It'll Come Naturally

"Really?" she asked, intrigued. Upon hearing his recommendation's convenience, Annie felt frisky enough to ask for confirmation. If the kindergarten was indeed close to her house, even if she didn't have the time to send her children herself, the babysitter could do this for her.

"That's true," Rain affirmed, "Let me take you there sometime to check it out." Rain had no idea why he was too eager to help. After all, the children weren't his flesh and blood. So why was he playing such an active part in Annie's personal affairs? His inner thoughts, however, couldn't help but be interested in anything that concerned her. Due to such a dangerous undertaking, he thought he must be going mad.

"Sure. But before we go, I need to put these things in the office." Taking her things from his arms, she walked to her office quickly to drop the documents and prepare her purse.

What she didn't notice was Rain's unceasing gaze after her as she went into her office. Seeing her pace in glee, Rain felt like his soul seemed to be captivated by her grace.

When she was ready, they made their way to the parking lot where Rain's car was parked. It was a bright-colored and eye-catching ride, standing out amidst other cars like a big frog in a small pond.

Just as Annie was about to head to her car, Rain held her back. Shocked at his own actions, he began talking before he was even aware of what he wanted to say. "Let's just go together in my car!" he suggested. "After the visit, I can just drive you back here."

Annie hesitated, "Won't that be such a bother to you though?" As he was an important figure who - according to Belinda, was in charge of two companies, Annie didn't want to take much of his time. Having so much on his plate, the man must be exhausted from his work and thus, she felt obliged not to demand more than the generosity that he was already showing her.

For Rain, though, it was anything but not the trouble to be able to spend more time with her. So, he replied in an affable manner, "It doesn't matter. It shouldn't take much time." Opening the door for her, Rain waited for her to accept his proposition.

Since it had come to this, it would be inappropriate for her to say no again. Caving in to his charm, she entered the car, and let Rain close the door for her.

"Buckle up your seatbelt," he said, refraining from doing it for her. But as he found that she was a little lost in her own thoughts, he went against his own better judgment and stretched the belt across her body, buckling it up for her. He did it with such kindness and patience, so pure that he wondered of their origins.

Annie, who was stunned, watched him in silence. When Rain's face drew so close to hers, she could see the tiny pores on it. His gesture was so affectionate, it drove her heart to skip a beat, and even do a somersault afterward.

A wave of warm breath touched his ear lightly as he returned to his seat, nearly making him lose his mind for a few seconds. Despite remaining calm and concealing the turmoil that wrestled inside of him, he didn't notice that his red ears had forsaken his attempt to be indifferent. Taking a deep breath, he told himself repeatedly that the woman beside him didn't belong to him.

After what felt longer than it really was, he said in a mellow voice, "Let's go," Hiding his emotions, he slowly drove out of the parking lot.

On their way to the kindergarten, Annie's heart continued to bounce in every direction possible. On top of an internal struggle that she didn't understand, she could feel her heated face experience a mild burning sensation due to unease. She thought it would be better to talk with him to muffle the embarrassment.

So she started a topic, "Yesterday, I saw Leena. She sure is a lovely and adorable girl." But her efforts didn't make a dent in the weird and bizarre atmosphere inside the car.

After a short pause which Annie felt was like a century, Rain opened his mouth and replied, "Oh! I see. I did hear back from her. She called me recently," The woman was huge trouble, and she had asked him to save tomorrow for her. Up to this day, he still had no idea how to cope with her.

"I'm so sorry!" said Annie, realizing she had made a mistake. "I had honestly thought she was your wife." If it weren't for so many misunderstandings, then maybe, she would have never left without a word before. Perhaps then, there would have been an alternative ending compared to what actually happened.

"What are you talking about?" Rain asked, hitting the brakes suddenly. The car stopped in a dramatic fashion, and the abruptness caused Annie to lose her balance. Her head was about to hit the window, but Rain, with such quick reflexes, stretched out his hand to protect her. Loud, anxious horns behind them broke their intense eye contact.

"Are you okay?" he asked, ignoring the horns. As he looked at Annie's face, he checked for any sign of bruises.

After a short while since meeting Rain's gaze which was full of love and care, she lowered her eyes in hesitance and said, "I'm fine. Let's go." She looked around and commented, "We're getting in the way of other people on the road." The sudden brake actually frightened Annie. Her face had lost some color after that happened. But what mattered most was that they were safe, and they didn't get into a car accident.

Once Rain found that she was fine, he restarted the engine only to pull over somewhere close. He wanted to figure out what was the real meaning behind her words just recently, as it came as a great revelation to him.

Confused by his actions, Annie asked, "What's the matter? Shouldn't we be on the way there?" Annie turned to look at his symmetrical face.

"Why did you think that Leena was my wife?" he persisted, "Don't tell me that was the silly reason why you left me in the past?" With eyes fixed solely at Annie, he had the inkling that his guess might be true.

"I..." she said, her voice trailing into silence. She felt obliged to meet his gaze. The hot and sharp eye contact made it more difficult to admit the real reason why she left him many years ago. This simple reason, however, sounded so stupid and meaningless now. She wanted to laugh so badly at the irony of their fate.

Even when Annie couldn't complete her sentence, Rain already understood her words the next moment. Thus, he wanted to break the frozen atmosphere and said unwaveringly, "Well, I already know what you meant. Is it safe to assume then that you left me just because I let you down rather than the fact that you didn't love me?" A gush of sorrow overwhelmed him as he asked her. If that were true, both of them were simply the biggest idiots in the world. How could they be apart from each other for so many years just because of a silly misunderstanding?

Finally, Annie opened her mouth and said, a sad smile on her face, "Rain, does this still matter now?" She bit her lips and lowered her head. No matter what reason, it seemed that they could never reverse the past. What happened back then was an unchangeable fact. It was simply impossible to undo several things that already took place.000000