That One Time (12 page)

She looked at him with eyes dulled by hurt. “But you know you could, Luu—” She shook her head, and the tears started to fall. “
Nic.
You know you could hurt me, but you still did all of this anyway.”

He ached to hold her, fucking ached to wipe her tears away and do everything he could to make it all right. “Ayah, I may have lied about so many things, but I didn’t lie about loving you.”

“Maybe,” she said brokenly. “But love comes with t-trust and I…I can’t trust you when I don’t even know who you are.” She started to cry hard at that, not wanting to but unable to help it. “I don’t even know who I am anymore after what you did.” She covered her mouth, trying to stop herself from sobbing. “I lost myself in you and now that you’re telling me you’re not who I thought you were…how do I find myself again?”

~ Nine ~
 

“Thanks for everything.” It was the best she could do without blubbering like a fool as she looked at her friends one last time before she boarded the plane heading back to Florida. It was time to make a fresh start. Hong Kong had been a blast, but after what had happened one week ago, it would never be the same. It would always have ugly memories, and she was so tired of crying.
 

“Yeah, yeah.” Mr. Hsu was glaring at her. Ayah had a feeling it was the best he could do, the only way to stop both of them from bawling like kids. Goodbyes were hell, but she hadn’t wanted to go without thanking everyone either.

“We’ll miss you,” Mari said before pulling Ayah into a hug.

After all the hugs, she gazed at them, knowing she would never forget this bunch of people. They had become an important part of her life and it hurt to imagine waking up to a new day and knowing they were half a world away.

She opened her mouth to speak, but Mr. Hsu growled, “You go now. You might be late. Stop wasting time here. It’s not like you’ll disappear.”

“I’ll miss you guys,” she said, now smiling a little because of her boss’ grumpiness. It was just like old times.

“Yeah, yeah. We can go and visit you.”

“No, you can’t. You’re afraid of flying,” she reminded him.

“Then you come and visit us. Same stupid banana.” He shooed her away. “Now go.”

She was smiling when she turned around after giving them one final wave. The plane was almost completely filled when she boarded. It was strange, considering that the plane wasn’t bound to take off anytime soon. Perhaps it was given the green light for an early departure and she had missed the announcement?

After putting her backpack inside the overhead compartment, she flopped down on the seat. Her eyelids drifted closed. She felt the plane taking off sometime later, the sound registering in her subconscious. She stirred in her seat and froze when her movements were hindered by…a seatbelt?

She couldn’t remember securing her seatbelt, and certainly not this tightly!

Her eyes flew open.

“Hello.” It was Nic.

“I brought you a peace offering.” Before she could tell him no, she didn’t need one, he placed a large brown envelope on the table. Despite herself, she opened it and shook the contents out. The tears started to fall.

“I’ve been flying around the world this past week, collecting each and every one of them.”
 

It was the entire set of the limited edition kokeshi-designed throw bags from Jaewon Airlines.

He offered her his phone next, making her frown at him even as she sniffed back tears.

“I have an Instagram account, too.”

“So?”

“Please look at it. You’ll understand.”

She wished she could tell him no, but she just didn’t have it in her to be rude. Ayah took the phone reluctantly and clicked on the IG icon. She swallowed back another surprised, tear-choked laugh.

“I made sure to use that Insta-Place thing, just so you know I’m not lying. I didn’t have anyone collect it for me. I did everything myself.”

Finally, he gave her another envelope, a smaller one this time.

Inside were two pieces of paper – one blown-up snapshot of their clasped hands, taken a year ago, and the other one a pen-drawn illustration of a tiny hand.

“I kept thinking all this time about what I could do to make you believe me, Ayah. I thought of begging, maybe even bribing people to be my character witnesses and all sorts of crazy things. But the bottom line is, I want to believe that you’ll forgive me because…” He inhaled, feeling like he was about to jump off a cliff with his next words.

“I once asked someone if, when you learned about what I did, you would still forgive me. And she told me that you would because you love me.” It was his greatest gamble.
 

And yet there was only silence.

The flame of hope inside him was dying a slow death, but still he waited, his fists clenched, telling himself that if he believed hard enough, maybe a miracle would happen and she would…forgive him. Because she really did love him.

Not because she had to – the way his parents should have but didn’t.
 

Not because she needed to or wanted to – the way like all the Thelmas in the world were eager to even though they really didn’t.

His head bowed, Nic said rawly, “If you can’t love me again now, can you just let me…can we please fucking start again? I’ll do it right this time. I’ll tell you who I am, show you the real me. It’s not…it’s not much, but I can change. I’ll fucking change into whatever you want me to be.” The silence was killing him, making his heart start to shatter into a thousand pieces of lost hope.

“My name is Nic de Koningh…”

“Stop.” She had finally broken her silence, but it wasn’t what he had hoped to hear.

Fear threatened to choke him, and he desperately continued, “No. I’m not finished. You have to listen to me. I’m twenty nine—”

“Please—”

“I work in the family business, solving shit around the world because I don’t really have a home. I’ve got four brothers and two sisters. I come from a huge brood—”

“No—”

“—and they’re all here.” He felt her stiffen and he made himself look up.
 

Her eyes were swollen with tears, her lips trembling.
 

“Everyone in this plane is part of my family, lieverd. This time, I really want to do it right. I want to ask you in front of all of them—” He went down on one knee. “Will you marry me?”

She sobbed out, “Do you really mean it this time?”

“With all my heart.”

Tears streaming down her face, Ayah demanded shakily, “Do you really believe in us now?”

Nic said savagely, “I’ll still believe in us even if it means having to believe everything else in this world is untrue.” His voice broke off, the fear of being too late strangling him. Was this it, he wondered dully. Had he lost his final gamble?

He forgot about pride and arrogance, forgot about everything except the fact that he needed her to love him. He begged, “Ayah, please.”

Click.

His head snapped up.

A smile wobbled on her lips as love shone from her eyes. “For the digital scrapbook we’ll build together.”

Before he could react, she had bent down and kissed him. Her tears seeped between their lips, but it only made the kiss sweeter, not bitter, because the tears came with a promise for the future.
 

She whispered in his ear, “I love you…
Nic.
”

~ Epilogue ~
 

“That was Johnny?” Nic demanded hours later as he crossed the threshold of Venetian Macau’s largest suite with his bride in his arms. It had been a beautiful wedding, even though it had been organized with mere hours to spare. His whole life, he had disliked being a de Koningh but now he had a reason to treasure it. Only his last name had made it possible for Nic to give the woman he loved the kind of wedding she deserved.

An entire ballroom had been transformed into a recreational park that bore a striking resemblance to
Ngong Ping 360,
complete with a replica of the Giant Buddha at the corner. Willem had taken one look at it and gave his bride an impressed smile. “My brother likes his urban pleasures, you know. The fact that you were able to convince him to go all the way up…he must love you very much.”

“You make me sound like a lazy piece of shit,” Nic had growled. He turned to Ayah to reassure her that he wasn’t as lazy as Willem had made him sound – and he wasn’t, considering the fact that he went hiking once a month –
 

Ayah had been looking at him with a lovestruck expression. “Is it true?” she whispered. “You’re not into stuff like that and you did it for me?”

Ignoring his brother’s knowing look, Nic said, “Yes, lieverd. I’ll do anything for you to keep loving me.”

And he should
, Nic told himself,
since too many men were after his wife
. He glared at her. “You made him sound like a young boy when you talked to me about him.” He was still stinging at the way the Taiwanese brat had tried kissing his wife right in front of him.
Damn kissing monster
, Nic thought.

She kissed his cheek. “He is a boy. He’s just nineteen, you know.”

“A boy is a boy if his cock is no larger than my finger.”

Ayah gasped. “Nic!”

“But that boy…” He raised a brow at her. “Unless you’re aware he’s got a small dick?”

She groaned. “Stop it. I don’t want to imagine anyone’s dick but yours.”

Silence.

She dropped her head on his shoulder. “That sounded too graphic.”

He chuckled, and the way his chest vibrated against her breasts teased her nipples into life. “Deliciously so.”

Just two words from him, and she was breathless already. She pulled away, enough for their gazes to meet. “I want to be yours now, Nic.”

The next thing she knew, she was on the bed, he was on top of her, and they were both naked. She giggled. “You have got to be one of the fastest persons in the world when it comes to getting naked.”

He kissed her giggling mouth. “Time to shut up, Mrs. de Koningh, since I’m going to fuck you hard.” He kneaded her breast. “From now on, all I want to hear from you are moans, cries, and if you need to speak, it better have my name on it.” He tweaked her nipple, and she jerked and cried out. “Understood, lieverd?”

She moaned in response, already lost in the pleasure of his touch.

He smiled. “Good.”

He took his time, kissing every inch of her satiny skin, worshipping her breasts one by one. He shaped her lovely legs with his hands, teasing her into gasping and writhing as he cupped her sensitive knees. When his fingers drifted over her most sensitive flesh, she bucked like a skittish horse.

“Easy, lieverd. Easy,” he soothed even as he started playing with her clit.

“Nic…”

It was heaven, finally hearing his real name on her lips. He rose up, his fingers confirming how ready she was. Bracing his arms on each side of her, Nic looked down at Ayah. “It’s time to show your body who it belongs to, Mrs. de Koningh.”

She smiled shakily at him. “Excited to be yours, Mr. de Koningh—” Her eyes flew wide open when he suddenly slid in, tearing her hymen in one deep, well-placed thrust. Ayah’s body curved up, her legs instinctively wrapping around his waist as her fingers scratched his back.

“You are…unbelievably…beautifully…tight.” He panted the words out, all his attention focused on the control he was exerting to keep himself from moving.

“You are...unbelievably…terrifyingly…BIG!” She sniffed the last word out. He really was. She felt like he had torn her apart in two.

He laughed hoarsely. “It will get better, Ayah.”

“I hope so.” When he didn’t make a move for a long time, simply remaining inside her with his still-hard cock, Ayah started to relax—

“Aaah!” He had tricked her. He had moved and—it had felt pleasant.
 

He moved again, thrusting deeper, withdrawing further, over and over again.
 

Oh. Her head fell back against the pillows. This were more than pleasant now.