Chapter 3

"She said she would be back after a few hours.. It past 3'oclock already. She's been up early in the morning. Where could she be?" Calyx said as he looked at his watch, worried about his sister. "I wonder if Bruno Mars' airplane have already arrived.. Maybe he arrived late.. But regardless, she knows she should be here by now.." He said. 'But I should just let her do something that she loved for the last time. After all, I've never seen her this happy after that incident..' But he was still worried. 'What if she collapsed? What suddenly had an headache? Who would take care of her? No, I know she'll be okay. She can take care of herself.' Calyx said with a smile on his face.

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Alegria slowly opened her eyes. 'Where am I?' Alegria thought as she got out of bed and looked at her wrist watch. "Oh shit.. It's past 3pm already. I should be home now." She immediately grabbed her bag. Then she stopped. "Ohhh.. Yeah... Oh Alegria, you idiot." Alegria said as she hit her head with her fists. She sat down, then looked around. No one's with her. She was alone. 'Where might he be?' she thought. She saw a note on top of the table. She grabbed it, and read it.

Alegria,

You're probably awake by now.If you don't see me inside the room, that means I'm practicing with the band. Looks like you would be sleeping for a while.. By the way, the doctor came earlier while you were sleeping here and treated your wound so you should be okay now. But hey, don't leave yet. I still wanna ask you a few more questions...

PS: I ordered some food earlier and I left it inside the fridge. I thought you might be hungry. I didn't know what you liked so I'm sorry if I picked something you won't eat. Well bon appetit...?

-You Know Who. ;)

Alegria smiled. 'Well, I'm quite hungry. I guess I'll have to eat what he ordered.' she thought. Alegria opened the fridge. 'Oh shit.. Steak.' She is allergic to steak. Good thing there's a dessert. She took the lasagna, ice cream and a glass of water out of the fridge. She sat on the chair and ate the food. "Good thing his hotel room had a fridge. This ice cream might have been just cream by now." She only ate the ice cream. She drank some water, then stared at the window. Then she suddenly thought of the ring that Bruno wore with his necklace. 'I wonder where he got that from.. I was pretty sure I threw it away.' She thought.

She heard the door open. It was Bruno. She still couldn't believe that she's with him, right now, in his hotel room. 'I am so lucky.' She thought.

Bruno came inside carrying a guitar. "Hey.. You're awake. Did you read it?" Bruno asked.

"Yeah.. Oh, thanks for the food. I only ate ice cream though.. I'm allergic to steak."

"Oh.. It's okay. By the way.. Uhm.. I have to ask you something." Bruno said as he sat down on his bed.

"Err.. Sure. What is it?" Alegria answered, curious.

"Come sit here first." Bruno offered. Alegria walked towards him, then sat beside him.

"So.. What is it that you want to ask me?"

"By any chance.. Do you know someone named Englebert Williams?" Bruno asked.

"Uh.. Y-yeah.. He's my personal doctor. Why'd you ask?"

"He was the one who treated your wound earlier." Bruno said. His expression suddenly changed.

"Oh.."

"Why didn't you tell me?!" Bruno raised his voice, clearly upset about something.

"Tell you what?" Alegria answered cluelessly.

"You have a brain cancer. Why didn't you tell me?!"

Alegria was speechless. 'He already knows.' She thought to herself.

"I.. I know I shouldn't be asking you these questions and I shouldn't be scolding you like this.. But... Couldn't you have at least told me that you were sick?" Bruno said as he looked into Alegria's eyes.

"I... I'm sorry.. I just didn't want to gain your attention by telling you that I have brain cancer. It's totally a pathetic move.." Alegria answered as she shaked her head.

"Tell me everything."

"Wh-what?"

"Tell me everything about you. Your family, your friends, your attitude, everything. Just tell me everything about you." Bruno looked at Alegria with serious eyes.

Alegria sighed. "Alright.. My full name's Alegria Marie Erickson. Allergic to steak, chicken, and many other things. I can easily get along with people, but I don't have many friends. No, I don't have many real friends. My mother's Japanese and my father's American. My mom's name is Sakura, and my dad's name is Bernard. My brother's name is Calyx. I lived in the Philippines for quite a while. So yeah, I know how to speak Tagalog and Nihongo.

"My parents died because of a car accident." She paused.. "My brother and I were with them when it happened. After that, we migrated here and our relatives took care of us. We eventually lived separate with them and my brother took care of me from then on.

"I only had one special man in my entire life. And guess what? His name is Peter. And he can also sing, dance, play lots of instruments.. He's good at everything. But I didn't love him because of that. I don't know.. But when I'm with him, I forget everything. I forget all of my problems.. The pain and sadness that I feel.. I forget all of 'em. I felt happy with him.. After a few years, he proposed to me. He asked if I wanted him to marry him. Of course I said yes.." She paused again, her eyes starting to become red. Bruno stayed silent but still listening to Alegria.

"But just like all love stories, it ended so quickly. After a few weeks, he had a car accident. He became comatose. After a few weeks, he died. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't think of life without him. He was.. He was my everything. And just like any other woman who lost his man, I cried. I cried for days. All I did was cry. I didn't sleep, didn't eat.. I didn't do anything but cry. One night, I decided to go out and have some fresh air. But then I saw the coffee shop, the place where we first met." Alegria couldn't hold it anymore. Her tears finally run down to her cheek. "I remembered everything and got angry. I still couldn't accept that he was gone. I looked at the engagement ring that he gave me. I got even more angry, so I removed it and threw it away. I ran back to home after that. I went inside my room and locked it. My brother then got sick me. So he just like, let me cry whole night." Alegria wiped her tears.

"And I guess, it's this ring.." Alegria held the ring on Bruno's necklace.

"You mean.. This ring is yours?" Bruno answered, shocked.

"Yes.. Where'd you find it? I was really sure that I threw it away."

"Well.. Phil and I are in the studio and we're doing some finishing touches on some of the songs on my album. We went out to buy some coffee and while on the way back to the studio, I saw this ring. And that's it." Bruno said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Wait.. You found it near the coffee shop? You mean, you live in the same neighborhood?" Alegria's eyes widened, surprised by what she had discovered.

"Well.. Not really.. Our studio's near there, but I live on a different place. You know, if you want, you can help us on producing songs. Your violin skills would be really useful and you can sing on some of the demos." Bruno answered with a smile, trying to cheer her up.

"Really?! Wow! I'd love to!" Alegria's eyes sparkled.

"But.. I'd like to ask you one more thing.." Bruno said.

"What is it?" Alegria answered.

Bruno hesitated, but he still asked. "When did you find out that.. That you had a brain cancer?"

"Just last month.. The doctor said that the tumor's on it's last stage. My brother told me that I could still be cured if I wanted to have a surgery, but I said it's just a waste of money and time. The tumor might grow again, so the first operation would be completely useless. I'm still going to die."

"But you can be cured after the surgery." Bruno answered.

"CAN, not WILL. The operation might fail, or the tumor might grow back. Who knows what's gonna happen? And besides... I'd rather die than live and lose my memory just because of that damn surgery."

"But you said it yourself. Who knows what's gonna happen? The surgery MIGHT succeed, the tumor MIGHT not grow back. Cause you won't know what it's like until you try." Bruno smiled as he sang the lyrics of his song. "You know what, why don't you think about it? Think about what you really wanna do with your life." Bruno said, as he gently tapped Alegria's back.

"Well.. Okay.. I'll think about it.." Alegria answered.

"You'll think about it?" Bruno asked.

"Yes, I'll think about it."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Cross your heart?"

"Cross my heart." Alegria said, giggling.

"Well then, it's settled." Bruno did a sigh of relief. "Oh, I forgot. Kenji asked me to return this from you." Bruno said, handing the fan book to Alegria.

"Uhm, actually, I'm planning to give it you."

"Oh.. Really? Wow, I was gonna ask you to give it to me as a gift. Thank you so much! Know what, let's take a picture together." Bruno said, pulling his cellphone out of his pocket.

"Oh, I've got a camera in my bag. Wait, I'll just get it." Alegria immediately searched for her camera. "Here it is." She took the camera out and turned it on.

"Wait, let's take a picture of us first using my phone. I wanna have a picture of us too." Bruno said.

"Well.. Okay.." Alegria put her camera down.

"You ready? One.. Two.. Three.. Smile!" Click. A picture was taken. "Wow, you're photogenic."

"What? Lemme see.." Alegria grabbed Bruno's phone and looked at the pic. "Wow, I really look good here." She smiled.

"Let's take another picture. This time, it's a wacky photo."

"Oh, sure sure."

"One.. Two.. Three..." Click.

Alegria grabbed Bruno's phone and looked at the photo. "Hahahaha! You're like, 'OMG I'm so dumb! '"

"You're cute." Bruno softly said.

"Hahahaha! I'm sorry.. Eherm. What?" Alegria said, wiping the tears on her eyes.

"Huh? Uhh.. Nothing. I said you're silly." Bruno replied.

"Oh.. Haha.." Alegria answered. "Now, let's take some pictures using my camera. Okay. One.. Two.. Three.. Smile!"

Bruno looked at the picture. "Let's take another. Uhmm.. How about we take a formal shot?"

"What? Oh, I have another idea. So, we're gonna stand here, do a formal pose then we'll set the timer and then boom, we have a full body shot. Wait, lemme just set the timer.... Okay. It's done. Is it okay if we took more pictures?"

"Of course! Wait, I'll just straighten up my jacket.. Hat to the side.. Okay, I'm ready." Bruno jokingly said.

Alegria smiled. "Okay, the camera will be up in ten seconds... Okay, we'll just have to wait for ten seconds then it's done."

"Wait, do I look good?" Bruno said, as he was trying his charming poses on Alegria.

Alegria laughed and said, "Yes, you look great. Hey, the ten second is almost up. Get ready."

Bruno grabbed Alegria's waist and looked at her eyes, then looked at the camera. Alegria blushed in surprise, but let Bruno's arms wrap around his waist. Five seconds more... Bruno decided leaned his head closer to Alegria's head. Four seconds.. Alegria, still blushing, smiles at the camera. Three... Two.. One... Click. The longest five seconds of their lives were over. They both looked at the picture.

"Nice.." Bruno said.

"Yeah.." Alegria answered.

"Let's take more photos."

"Okay. Wait, I'll just set my camera." They took another wacky shot, an "emo shot", and lots and lots of pictures. They laughed as they both viewed the photos that they took.

"Look at you! Hahahaha! Your face is so funny!" Alegria said as she laughed at Bruno's face.

"Lemme see it." Bruno grabbed the camera and looked at his face. ""Ooppff.." Bruno tried to resist his laugh but can't control it.

"Hahaha.." Alegria glanced at her wrist watch. It's 3:56pm already. "Well, I guess this is all for today. Thanks for the food, the pictures, everything. I'll have to go now, Calyx might get worried." Alegria said as she grabbed her bag.

"Wait.." Bruno said.

"What?" Alegria answered.

"Uhm.. You're coming later.. At our concert.. Right?" Bruno asked.

"Of course I am. I bought front row seats you know." Alegria said as she winked at Bruno. "Well, I really have to go now. Thanks for the time." Alegria smiled then stood up.

"Wait.." Bruno held Alegria's hand. Alegria sat down again.

"What?"

"After the concert... Don't go home right after the concert. Just wait until there are only few people staying. I'll ask one of our bodyguards to fetch you. I'll meet you at the backstage." Bruno said.

"Oh.. Sure sure. I'll wait." Alegria answered with a smile.

"Okay.."

"Bye! Thanks for everything!" Alegria said as she stood up.

"Wait.." Bruno said.

"M-hmm?" Alegria looked at Bruno, curious about what he wants to say this time.

Bruno stood up then looked at Alegrias eyes and gently hugged her. Alegria was shocked. She frozed for a moment.. Then hugged Bruno back. They can feel each other's warmth. After a few moments, the looked at each other. Bruno's lips were getting closer to Alegria's. Closer... Closer... Stop. Alegria turned her head away and stopped embracing him.

"I.. I have to go now.. Bye.." Alegria said while walking away. 'This isn't right..' she thought. She wanted to evaporate at that instant, if only she could.

"Ok.." Bruno answered. It was the first time that someone avoided his kiss. 'Damn! I missed one special chance!' Bruno said as he watched Alegria walk away.

Alegria started to walk away. But it's like some magnet was forcing her to go back. She couldn't control it. She couldn't stop. She turned around and walked towards Bruno. Bruno was surprised, speechless. She stopped in front of him and looked at his lips. She couldn't stop looking at them. She gave him a quick kiss on the lips and then ran away, fast. She didn't know what she did just now, all she knows is she liked it. She liked how her lips touched his and how gentle her lips were. She couldn't stop thinking about it. She realized she was already riding a bus, but still holding her lips.

'Oh shoot..What am I doing?'