worry about my employees." Clarifying this to me. It was only then that I realized that he was right when he said that it was normal for the boss to worry about his employee.

"Okay sir ..." I could only answer him. "I'm in," I say goodbye to him. He just nodded and I thought he was going to get in his car after I said I was going to enter the apartment, but I was wrong.

When I looked back at him, he was staring at me as if he was still staring at every step I was taking. That I was conscious suddenly. I just blinked when he waved one of its hands signaling me to continue walking and that is exactly what I did.

I took my key from the handbag I was carrying and just a few minutes later I opened the padlock of the gate of my apartment, and I immediately went inside. When I looked back at Sir Simoun he still did not change its appearance. He was still sitting on the hood of his car and his hands had recently been tucked into the two pockets of its pants. Now they were folded while still staring intently at me.

I continued to walk, and I just ignored the tension that didn’t disappear from my chest the next thing I did is to open the door of my apartment. I still don’t hear the sound of the car, meaning he’s still not leaving! When I finally opened the door, I looked at him again. He looks different now from the dark. He was already smiling slightly, and I couldn't help but smile at him for a moment before I finally opened the door and entered my apartment.

I leaned against the back of the door. I felt my heart pounding constantly. I was even held on the opposite side then I forced my breathing to be normal and just a few seconds later I heard the sound of its car indicating that he was now leaving. Because of that, the drums in my chest gradually subsided.

I have taken a shower and currently lying on my bed staring at the ceiling of the room as I check the time from the wall clock. It’s already two o'clock in the morning!

I wanted to close my eyes and go to sleep but every time I do that thing Sir Simoun's face automatically plays in my mind. His handsome face has not been erased from my mind since before.

I blinked my eyes a few more times but I couldn't really find the drowsiness I would have wanted to feel before. I couldn’t understand myself why a Simoun Montalvo would have to mess up my whole system. My mind, my heart, and this feeling. Everything that had happened to us since we met at that bar came back to my mind one by one, and again ... I felt wrong about what was happening to me. And I suddenly asked myself, am I really that ignorant when it comes to the emotions that men have? All my life, I’ve never felt such anxiety!

It's just because of its perfume that the smell has stuck in my nose that I can't forget the effect on me, its handsome face that all women can't be mistaken for, its body that tells how much it attracts me. All those physical qualities remain etched in my mind until now. And I never noticed what exactly time I fell asleep, all I knew was that a Simoun Montalvo was still the last person on my mind before I finally fell asleep.