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27. Blank Space
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
Marriage Proposal 28. Wrong Choice
Claire has been tough to reach lately. When Diaz wanted to pick her up or leave her off, Claire would first send a brief message to let Diaz know she wasn't there. Diaz initially assumed that was normal because perhaps the woman actually had a ton of stuff to do and a hectic schedule. But it's already the ninth day, and he hasn't heard anything from Claire in three whole days because of how little they communicate.It's not that Diaz didn't do anything. Additionally, the man repeatedly contacted Elise to inquire about how busy her fiance was. Every time Diaz called, Elise would barely say a few words before hanging up under the pretense that she had an urgent task to complete."I guess you stop working as a nice fiancé now, huh? Recently, I haven't seen you pick up your fiancée or go home early." That sarcastic remark was made by Edwin, who repeatedly displayed a persistent annoyance against Diaz for holding off on revealing more of his backstory up to this point to pursue a committed
Marriage Proposal 1. Weird Offer
The cellphone, which he had ignored for 2 hours ago, suddenly vibrated, indicating that there was an incoming message. Glancing briefly, Diaz's brow furrowed seeing the name on his cell phone screen. Familiar indeed, but the name had not shown existence in his life for a long time. It was long enough for Diaz himself to be surprised that the person still remembered him. Times have changed, it's easy to make friends with a social media account, and anyone can get in touch with people from their past, maybe... this is one of the things that happened to Diaz. And the man was quite surprised because this woman suddenly contacted him. Even though as he recalled, even when they were still in touch in the same school environment, it could be said that they weren't close enough to exchange news these days. Then why? Dismissing all preconceived notions that went too far, Diaz reached for his cell phone and opened the notification listed to read the contents of the short message. From : Claire
Marriage Proposal 2. Second News
It had been a week since Diaz had gotten a sudden message from Claire. There was also no news about the woman for a week. Their conversation ended exactly that very second. The first day after the impromptu proposal Diaz was still wondering, the second day he began to wonder why Claire didn't contact him anymore or just to explain why she suddenly sent messages like that. On the third day, there was still a little thing that stuck in Diaz's heart to just forget it. Until the fourth day without news and Diaz was reluctant to contact and ask first, but the man finally decided to forget it. Likewise the fifth and sixth days. The office was still quiet when Diaz arrived and started his work early until slowly the atmosphere changed with the arrival of one co-worker after another. They greeted Diaz with serious pleasantries behind the cubicle. One or two people offered him coffee as an encouragement to start the day's work, but Diaz politely declined, saying he would get his coffee later.
Marriage Proposal 3. Aftershock
His footsteps echoed in his ears. Walking down the corridor, which was still busy that afternoon, filled with patients, doctors, nurses, janitors, and relatives who visited with their respective activities. The surroundings are crowded, but his brain is not like that. The man couldn't digest the situation, he didn't even have time to speculate why he was the one who was contacted to visit this place. Everything felt empty, only his body moved according to instincts that came from nowhere.That moment was exactly the 23 minutes since Diaz received a call from the hospital where he is now. That second, right where he was standing in front of the ward of someone who had brought him here, staring blankly as he finally stopped and came face to face with the ward of someone he was supposed to meet soon. But as soon as he saw a familiar name written on the information board attached to the door to the infirmary, Diaz's hasty steps stopped, Diaz, froze for a few seconds that passed until some
Marriage Proposal 4. Complex Situation
If only Elise wasn't there, Diaz somehow calmed her pounding heart when she heard those words. Diaz's disbelieving look after receiving Elise's sad expression was returned by the woman bitterly which means "please understand". It was as if this sentence wasn't the first time Elise had heard it. Even with all the responses he received, Diaz still didn't understand how such a sentence could come out of their mouths. Even though it was clear that their nephew was not in good condition, how could they utter such horrible words? Diaz had been missing from Claire's life for more than ten years and didn't know what happened to his middle school friend. But even for ordinary people, hearing such a curse would not make them understand, what happened and what bad things made Claire worthy of such a curse. Elise gestured to Diaz who was still stunned in his place, asking the man to follow her to stay away from those who were still discussing things not much different there. The woman in an offi
Marriage Proposal 5. The Request
Finally, for the first time, Diaz could see Claire up close. Observing the sleeping face of his junior high school friend whom he had not met for ten years. Not much had changed, the woman's facial features only looked more mature than the last time they met, but what he saw was still the Claire he knew, though when Claire opened her eyes, he don't know if the impression was still the same or not.But that's not the case, the existence of Claire's uncle and aunt who are now sitting opposite Diaz is the main axis now. The atmosphere around him clearly couldn't be said to be friendly, especially after what happened before the three of them ended up gathering in that infirmary.Diaz was still trying to avoid the question that seemed ready to be pointed at him in plain sight by busy observing Claire beside her bed. Before that baritone voice, he heard and couldn't help but draw his attention away from just focusing on Claire."So your name is—Diaz?"Clumsy. Or somehow, Diaz was confused a
Marriage Proposal 6. A Question
"Are you awake?" were the first words that came out of Diaz's mouth as soon as he saw Claire blinking slowly, opening her eyes and trying to adjust the light entering her retinas.He moved the chair that he was sitting on to get closer to the bed Claire was in. Diaz didn't feel the need to overreact, seeing as Claire seemed to be fine in her consciousness, even if something felt Claire and made her body uncomfortable, Diaz would of course rush to call the doctor or nurse on duty."I'm okay," Claire muttered hoarsely, trying to energize every little movement she made. Her body was unbelievably limp, her throat was dry and her eyelids felt heavy until all the movements she was trying to make seemed to slow down. The presence of someone she hadn't seen in a long time didn't necessarily surprise Claire, even though she had just woken up from her subconscious, Claire's brain was used to quickly digesting the situation after what she had experienced before lying in this bed. And Claire coul
Marriage Proposal 7. The Stubborn One
The place was quiet, only a few people were sitting in one or two chairs scattered in every corner of the room. Diaz was there, one of them, with a cup of coffee he had just bought five minutes ago at one of the drink counters. Diaz spends his afternoons in the hospital canteen with his cell phone to his ear. "Sorry, Ed, I left suddenly. But earlier I called HR for a half-day permit." "I heard from Sonia earlier, that your family has been admitted to the hospital. How are things?" Unbeknownst to Edwin—the person who is currently on the phone with him—Diaz grimaced at the statement as well as the question. The reason is that he did use the excuse of "relatives being hospitalized" to apply for permission to the HRD office, but hearing it from Edwin made him feel like someone who was being caught lying. That excuse sounded stupid now, even though Diaz wasn't lying about himself having to rush to the hospital, but describing Claire as an important family or relative was ridiculous. Jus
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Marriage Proposal 28. Wrong Choice
Claire has been tough to reach lately. When Diaz wanted to pick her up or leave her off, Claire would first send a brief message to let Diaz know she wasn't there. Diaz initially assumed that was normal because perhaps the woman actually had a ton of stuff to do and a hectic schedule. But it's already the ninth day, and he hasn't heard anything from Claire in three whole days because of how little they communicate.It's not that Diaz didn't do anything. Additionally, the man repeatedly contacted Elise to inquire about how busy her fiance was. Every time Diaz called, Elise would barely say a few words before hanging up under the pretense that she had an urgent task to complete."I guess you stop working as a nice fiancé now, huh? Recently, I haven't seen you pick up your fiancée or go home early." That sarcastic remark was made by Edwin, who repeatedly displayed a persistent annoyance against Diaz for holding off on revealing more of his backstory up to this point to pursue a committed
Marriage Proposal 27. Blank Space
"It's been two days, how come your face is like that?" Diaz turned to look at Claire's face as he buckled up in the seat next to him.Claire questioned, "So how?"Diaz shrugged, "Yeah, like that, it's like you simply had a bad experience today," adding tentatively, "maybe."Claire had met a coworker who was quite annoying and wanted to complain—something she had never done before. Claire never voiced complaints to anybody, but today that urge surfaced due to Diaz's abrupt comment as if the man could see what was going on behind her mask. Among all the identical bland expressions that people see. Why could Diaz perceive that secret look when she had only been with him for a few weeks?"Don't want to talk?"His attention was diverted by Claire's blink. Never, Claire. Don't grumble now because Diaz must also be worn out from work. "I'm all right,"Claire was grumbling because she still had no idea how to begin progressively learning to open up. She simply didn't know when it was appropri
Marriage Proposal 26. The Engagement
All eyes in the room were on the man who had just announced his intention to visit the Wildblood family's home; regrettably, Claire did can't use her father's last name because after the accident she can't keep her father's although she wanted to keep using it that much. She now enters and uses Wildblood as her surname—the family of her late mother—instead of Rubins which she used from birth to her teens. "Really, you dare to come, huh?" After a minute of stillness, Diaz's first answer was a light-hearted chuckle. "I think it's just bullshit," he said. The actual cause was Claire's uncle—Uncle Alex, who had been looking at him with skepticism since Diaz's arrival. It seems the two genuinely don't like Claire at all, which is extremely different from when they begged Diaz to marry Claire at the hospital. Not sure if this still has anything to do with the situation the other day when they met at Claire's house. "Well, what? Why did you decide to live with our niece so quickly? Didn't
Marriage Proposal 25. The Memory Of The Past
As soon as Diaz was able to leave the car in Claire's yard, the engine was turned off. They left Claire's workplace at six this afternoon, around two hours later. Even if the car wasn't the same one that was parked there the other day, Diaz could at least guess that the car must have belonged to Claire's relatives as well when he noticed someone opening the gate of the house he had never seen before. Despite not knowing who had opened the gate or who was inside.When the person who had earlier opened the gate approached and welcomed Diaz politely, he postponed his mission of waking Claire. To order to return the greeting, the driver popped open the car door and exited.The woman in her thirties looked at Claire's car that Diaz was behind and remarked, "Miss Claire...""Still asleep, I'll wake her later. If I may, who are you?"Sir, I'm Julie. The housekeeper for Ma'am Claire.""Nice to meet you, Julie. I'm Diaz. Claire's buddy—for now." Diaz smile a little bit, before turning to walk
Marriage Proposal 24. Process of Adaption
It feels strange. It seemed unusual to be picked up in this manner for the first time by someone other than Elise to go to the office. It has been unusual for someone who has always kept their distance from others to be able to do things like being scooped up by a loved person for a very long time. Can Diaz be referred to as a special person for her, then? Claire's ears itched weirdly, terribly weirdly just from picturing someone else saying it in her head. Oh, God, how many times did she use the word "strange" today?"Have you had breakfast?" As soon as Diaz meets Claire in front of her home, he says.The woman scratched her head and looked away instead of responding, seemingly hoping to get the typical response that most people would give."Do you normally eat in the office?" Although it was an answer, Claire's tone for some reason seemed more like a question.Diaz nodded in agreement, noting that he had no issue with that particular point since he frequently had breakfast at work
Marriage Proposal 23. Embracing the Reality
The sound of breathing fills the silence with its rhythm, the ticking of the clock, which is audible, and the three minutes' worth of tapping on the mobile screen. While tapping on the phone's keyboard pad to access a message that had been made five minutes earlier, Claire thought.The woman was in her bedroom, sitting on the bed and resting against the headboard. He has been simply staring at her phone's screen for the past five minutes, her thoughts drifting."Huh..." Claire sighed, threw her phone in a different direction, and shifted into a lying posture. She raised the blanket so that it almost completely covered her. Even though Claire typically goes to bed before one in the morning, it feels like she is already quite exhausted even though it is just ten minutes before nine.Not due to a backlog of work or other energy-intensive activities. Claire shouldn't be this exhausted because she didn't accomplish anything today besides visiting Ryan's office, and even then, it wasn't for
Marriage Proposal 22. From Who Ever Loved
From where Claire was staring at him, the line of cars seemed to be pretty short. She was specifically on the 11th floor of one most prestigious office towers. When her buddy and business partner entered the room holding two coffee mugs, Claire was already there.Ryan smiled occasionally as he noticed the woman deep in thought, unresponsive to his presence. "What are you thinking about?" Ryan reprimanded Claire for placing the coffee mug on the coffee table and then gestured for her to approach him.Ryan couldn't tell what the woman was thinking because of her constant expression. Ryan watched Claire as she moved till she sat down next to him on the couch and slid her coffee mug closer to her.Claire spoke out a bland "Ryan," preferring to look down at her coffee cup rather than meet the man's eyes."Hmm?""What do you think about Diaz?"Ryan's eyebrows went up as he hadn't anticipated Claire's opening topic to be about Diaz. The reason is that since unexpectedly showing up in his off
Marriage Proposal 21. The Battle Of Self-Esteem
Claire's breath puffs sharply as she observes the backs of Grandpa and Grandma moving out of her line of sight. Diaz, who was there, was notified of this. Grandpa had invited him to enter the house, but the person concerned, who is also known as the home's owner, stayed quiet. This stopped him from leaving the area because, in the end, he would only hear Claire's approval."If you don't want Grandpa to get upset with me, come in." Claire took the lead and Diaz followed behind.As soon as Diaz walked in, he noticed Grandpa waiting between the couches in the living room. Grandma then moved the nearest couch from where Grandpa was in his wheelchair, greeting Diaz with a kind smile."I'll change first," she said. Claire was going to turn her back or, better yet, run away to avoid hearing the topic of their talk. When Diaz spoke to Uncle the other day, Claire made the decision not to find out what they discussed because she realized that learning more would add to her cognitive burden, wh
Marriage Proposal 20. Secret Mission
He is clueless about who is chasing and catching whom. However, lately, Diaz has felt that while Claire is busy avoiding him, he is the one who is trying to convince her. Diaz's offer is no longer sufficient, as Claire is now openly avoiding him. Several times in different situations, whether by chance or of Diaz's own choice, Claire would just give him a passing glance before compelling him to do something.Could this be the feeling of being ignored, like what happened to Ryan when they were in college? It’s like all the positive words that Ryan said that day suddenly flew somewhere. Unlike what Ryan said, it felt like the opportunity that Ryan said didn't exist, or maybe Ryan misjudged, saw wrong, and misread the situation.Diaz asked over the phone, "So she's been in her room all day?"The man was spending the remainder of his lunch break alone in the corner of the coffee shop facing the main road, sipping on an Ice Americano."Yes, Sir. Because there was no scheduled meeting today
