Page 39 of Under The Twilight Rainfall
His hand on my chest pushing me away breaks the spell. It isn’t forceful, but there’s a space between us that’s hardly existed in the last few days, not since I gave in to temptation.
“Tell me about it,” he says, and it takes me a second to realize he’s still talking about my travels.
“Hitting up the rest of Asia. South Korea or Japan, I think. I’d have to check Spinny’s schedule.”
His dimpled smile pops out, and I poke him in the ribs as a thought hits me. “You never told me how you arranged this whole thing with Spin, anyway. Spill, master secret keeper.”
“I—” Valen’s blush deepens, and he scratches at the back of his neck, eyes flitting off to the side. “You know that I follow you. Online.”
“Yup. Seen me do plenty of dirty, dirty things.” The heat in his eyes has me pulling him close again, fingers digging into his hips.
He ducks his head and rests his lips on my throat. “You mentioned your agency once. On your public page. And I remembered that Spencer worked for it because I’ve seen the company logo when I drop off groceries and things for him.”
“Mhm.” I stroke along the broad expanse of his back, squeezing his nape and listening to his content sigh. “And you somehow knew about me, because...”
“Because Spencer talked about you. A lot. A frustratingly charming client who couldn’t sit still for more than five minutes. Never mentioned you by name, but... I knew. I told him if you ever came to the Philippines, to let me handle it.”
“That’s unprofessional.”
Valen tilts his head up and kisses the underside of my jaw. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure he doesn’t get in trouble. As long as you don’t complain.”
He makes a mess of my neck, littering kisses over every inch of skin, nails scratching along my back and waistline. I tip my head and let him touch and taste until he’s panting, until his arms hang loosely around me.
“No complaints from me,” I whisper into the pink wisps of his hair.
We exist in a pocket of silence, listening only to the water as it drips and flows along the falls, as it swirls around us with a light chilled breeze from the setting sun. Holding another person for the sake of holding them is such a foreign concept to me. But with Valen it feels natural, feels like we were made for this very moment where we slot perfectly together. A piece of the puzzle finally fitting into place.
“So, Olaño,” I say, breaking the quiet, “what did you end up doing for a living?”
I feel the smile he presses into my skin before he pulls away, keeping hands on me even as he does. “I help run an outreach program for troubled youths.”
“Oh?” I raise my brow. Valen was one of those troubled youths once upon a time. You might not know it now, seeing as he’s become this saintly voice of reason, but Valen used to jump headfirst into anything and everything that could give him the tiniest thrill, and it often landed him hurt or in trouble.
“It’s going to sound stupid. And if you laugh, I’m going to dunk you.”
I laugh anyway, before he can even get the words out, because he looks so flustered that I really, really wanna fucking kiss him.
I don’t.
“Lay it on me.”
He sighs, but the look he throws me is fond. “I missed you. I missed having someone to care for. To look out for. I missed being needed. I met this guy who ended up at the center a lot. They didn’t know if he was homeless or hiding, but he always showed up covered in bruises, and I just happened to stop by one day while he was there and... something clicked. I made him come home and meet Ma and Pa, made sure he got a good, full meal in him. I even offered him a place to stay, but he was kind of skittish.”
“What happened? Is he okay?”
Valen’s smile turns a little dopey, like when you reach the end of a sappy movie where the guy finally gets the girl.
“He’s great. Liam is my best friend in the world. He met someone who got him out of this horrible, horrible situation he was in. And for the first time in all the years I’ve known him... Liam is happy. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for him. For anyone.”
He looks at me, and I know the intent of his words.
I want you to be happy.
I want me to be happy, too. I’m just not sure what I’m willing to give up to get it.
“You missed me, huh?” is what I go with, and out comes that cheeky smile again, dimple popping and making me want to stick my tongue in it.
He slips out of my arms and wades away, the remnants of sun streaking through the trees and catching on the brown of his eyes to make them a golden color. I don’t chase him, but I watch his small backstrokes against our corner of paradise—because that’s what this feels like. Worry, stress, and fear have no place where we’ve built our own cocoon of solitude.
