Concerned.
"When we feel anxious, troubled, or worried about something or someone. It may be because we care or just our compassion towards others, or perhaps, just an act of kindness."
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The day after SENTHIE and Walter had a heart-to-heart conversation, Senthie went to her mother's house to talk to her. She asked everything she wanted to know. She hated confrontations, but it was necessary to heal their relationship.
Her mother, Katrina, confessed that it was her guilt that she didn't make the effort to try and talk to Senthie. When Narciso didn't come back, she was depressed and exhausted physically and mentally. Senthie was just young back then and she had failed to protect her or comfort her, but instead treated her coldly because she reminded her of Narciso, they weren't married, but she loved him very dearly. However, her resentment toward him overpowered that love. Katrina admitted that she was selfish, she only cared about her feelings, and she overlooked that Senthie was having a hard time, too. She had failed to be a mother to her. But in the end, Senthie understood where her mother was coming from. She was always like that, Senthie could view and feel everything as if she was in the person's situation. She knew it must have been hard for her mother, especially, seeing the memory her father had left for Katrina. The memory that she could never get rid of and Senthie was that memory.
"I love you, Rin. I love you, Sen."
Those were the words that Senthie had been wanting to hear, and she felt overjoyed, tears poured down her face as she hugged her mother tightly. That day, that night, she stayed over and finally got the feeling she was home.
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A week later, Senthie got a massage from Jimhuesh. "Hi, Sensen, are you still up? Mom's asking if you're free tomorrow night."
"Who's that?" Cecile asked teasingly as she elbowed Senthie's arm as they entered the door. They just got back home after having dinner together. "It's the VP, isn't it?"
She rolled her eyes and giggled as she sat on the sofa with a bounce. Cecile did the same and whistled. "Is it finally his last chance? His last date with you?"
Senthie shook her head. "No, we haven't decided on the date yet, but tomorrow night, I'm going to meet his parents. But--"
"That soon?" she asked with wide eyes.
Senthie laughed and made a face. "It's not what you think. He said Ms. Jenny wants to thank me. That's all."
"I don't buy that. It's just a lame excuse to introduce you to his family." Cecile rolled her eyes.
"I think he's telling the truth. Jim is not a liar."
"Wow," Cecile uttered and didn't say anything else when she saw Senthie was focused on her phone. Nervously, she typed, "I think so, but...are you sure it has to be in your house?"
Just imagining herself meeting Jimhuesh's parents was making her wanna throw up in anxiety. Ms. Jenny just wanted to thank Senthie for the gown, as per Jimhuesh. However, Senthie knew it wasn't all about that, she was guessing it had something to do with the fact that Ms. Jenny mistakenly thought she and her son were in some kind of romantic relationship.
Opening Jimhuesh's reply, it stated, "yeah, for some reason she wants you to meet dad, also. I think she's thinking of making you design his suits."
With that uncertain information, Senthie even felt more worried. "But I'm not good at making men's clothes!" she sent.
Not more than a minute, she got his reply. "Don't worry. It was just my speculation, that might not be the case. Anyway, I'll pick you up at 6."
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It was around five thirty in the afternoon when JIMHUESH left work to pick up Senthie, it was thirty minutes earlier than his usual time off work. A half-hour later, he arrived in front of Senthie's house. He rang the doorbell twice and the door opened. "You're ten minutes early," Senthie said after she looked at her wristwatch. She wasn't yet dressed for the night, she was still wearing a black loose t-shirt and yellow shorts. "Come in."
Jimhuesh sat on the long sofa when Senthie told him to and waited as she went up again upstairs. Jimhuesh surveyed the living room and saw no family picture or self-portrait hanging or displayed anywhere, a thing that he was looking forward to, and felt a little bit disappointed. Jimhuesh decided to pace around and heard a strange sound coming from the end side of the sofa. He took a look at it and didn't expect to see a cute cat scratching the sofa. His instinct took over, he picked up the cat and scolded it. "No, you shouldn't do that. You might get arrested for that."
Suddenly, Jimhuesh heard a giggle when he was about to turn around. His gaze went to the source and at the last level of steps, there she was, Senthie, standing stunningly in an elegant red dress, long sleeves, v-neck, in a knee-length pleated skirt. Her hand was covering her mouth but the wide smile on her face was discernable, while her other hand which had a black bag clinging to her arm was on the newel post. "I didn't know you can talk like that. You were adorable."
Jimhuesh, who had almost forgotten to speak cleared his throat and put the cat on the floor, mainly because of his flushed cheeks. He was embarrassed that she heard him in that kind of voice and tone, and he just realized that he baby-talked the cat as if it was an infant or a child.
"What are you doing? Why are you still like that? Did you hurt your back or something?" Senthie asked teasingly as she neared him and touched his arm, probably to help him stand up since he looked like doing the 'reach your toes' exercise. However, his heart pounded faster and he had a shocked reaction to her touch. He nudged her hand away automatically and draw back away from her. Jimhuesh saw her surprised reaction and realized what he did. He apologized.
The two were now on their way to the meeting place and Jimhuesh had been driving for about nine minutes now, but for some reason, it felt longer than it should be. There was this uncomfortable silence between them that no one dared to speak, but Jimhuesh took the courage to clear up any misunderstandings since Senthie seemed like she was offended about earlier. He cleared his throat. "Uh, Sen, I'm really sorry for reacting like that. I just... I just..." He sighed, shook his head, and glanced at her. "I hate any physical contact."
She scoffed. "Really? So, you mean, when you asked me to dance with you, were you just--"
"No!" He cut her off as he stomped the brake. The car halted right away with a bit of an impact, but not alarming enough to get frightened, nevertheless, he apologized and told her that they need to stop for a bit to talk. He pulled over the car in the emergency parking at the SLEX and then he continued. "I didn't hate it. It was, uh, honestly, it was uncomfortable, but that one, I did it because I wanted to." He sighed heavily and then gazed at her intently, but Senthie's eyes were much intense that he couldn't help but look away and turned his gaze to the steering wheel. "You know when I told you about my parents? About how they deceived me into believing that we have a perfect family? That they love each other? I think I'm traumatized by that. I feel that whenever someone tries to act like they were concerned for me, my mind will automatically reject that as if it's telling me that it's all fake. That's why I hate PDAs or any physical contact that shows concern from the opposite sex."
"I see. Then... How about instead of thinking of it as showing their concerns, you might wanna try thinking of it as an act of kindness. What do you say about that?"
Jimhuesh's eyes widened a bit. That didn't cross his mind. He stared at her and then smiled. "That's actually better. I never thought of it that way before." He chuckled. "You're such an eye and heart opener."
She made a face and laughed. "I'm just glad that I can be of help to you and I'm happier that you didn't say a can opener."
And then, their drive went smoother and livelier until they arrived at Anderson's residence.
"I'll get lost with how big is your house. This is like my house, but a million times prettier and oversized," Senthie said as she shook her head in disbelief.
A few minutes later, they reached the dining room where a maximum of only six seats were available compared to their party dining room where sixteen people could gather.
There was already a lot of food prepared on the black reflective glass table with different dishes of chicken, beef, and pork. There were also vegetable salads, fruits, desserts, and pizza. The room smelled too heavenly for Jimhuesh as he pulled one of the black chairs and told Senthie to relax since she kept saying she was nervous, and at the same time, hungry.
Jimhuesh sat on the chair that he pulled out, facing her side profile, but now, her attention was on him, he began, "don't be nervous, Sensen. If my parents start making you nervous, I got your back. I'll get you out of here. Okay?" He smiled. "But before that happens, you have to make sure you've already stuffed yourself with these mouthwatering foods before us."
She took a deep breath and giggled. "Okay. I'll try to keep my cool and try all the foods I see here."
One of the maids of the house entered the dining room to inform the two that Ms. Anderson and Mr. Dela Cruz were on their way to meet them and then she went off as soon as she was done talking.
"Mr. Dela Cruz? Why are your parents have different...surnames?" Senthie asked.
He smiled. "My mom's using her maiden name, which is Anderson, and I'm using it, too. It's my grandfather's, actually, the GMC's chairman."
"Oh, I see. So, the reason your mom uses her maiden name is because of the company, am I guessing it right?"
Jimhuesh smirked because of how quickly she had concluded that. "Yes, you are right. Since she's my grandfather's only child, she was the sole successor of the company, but now, obviously, I'm next in line."
A few moments later, Jennifer and Ronaldo both entered the dining room. The two stood up and greeted them. Jimhuesh introduced Senthie to his father and he extended a hand, which Senthie seemed to not notice because she was just staring at Ronaldo. "Ms. Salvador?" he called.
Senthie responded as if she had just snapped out of a reverie and then she shook his hand. "It's my pleasure to meet you, sir."
They all took their seats and began their feast as they had a conversation about how was Jennifer's night at Asia's CEO awards. She shared what happened at the event and that she won an excellence award and an extra one called, "The Most Charismatic and Attractive CEO of the Year." Senthie seemed to be overwhelmed when Jennifer gave her praises and told her that it was all because of her talent that she had won that award.
"No, Ms. Jenny, I think that was because of your elegance and how you carried yourself," Senthie stated as she smiled awkwardly.
"Oh, dear, you're too humble for your own good. Take credit sometimes," she responded.
"She's right, Ms. Salvador. You are talented. Anyone here can see that, isn't that right, Jim?" Ronaldo said.
"Indeed! She's amazing," Jimhuesh agreed with a wide smile on his face, waiting for Senthie to look at him, but she just looked down and seemed uncomfortable with all the attention. Jimhuesh leaned on her and whispered in her ear. "Should I drive you home now?"
She suddenly turned her head and Jimhuesh almost forgot to breathe. Their faces were too close that he could feel her breathing. He froze. Senthie froze, but she was the first one to look away. "I'm sorry, I think I should take up your offer. Can we leave now?"
Jimhuesh nodded absently and was just snapped back and sat straight when his mother asked, "when are you going to tell us that you two are in a relationship?"
"No, ma'am. We're not in a relationship," Senthie denied.
"She's telling the truth, mom. We're not there, yet," Jimhuesh said. "But I will tell you once I made her say yes to me."
"Well, that's my son!" Ronaldo exclaimed.
Jennifer laughed. "Don't keep us waiting, Jim. I can't wait for Ms. Salvador to be part of our family."
"Mom!" Jimhuesh reacted. He looked at Senthie who was now even more uncomfortable but seemed to be hiding it by just smiling and laughing it off with them. So, he decided to take the lead and help her excuse herself. "Uh, mom, dad, I think I should drive home Senthie now..." He looked at his watch. "It's really late now and she needs to rest, I think she's not feeling well, too. I hope you understand."
Jennifer and Ronaldo seemed worried when they heard that, especially, when Senthie nodded, apologized, and thanked them. She then stood up and excused herself as Jimhuesh also did.
When they were finally outside the house, Senthie turned to him with a stern and intimidating gaze. "You should go back, I can go home by myself. Thanks for tonight." She smiled, but for some reason, Jimhuesh felt uneasy, and then he was right to feel that way, for the next thing she said was, "I think we should end whatever we have started and never see each other again."
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Hello, Noomiells!
This is one long chapter again! Whenever I try to keep it to my chapter's usual length, it always ends up with more than 2k words, not only that, the scenes were always cut short so I have to adjust them and write them in the next chapter. XD
Anyway, thank you for reading this chapter. Hope you liked it. :D
Please, let me know what you think. :D