The Confession
"Hey, Martin, hello! Are you stressed again? Stop it, don't think about anything that could be a trigger!" Celine gave him encouragement. He wasn't in a mood to fully enjoy the moment because of the doubt about her motives for befriending him.
After he pointed out the truth about her healed foot, she walked around normally.
"When did you know it's completely healed?" He asked her while we were sightseeing. She walked close to him and hugged his arm. He started to get used to being close to her.
"Well, you caught me. I wrapped more gauze on this morning, and I think I couldn't feel much pain anymore." She smiled broadly after the confession.
"Why did you lie to me saying it hurts?" He probed. He wanted to give her a chance to explain because everything might not be as he suspected.
"It is difficult to say." He halted his steps as soon as he heard that. He didn't know what games she was playing, but he was not a willing pawn.
She turned to him, worried with his sudden coldness.
"What is stopping you from telling me the truth?"
"Martin. Err, I…I mean…" He wasn't content with this answer or the lack of answer, to be correct.
"Is it some sort of top secret that you couldn't share?"
"Not quite. Well…"
"If it's not such a big secret, then you can just tell me."
With his arms crossed, he waited and spoke so loudly that passersby turned in their direction. But the young girl was still hesitant. She looked left and right nervously.
"Fine! I will tell you! But we need to be somewhere private, somewhere quiet that there are only two of us."
The request left him perplexed. What was the reason for the privacy? It was just a small query about her hurt foot healing. It shouldn't be a big deal. Is there more secret she hadn't told him?
His distrust only grew, but he nodded and let her lead him to a private place where there were only the two of them as she requested.
And she led him to an unexpected place.
Truly unexpected.
A bar? She brought him to a bar? What was she up to?
Pubs and bars on the island were open to business from six in the morning until midnight. There were not that many people in the afternoon. She grabbed his wrist and walked determinedly towards a corner of the store. When the two of us sat down, she didn't hesitate to order a bottle of wine.
"Huh? Do you really need to drink wine for this?" He only had tab water. We sat in silence for a while.
"Don't say anything. I need my courage." The more she said, the more confused he became, but he was willing to wait.
He had nothing to do except observe the girl in front of him drinking wine. And oh my, she drank fast.
"Don't look at me as well! You are making me nervous!" She snapped. And he got even more confused.
She ordered him not to speak and now not to look. He followed whatever she wanted without question. He waited.
He shifted his attention to the place. The decorations were rustic and traditional Italian. Old paintings and photographs adorned the walls. After ten minutes, she spoke.
"Okay…you can look at me now." And once he saw her again, her cheeks were red, definitely from alcohol, but he suspected there was more.
He raised his brows, questioning her without words. He didn't hope to hear any groundbreaking truth from the confession. No matter what it was, he made up her mind that it might be bad. He thought nothing was beyond her expectation until...
"I pretended my foot was hurting this morning because I wanted to be close to you. I want you to take care of me. You were so gentle lately, and I…and because…damn it! Why is it so difficult to say out loud?"
She gradually raised her voice in every word after the last. She paused to take a deep breath and gather more courage before saying the phrase that prompted him to stare at her in shock.
"Because I'm falling for you!"
****
Love had not been on his radar for years. He didn't have time. He had a few exes in the past, but working and building wealth were more of his focus. His married friends and colleagues teased him about loving the bachelor life way too much. Not quite. He just thought love was a ridiculous subject to ponder. Didn't La Rochefoucauld say, 'There are some people who would never have fallen in love if they had not heard there was such a thing.'? Love to him was more of propaganda by Hollywood and thus unnecessary.
Maybe he just didn't understand love.
No one interesting enough occupies his waking moments. No one ever inspired him to change the way he was. No one causes his heart to beat faster as any romance novel describes.
"I-I really like you. Although you are too serious sometimes and totally not my type, I'm certain I'm falling for you anyway."
Martin felt his face was getting warm.
No one ever gave him a thorough confession like this.
The young woman clenched her fists and poured in all her emotions.
"…because I know you are a great person. Thank you for taking care of me so well in the past few days. Humph! Oh, bloody hell, I really couldn't stand this feeling. I bet you didn't even know how I feel, how much I admire you. And it's strange to me! Because it doesn't matter if you know and how you think about this, I still like you anyway."
After that sentence, Celine didn't say a word more. She blatantly looked into his eyes.
She seemed reserved and smiled. The kind of cheerful smile she often did, and he liked that very much.
Martin didn't know how to respond. He thought he was skilled in offering his opinions in any situation. He was utterly dumbstruck.
But that was because no one had ever told him something so straightforward and sincere before.
No one made him feel this way…
"I will ask you this one question. Please answer me honestly. I'm an impatient person, and you know that. I don't want to wait for an answer for too long. It'll be torture."
She stopped and sipped more wine before continuing with a slightly trembling voice.
"I know you don't feel the same way. Therefore from now on…hmm…from now on, can you give me a chance to change your mind?"
She looked straight at him. The pair of beautiful brown eyes were gleaming from the power of intoxication, and they shone brightly with hope. She stared at him without blinking, and her expression grew tense when he didn't answer...
Until he smiled.
He massaged his temple and smiled.
"You are so stubborn. How could what I say matter?" His smile broadened. But his ambiguous words got him in trouble.
"Hey! Is that a yes, or are you rejecting me?"
Oh, what type of sweet confession of affection is this?
He wanted to mess with her a little bit more.
Martin put his hand on his chin and pretended to make a big life-changing decision. An act that didn't fail to annoy Celine. She bit her lips and frowned.
"Hey, Martin! Stop this instantly!" Before she could scold him, he quickly answered.
"Sure, we can give it a shot."
He raised his hand and scratched his cheek. Blushing, he was not used to this. Even though it was a decision that wasn't ideal for his situation at all, Martin thought this might be the beginning of the form of happiness he hadn't felt in a while.
He had no sophisticated reason behind it.
Because with words, only a few words, she was the first. Yes, Celine was the first that drove his heart to throb to the point of pain.