Leave Me If You Dare

William blinked at Arabella, who was rooted in her spot wearing her crimson cheeks. With his stare at her, he was implying to ride with his drama. His parents died in a car accident and his grandmother raised him as her own. For him, she was more like a blind date organizer than an outstanding doctor.

“Hi, I’m Arabella Jones.” Arabella talked when she finally had understood William’s blink at her. She came closer to give the old woman an embrace. Judging from her look, she was sweet, a dignified doctor and one could clearly see her tender love towards her grandson.

“Arabella, Dr. Amelia Zimmer, my grandmother.” William formally introduced her only grandma. Dr. Zimmer was known as the best plastic surgeon in Capital Z. To accommodate all her loyal clients abroad and rich locals like celebrities and famous public figures, her clinic was bigger than a hospital, proof of how famous Dr. Zimmer was in the field of plastic surgery. No wonder, her look was younger than any other grandmas. The unremovable wrinkles on her eyes and white hair were the only signs of her age seniority.

“Wow! I am so happy now. Finally, William could….” Dr. Zimmer’s voice was with a glint of surprise and excitement that she couldn’t hide through her facial expressions and words.

“Grandma, we have to go now. I have to drive Arabella home.” William had cut his grandmother and grabbed Arabella’s arm to walk out after he kissed his grandma’s forehead. He had no plan to put Arabella on a hot seat by her grandmother’s non-stop interrogation.

Wait! With your pajamas?” Dr. Zimmer was surprised by William’s action. She had known William to be so picky when it came to his kind of clothes.

“Yeah. It’s the new fashion now. Bye grandma. I’ll see you tomorrow.” William said playfully and continued walking, dragging Arabella’s arm.

“Wait! Arabella, please come with William for dinner tomorrow. William’s sister was in town.” Dr. Zimmer’s look was begging at her and her eyes were like talking to her soul like saying ‘please say yes.’ The utmost sincerity of her invitation and eagerness to talk and mingle with her was shown on her old delicate face. One could be too heartless to turn down her invite.

“Grandma, Let’s not frighten her. She’s…” William answered, but he was cut by Arabella “It’s okay. I can go.” Arabella said without thinking much. As for her, this would be the least she could do in exchange for his grandma’s genuine sincerity.

William stopped and looked at the girl behind him. His look was puzzled and like asking why she said yes. Arabella just smiled and blinked at him, sending him a message to relax. Seeing her playful action, William couldn’t help himself to appreciate her more. His cutest dimples could be shown on his face like he was a teenage schoolboy while he smiled. Glancing at her, it seemed Arabella was not only witty, but she also had strong guts to ride with the flow in such an awkward situation. A total package of his type.

“Arabella that’s a promise, okay? I will be expecting you tomorrow.” Dr. Zimmer wouldn’t allow any chances to lose this girl since she was the only one who had stepped again into William’s house after his ex-girlfriend, Anna.

“I promise.” To give satisfaction to the old grandma, Arabella let go of a sweet smile to her words. Then, with William grabbing her arm, they successfully got into his car.

Inside the car, they both heaved a sigh of relief at the same time. They looked at each other and laugh together like kids with their same naughty actions.

“Hey! Why are you avoiding your grandma?” Arabella was curious and asked her hot driver even with his pajamas and sunglasses, he still nailed a boy-next-door vibe.

“Hmm… How do I say this? She’s not actually the type you want to mingle around.” William replied.

“What do you mean? Arabella asked with her curiosity above the sky.

“Okay. Because I wonder if she was really a doctor or a matchmaker? And don’t ask me how many girls she introduced and used to persuade me before. It’s beyond numbers!” William laughed at his words.

“Now, I understand.” It was confirmed that William used her to get rid of his grandma’s scheme.

“But, in that case, why are you still single?” Arabella couldn’t help to ask as it baffled her mind.

“Hmm…” William seemed to have a hard time putting his words to answer her.

“Are you gay?” The curiosity inside her had spoken up and she was in awe with her own words. After her mouth, let go of those words tactlessly, she cursed herself. ‘How could you say those words to your director Arabella? You are really doomed!’ Her thoughts kept on blaming her when suddenly the car stopped abruptly. ‘Oopsie! Is he angry now?’ She dared to look at his facial expression with a bit nervous only to find out that he was also staring at her seriously.

“Do I look like a gay?” William frowned. In his entire life, he was never called gay. Only she had ever done that.

“Yes… A sort of?” Arabella’s answered him quickly while her eyes widened in shock of herself that she did strike again.

“Why do you say so?” William’s brows met in the center as he stared at her flustered face. All women he had met wanted to throw their selves to him why this girl beside her had different insights about his character?

Given the chance to explain, Arabella was quite relieved and took a deep breath and released it to calm herself not to be misunderstood in her reasonings.

“Well, first off, your look is very refined. You are very clean from hair to toes, which is cute and your fashion was different but cool. You’re like always wearing your sweet scent that one would always want to smell.” Arabella was more like talking to herself rather than expressing her thoughts to him.

“So, are you one of those people who wanted to smell me?” He looked at her playfully.

“Hmm… I would be a hypocrite if I will say No.” Arabella smiled at him. How could she resist his sweet smell?

“Well, I am quite satisfied.” William uttered, and smiled at her too. The main question was never been answered. Arabella was quite confused about his answer. Is he confirming that he was gay? He could just answer yes or no. With that, she chose to believe that he confirmed that he was gay.

“Don’t worry, it would be a secret. You can open anything to me. Promise your secret is safe with me.” Arabella nodded her head repetitively to show her sincerity. She felt like having an instant sister and she started to act like a loving sister to him.

Upon hearing her words, William shook his head and smiled at her. Maybe it was good for her to think that she was gay, in that case, he had all the chances to get with her closer.

“Are you sure you wanna come tomorrow? Are you ready with my grandma and sister’s probing?” To avert the topic, William asked, more like to brief her of what’s gonna happened if she chose to go with him at the dinner.

“Relax. Okay? As long as they’re not gonna eat me alive. I don’t see anything harm. Besides, we’re friends, don’t worry, I’m gonna help you. After tomorrow night, your grandma would stop bothering you with the girls.” Arabella was full of confidence. Being gay wasn’t easy and she perfectly understood his situation. She also had assessed his grandma and it’s just normal for her to be excited seeing her gay grandson be with a woman in one room. If she would lie that would just be considered a white lie since she was just helping her grandson.

“Okay. If you say so.” William was satisfied with her answer with a smile. He found her more interesting.

Monday night came so quickly.

Everyone was excited to go home, but Arabella was waiting for William. He called her to wait in the office since he would be a little late for some urgent meetings.

Arabella fixed herself in the mirror and put on a little make-up. She had good skill in beautifying people through cosmetics, but for herself, she just wanted to look simple and bare. As required in their office, she just put on a single lipstick and that’s all. Very seldom that she used cosmetics for herself, just this night, she was bored and had nothing to do. After she finished, she looked at herself in the mirror and smiled in satisfaction. Her finished beauty came out sophisticated and one could be mesmerized even in just a single sneak.

Then, her phone rang.

“I’m here now. Come down.” William cooed. He seemed to just arrive and his voice was already tired.

“Okay. I will be there in a minute.” Arabella then hung up.

Outside the building, William arrived with his suit and tie from a heavy meeting. If it weren’t for his sister Mia, who had settled abroad and just dropped by to visit them quickly, he wouldn’t have gone through this kind of chaotic schedule. The idle of the night and his tiredness from the whole day's unlimited meeting made him want to sleep inside the car. He rested his head and closed his eyes for a while until someone knocked on his car’s door.

An angel came into his sight when he opened it. Arabella smiled at him sweetly.

“Are you okay?” She asked, seeing William not moving and just stared at her.

“I’m fine. I thought I was dreaming and seeing an angel out of nowhere. I must be tired.” William composed himself. If he wanted to keep their relationship just like the present, it was not good for her to see that he was mesmerized by her. That would surely cause her aloofness towards him. “Are you ready?” He calmly added after gathering his cool composure.

“Yeah? I think so?” Arabella laughed a little and that also made William laughed. The two had good chemistry that one could say that Arabella was the female version of William. They have the same interest and insights about things. They joke and laugh at the same things. Both witty and possessed strong guts. William liked her, maybe because he merely saw himself on her.

In a VIP restaurant, Arabella held William’s arm deliberately. This scene was not new to her since she had done this before with Bill Sky. Seeing them together, no one could say that they weren’t an in-love couple. They were lovely and match each other as their sweet actions were very normal.

“Oh darling, thank you for coming.” Grandma was the first person to be there inside sitting in the middle in fronting an oval table. Arabella then received her hug to welcome her and accept her gratitude.

“Where’s my sister? And why do we have an extra seat?” William asked curiously while putting a kiss on his grandma’s forehead.

“Your sister called. They will be a little late and she’s bringing her boyfriend too. Isn’t that good William? At least this night I am very satisfied. Seeing Arabella with you and Mia with her boyfriend then I can die in peace.” Dr. Zimmer said with a melancholy voice.

“Come on grandma! You won’t die without our permission.” To avert the emotional tension in the place, William said it jokingly and assisted Dr. Zimmer to sit down, then followed by Arabella.

“Guys, I am very sorry we’re late the traffic was very bad.” Mia, William’s older sister came with an elegant accent.

“Wait. William, Is she your new girlfriend? Hi, I am Mia his beautiful sister.” Mia was non-stopped, but the type that wasn’t annoying.

Upon seeing Mia, Arabella tried to crack her brain. She knew she saw Mia somewhere, but she couldn’t remember it for a while.

The two newly introduced girls hugged each other. Then, that was the time Arabella remembered Mia. She was a famous model abroad and Arabella saw her in the news before that Mia had the highest pay among all models. All she endorsed was only the top expensive brands and only worked in the top biggest company.

“Mia, you said on the phone that you will be bringing your boyfriend. Where is he? ” Dr. Zimmer asked in disappointment.

“Granny, relax. He’s here. He just had to answer some important call.” Mia explained. “Oh. He’s here. ” Just right after her explanation, Mia added and smiled upon seeing her man walking handsomely towards them.

The man in front of them made Arabella thunderstruck all of a sudden.