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GISELLE
Coming out of work, I'm carrying my flowers with me when I see Mr. Kalani standing outside in his normal attire of black. He gives me a warm smile and I couldn't help but return the smile at the man. He's been nothing but nice to me since the night we met and I enjoy talking to the man, the few times that we have talked.
"Good evening, Ms. Pena. How are you?" He asks.
"I'm good. How are you?" I ask.
He smiles and says that he's doing well. "Can I offer you a ride home, this evening?"
I thought for a moment. "Of course. Thank you."
Once we're ready to go, he drives into traffic and eventually on the highway.
"Those are nice flowers." He comments with a smile.
"Thank you." I reply, feeling warm, but with butterflies now in my stomach. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure, go ahead." He says.
I look out the window before looking back at him. "Has he ever done this before? Doing with others what he's done with me?"
"For as long as I have known Mr. Reigns, the amount of interest he's shown in you so far, I've never seen him do that with anybody else. The things he's done for you, such as those flowers and always making sure you get home safely, and always wanting to get to know more about you, he doesn't normally do that unless it's for his mother and sisters." Mr. Kalani says. "But I knew from that night when we first met, that you were something special. What are you doubting, my dear? If it's genuine?"
"I guess." I say softly. "I'm not really sure what all I doubt."
"Don't let those doubts eat you up." The man says. "It's a shame to miss out on something because of doubt. Underneath all that money, the fancy suits, the nice cars, and everything that comes with it, Mr. Reigns really is a good guy."
I went back to looking out the window and watch the cars and trees that we pass by on our way out of Manhattan. It wasn't long before we pulled up in front of my building. I had texted Roman on the way to let him know that 8 o'clock was perfect. He replied quickly after and said to dress like I normally would on my days off. Getting my apartment, I hear Jackson barking before I even get in. Once inside, he happily barks and wags his tail, as I greet him and give him a hug.
"I missed you, today." I tell him, rubbing his back before he happily walks around me.
Fifteen minutes later, I'm taking him out for a walk and letting him run around a bit in the park near my building before taking him back up. Looking at the time, I look through my closet to see what I can find that would look presentable and when I do, I make sure Jackson gets out of my room before I go take a shower. I was doing fine until I came out and started getting dressed in jeans that fit my legs perfectly, and a blue t-shirt that fit to my curves and bought out my eyes. I was beginning to feel nervous and I wasn't sure why. I've clearly spent time with him before tonight and I've always been fine afterwards. Not sure what to do with my hair, I left it out and neatened it up, letting hang down my back and I then put on some lipgloss and one of my favorite perfumes. Jackson starts barking and a moment later, there was a knock on the door.
"He's early." I whisper, seeing that he was a little over 15 minutes early.
Looking in the mirror one last time, I make my way to the door, where Jackson barks again. I get him to sit and open the door to find Roman standing on the other side with a black coat on, dark jeans, sneakers and his hair up in a bun. There was a black hat in his hands and he gave me that devastatingly handsome smile of his as his eyes made their way from my head to my feet and back up.
"You look really nice." He softly says.
"Thanks." I replied, feeling warm. "Come in. You look handsome. Nice to know you can dress in street clothes, rather than your fancy suits all the time."
"I try." He says with a chuckle. "Hey, big guy. How you doing?"
Jackson walks up to him and lets him scratch his head before he walks over to me and sits in front of me. I blow him a few kisses and let out a giggle when he looks up at me with his big brown eyes. I fill up his bowls with some food and water and I put on my coat and grab my purse, making sure that I have my keys and letting Roman know that I was ready to go.
"Be a good boy, okay?" I tell Jackson. He's always been a good dog with me, but it's become habit every time I go out, to say that. "I'll be home soon."
He whines and I pout, wanting to take him with me. I bend down and I make sure he's okay before leaving. Going downstairs, I look around before looking up at Roman.
"Come." He says with that smile of his, holding out his hand.
I grab a hold of it and I could feel the electricity that passed through us when our hands touched. I wondered if he felt as it well, while he kept a firm hold on my hand, as if we were an actual couple. Once again, that feeling came over me again that I've had with him ever since we met. It's a feeling where I knew I was safe with him and that feeling where it felt normal. It felt right.
We got to Roman's car, and he opened the door for me, letting me go in first. When he made sure I was okay, he closed the door and got in on the driver's side, starting the car after he turned it on.
"Such a gentleman." I tell him, unzipping my coat a bit and trying to get comfortable.
"I'm capable of being a nice guy, you know." Roman tells me, putting on his seatbelt.
"I never said you weren't." I tell him, leaning my head back on the headrest and looking over at him.
He smiles as he pulls out of the parking and starts driving. "I know, there's people with money who aren't always the nicest people. There's people in general who are like that, regardless of the money, though."
"You don't let it get to your head, though." I say, looking over at him again.
Roman shrugs. "I remember what it feels like to not have a lot of money. To be broke and live paycheck to paycheck."
We stayed quiet for a moment before talking about how our days went and I almost didn't realize that we were going over the George Washington Bridge.
"We're going to New Jersey?" I ask, surprised.
"Yeah. There's this really good Chinese place in Fort Lee." Roman replies. "Have you ever been to New Jersey?"
I thought for a moment. "A couple of times, but never for a date."
"So you agree that this is a date?" He asks, with amusement in his voice.
"What? Roman!" I exclaim, starting to feel embarrassed, thinking it probably wasn't a date. Was this really a date, though?
He chuckles. "Baby, I'm just teasing. This is definitely a date."
Something about the way he calls me 'baby', that gives my stomach butterflies. I still pout and look over at him before he grins and winks. When we get to the restaurant and park, he walks over to my side and grabs my hand again, as we walk to the entrance. By the looks of it, this place was packed with all of the cars that were here tonight.
"Have you ever been here before?" He asks.
"No." I say, looking at the large restaurant. "I just stick to the Chinese spot by my house. Or the one I order from sometimes at work for lunch."
Going inside, we stood in line and I can feel his presence behind me. The warmth from his body. His cologne. Just his overall being. When it's our turn, we pay for two adults and drinks before picking a table and placing our receipt down.
"An all you can eat, Chinese buffet? This is pretty cool." I mumble looking around the tables filled with people with plates of food.
After taking my coat off and placing it behind my chair, I follow Roman to where we can grab a plate and utensils and start looking around for what to get. I end up choosing pork fried rice with general tso and an egg roll. Roman shows up a moment later and we both grab a seat.
"How'd you end up taking Jackson in?" Roman asks, taking a bite of his broccoli.
"It's a bit of a long story, but it started when Jenny wanted to go get a puppy and so I went with her." I started out saying. "I didn't have any intentions of getting a pet for myself, so I wasn't trying to ask a lot of questions or anything like that, so I was just looking around. When we got to the pen where Jackson was in, he was there with a few other puppies but he stood out to me. He tumbled around and jumped around a bit before going into a little corner and just sitting there, all by himself. His owner, before he was put there, was the same owner for his mom, but he would abuse the mom and was just horrible with animals. Like he wasn't meant to be a pet owner. Beat his mom so badly that she was blind in one eye by the time he was born. She was also malnourished and neglected so she had trouble feeding her puppies, so they in turn, weren't getting the proper nourishment they needed from mom and since the owner was neglectful, it didn't help. People were starting to make complaints about how they were being treated, and when people came in to check, they ended up taking them away. They were able to help them out, bathe them. Feed them. Nursed them back to health and put them up for adoption. Even though the mom was blind in one eye, she was eventually adopted and so were his brothers, but they were being adopted one by one and Jackson was the only one left. By this time he was already four months old. I just felt this connection with him and I couldn't help but want to keep him and so I adopted him. I had to buy food and a small bed for him the same day and I took him home. He's been with me ever since."
Roman looks over at me and smiles. "Explains why he's so happy with you and loyal. You took him in and took care of him. Fed him. Bathed him. Made sure he was healthy and strong. Treated him good. You still do."
"That's my little baby." I say. "Well, he's not a baby anymore and he's clearly not little anymore, but you get what I mean. Do you have any pets that I don't know about?"
"Nope." He says. "But I do like dogs, so that's a plus, right?"
I laugh softly, our eyes catch, and everything around us seemed to stop. All that seemed to matter at that moment was just me and him in this very moment in time. My face grows warm with the way he looks at me, which is how he looks at me more often than I realized. I wasn't used to being given all the attention that he gave me, and with my experience, I sometimes doubted any genuine feelings or reasons. But I did like being the center of his attention.
"I'm going to get some more food." I say, breaking the connection momentarily.
"Yeah, me too." He says.
We both take our time, but when we get back to our seats, its as if we picked up where we left off, talking about things that we have in common and learning about each other. We were there for what seemed like forever, even though it was two hours before we finally left. When we were finally in the car, driving back over the bridge, Roman looked like he had something on his mind, though he started talking before I could ask anything.
"I know this is a first date, and there's all this stuff about what you can and can't talk about on the first date or whatever, but I feel like this is something I should tell you." He says. "Something I should be honest with you about."
Looking up at him, I give him a curious look. "What is it?"
"Eleven years ago, I was diagnosed with Leukemia." Roman says, keeping his eyes on the road. "We were able to quickly put it in remission, and I was okay. But back in October, it came back. I had some blood work done, and they told me that they found something off and wanted to do the blood work again, just to make sure. So we did it again and when we got the results back, I knew there was something wrong and given my history, we knew what it was."
"What about now?" I ask, looking ahead.
"I'm in remission." Roman replies. "But I wanted to let you know because I thought you should know that about me. I thought something like that should be mentioned, given that it's about my health."
Looking out the window, I could see his reflection a bit and couldn't take my eyes off of him. I guess this is what a lot of people think when they ask how could someone be so sick when they look so healthy. But it doesn't take a genius to see that Roman, despite his Leukemia, takes good care of himself, and tries to be as healthy as he can be.
"You really are in remission?" I ask in a tiny voice.
"Yeah, I am." He replies. "Talk to me, Giselle."
I look over at him and see that he's still trying to pay attention to the road, with one hand on the steering wheel and the other hand on dash between us.
"Does this change anything?" I ask. "Between us? I don't want to go through it again, where I lose someone drop cancer."
"It doesn't have to." Roman replies. "I'll keep fighting. I'm in remission, I make sure I'm doing what I can to stay healthy. I'm trying and staying positive and having faith in God that I'll be okay."
"You're feeling okay?" I ask. "I mean, after all the treatments, you're okay?"
"I feel good." He says, reassuringly. "Positive."
I realized we were almost in my neighborhood and I took his hand without thinking. Looking down at our joined hands, mine fit perfectly in his. Roman looked as if he wanted to smile, and I leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you." I whisper in his ear before sitting back in my seat.
The rest of the ride happened too quickly and we were parking in front of my building. I was disappointed because I didn't want it to end. Despite the news that Roman was in remission, I still cared more than I was letting on and I had the habit of caring too much once I started. He walks me up to my apartment and we turn to face each other.
"Would you like to come in?" I ask. "I think I might have some desert, if you'd like."
"Sure." He replies with an amused smile. "I think o can fit in a little bit more."
We went in and I checked on Jackson after putting my stuff down, to see that he was getting up and making his way over to me.
"Hey, Jackson." I say, scratching his neck. "How's my big guy doing, huh?"
A few moments later, he goes back to his bed and lays down comfortably. I catch Roman looking on and I quickly feel my face grow warm when he smiles. I found some ice cream that I had left in the freezer and we shared some while we talked.
"You know, I thought you'd try to do some fancy restaurant where you have to dress up and end up with a bill of over $300." I say. "But I liked this. It was very simple. Not that there's anything wrong with a fancy restaurant, as long as the food and the service are really good. I just liked it."
"I thought about it." He says. "But you're different. It doesn't mean I won't ever take you to a place you might consider fancy, I thought this would be a good start."
I stayed quiet for a moment and he could tell something was on my mind, but a part of me didn't want to express it. Leaning against the counter, it took me by surprise when Roman stepped closer to me and put a hand on one side of the counter.
"Giselle," He softly says, his strong fingers brushing against the back of my arm and sending warmth and electric shocks throughout my body, while his voice made me want to hear more. His eyes urging me to talk and I hesitated. What the hell was going on with me?
"I care too much." I blurt out and he looks confused. "Once I start caring about someone or something, I tend to care too much."
His eyes soften and he stands in front of me, placing his other hand on the other side of me. Being this close in proximity to this man, was something else. My mind nearly went blank and my stomach fluttered.
"Do you consider that a bad thing?" Roman asks.
"So I'm sensitive, I've always known that about myself. I feel everything so deeply and I've grown to like it once I accepted that it's how I am. I just...I don't want to scare you off by caring too much about things. About you."
"And here I was, hoping I wouldn't scare you off with the leukemia thing." He mumbles.
Looking up at him, I say, "I've been through the whole cancer thing with my sister, remember? But I'm sorry, in advance."
"Don't apologize for that." Roman says, shaking his head and suddenly pulling away from me. "Don't apologize for how you are, Giselle and don't let anybody make you feel bad for it and don't let anyone make you doubt yourself. Since the time we've met, I've seen how smart you are. I've seen how much of a heart you have, especially when you're with Jenny and Jackson."
Hearing Jackson's whimpers, I quickly look to see him walking towards me. I rub his back, trying to see if he was okay when I remembered the loud music that I can still hear, even with the doors closed. It wasn't coming from my floor, but we weren't exactly sure what floor it was that the music was coming from. It wasn't the first time this week that it's happened, but I'm sure he doesn't like it. Neither does everybody else that's complained about it.
"It's okay, buddy." I tell him, letting him stay beside me.
"Are you working on Friday?" I hear Roman ask.
Turning my attention back to him. "No, I have to take him to the Vet. It was the only day I could get him in."
"Pack a weekend bag for yourself and Jackson." Roman says. "I'll come pick you up."
"Excuse me?" I say, shaking my head, as if he was speaking a different language. "What? Pack a bag for what? Where are you taking me? Why do I need a bag and why does that sound like I'll be away from here for more than a few hours?"
All he does is shrugs and gives a hint of a smile. "You'll see, but pack enough clothes for the weekend. Clothes that you'll be comfortable in and clothes for dinner. Don't forget to bring Jackson. Now be a good boy for her, okay? And I'll see you on Friday, right buddy?"
Roman scratches his head before grabbing his jacket and without saying another word about Friday, he turns as I walk towards him and the door.
"Goodnight, Blue Eyes." He says with that handsome smile.
"I better be the only person getting all of these nicknames from you." I blurt out without thinking.
Roman chuckles. "Of course you are."
I could see the sincerity in his eyes and I felt butterflies again in my stomach. He gave me a wink before looking over at my dog and smiling. He walked out of the door and I waited until he had gotten on the elevator. Closing the door, I let out a sigh and look over at Jackson who was sitting a few feet away from me. I didn't know what to think. I was starting to care a lot about this guy. More than I have about any man that wasn't my brother. It's been so long since I've felt anything for a guy and I wasn't sure if it made me happy or scared. That feeling I get when I'm with him, it's something I haven't felt with a guy in I don't know how long, and it makes me want to hesitate because I tend to doubt people's reason for wanting to be with me or be around me until I trust them enough to stop doubting and they show me that they won't leave. But something tells me that I need to keep him around a bit longer and that it will be okay. Something deep inside of me that tells me that the good guy is the 6 foot 3, Samoan and Italian man with tattoos, long hair and a billionaire, with a good heart and a man that had faith in a higher power and that man is Roman. I just hope that it keeps being that man.