Chapter 24: 24


    Jill Malik P.O.V


    Get ready tomorrow at 4PM, we''re going on a pic .F.


    I typed a quick okay back before turning my attention back to myptop. Lately more work has been


    piling up, because Ximena was on a mini vacation. She was having a good time at the burj al arab in


    Dubai, while me and ire were trying to finish all the work that was as high as that building.


    I didn''t mind that she was on a mini four day vacation in Dubai. Her parents rmended it to her the


    day she broke up with ke. They couldn''t see their only daughter being depressed especially before


    her makeupunch. It was good for her. Yesterday she sent me a picture while she was having a


    massage. She looked happy and healthy. 5


    About ke, that cheating bastard. He didn''t even felt sorry about it. He just continued his ''rtionship''


    with his slutty PA and even proposed to her after he broke up with Ximena. He even proposed to her


    with the same ring he gave Ximena. To put the cherry on top, their wedding will be held on the same


    day Ximena willunch her makeup. All the time he wasn''t arranging his marriage with Ximena, but


    with his PA. 25


    I don''t know why he did this to Ximena, but I''m sure Karma will get back to him one day. He''s such a


    disgrace to all the male species in this world. 3


    Yesterday Flynn came over and had lunch with me. He brought chinese and we had a pretty good time.


    He made meugh and I felt morefortable around him. He isn''t as bad as I thought he was in the


    beginning.


    He''s actually really cool and hot, with his asional dirty jokes. But then again Flynn without his dirty


    jokes is not the Flynn I know.


    Heughed and every time he did that, my heart skipped a beat. The sound of hisugh was the best


    sound my ears had ever heard. It was soid back and chill.


    I felt like I knew him. But I couldn''t put two and two together, because something is missing.


    Like an important piece of information.


    Or maybe I''m just imagining things, because I''m still thinking about him. It''s weird and I hate that I can''t


    let it go.


    I asked Flynn what he thought of ke, but he just shrugged it off and muttered something along the


    lines of: "My sister is old enough to know that this is just one of the setbacks in life."


    His answer was weird, because most brothers would beat the guy who fucked his sister up. Flynn on


    the other hand seemed unfazed. Like he didn''t care about the situation. I decided to not question him


    about it anymore, because I know it would be pointless.


    "Miss Malik?" ire walked into my office, with a donut and coffee. "You didn''t had breakfast nor lunch,


    so I brought some for you." 4


    She ced it on my desk and my eyes went to the clock on my table. Three pm.


    Dammit, did I work for so long. No wonder I had cramps in my fingers and my eyes were watering.


    "Miss Malik, you should take a break sometimes. All this work is not good for you." ire said, as she


    handed me a tissue to wipe my eyes off.


    "It''s okay, ire." I replied, slowly wiping the tears off. "I''m just doing what I need to do."


    "No, no. Ximena is actually really worried about you. She specifically told me that the work she left


    behind should be done by me, you, and the rest of the team. At this point you''re the one who''s doing


    most of the work." ire shut myptop off and took it off the table.3


    "Hey! Where are you going with myptop?" I asked dumbfounded as she walked out of my office with


    myptop in her hands.


    "Hiding this." she said casually. "Tomorrow you have a day off. Don''t worry about us, we will be doing


    just fine." 2


    "ire, I was just doing my work !" I protested.


    "No Miss Malik. Your work is finished. That was giving a name to the makeup palette, the rest was our


    work and we''re going to finish it. So you can as well pack up and go home and give yourself a nice


    bath, because you deserve it." With that she walked out of my office with a content smile on her face. 2


    I leaned backwards on my chair and sighed deeply. It was hard hearing the truth from ire. I wanted


    everything to be perfect, because I know how much thisunch means to Ximena. But that''s why she


    also has other people working in this building.


    I tend to forget that sometimes.


    I packed up my stuff and closed my office. When I walked passed ire, she gave me a warm smile


    and said: "Have a great day Miss Malik."


    "You too, ire." I replied back, smiling.


    I passed other cubicles and said my goodbyes to my other colleagues, before exiting the building.


    ..........


    When I arrived at my apartment, it was empty. Reina was still at work and she would probably have


    dinner with Luca and his parents who were currently in town.


    I took a nice bath and dressed up in a my skimpy peignoir and ordered pizza. After my dinner -pizza-


    arrived I turned onflix and watched Riverdale. I felt so rxed.7


    The front door opened and Reina came in. "Hey." she greeted, putting her bag on the table. "Hi, how


    was dinner?" I asked, as she plopped down next to me.


    "His parents were too... happy." she sighed, grabbing a pizza from the box. "No, happy is not even the


    right word. Let''s just say excited. Overly excited, to the point where they started talking about baby


    names."


    "Wow." I chuckled, "That''s a lot for meeting them for the first time."


    "I know right, but they are nice people. Their english is funny and the dad kept using google trante


    on his phone to talk to me."


    "Nice inws you have there." Iughed.


    She rolled her eyes. "I''m going to take italian lessons."2


    "Really?" I asked surprised.


    She nodded and smiled. "Hard to believe right. I swore to myself that I wouldn''t learn any other foreign


    language after English. But here I am, thinking about taking Italian sses."


    "The things you do for love."


    "The things I do for love." she sighed chuckling, taking a bite of her pizza. "So, how are things going


    between you and loverboy?"


    "Will you stop calling him loverboy? That''s so... high schoolish."


    Sheughed loudly. "Okay, what should I call him then? Prince charming? Gentleman in a bugatti?"1


    "Yikes no, Flynn is fine." I said after hearing the awful nicknames she had for him. Gentleman in a


    bugatti? Really, is that the what they call prince on a white horse in this century?8


    "Yeah whatever, so are you guys dating?"


    I shook my head. "Nope, just friends."


    N?velDrama.Org holds text ? rights.


    "Really?" she said disappointed. "I thought you guys were already passed the friendzone."


    "Why would you think that?"


    "I don''t know." she shrugged, "He''s so nice to you."


    "That''s true, but that''s what friends are supposed to be. And bytheway he reminds me a lot of him." 2


    Her eyes widened. "You mean one night stand guy?"


    I nodded. "Yeah, I know he''s not the one. If he was he would tell me right? He wouldn''t keep it a


    secret."3


    "What if he is the one? But he is afraid to tell you?" 6


    Reina''s question made me think for awhile. I haven''t thought about that.


    "But what if he knows, but he doesn''t want to remind me about it, because it was just a one night


    stand."


    "Mmh, that''s another way of thinking about it. You will never know if you don''t ask him."


    "So you are telling me that I should ask him?" I said, looking horrified. "Are you crazy? What if he''s not


    the one?"


    "Then he''s not the one." she simply shrugged.


    "No, no. If he''s the one he should tell me, because he remembered. I don''t. And it''s only fair if he does,


    because he left me without a note or something. And that''s already a hint that it was just a one night


    stand. Nothing less, nothing more." I stated.2


    "But you fell in love. Maybe he did too. You never know if you don''t ask hunny. You said it yourself. You


    guys didn''t fuck, but made love."


    "Maybe he is not even the guy. Maybe I was being delusional. Maybe it was someone else."


    "You will never know until you ask."


    "And I will not." I said, crossing my hands across my chest.


    "What if he''s the one?" Reina said, "How will you feel about it?"1


    "Mad of course." Iughed, "I mean all this time he knew and didn''t bother telling me. That''s lying."2


    "But," I added. "He''s not the one."


    "Are you sure about that?"


    "Pretty sure." I replied confidently.4


    I was just being delusional. 2


    ..........


    I was getting ready for my pic date with Flynn. I wore a baby pink scalloped skirt with a whitece


    top and I put my hair in a messy bun. I applied some makeup and I was ready to go. Earlier today


    Reina went to go sightseeing with Luca and his parents and she told me she would be home by


    midnight, because Luca was nning to take her for dinner tonight. And with dinner, I don''t mean five


    star restaurant. More like his apartment andce. Lots ofce, probably handcuffs too.


    I heard a knock on the front door and walked out of my room to open it. Flynn was standing there in a


    pair of brown jeans and a denim shirt. Like always, he looked handsome.


    "Hello pudding." he greeted, shing me his oh-so dazzling smile. My panties just melted and I didn''t


    even wore panties. 25


    "Hey, Vasilios." I said smiling, closing the door behind me.


    "Ready to go?" he asked,cing his fingers with mine.


    I nodded. "I''m excited."


    We exited the apartment and in his bugatti we drove to the ce he was taking me. He brought me to


    the East River State Park. It was not a fancy ce, but the view of Manhattan is breathtaking. The park


    was flush against the river, offering stunning—and previously fenced-off—views of Manhattan''s skyline.


    Aside from the barbecue tform and children''s yground, it''s a mostly wide-openwn dotted with


    pic tables, making it a perfect locale to set up nkets and have the most amazing pics. 2


    I stepped out of the car and saw that Flynn was holding a basket in his hand. "What''s in there Vasilios."


    I asked curiously.


    "Food of course." he replied, taking my hand in his and walking down the park.


    I rolled my eyes. "I know, but what kind of food?"2


    "You will see in a minute."


    We stopped in the middle of the park and he put the basket on one of the pic tables. I sat down and


    looked around. It was beautiful. There were not a lot of people and the view was breathtaking. And I


    wasn''t even talking about the Manhattan''s skyline. That''s just a bonus.


    I watched Flynn as he took the stuff out of the basket. Subway sandwiches, strawberries, apples, juice,


    water, yogurt, and chocte cake.


    "Did you made that yourself?" I asked, pointing at the chocte cake.


    He nodded disappointedly. "Nope, bought it."


    "Oh."


    He handed me a subway sandwich and poured juice for me. "Have I already said that you look


    stunning?" he asked, giving me a once over.


    "Well you just did." I chuckled, "You look great too."


    "You look better pudding." he winked, sitting down.


    "Oh I know." I flipped my hair and smiled at him. 6


    He just shook his head andughed loudly. "Cute."


    We ate in silent, Flynn asionally throwing bread crumbs at me. After that we talked about ns for


    the future. And then about Ximena and family.


    Half way he stopped talking, and held my hand. His touch sent shivers down my spine. "I want to ask


    you something." he said nervously, grabbing something out of his pocket.


    If he''s asking me to marry him, I swear I will drown him in that river. 1


    "No." he said, as if he could read my mind. "I''m not going to ask you to marry me. Who the hell goes


    from friendzone straight to marriage? Even though I wouldn''t mind, it''s just unrealistic."


    Oh thank goodness.


    "But," he said. He pulled his hands out of his pocket and my eyes widened at what he was holding. A


    round cut white fire opal gold ring. So goddamn pretty. "This is a promise ring. I swear I didn''t meant to


    fall in love or I thought I wasn''t capable of falling in love. But then you appeared and yeah how cliche it


    may sound, I started wanting everything. Your smile, your jokes, you. Just all of you. I''m not the best,


    but I promise I''ll love you with all my heart. So Jill Pudding Malik, this is my way of stepping out of the


    friendzone. Do you want to be my girlfriend?"