Chapter Five: Alejandro

I turn to look at Gwen. I felt her stare. She is as beautiful as the sunset why did I have to look at a sunset when someone like her existed. I push myself to smile and she smiles too.

"You have a beautiful smile, Gwen," I said feeling a rush of heat reach my face, staring at her showing her that I am the one noticing her and not the attention Mark was showing her before.

"Thank you," She said not blushing as I wish she would have. She turns her head back to the sunset.

"No problem. I have an idea! I have a polaroid camera right here to take a picture of the sunset" I said excitedly. She moves a little bit away from the position of the sunset.

"I don't like taking pictures, it's not my thing"

"I take pictures of nature. I don't take pictures of people much but if I did take a picture of a person it would be because I like them" She glances at me. I place the camera in the position of the sunset but when I look through the magnifier, She is in the picture. I take a picture...of her...the picture prints out and I slid it under the table.

"Alejandro! The sky is turning pink!" No one has ever called my name like that in a long time. My mom used to call me by my name happily but now that she was gone..."Are you done," she said chuckling.

"Yeah, I took the picture" of you...

"Oh ok good," she says as she continues to watch the sun go down "Do you have siblings," she asks.

"Yeah I have younger sister twins and a stepbrother on the way," I said.

"The step has the same dad or mom?"

"Same dad" She seemed as she was going to ask about my mom now but she seems to hold back.

"I have two siblings, one is a girl, the other a boy," she said sounding as if she was getting annoyed by those words.

"What are the names and age differences?" I asked questionably wondering if I asked too much.

"The girl is 12 years younger, Gabriella, the boy was 10 years younger, Stefan," she said. I noticed her little accent here and there. She seemed it sound that they were frustrating.

"By your tone, I can tell they are ignorant? Or are you" I said smirking pushing her shoulder back a little.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah" she laughs, pushing my shoulder a little harder. But her hand clings onto my sleeve.

"Aye I was just playing," I said with a raised eyebrow surprised that she hasn't moved her hand. The sun goes away completely. We head back inside. But as we enter through the door we slip and bang our heads on the ground. I open my eyes slowly, I see one of her veins glow. Why is it glowing? I did not want to say anything because it was probably a hallucination of banging my head. I get up slowly and lend her my hand. As she grabs my hand and I feel a strong shock run through my body. She lets go of my hand but I grab it again, tighter this time, and pull her up. After she looks up, her eyes...are glowing...they look like electricity.

"Your eyes are glowing," Mark shouts as he backs up getting on top of the table.

"What are you talking about?" I say as I go look at myself in the mirror. There is nothing in my eyes. It was Gwen's eyes that were glowing.

"I saw it while you two held hands," He yells with his eyes wide open.

"You are hallucinating," Gwen whispers rubbing the spot in her head that she hurt when she fell on the ground.

"Gwen, it's not true. Don't listen to that man, he a lil' cookoo in the head," TJ says.

"Yeah, We were looking straight at Alejandro, his eyes were not glowing!" Stacy and Ben say.

"Maybe it is when our hands touch," She says as she grabs my hands. I gulped.

"Nothing is happening!" I say laughing.

"Ok, whatever" Mark gets off the table and sits on the couch.

Everyone already left. I rush out to the patio to see if she comes to the loft so I can say good night one more time. I wait about 15 minutes outside, It is getting colder by the minute. I see her walk in and I yell her name as loud as I can. She looks at me and goes to her porch. She says good night in Korean as I yell Good Night in Korean as well and whisper "You are beautiful" She couldn't hear me and asks me what I said, I said nothing important. She waves as she heads inside. I watch her as she turns off the lights and walks swiftly up the stairs. When I walk back inside, I feel drowsy in a way that I never felt before. I need sleep, that will help.

-

I look at myself, I seem the age when I was 11. I look around me and I am in an attic. I notice a girl about 5 years old with her face blurred drawing on the floor with chalk.

"What are you drawing?"

"I am drawing lab," She answers.

"A lab? Why?" How does she know what a lab looks like?

"This is where I get in trouble" She lets out a deep breath as if she is scared.

"In trouble?"

"Yeah in subway"

"Why is the lab 'in subway'?"

"That is where she is"

"Who is there?... Do you know what she looks like... Do you know her name?"

"What"

"Do you not understand?" She nods her head no from what I can see in this darkness.

-

My phone rings...I had another weird dream...The first thing I think is who is that little girl and why were me and her in an attic. I smack myself telling my head to snap out of it... it's only a dream. I answer the phone with no caller ID.

"Hello"

"Hello Son" I get up, recognizing whose voice it is.

"Uh...You have called the wrong number" I hang up and throw my phone on the floor. Then I slowly picked it back up to see if it was okay. My phone rings again. Should I pick it up? or Should I decline the call? Fine, I will be a good son today.

"Hello Son"

"Mhmm...What do you need now?"

"Have you started on the work I sent you?"

"What work? You did not send me anything...I did not see anything"

"You are right, I did not, Good...You are being attentive"

"Ok," I say with a straight face. Is that supposed to be a compliment? I scratch my head, I feel like that is an insult.

"Go to your door and open it"

"Now?" I get up and open the door. My father.

"Hello, Son," I laugh. I can never win can I?

"Why are you laughing?" My father asks as he enters the loft to sit on the couches of the living room as he looks at how the place looks and scoffs because it is not as big as the house in Australia. I follow him to sit down also.

"Nothing"

"Ok well, I am here to give you the paperwork for the company that you owe me," He puts stacks of papers in front of me plus dozens of USB drives too.

"Oh yeah, that," I remember what I heard in Australia. I look at him with anger filled in my eyes. Should I ask him about it? Maybe I should. I will. "Before you say anything else, I want to tell you the reason I left and I want you to answer questions for me," I say with a straight face showing no sign of emotion now.

"I was about to ask you the same thing but let me explain what you do with these papers and USB drives first" I let him explain. "You go over these papers, sign them as you make new plans for the company. The USB drives are powerpoints to presentation to present to the shareholders and future business partners. Ever since you became the face of the company, everyone is falling for your looks and smarts thanks to me and business is heading back on top" I ignore his pride.

"Ok now for what I have to say" I continue with the same facial expression. "I left because I overheard the conversation between you and step-mom." His eyes open wide.

"You heard the whole conversation?" By the way, he was asking that question...

"I think so but I guess I did not," I say "Regarding mom" He looks straight into the eyes.

"What did you hear?"

"I can not repeat what you said, You will say I am lying but I know what I heard"

"Try me," My father said with so much pride in the way he said those two words.

"I heard that it was not your fault she died...step-mom said it was both your faults"

"Hmmm...ok... is that all you heard?" He calmly asks.

"You did something to mom and I am going to find out more"

"I advice you not to" My father stands up and walks to the door. "What you find out will not be able to handle"

"I do not care what it takes...I will do it for mom" A tear falls down my face but I wipe it so he doesn't see my weakness.

"Your mom is not who you think she is..." My father says walking out, slamming the door. What is he talking about? He needs to stop with all these lies. I look at the clock; It is almost time for me to go to the cafe. I am still wearing the clothes from yesterday. I change into my uniform and run to the coffee shop and stand in the cashier spot waiting for her. I have been waiting for an hour, It is about time Gwen came. I wondered if she was okay. I asked Stacy because she and Stacy keep in contact since they have known each other longer. I have no known her for too long.

"Did she say anything?"

"No, not yet I just texted her, lover boy"

"I am not a lover boy just a friend"

"Yeah, right I know the way you look at her is not like a friend" I blush

"We are just friends." My face turns redder than it was.

"Oh, here she texted," Stacy says as she tells me what she says "Hey Stacy, Thanks for checking up on me! I am okay just a lot of work at the company. Hope to see y'all soon!"

"Can you tell her I miss her?

"Sure," She says rolling her eyes. Her phone rings "She already responded she said 'Miss ya too bud,' dang she just friend-zoned you"

"Really?"

"I am just kidding I am not sure I mean she called you 'bud' but she could be calling you 'bud' in a flirting way"

"Oh really" I stand up straightening my shirt with a big smile on my face.

"Heyyy," A girl says as she winks at me, smiling big.

"How are you?" I ask looking confused.

"I am great what about you?"

"I could be better"

"Oh, are you okay? Do you need a hug?" She reaches out her arms to me still smiling.

"No, I am okay, not to be rude but do you ever stop smiling?"

"I have nothing to be sad about! I have a happy family life! I grew up happy! I have no problems!"

"Oh okay...uh nice"

"I like you, you are my type!"

"What?!"

"OH nothing hehe...so we are dating now...marriage is on the way...you have to meet my parents...I do not need to meet yours I already know they will love me" She laughed.

"Woah there...I don't know who you are and what you are saying but you can put a stop" I stand up. I begin to walk away but she catches my hand.

"Calm down," She says trying to catch her breath. I sit down remembering what Stacy said: "I was pretending, You see I am an actress, I was acting out a scene I have in my upcoming movie, did I do good?"

"..."

"...so can be friends...I am Ci-Xi" She lets out one hand. Right then, I knew my thoughts were right about her.

"Alejandro..." I let out my hand too.

"Well see you later," She says getting up, walking away. I stand up quickly realizing what she just said.

"Later?"

That night, I get on Instagram and wonder if Gwen has Instagram. I search for her name and she is the first person who pops up. I look at her account and see if she has posted anything lately. She posted on her story which says 'Logging out for a while, Stay healthy." I begin to have a feeling of sadness as I doze off to sleep.

Days and days pass by...

Ci-Xi and I have been closer as friends. Every time we saw each other, she told me a different story of how her parents would argue or just a problem she has. Her parents would throw plates and furniture across the house. She would figure this out by walking downstairs when she is supposed to be upstairs with her brother. Her parents would act innocent but she knew. She is finally realizing the problems in her life, opening up to me about them. And I let her know that we all struggle no matter who we are.

"What about you? Has anything ever happened in your life?"

"My mom...died...when I was 11 years old a few months after my twin sisters were born" She starts to make a sad face. "She died in a car crash"

"That is always the worst...I am sorry to hear that" She says as she puts her hand to her heart as if her heart was in her hand. "Wait a second I am getting a call from my parents" She walks to the bathroom.

"What did they say?" I ask as she walks back.

"They are on their way to the coffee shop"

"Ok, so I can talk to them." I see them arrive at the cafe as I notice that they look very much like Ci-Xi.

"W-wh-...Hey Mom and Dad!" She runs to them. They seem so annoyed with each other.

"Hi hun," They both say.

"My friend wants to talk to you"

"Oh really?"

"Yes sir and ma'am" I walk up to them and shake their hands. They look at me surprised as if they know me. I overlook it, "This way please" I lead them to the second floor and signal Ci-Xi with my hands to stay and drink coffee as I walk upstairs. We sit down at a table.

"What can we do for you today?" Ci-Xi's dad says.

"What do you want to talk to us about?" The mom says.

"I wanted to ask you...because I noticed that your daughter has been having little panic attacks and acting a little different as if she has a lot of stress or what I am trying to say...I know she has Psedoseizure, a psychological nonepileptic seizure...it's serious ...I have seen it in her" The couple looks at each other scared.

"I knew we shouldn't have let her have friends" The mother mumbles.

"What happened? Did she do something not right? Is she in trouble?"

"No she is doing well, I just want to know why you lie to her about her illness?"

"It is not that we do not wan-"

"No that is not the point. You are hiding something very important to her or something that she should know and that she doesn't. Why do you not put yourself in her shoes or just a moment, If you had an illness and your parents who you love and trust never told you, How would you feel?" They look at each other again, disappointed in themselves.

"You are right...We have been hiding it for 16 yea-"

"16 years?!..."

"Yes..."

"I advise you...to watch what you do to her...it is none of my business to tell her...but please think it through" I get up and push my chair under the table as the couple looks at me strangely and I walk away. I walk downstairs and take her away as she becomes shocked. I have to tell her the truth...

We walk down the street as I am still in my uniform...I have to start a casual conversation so this does not come as a shock to her. What conversation can I start with? Maybe with the topic, I am trying to get to, her parents.

"So what do your parents do at their company?"

"I am not sure...I never asked them" She did not ask anything about why I took her away, she probably is not in a good state of mind right now.

"So what is your brother name, you never told me"

"His name is Kai-Xin"

"Oh...um..." Should I tell her or no? I can't "Nevermind"

-

One day I sit in the cafe after I finished working and Ci-Xi comes by. We sit and talk. She mentions she will go to China for a few days to shoot a scene in the show she is doing. We exchange numbers so we keep in touch. As we are exchanging numbers, I notice Gwen looking at us. I run outside to see her. She runs away...was it her? Why was she here? Did she see me and Ci-Xi? What if she thinks...No I am seeing things...she is busy...she would not have time to come here...

1 month and a half pass by...January 2021

I get a phone call...it is an unknown number...

"Hello" I answer in a morning raspy voice.

"Hey I am not sure if you remember me but I am Rosa, Gwen's friend." I sit up hearing the woman's name that I have not talked to for two months.

"Oh yeah I remember you"

"Well, I wanted to invite you to a trip, I and my fiance are making with friends. It is for two days. We are going to be exploring New York City. We wanted to know if you wanted to come?"

"Who is going?"

"It is going to be Gwen..." That one name made me want to go. "Mark, Jane, Ann-Marie, Azul, and Akio. On your side, you can invite other friends if you want?"

"Sure! I want to go! I can invite my best friend and another friend I have"

"Sounds like a plan. We are going to start early but to be more organized I want all of us to stay at someone's place. Maybe, If you do not mind, we can come to your place tomorrow at 1 a.m.? All 8 of us come early and just go to sleep either in one of your rooms or in the living room on a table, wherever is fine."

"Umm...yeah I think it can work out"

"Ok great! Bye," She says as she hangs up.

-

The next morning my alarm rings...I get up and head to the bathroom to brush my teeth, take a shower, and wash my face with the cream that I buy from South Korea quickly. I finish and head to the kitchen and make coffee for everyone. I take out coffee mugs for everyone to have. I make the coffee thinking of Gwen. I am feeling nervous. I hope it is not awkward.

I hear the doorbell ring and rush to the door. It is everyone all at once.

"Hey Park," TJ says as he yawns.

"Hi, Alejandro...Sorry..."I look to see Gwen, she's half asleep. Rosa and her fiancee are holding her "...last night she stayed up doing her last day of work until her break, which is starting today. She only slept for 1 hour..." Rosaline whispers as they carry Gwen to the couch. I notice four other people which must be Azul, Akio, Jane, and Ann-Marie. That Akio must be friends with Gwen. I hope they are not close.

"Thanks," Everyone said as I handed them coffee

"Hi Alejandro, I am Azul and this is Akio, my younger brother, where do we sleep?" I had two bedrooms, one room with an office that has a couch, an L-shaped couch, an open room at the corner of the house that has arcade games, and a 2 one person couch.

"Ok so you and your brother can sleep in the bedroom down the hall to the right, What are their names?" I ask Azul as I point to the other two girls.

"That is Jane and her sister Ann-Marie"

"Ok thanks. Hey, Jane and Ann-Marie," They look at me "One of you can sleep in my office, on the couch I have there. The other can sleep here on the couch with Gwen, on the longer side of the L. Aye and you TJ sleep on the couch at the end"

"Bet you already know" He heads to throw himself on the couch. Ann-Marie heads to the office. Jane lays on the couch.

"Rosa, you can sleep in the room with Azul if that is okay with you all?"

"Yeah, sure!"

"I put extra blankets in there too...You can sleep in my room" I point at Rosa's fiance to show him where my room is. I turn off the lights.

It is 7:30 a.m. I change and wash up. Then I sit at the dining table finding myself watching Gwen as she sleeps. A visual of sleeping beauty but more gorgeous. I walked slowly towards her trying to not make a noise. I bent down next to her. I did not move her hair from her face, I did not touch her face, and I did not put a blanket on her. I only looked at her until I fell asleep.

I wake up to Gwen's scream...

"Mom Dad! Wake up, don't die!"

"Gwen wake up" I shake her awake

"Do not let her take me, Alejandro!" Gwen pulls me by my hands. She looks at me, her eyes full of...electricity? I am not seeing it wrong. My eyes start glowing bright too because I see it in her eyes. She quickly takes her hands off of me, the electricity of both our eyes goes away." I am so sorry"

"It is alright"

"What did I do?"

"Just a bad dream"

"We have to wake everyone up"

"I think I saw someone go to the bathroom. TJ, Rosa's fiance..."

"Ross"

"Yeah, him Ann-Marie and Akio are still sleeping"

"Wait, Akio is here?"

"Yeah," She pushes a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Do you have an open room I can change?"

"I have my room"

"You do not mind do you?"

"No, it is alright, just head up the stairs it will be the room to the left"

"Thanks, Alejandro" She smiles and grabs her bag, and heads upstairs. I go to wake the others up. Half of the guests are in the kitchen and dining table having a good time. I see Jane come downstairs and Ann-Marie coming from the bathroom down here. Jane is wearing a furry green coat with a black outfit. Ann-Marie is wearing a gray winter coat with a blue sweater and blue sweatpants and grey vans. TJ has something similar. He is wearing all black though except for his white shoes. He is wearing white Jordan 11s.

"So who's car are we going to ride in?" Akio asked. He is wearing a yellow jacket with jeans and black shoes that are made from leather just like his jacket.

"I can have three people in my car," Gwen says as she walks downstairs in a tan skin color dress and black long boots. A big black winter coat. She looks like a model.

"Me, Ross, and..." Rosa says as Akio is about to say him but I cut him off.

"I can ride too," I say. She and Ross are twining. Both are wearing a red and black plaid jacket with white furry sweaters and black jeans. Rosa is wearing white boots and Ross is wearing brown leather shoes.

"Y'all are cute with those outfits," All the girls say to the couple.

"The rest can ride in our family car, a GMC" Azul says. She has Black hair, dark eyes, she looks Hawaiian but she looks like a mix of Hispanic too. Jane and Ann-Marie are mixed with black and white. The older one has darker skin than her sister which had very light skin. The younger one had rare eyes. Her eyes were blue and an icy grey. She was taller than her older sister. Jane wore glasses and Ann-Marie did not. Each one of them is unique I realized.

We head downstairs to get in the cars parked at a parking garage whereas Gwen's car was parked at her building garage. Me, Ross, and Rosa headed that way. She has a white Camaro, nice. Rosa gave Akio the address of the IHOP we are going to. We get in the car and head out of the garage. I see the others drive behind us as we are on our way. They have a blue GMC. We cross a bridge, I look at the sky. It seems it is going to snow. I am in the front sitting next to Gwen. We had little conversations about how busy she was and that she missed everyone at the cafe and by the end of this weekend she is going to start going back regularly. We play R&B songs until we get to IHOP.

We arrive 25 minutes later. Gwen sits down and Akio automatically sat next to Gwen. I rushed to sit next to Gwen too so he does not get too close to her. You know, just protecting her as a friend. Azul sat next to her brother. Jane and Ann-Marie sat next to Azul. While TJ sat next to me. Then followed with Ross and Rosaline. We all started looking over the menu. We have a waiter now. She came to take our drink and food orders. When the food comes, I watch as Gwen takes the first bite of her pancake full of syrup. She now has a little bit of syrup on the side of her mouth. I reach for a napkin to give to her and you would never guess who else reached her a napkin.

"Here," Me and Akio say at the same time with a napkin in our hands.

"Do I have something on my face?" Gwen says surprised.

"Syrup," Akio and I say again.

"Oh," She touches her face to see where it is and grabs Akio's napkin. I am never going to win with this guy. She wipes her mouth she says "Since we are all together right now, I wanted to let you know something about myself, Rosaline already knows but y'all don't. I can never go to a hospital"

"What do you mean?" I ask as everyone probably has the name question in mind like me.

"It is just me...I just never can go so if I get hurt please just take me to my place or somewhere you can help me yourself"

"Ok we understand, I do not like hospitals either, I feel like I am going to throw up," Jane says as we all laugh and say we feel the same. We finished eating and each one of us pays for our meal.

We enter the Brooklyn Botanic garden through the Eastern gate. We start to walk through the Osborne Garden. Rosa and Ross are holding hands as all of us stay together. This garden is simple as we walk through it. I wish I could have had a more deep conversation with Gwen. She is busy talking to Akio and Azul. I enjoy the scenery as they speak.

"What is the plan that we are going here?" Akio asked.

"You are right, we need a plan," Jane says.

"Well I looked at the map of this place on my phone and this is what I came up with," Azul says as she takes out her phone, "So we are in Osborne right now, right?"

"Yup," TJ says nodding his head. Azul shows us a map on her phone and plans where we should go. We walk slowly because we were all still full from the restaurant. We were now at the Cranford Rose Garden. The guys waited outside for the girls to see the Roses. However, Akio went inside all of a sudden and grabbed a red rose. He tapped Gwen's shoulder and gives her the rose. Maybe, that is her favorite flower. She is a classic. She gives him a big smile. Her smile is so perfect. What I did not like was her smiling at someone else. She puts it in her long-stringed black purse. I watch her as she walks with Akio all around the Rose Garden as if they were walking down the aisle. TJ nudges me as we read each other's minds. We are reading each other's minds now.

'Why are you sad?'

'You know'

'Ohh Gwen' I nod my head yes and he gives me an 'I already knew that' look. Everyone else finishes walking and we start walking towards the Cherry Esplanade. We all walk following Azul. I am in the back by myself as everyone has their conversations. However, Gwen turns around running away from Akio. Akio seems confused. I look behind me and there is no one. Is she running towards me?

"Hey do not be alone you hear! You have me! We can talk as we walk down this Cherry Esplanade" She smiles and grabs me by the sleeve. I am sure I have her this time.