Things She Did Under His Nose (2)

"Have you met with any of the Laws? How's the house?" I eagerly asked.

"No and yes. Fem Manor is already done as planned. All including the interiors, furnitures and cabinets are complete. An interior designer should see it." Dan answered.

"Sure, but what do you mean by No and Yes?" I went back to his answer curiously.

"Oh, that! I wasn't able to talk to any of the Laws but guess who I met? Oh my! My heart nearly stopped beating when she sat beside me at the bus. She's so icy cold and adorably beautiful bro!" Dan's voice was a bit ecstatic that I found it exaggerated.

" Was it Fem?" I asked.

"Yeah, she rode the bus at the store we stopped before. I never expected it. But I pretended not to have noticed her and acted anonymously. I covered my face and pretended to be asleep! Hahaha!!!" Dan continued.

"So you didn't even say hello to her? How could you be so uncivilized? What era is it now, you moronic monkey?!!! Don't you know the basics of communication?" I suddenly realized that that encounter should have been a channel for him to curry my estate to my love that I wasn't actually married. But this monkey just wasted the chance! I was so disappointed and angry at him!

"I know, bro, I know! I regret having not talked to her, but before I made up my mind to talk to her, she recognized me and stayed away from me. She moved to the driver's side and was the one who alighted first from the bus. By the time I came out, she was already gone!" Dan said from the other line.

"Such a waste of chance! Why can't you grow your brain more quickly! Don't tell me, my woman is smarter than you!" I taunted him.

"Haha! Only in your eyes, your woman is the smartest!" He laughed.

'So my love actually went home? I just hope she talked to her parents also. But how about her cousin? Could they have met by this time? My love, please just wait for me! Please give me chance to prove to you that everything you believed about me was a lie. How could you not fight for me?' I felt a sudden anxiousness and fear that she might be planning her marriage by this time.

I can't settle with this thought so I called back Dan again.

"How's that Engineer Law doing at work by the way? Was he at work these days? " I asked.

"Yeah, he has been in constant company with the other engineers these past months. Why do you ask?" Dan asked back.

"Do you have any brain at all? Try asking him about his plan to settle. Does he have girlfriend and when will he get married! Sort of things like that! " I furiously said.

"Hahahha! Bro, calm down. Don't think too much! Aren't you able to find this out? I can't believe you are a major at that!" It was Dan's turn to taunt me.

" Well, I can't believe that you aren't even willing to help me in this. Come to think of it, it's just a simple request. " I felt annoyed.

"You don't need to be that anxious bro. Engineer Law has been working non-stop with his superiors. We had a light drinking moment last week here and he mentioned about taking his civil service exams this week. I suppose the exams was held nationwide yesterday...

Well, if you're asking about his love life, he vaguely mentioned about being left hanging by the girl he loves. He must still be waiting for her till this time. You should already know whom he is talking about, bro." Dan stopped his annoying tone and changed it into a more formal one. This made me at least got convinced by him.

...

The following week, I still proceeded to my usual evening schedule. This time, I resumed my plan of taking a walk along the gate and and around the small park at the side of those houses. That evening, she was the one who tossed the garbage at the bin. She was in a three-forth loose cotton blue pants and a sleeves pink top. The two other ladies played with the two large dogs. I saw her retrieve a phone from her pocket and aimed at those two pairs playing. They were laughing as the dogs climbed on them like kids longing to be carried by their parents. I caught her melancholic voice as she paused to take a photo with the two dogs beside her. One of the girls took the shot of her. I watched and smiled to my amusement.

Each and every evening I see her, she seems to be turning so mysterious and hard to reach. Every time I devise a plan to approach her, it all goes down to the drain when I see her laughing and playing like she doesn't care about anything in this world, not to mention heart matters. How could she be so carefree like that when all I do is to ache for her!?

I drove to the headquarters. I couldn't sleep after taking a shower and sat up on my bed. I held my phone and played each and every video I took of her. While playing them, my mind was trying to analyze what best approach could work for such a smart and independent woman to fall in love head over heels to a man. It seems none of what I know works for her!

In my frustration, I got up and went to my study to check work related matters trying to get away from that thought.

I held a particular file with names of 10 police interns who will be arriving next week. They will be accommodated as a group and will be assigned at different precincts. Five were from B City while the other five were from the North Province. I wrote a note on the file and put it aside, making a mental note to check the boarding house near the headquarters tomorrow .