All About You

Epilogue

One Year Later

“M um, seriously, stop fiddling with it.”

That earns a slap on my arm.

“ Ay nako, Marlon, you don’t appreciate everything I do for you.”

I groan as Mum continues to pull at my tie, until she’s finally satisfied with whatever she’s done to the fabric. I glance at the mirror. It looks the exact same as before, but whatever makes her happy I guess.

“So you’re not picking Jaslene up?”

Oh my gosh, if I had a dollar for everytime Mum has asked me this over the past week.

“Mum, I already told you, she’s going with her family. I’m meeting her at the wedding,” I told her. “Why would she go with me when it’s her Tita getting married?”

I expect Mum to snap back at me, to remind me not to talk to her in that tone, but instead, she shoots me a sly smirk.

“Imagine when it’s your wedding, eh,” she teases, pinching my cheeks.

I lurch backward, swatting away her fingers, “Seriously, stop.”

“When you’re ready, I’ll lend you my engagement ring, yeah?” she continues, poking at my sides.

“Mum, we’re only 19,” I whine.

“So? Your Dad and I were 20 when we got married.”

“That’s because it was the olden days.”

That earns me a slap against my shoulder, but Mum bursts into laughter. I can’t deny the grin that slithers its way onto my lips.

Jaslene and I had only been dating for a year, but the wedding remarks started way beforehand. I’m pretty sure it started before I was born really, when Mum and Tita Saralyn realised they were both pregnant in the same year, meaning that their children would both be born just a few months from each other. The wedding jokes have gotten worse recently, with Jaslene’s Tita Bea getting married today and everything.

Though, if I’m being honest, I don’t mind it. Not one bit.

It’s like, common knowledge at this point, really. I’m going to marry that girl.

My family arrives at the Church only five minutes late, which is a record for us, because we are always late. We take our seats directly behind the Garcias.

I spot Ria first, clad in a dark blue, her hair up in a bun. I still remember her words when Jaslene and I became official, official. It was right after the dinner I’d had with them, after Jaslene and I had our little rain moment.

She’d pulled me aside when her parents were cleaning the kitchen, and I kid you not, she growled at me. Bared her teeth and all. For a second, I genuinely feared for my life.

“Don’t you dare fucking mess with my sister, you hear me?” she’d hissed.

I’d promised her that never, ever in my life could I ever see myself hurting Jaslene, but Ria insisted I vow it. Beside her is Tito Enzel. Jaslene is nowhere to be found. I lean in toward Ria, but before I’m about to whisper, she says, “She’s just in the bathroom. Couldn’t hold in her pee, drank too much coffee this morning.”

I bite my lip, holding in a laugh. Classic Jaslene.

The congregation stands up suddenly, as the Priest takes his place at the centre of groomsmen. The piano begins its melody, and I observe as the first of the wedding party makes their way down the aisle. We’re up to the bridesmaids, when Jaslene still isn’t back. I’m almost scared she’ll miss Tita Bea’s walk.

“Oh my gosh, have I missed it? Oh my god.”

Already, her voice is enough to set fireworks through my body. I turn around, and there she is.

My breath of fresh air. Just her smile alone sets of blazing fires in my chest, spreading throughout my whole body until everything in me is just warm. She’s wearing a gorgeous red dress that she’d refused to show me, and wanted for me to see in person, and I thank past me dearly for complying.

God, she frustrates me when I look at her. It’s been a year, but everytime I see her, the nerves get the best of me. She finally spots me, and her lips part. I smirk.

“Hey,” I whisper.

“Hi,” she whispers back.

Canon in D begins to play, and everyone turns their neck. It’s time for Tita Bea. Phones are up, trying to capture the moment. As they do, I turn back to Jaslene. She’s craning her neck, trying to spot her Tita. Until she catches my eye, and a hint of red spills onto her cheeks.

“Pay attention, loser,” she hisses. I don’t think she realises just how radiant she is. Even when she’s glaring at me.

I turn back, and observe as Tita Bea makes her way down the aisle. I have a sudden vision, a splitting image of Jaslene walking down the aisle, with me at the end, and tears spring to my eyes before I can comprehend them.

She loves romance, but doesn’t know she’s the incarnation of romance itself. The epitome of the butterflies in one’s stomach when falling in love.

She’s all the goodness that comes with love wrapped in one.

I can’t wait till it’s her turn down the aisle, and I’m at the end of it.

I’m watching Jaslene on the dance floor. She’s currently there with her Mum, Ria and her Dad, all of them pumping out 90s dance moves as FloRida’s Low plays. I laugh as Jaslene attempts a low twerk, resulting in her heeling over and groaning in pain. My parents are at the buffet table grabbing more food. I wait until the song reaches its last few verses, before slipping away toward the DJ. I lean in, tapping him on the shoulder, and whisper the song I want him to play. He nods, a smile on his lips.

As Low reaches its end, I observe as everyone on the dance floor bursts into cheers at their attempted dancing. Then, the opening melody of my requested song plays through. To many, it might be a song unknown to them. But Jaslene meets my eyes across the floor almost instantly, her face lighting up. Dear God. Radiant.

In just a few strides, I cross the dance floor, and in mere seconds I pull her to me, snaking my arms around her waist. Our bodies fit together perfectly. A few people peel away from the dance floor, not wanting to slow dance. I see my parents join the floor, though, with Jaslene’s parents beside them. She looks at me, knowingly.

“Is this your doing?” she asks, grinning.

“Why of course,” I profess, proudly, “I could never forget the song you played when you first held my hand on our first fake date ever.”

She rolls her eyes. “Our first fake date, what a milestone.”

I lean forward, pressing my lips against her ear, “I wouldn’t miss any milestone, even the fake ones.”

She shivers, and I place a kiss on her cheek, relishing in how I make her feel. How she makes me feel. We sway to and fro as ATEEZ’s All About You blasts through the reception. I sing the chorus to her, and I capture with my brain the way she’s smiling at me.

“Do you remember this,” I ask, teasingly, “The moment you fell for me?”

She glares at me with those blazing, dark brown eyes of hers and I want nothing more than for her to glare at me like that for the rest of my life.

“Pfft, your hand was so sweaty then and you played horror music. How could I have fallen for you that time? When I think about it now, I could break up with you.”

I seal her words with a kiss, and she glances at me stunned. I’ll never be able to get enough of that look.

“You know, I think this may have been the moment,” I confess.

She tilts her head, “What moment?”

“That I started to like you.”

The moment I opened up to her, and she looked at me with those understanding, soft eyes of hers. How I felt so comfortable in her presence. The way she took my hand during our first faux date and played this song against the backdrop of the lookout. Yes, I think it was that early that I was a goner. Even if I hadn’t realised it back then.

Her brows scrunch together, “Our first fake date? That’s so - no it couldn’t have.”

I brush my lips against her nose.

“You introduced me to Sailor Moon that night. How could I not have fallen for you?”

“You’re lying.”

“I’d never lie to you. I couldn’t stop thinking about how your hand felt in mine, even when I tried to deny it. I was like Mr. Darcy.”

She laughs then, and I want to bottle it up so I can listen to it whenever I want. Our bodies sway to the rhythm and more couples have trickled onto the dancefloor. I never take my eyes off of Jaslene.

“I love you,” I murmur.

The sharp intake of her breath is something I’ll never tire of when I remind her of just how strongly my feelings are for her.

“I love you too,” she says, her grin wide.

I lean down and capture her lips in mine, trapped in our own little bubble.

If I’d known that I’d love her this grandly, I would go back in time and hold her close the earliest I could, and never let her go. But it’s okay, because maybe this is how it was all meant to go.

She was meant to hate me, and I was meant to continue provoking her, until we both realised the reason we couldn’t stay away from each other is because we were meant for each other all along. Every single moment - me annoying her endlessly, her yelling at me, her falling for he-who-will-never-be-named, our ruse - they were all little chapters in our story.

Afterall, how do all of Jaslene’s romance movies and books always end?

Oh yeah, that’s right.

And they lived happily ever after.

The End