CHAPTER 04: Her First Love

KATE’s P.O.V.

         Today is the day that I've been waiting for. Whenever I’m thinking about it, I still feel nervous. But of course I wouldn’t chicken out. I promised that to myself... I promised that to my bestfriend.

         Claire worked very hard to set this up and I wouldn’t let that hard work of hers to be wasted. I owe it to her to at least do this on my own. I promised to make this day count.

“Ms. Kate? Someone is looking for you outside,” one of our maids stated.

         I ran towards the mirror in my room to check out myself. I’m pretty sure it’s Gabriel. He won’t be late, I guess. I’m currently fixing myself up before I heard another call coming from one of my maids.

“I’m coming!”

         I went downstairs only to find Atty. Gomez. He is one of my father’s bestfriend, Mr. Darrel Herrera’s most trusted lawyer. I looked at him in dismay. I thought it was Gabriel, but I was wrong.

“What is it that you want?” I laughed bitterly, still disappointed.

“I came here to check you up. Mr. Herrera told me that your Dad asked him a favor. But since he’s too busy, he asked me to do it for him instead. So, how are you, Kate?”

          I rolled my eyes towards him before saying another word. Really? My parents asked this man just to see how am I doing? Maybe they are already loosing their minds. If they are really worried about me, they should’ve come here to see me and how I’m doing themselves.

“I’m fine, Atty. Gomez. You don’t need to come here. Besides, I have something more important to do.”

“And what is it?” he asked again, not wanting to let our conversation go.

“It’s none of your business.”

“I won’t go until I couldn’t get anything from you. I’m sure that Mr. Herrera would ask me to report something to your parents.”

         I was about to speak when I heard a car coming from outside of our house. I nearly laugh as a mischievous idea suddenly popped into my mind. It just appeared out of nowhere. I smirked to Atty. Gomez, before saying another word.

“I have a date, okay? Now would you let me go? My boyfriend was already waiting for me outside.”

“You have a what?! Your Mom and Dad will surely be mad if they found out about this.”

“Why do you care, anyway? I need to go now, Atty. Gomez. Please tell to my Mom and Dad that if they wanted to check me out next time, they should come home and ask me personally. They should not asked someone I don’t even know like you to come here and meddle with my life. Goodbye, Atty. Gomez.”

         I walked away, not wanting to heard his awful, unreasonable response. As I stepped out from our mansion, my heart started to beat so fast and my knees are now trembling out of nervousness.

“Hey, Kate. Let’s go?” Gabriel asked.

“Uhm... Sure.”

        I got inside of his car through the door beside the passenger seat. As soon as I look at him, I felt anxious and I regretted sitting beside him. I should’ve gone to the backseat instead. But I also don’t want him to think that I’m a spoiled brat who’s treating him like a driver.

“Are you okay? You looked bothered,” he casually stated.

“I’m fine,” was my short reply.

“Okay.” He started the engine before we make our way to the coffee shop where we supposed to meet Claire.

        I can’t think straight on how am I supposed to pull this date off specially that my bestfriend wasn’t here to help me. I’m afraid that if Gabriel finds out that Claire wasn’t planning to join us, he will be mad and decides to leave me all alone.

“So...” Gabriel started, breaking the ice of cold silence between the two of us. “Who’s that guy driving a limousine over to your house?” he asked curiously.

“Uhm... That’s one of my Dad’s acquaintance. He’s Atty. Gomez.”

“Whoah. I can’t believe that I’m taking someone as rich as you out on a date.”

“A what?!” I asked anxiously.

“A date. You know, that’s what they called it, right? Getting to know each other and stuffs. Like you, and me, and Claire.”

“Oh.” I just nodded, dumbfounded and ashamed of myself. I heard him chuckled before saying another word.

“Did you thought that when I said the word ‘date,’ I was pertaining to... I mean, you know... Like romantically.”

“No!” I answered too quickly, only proving that I am guilty if that was a crime.

        Again, I heard him chuckled. It almost turns out into a laughed and I couldn’t help myself but to blush because of his angelic voice. How lucky I am to witness his laughter. Even though I know that Claire had probably already heard it, it still doesn’t change the fact that I’m the one that he’s with right now.

“We are here,” Gabriel announced, parking the car in front of the coffee shop.

        Again, I felt anxious. What will I do now? Technically, we are waiting for someone who’s not going to come at all. I should have told Claire to say it to Gabriel as soon as he picked me up earlier.

“Are you not hopping down?” I was stunned by his voice.

“I will... I just... I need to text someone. You can go inside first. Check it if Claire was already in there. I’ll just follow you after this.”

“Sure. I’ll check for her inside.”

        I nodded, before smiling towards him. He finally got outside of the car, then he walks towards the entrance of the shop. As soon as he vanished out of my sight, I quickly grabbed my phone out of my pocket to call my bestfriend. Thankfully, she picked it up right away.

“Hey! Someone’s enjoying the day!” I can hear the silliness on her voice.

“Claire... Uhm... We have a major problem.”

“What is it?” she asked, worried. The playful tone of her voice was now gone.

“We are now at the shop. Gabriel is... He’s waiting for you inside, Claire.”

“Oh. Let me take care of it. I’ll call him now.”

“You have his number?!” I asked, surprised.

“Y-yeah? He gave it to me the last time I saw him. Would you like to have it?” I just sighed.

“Maybe next time. For now, please help me out in here.”

“Okay, okay. I’m dropping the call right now...”

“Wait!” I almost shouted. I lowered my voice as soon as I realized that Claire haven’t dropped the call yet.

“What?” she asked, confused.

“Let us wait for ten more minutes so Gabriel wouldn’t be too suspicious.” I heard her chuckled on the other line of the phone.

“Smart thinking. Sure, then. Now go and savour another ten minutes with him,” she teased.

“Whatever. Bye, Claire.”

“Bye.”

        She dropped the call, for real, this time. I sighed harshly. I’m still gaining the courage that I need to face Gabriel once more. I hopped down his car, before walking towards the main entrance of the shop. As I reached the handle of the door, I took a deep breath before going inside. There, I saw my first love sitting on a small couch waiting for apparently nothing.

“Hey,” I greeted him, trying to act casual.

“You’re already here. Claire is not here yet,” he stated, looking disappointed.

“Let’s just wait for her. I’m pretty sure that she’s going to come in here.”

“Alright.”

        While waiting, Gabriel ordered some drinks for the both of us. He often started a conversation, just to break the defying silence between the both us. I’m getting comfortable around him bit by bit. Now I can laugh and answer his questions with full confidence, not bothering the looks of my face.

        I got to know him more, just like what had Claire told me before. Being myself helped me a lot while facing him. Now I don’t know how to thank my bestfriend anymore. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be this close to Gabriel. I wouldn’t know some random stuffs about him.

“Have you seen that movie where–” His statement was cut short by the beeping sound of his phone. “Oh. It’s Claire. She’s calling me. I’ll just answer it.”

         I nodded, before letting him go outside just to talk to my bestfriend. This is probably the moment I’ve been waiting for. But I couldn’t help but to be bothered by the fact at how Gabriel’s face lit up when he saw my bestfriend’s name on his phone. I tried to erase it so many times in my mind, but I couldn’t. Until I saw him walking towards me, his face would probably be the epitome of the word disappointed.

“What happened? What did she say?” I asked curiously even though I obviously knew about it.

“Claire said that she couldn’t make it today.”

“What? Uhm... Let me just text and convince her...”

         I took out my phone from my pocket, but he already stopped me from doing my plan by holding my hands. I felt stiffened, feeling his warmth as I blushed.

“Please don’t bother. She told me that she’s very sick. We could just... Enjoy this date ourselves.”

         I looked down, suppressing my smile to form out of my lips. He said it himself, this is a date. The two of us are having a date today. We will continue this day even without my bestfriend.

“O-okay.”

“So, where do you want to go?” he asked, flashing a sweet smile on his face.

         That’s when I completely lost track of the time. We did everything that I wanted to do that day. We hangout by the park, ate different street foods, shopped by the mall, and watched a movie together. It was definitely the first date I dreamed about when I was young. And it did happened, even better than I expected it to be.

         After a long but untiring day, I just found myself in front of our mansion, standing by our gates while I bid my farewell to Gabriel. He’s smiling at me, and I couldn’t help but to blush.

“Bye, Kate. Thank you for this day,” he stated, and then he winked at me.

        I couldn’t answer him, so I just nodded as a response. I waved before he drove away from our parking space. As soon as he disappeared, I jumped up and down, screaming out of overflowing joy because of what happened today. I finally got my first date... With my first love.