Prelude to Forever : Alden & Maine

One Shot #11 - Blurred Lines

Photo Credit : (c) Maine Mendoza's Instagram Account

The bell finally rang.

Maine took one last look at her image in the mirror before rushing to answer the door. It was almost midnight; she was done with another photo shoot and was fresh from a shower. Her hair was still slightly damp and wavy, her face free from make-up. With a smile, she rushed to open the door of her condo.

"Finally." She said with a happy sigh. She pulled him inside as he engulfed her in a warm and tight hug.

"Ahh, you smell good, baby." He said, burying his head in the crook of her neck. He loved the fruity, floral scent of her hair and nuzzled her neck. Tickled, she gently pushed him away to have a look at him. RJ looked fresh from a shower himself, wearing a white tee and army green pants. She liked that his hair was free from hair products, his face without make-up, adorned simply by that endearing dimple.

"Glad you're finally here."

"Yes babe, same here. Hungry? What's for dinner?" With his arm around her, they headed to the dining area to grab a late dinner. Assorted cheese and cold cuts, Caesar's salad, Pesto Chicken and walnut on penne pasta were artfully spread on the table. There was chilled wine, fruits for dessert, and a bowl of whipped cream dotted with small Oreos, also ready for RJ.

"Wow, you did all this?"

"Haha, no babe. Ordered the cheese, wine and cold cuts from Santi's, Coleen gave the fruits. All I did was the pasta and Oreo Whip."

"Still, effort pa rin, even the table setting. Thanks, babe." He kissed her on the cheek and pulled a seat for her. Dragging the other chair beside her, they began to munch on the cheese and cold cuts, sip the sweet white wine and recount the day's events.

It was the sixth monthsary of Yaya Dub and KS Alden, celebrated with fans in the Broadway Studio. They were amazed at the turnout of fans both inside and outside the studio. They laughed in remembrance of Jose's attempts to push RJ closer to her, Miss A's screams, and their awkwardness over the question of celebrating another monthsary privately. RJ suddenly turned silent.

Maine knew it was a sensitive topic between them, the secrecy of having a real relationship. If she were still the same person she was over a year ago, she would have wanted RJ to be proud of her, to be vocal about their relationship. Wasn't she tired of all the blurred lines, the guessing games and trying to understand why a relationship got more complex if people around them didn't know the real score? This time around, though, she asked for the privacy.

"Do you still feel bad about keeping us a secret?" She was a bit scared of his answer. It may sound selfish, childish even, but there were times when she wanted Alden or RJ all to herself. No prying eyes, no twitter bashing and no media forever on their necks, demanding for responses they want to hear. Keeping their relationship private was the next best thing. Admitting their relationship was like opening a Pandora's box of questions, bashing, more media prying; as if that was not happening already.

"No." He shook his head but looked sad. "You're right sweetie, we can't go public yet. I don't know if we ever can. There's a part of me that wants a normal relationship for you, where we can do normal things a couple gets to do. Then there's another part of me that wants to protect what we have. If we go public, we can lose what little privacy we have left. I might lose you and I won't have that. I just found you. "

She heaved a sigh of relief, glad that they agreed on the privacy. But what they had was difficult and risky. RJ had to be careful getting in and out of her condo. So many times, he wanted to bring her home to Bulacan but fans recognized his van. Once in a while, she and RJ would ride in her van and let RJ's driver follow using his dad's car, waiting somewhere in NLEX. Maine's driver would bring him to NLEX to the waiting car after he's had dinner with Maine and her family.

He reached for her hand to entwine their arms. Maine moved closer and pressed a soft kiss on his jaw. He turned to kiss her lips gently, liking the mingling taste of the sweet wine and strawberries in her mouth. He let go of her hand to pull her closer trailing his mouth along her jawline down to her neck. Fighting the urge to go further, he hugged her instead.

She gently disengaged from his embrace and got up, pulling him with her. She led him to the couch and turned the TV on. Selecting the movie "Serendipity" from her hard drive, she settled snugly beside him to watch her favorite movie.

"So this is it huh?" He said with a smile. He liked it when she shared things with him. This movie was even more special because she earlier said on EB that she wanted to take him to Central Park in New York, the location of a scene in this movie. She also posted a Polaroid shot of them both with the caption "Sweet Serendipity," which was actually the title of a song with a split-screen MTV. Maine had a unique way of showing her feelings and he loved decoding her messages.

"I love you, Maine."

Not babe or sweetie, but Maine. Her name, so that she knew it was she, not Divina, or some other memory that he loved. She kissed him in response and hid her face in his chest. No words were needed because he knew that verbally, she felt most vulnerable. They sat in companionable silence, enjoying the movie, occasionally laughing at some scenes.

"You think sasagutin na ni Divina si Alden this week?" He asked suddenly, with a smirk. It was a guessing game they played, wondering when their reel characters would finally be a couple.

"Di ko alam eh." She smirked back.

"Grabe siya! Seryoso na nga si Alden, diba? May please pa. Di pa ba nakuha sa tingin?"

"Babe, do you realize you sound funny talking about 'Alden?' Di naman ikaw yun eh. You already have me."

"Babe, pag sinagot na ni Divina si Alden, I can be allowed to be with you more. I can hug you in front of all of them and not care what they see. Yun lang habol ko."

Sweet. This guy was sweet to a fault. She reached out to hold his face in her hands, trying to establish eye contact without looking away.

"Malapit na real monthsary natin. Two months, baby! You've made me really happy. I'm sorry, I'm so lame verbally but what we have now is more than I ever hoped. Please be content with it for now, RJ. Please?"

After a moment, he relented. "Ok," he said, rubbing the back of his neck tiredly. "It's getting late, maaga call time ko for SPS mamaya. I better get going." He stood up and walked to the door, Maine trailing behind him. He faced her and reached for her waist to pull her closer.

"Lika nga dito pa-kiss. Buti walang busina." His mouth swooped down before she could even give a smart-ass comeback.

It was a full ten minutes before he finally went down.