MIDSUMMER CRUSH

Chapter 19

Giselle’s POV

I woke up to the sound of my cell phone ringing violently near my head. Feeling heavy and drowsy, I managed to answer it without opening my eyes before mom screamed in my ear. “Happy birthday! Sweetie,” she squealed and chased my sleep away.

“Yawn! Thanks mom…” I replied lethargically and stretched my arms as I scanned my surroundings.

“So what are your plans for today’s special day?” she asked in relentless eagerness while I wondered where the hell I was. “I don’t know. I’ve stopped celebrating long time ago,” I replied and found Naman’s  toy truck on the bed , after which I realized where I was.

“Oh come’ on! You must have planned an outing with friends,” mom probed as I looked around for Naman and Aariz in the house.

“Yup, an outing to the restaurant with my colleague Katie,” I sighed on realizing that I was alone. “Okay mom, I’ll talk to you later and thanks for the wishes, bye,” I ended the conversation and stood in the living room feeling confused.

It was odd to see that he hadn’t bothered to wake me up before leaving with his son. The least he could do was keep a note for me or something. I frowned before my gaze fell on a folded note along with a pair of keys on the coffee table. Intrigued, I reached for it and was surprised to find that Aariz had got me the spares with a sweet message.  “Happy birthday, I got the keys from our land lady, but before you rush back next door, do care to have some breakfast I made especially for you,” I read his message and was bowled over by the presentation on the dining table.

“He prepared breakfast for me?” I gasped in embarrassment while surveying the spread.

His gesture was really sweet though I hadn’t expected anything more from his end after he presented me with a memorable night. Thinking about our little escapade and the close dance that we had, I smiled and for a brief second felt like I meant something to Aariz, but whom was I fooling anyway!

Eating what he had prepared for me, I took my keys and rushed to my apartment. “Whoa! Roses?” I was taken aback when I found a bunch of red roses at the foot of my door. Aariz was really putting in a lot of effort to surprise me today. Was this something he did for all his friends on their birthdays or was it just for me? I began daydreaming before I heard Crusher scratching the door from within. “Freak, Crusher, I completely forgot all about you!” I called out to him fearing that he was famished and scared inside. Had any animal activist realized that I had left my dog without food all night, I would have certainly been behind bars. Picking up the roses, I hurriedly opened the door and prayed Crusher was alright.

However when I stepped in, things looked a lot different than what I had imagined it to be. Crusher greeted me with a lick on my leg and rushed back to his filled food bowl. “Crusher, who filled your bowl?” I stared at him as he gorged on his food. It didn’t take long to realize who had done it when I spotted a container with a note in my kitchen.

“Sorry to sneak in while you slept at my place. I heard Crusher’s cries and realized he was hungry. Hope he likes what I prepared for him, oh and don’t forget to carry your lunch to work. Have a nice day,” I read it and felt overwhelmed to see how concerned he was.

“Stop it, Giselle. He’s just being kind…none of this means anything,” my inner voice brought me back to reality.

Smelling the roses, I placed them in a vase and got ready to leave for work.  “Maybe today I’ll complete my story and hand over the recording to Derek,” I thought when all of a sudden my cell phone rang.

“Hello!” I answered before the person on the other line disconnected it.  The call came again and left me miffed when no one responded.  Who was this blank caller? I got irritated when my cell phone rang for a  fourth time. “Why do you keep calling me if you don’t want to talk? I retorted before my cousin answered.

“Oh sorry, I thought it was that annoying blank caller. Anyway thanks for the wishes,” I said as I left my apartment. My phone kept buzzing then on with friends and relatives wishing me one after the other while on duty in Oh Maria.  

“So  Derek wished you , huh?” Katie teased as I cleaned the table for the next customer.

“Derek! Why will he wish me?” I laughed it off.

“But he wished you on his show this morning,” She said and startled me.

“What! But how? How did he know it’s my birthday today? I never told Derek anything ,” I argued and felt confused.

“Don’t look at me like that, I have no clue how he found out. But he also dedicated a song to you,” she said.

“Which one?” I raised my brows as Derek’s face appeared in my mind.

“Girl next door,” She said and stunned me. Was it just a strange coincidence that Derek had dedicated the same song to which I and Aariz had danced to. “What happened? You don’t like that song?” She enquired suspiciously before I excused myself.

Troubled by how Derek found out my birthday, I decided to record my story at intervals in the restaurant and just finish off this fiasco. Taking liberty of my birthday, I kept going to the back side of the restaurant and recorded my story till I came to the part where Aariz revealed that he was always in love with Zehara and no one else.

“Are you crying ?” Katie enquired when she stepped out to check on me.

“Nope, it’s just the smoke from the chimney,” I replied and stopped the recording.

“So are you done?” She asked excitedly.

“Yes, everything  he and his listeners want to know is in here,” I faked a laugh and removed my apron as I stepped in.

“I can’t wait to hear it too, you should charge a royalty on it, you know,” she exclaimed and followed me. “By the way someone sent these for you,” she added and pulled out a box of chocolates with a happy birthday note on it.

“For me! Who sent it?” I enquired curiously.

“I don’t know, there is no name written on it. The delivery man brought it,” she explained. “Maybe Derek sent it for you,” she teased.

“Not Derek, he doesn’t know which restaurant I work in. This is someone else I know,” I replied and amused her.

“Really! Is it a guy?” she grinned.

“Ya kind off…” I avoided answering her for I knew for sure these chocolates were sent by Aariz. He was trying to make me feel special every now and then, I loved it, but reminded myself not to get too floored by his gestures as it would only hurt me in the end. “Why does he have to be so chivalrous to me?” I sighed while Katie probed further.

“Who is it? Tell me please,” She pestered  and gave up when I told her I had to rush to the studio.

Relieved that this would be my last visit to their studio, I held the tape in hand and walked in looking for Derek, the guy who had turned my world topsy turvey. “Hi, it’s me. Can you call Derek , oh there he is,” I shifted my gaze from the receptionist to Derek.

Walking ahead with a coffee mug in hand, he failed to respond when I called out to him. “Derek, Derek!” I shouted but for some odd reason he didn’t turn around.

“He’s not Derek…” The receptionist stated and grabbed my attention.

“Huh…ya I know that’s his on air name… but I can’t remember his real name,” I said and stepped  aside  when Derek popped out of nowhere.

“You don’t have to remember my real name, honey!” He commented and placed his mug on the reception desk with a thud. “James, since when did you become Derek?” the receptionist raised her brows suspiciously and so did I.

“Erm Cora can we talk about this later?” He suddenly turned defensive and dropped hints at her. Realising something fishiy was going on, igonred Derek and decided to find it out for myself.

“How about you talk now itself? Cora, so you were telling me something, right?” I shifted my gaze at her while Derek gulped.

“Well, I was just wanting to inform that Derek is inside attending a meeting ..but…I don’t know why is James….” She paused and glanced at Derek, while I started having second thoughts.

“Derek is in a meeting?” I stared at the imposter and crossed my hands. “So I was right, you aren’t the real Derek, are you?” I added and noticed how he avoided my intimidating gaze.

“Hey you got the tape as promise! That’s so cool, let me have a look,” he exclaimed after spotting the tape in my hand and pretended to act innocent.

“Not so fast Mr. Imposter!” I stepped back and narrowed my eyes at him. “I’m not giving you anything unless you clarify what’s going on and why isn’t the real Derek coming in front of me?” I demanded and refused to hand over the tape to him.

“Fine, you win. I’m not the real Derek, but trust me if you see who he is you will freak and I don’t like giving pretty females a heart attack in my studio,” He winked and dramatized the whole thing.

“Why! Is the real Derek so ugly that he used you as a pawn?” I flared my nostrils. “First you said your on air name is Derek, but looks like someone’s hiding something from me,” I added and expressed my disappointment.

“Nope, it’s just that he didn’t want you to know who he is…anyway I’m so glad you got the tape,” he said and before I conjured anything, I noticed my tape in his hands.

“Hey give that back to me!” I protested and tried to snatch it back.

“Are you crazy this was what Derek and our listeners were waiting for! Our TRP is going to break all records once this is out,” he gleamed in excitement and dodged my advances.

“James you cheater give it back to me!” I yelled and chased him to his studio. “James you aren’t putting that on air unless you call the real Derek,” I demanded and reached for his curly tresses before realizing that we were already live on air.

“Sssshhh….take it easy babe, NYC is listening…” He sniggered like an evil elf and irked me.

Hearing my recorded voice made me cringe in my seat. “You know what, just do what you like. I’m out of here,” I whispered and got up to leave but James held me back.

“The deal isn’t over as yet! You have to stay till the end,” he forced and made me sit again.

Helpless, I sat there tolerating my recorded voice. More than my narration I cribbed over my voice modulation in the tape.  How I wished I didn’t have to hear all that over again. James was having a good time listening to it like the rest of his listeners. It wasn’t long before my narration came to an end and James began interviewing me.

“From your narration it seems your crush never liked you, how true is that?” he questioned.

“Very true, It’s rare to have a crush who likes you back. I’m sure everyone who has had a crush agree to being mere silent admirers,” I answered.

“What if you were wrong and he did like you back?” He suggested. “Maybe it was some misunderstanding or something bigger,” he added.

“He chose Zehara, doesn’t that make it more obvious?” I shrugged my shoulder and sighed.

“No, I chose you not her,”

“What?” I looked at James and wondered what the hell he had just blabbered.

James looked over my shoulders and smiled. “I didn’t say it, Derek did,” he gestured me to look behind.

“Derek!” I crunched my brows and turned around only to find Aariz standing before me.

“Oh my God! Aariz!” I jumped out of my seat and gasped in utter bewilderment.”A-a-riz….your your…”  I stammered and found it hard to breath.

“Derek…yes I’m the real Derek,” he added and paused while my heart beat raced.

“Oh no! Oh Jeez, it was you all this while, you were listening….” I recoiled, cringed and felt awkward to be standing before him.

“Yes I heard it all and I’m glad you chose to share it, because if you hadn’t I would never have known how much you really liked me back then,” He said as I lowered my gaze and felt all the more embarrassed.

“What about now? Do you still like him?” James exclaimed in my ear and made me feel uncomfortable.

“James, would you mind giving us some privacy,” Aariz requested sternly.

“No problem, I’m out of here but I can’t say the same for our listeners,” he smirked and hinted that we were still live on air.

“Oh Freak ! James please turn it off I don’t want them listening to this,” I panicked by the time he left us two alone in the studio.

“But I do…” Aariz said and reached for my hand.  “I promised them that if you would agree to complete your story, only then would I go ahead and confess my feelings to that someone special,” he said as I quivered with his touch.

“And that someone special is you…” he revealed and stunned me beyond imagination.

Coming closer,  he held both my shivering hands in his and peered into my eyes. “I want you to know that I had planned to confess my feeling towards you and not Zehara on graduation day,” he revealed. “It was always you and still is. I didn’t get to confess it then, but I will do it now…” he paused and cupped my face in his hands. “I love you, Giselle…back then and now,” he whispered as my eyes swelled with tears.

I stared into his gentle eyes, not conjuring how to react to his announcement. I was surged with mixed feelings as he looked at me with love, passion and desire, the way I always wanted him to see me. “Do you love me too?” he whispered as he leaned closer to my face. Overwhelmed and lost for words, I kept gazing into his mysterious eyes before he locked lips with me. Wrapped in his arms, i felt the warmth of his body and realized that i wasn't dreaming. Aariz confessed for real, my midsummer crush was in love with me.