88 Hurry Up!
Three days later.
Friday morning, Caroline receives a text message from Daniel informing her that their meeting in Annabel's Bar & Restaurant will finally take place tonight.
'About time,' she told herself. Although she was expecting that they will be talking about the land but she was more curious about this important thing that he wanted to tell her. Daniel is a complete mystery to her and he piqued her curiosity.
The inside of the bar looks pretty safe, she was confident that nothing could go wrong there. Her whole being was already conditioned to meet Daniel.
She looked at her daughter sleeping soundly in her crib.
Time to get up from the bed entered the bathroom and do her thing.
She went straight downstairs after exiting the bathroom and went to the kitchen. She mixed her favorite coffee in the mug. Her mother and Merle were preparing eggplant omelet and fried Tilapia fish for breakfast.
Two hours later, breakfast preparation was finished and they gathered in the living room eating their morning meal.
Done breakfast. Caroline carries her daughter in her arms, exited the house and tries to catch a few morning sunlight for her daughter before the sun will finally unleash a cancer-causing heat.
Finished strolling outside, Caroline and her daughter sat on the chair in the veranda for a rest.
Thelma steps out of the door and joined Caroline in the veranda.
"Daughter, I have a question for you," she said.
Caroline glanced at her mother. "What is it, Mom?"
"Was Mike already your boyfriend? Are you two in a relationship together?" Thelma asked directly.
Caroline smiled. "Yes, he's my boyfriend already and we're officially a couple now. Are you okay with our relationship, Mother?" She asked for her mother's opinion.
Thelma smiled. "For some reason, I like Mike for you. I have no restriction when it comes to your frequent going out with him since you are both a mature adult. Besides, no matter what happens, Mike is more than capable to give you a happy life. So, yeah, I give my blessings to both of you. If you guys would like to marry someday, you already had my blessings," she said wearing a pleasant smile on her face.
Caroline smiled. "Yeah, we're going to marry two years later, Mom," she admitted.
"That's good! Take your time and enjoy each other before marriage comes," Thelma said.
"Thanks for giving us your blessings, Mom," Caroline said.
Thelma remembered her daughter's ex-boyfriend all of a sudden. "Mike is good compared to your ex-boyfriend, drug addict Greg," she said.
Caroline fell silent immediately, remembering so well how her first love ended in a painful separation when the police and PDEA personnel attack their hideout wanting to arrest her boyfriend. From that moment onward, she no longer has any news of Greg's whereabouts. They lost contact with each other.
The only thing she knows after their horrific escape was that he became a wanted man because he was a drug dealer that supplies illegal drugs to a lot of people, destroying their bright future especially teenagers.
During her younger years, she thought it's cool to have a boyfriend like him because he always gives her money and always been a doting boyfriend to her. He was her first love, the first guy who gives her everything.
They plan to get married someday, raised a beautiful family together and Greg would stop selling drugs after he saves a lot of money for their church wedding and livelihood.
Those happy moments ended abruptly.
Just like any other love story, her love story with Greg comes to an end, which turns into a nightmare, then fading slowly with time.
A car honked and drove by outside.
Caroline was instantly hurled back into the present times.
"Tell me, daughter, what's so special about Greg that you defied me so many times in the past?"
Caroline looked at her mother, her brows knitted together. "Huh? Are we talking about my past?"
Thelma nodded her head. "Yes. You are so stubborn before. You would not separate yourself with Greg even though he was a drug addict and drug dealer."
Caroline rolled her eyes. "Mother, how many times I told you before, Greg doesn't use drugs, he only sells them, he is a businessman, not a drug addict!" she defended her 'ex' again against her mother's prejudice attitude towards Greg.
Thelma snorted. "Hmph! As if, it would be impossible for a drug dealer not to be a drug user as well, tell it to the marines!" she snorted.
Caroline was shaking her head in bafflement, why on earth they are talking about her~ex?
"Mother, let's not talk about him anymore, we are no longer in the past, we are in the present times and my life is different now. If I have the same maturity compared before when I first met Greg, I wouldn't get myself involved with him. But...you know...young people made mistakes. Despite what people think of him, Greg was a great boyfriend to me. He loves me so much and pampered me," she said with affection gleaming in her eyes.
Thelma rolled her eyes not liking that her daughter was still defending her~ex~ and giving him high praises.
She used to think that between the twin, Caroline had harvested all the bad luck in the world while Catherine was luckier, she managed to marry her first boyfriend, John.
Caroline's first boyfriend was a drug addict and drug dealer. The second man in her life is Joseph the rapist. Now the third guy is Mike. This time, she can very well say to herself that Caroline will be luckier because Mike is a decent man although he also had a dark past. She was thankful that Mike sees something good in her daughter.
"I'm hoping that your good luck will start pouring in, daughter, now that you meet someone in your life as nice as Mike," Thelma said wistfully.
Caroline smiled, Mike is indeed a good catch. She's starting to fall for him due to his easy-going and romantic attitude towards her. He is lovable and got a caring personality to complete his charm, it's easy to love him.
The women decided to change the topic and talk about anything under the sun.
Fifteen minutes later, they entered the house as the sun rays were now facing their location turning the veranda like a hot furnace.
...
Nine hours later, after dinner.
Caroline was doing finishing touches on her attire, she wore a boho floral chiffon summer dress with red floral design for her meeting with Daniel.
"Mother dear, I'll go outside. I'm going to meet a friend nearby. Don't worry, I will come home early. Please take care of baby Cathy for me," Caroline said.
"Okay, take care of yourself," replied Thelma as she began putting baby Cathy's freshly laundered clothes in the cabinet.
Caroline applied pink berry lipstick on her lips and sprayed perfume on her body. She examined her appearance in the whole body mirror, satisfied, she picked up her shoulder bag and left the room.
She boarded her car in the garage area and drove slowly out of the subdivision.
A few minutes later, she arrived at Annabel's Bar & Restaurant. As usual, the restaurant was alive with customers.
She went straight to the bar, climb the stairs and informed the guard about Daniel's reservation on table #20.
"Can I see your ID, Ma'am?" the guard asked.
Caroline took her wallet from her bag and showed the guard her ID.
"Okay, Ma'am. Just go ahead, table #20 was the last one on the left side," the guard said.
"Thank you," said Caroline.
She ambled towards the last table in the hallway.
The cubicle was empty, Daniel has not arrived yet.
She fished out her phone from her shoulder bag and composed a text message to Daniel informing him that she had already arrived at their meeting place and currently sitting at the reserved table in Annabel's Bar & Restaurant. She emphasizes...' HURRY UP!' in her message.
She sent the text message to Daniel.
Ten minutes later, he replied. 'I'm coming, sweetheart. Please calm down.'
She texted...' Don't call me sweetheart!' along with five angry emoji and sent it to him.
He no longer replied.
Twenty minutes later.
A guy wearing a black jacket and white t-shirt underneath arrived at the top of the stairs, then he strolled casually towards the last table and sat down on the chair opposite Caroline.
