CHAPTER 13: TREMBLING HEART

We slept comfortably and woke up early in the morning, at 6.30. We headed straight to breakfast after packing up and washing up then drove around to look for the venue. It was quite a task, since there were plenty of lodges, but we managed to get to three venues with the closest classifications that Kimberly wanted just a little after lunch, so I think we were pretty good. I took a lot of pictures too.

The three venues were really big. Located between the ocean and the hills, so the committee could arrange many activities. The lodges were also spacious and could hold more than 300 people overall. The second place me and Allen went to (my personal favorite), was a little more expensive because it was bigger and the buildings were newer and they also had central water heating system thingy (not gonna stuck, I promise). They also had an amazing man-made lake.

Since Kimberly said that three was enough, Allen and I decided to hang around the beach after lunch. He wanted to play with the local kids (he saw them play soccer earlier when we drove to a restaurant) and I wanted to take pictures for the competition.

We walked along the beach barefooted and Allen left me to my camera as he played with the water before joining the kids for some soccer game. He laughed a lot when he played with those kids. He looked just like one of them. With a big, boyish smile on his face. His clothes were wet from sweats and sea water when they began to mess around more rather than playing actual soccer.

I unconsciously stared at him as I realized how bright he looked under the afternoon sun. His blonde hair sparkled as the sun lights hit them. And his fair skin (not pale like mine) glowed. His laugh was hearty. It was beautiful. He was beautiful. I watched him through my viewfinder, capturing him as much as I could.

I laughed and brought down my camera when the kids from the opposing team tackled him to the sand. I never knew he was very good with kids.

Maybe I should let my younger siblings meet him. I thought happily and kinda hopefully.

Huh? What was that again? Happy? Hopeful? I think I was starting to get a little heat stroke because my head felt light, my face burns, and my stomach felt weird.

I shouted at Allen to let him know that I would go back to the car and rest for a while. I quickly turned around and walked back to the car when he nodded. I had the car key with me so I just ran towards it, opened the back door, after cleaning my feet, laid down on the backseat and closed my eyes. I didn’t feel good. My stomach felt funny. Did I eat something bad? But Allen and I ate the same thing since yesterday and he was totally fine.

Maybe I was just tired, I thought and decided to just rest for a while.

I must have dozed off because I could feel someone was shaking my body to wake me up. It was Allen. I opened my eyes and met with his worried face.

“Hey…” my raspy voice greeted him and he frowned as I got up.

“Are you okay?” he asked, putting his palm on my forehead, feeling for any fever.

“I’m good. Just tired maybe,” I told him. Sleeping didn’t seem to do the trick, because I still felt slightly uncomfortable.

“Go back to sleep. I’ll drive slowly,” Allen said, getting off from the back seat. I did too. “What are you doing? I told you to sleep,” he frowned deeper.

“I’ll sleep on the front,” I told him, walking to the front passenger seat. “I’ll just lower the seat. That way, you won’t feel so lonely.”

Oh, so I could still tease. That was a good sign.

“It’s better than you getting sick,” he said slowly but I brushed him off, getting into the passenger seat, him into the driver’s seat, defeated. I lowered my seat and lied on it as Allen started the car. I lied on my right side so I was facing him, that way, we could still talk.

Allen worriedly looked at me. He reached out his left hand and placed it on my right cheek. It stayed there for a while and I so didn’t mind it. It felt good. Comfortable. His hand was big, warm, and soft. I could feel the drowsiness was back.

“Sleep,” Allen commanded softly.

“Hmmm…” was all I could manage to say before I fell back to sleep.

The next time I opened my eyes, I was lying on my bed, in my pajamas.

Huh? When did that happen?

I blinked in confusion and turned to the kitchen when I heard sounds of plates scraping each other. I saw Allen there, busy doing something. He changed his clothes and now he was wearing a pair of shorts and a white shirt that clung to his toned body. He looked serious. I turned to see the clock on my wall. It was two in the morning.

“Hey,” I sat up and called out to him.

His surprise turned into a smile then a concern as he approached me. “Hey,” he said, “You’re up,” I smiled at him apologetically.

“You carry me all the way here?” I asked him.

“You’re surprisingly light,” he said, “Where did all those foods gone to?” he teased me and I smacked him, of course. “Feeling better?” he asked, more seriously. I lowered my head in embarrassment.

“Much better,” I told him, “Thanks.”

“You have to eat something, then you can go back to sleep,” he walked back to the kitchen and back to me with two bowls of steaming porridge.

“Thanks,” I said, taking one of the bowls from him. He sat beside me and we started eating.

“What’s your schedule for tomorrow?” he asked.

“In there,” I gestured towards my organizer book thingy. He put down his bowl on the bedside table, reached out for the organizer book thingy and started reading through it.

“Submitting the venue details to Kim at 10…” he muttered to himself, “I can do that.”

“Huh?” What did he say?

“Fixing fencing team’s uniform a little after ten… I don’t know how to sew so I’ll just take them here…” Allen muttered again.

“Wait!” What the hell was he doing?

I tried snatching the organizer book thingy from him.

“Helping the decoration crew for the fashion show. That I know how,” he said again with a sense of pride.

“Allen! Stop!”

He closed the organizer book thingy quite harshly, making me flinch. He then turned to look at me, staring at me, with a look I hadn’t seen on him before, and it made me cower.

Yes, cower.

“You are exhausted. You need to rest,” Allen said with a chill in his voice that made me tremble.

Yes, tremble.

“I’m fine!” I tried to argue.

“You can still do your jobs without having to go out,” Allen said, a little softer now, but still stern. “I can help you with the things that have to be done on the spot.”

“You have practice,” I reminded him.

“I won’t miss it,” he assured me. It seemed that none of us wants to back down. He stared at me while I glared at him. Until he finally sighed. “I don’t want anything to happen to you. I can’t let anything happen to you,” he said softly.

I frowned but almost laugh. Maybe he was that afraid of Chuck and Marsha as to go this far in keeping me checked out. Well, I was hella scared of them too, so, unwillingly, I waved my own white flag.

“Fine,” I said finally, “But be sure to let me know if you’re troubled or anything, okay?” he nodded and finally smiled. “Thanks,” I smiled back and continued to finish my porridge.