Chapter 24

"Mom, she said yes!" Bruno said, talking to his mom on the phone. He was so excited to tell his mom.

"What? Really?! Wow! Congratulations, son! I told you she'd say yes!" Mommy Bernie said, Bruno can almost see his mom's smile by just hearing her voice.

Alegria looked at Bruno while he talked on the phone. He loves his mother so much. She sighed. She wish she also had a mom to tell this to. She felt tears in her eyes, but she breathed deep. 'This isn't the time to cry. I should be happy.'

She has a grandmother and a grandfather on his mother's side who took care of her and Calyx. But she's worried about her grandfather. He isn't that nice, especially to her suitors. Her grandfather is the reason why she only had Peter as her suitor. He was the only one who passed his grandfather's tests. And her grandfather knew that Peter was the first person Alegria loved. He had to make her grand daughter happy. 'I miss them..' Alegria said to herself.

"Alegria, I called Pops and he said he wants to meet you as soon as possible." Bruno cut Alegria's thoughts. He was smiling at her, showing all his white teeth. He was happy and excited.

"Really? Finally.. We'll get to see him now." Eric said.

"You have to meet out grandparents first." Calyx said. He looked at Alegria with serious eyes. He knew how harsh it would be when Bruno goes there.

"Okay. That's not going to be a problem." Bruno just grinned at Calyx.

"Oh, Bruno, don't be too cocky." Alegria smiled at Bruno.

"Why? I mean, I'm just going to meet them, right?" Bruno asked, confused.

Alegria just smiled at Bruno. She could imagine Bruno begging her to leave their grandparents' house.

"What? I'm just excited!" Bruno said as he grabbed Alegria's and spun her around. He put her down, grabbed her waist and pulled her closer.

"Aren't you busy?" Alegria asked as she caressed Bruno's cheek.

"Well, we're almost near to finishing all the songs that we've written. Just three songs more, and we're done. So don't worry." Bruno said as he looked at Alegria's eyes.

Alegria didn't smile as much as Bruno, but she was so happy. This was one of the happiest day of her life. She just didn't know how to express it, but she her heart is overflowing with happiness.

"We'll finish the songs as fast as we can. We don't wanna delay your wedding." Phil said, smiling at Alegria.

"It's the TV guestings and radio interviews that makes us busy. But we can handle it." Phredley said. Jamareo and Kenji agreed.

"Oh, yeah.. We have a TV guesting tomorrow, right? How about we bring Alegria there?" Bruno smiled at the boys.

"It's not a bad idea, I guess we could bring her there. We just have to ask Derek about it." Kenji said.

"Derek would agree, for sure." Jamareo said.

"Calyx, would you like to come?" Eric asked.

"No, I'm good. I have a date with Danielle tomorrow." Calyx grinned. The boys teased Calyx.

"Girls like boys who move fast, so bring her home after dinner!" Phil said, smiling at Calyx.

Alegria's head suddenly ached. 'Damn.. Not again..' Alegria held her head as she closed her eyes. The pain was killing her.

"What's wrong? Migraine?" Bruno asked Alegria, worried. Alegria just nodded her head. Her head was aching too much that she can't even talk.

"Alex, what's happening?" Calyx said as he looked at Alegria. The boys stopped teasing Calyx and looked at Alegria. They were all worried about her.

"Migraine. I think we should bring her home so she could rest." Bruno said, looking at Calyx.

"I guess we'll have to leave now." Calyx said as he looked at the boys. "Thanks for the help boys."

"No prob. Let her rest, aight?" Eric said.

"Let's go." Bruno said as he assisted Alegria to his car. Calyx followed.

Bruno drove the car, and they were all silent. Bruno didn't want to turn on the music. He was worried that Alegria's head might ache more. They arrived in Alegria's house after that.

"Thanks for the ride, Bruno." Calyx said as he opened the door.

"No prob." Bruno said as he carried Alegria in his arms. Alegria fell asleep, and he didn't want to wake her up. He went inside the house and walked upstairs to Alegria's room. He laid her down on her bed, gently, hoping not to wake her up. He took her high heels off and put it on Alegria's shoe rack. Bruno then sat beside Alegria and moved Alegria's hair out of her face. He stared at the woman that he adored. He smiled. 'How can a woman be this beautiful?' He said as he caressed her cheek. He looked around Alegria's room. It hasn't changed much since the last time that he came there. He then looked for a pen and a paper and wrote something on it. He put it beside Alegria's clock. He kissed her forehead and left Alegria's room quietly.

"I'll be leaving now." Bruno told Calyx as he got out of the door.

"Drive safely." Calyx said. Calyx smiled to himself. He was happy for his sister. He never thought she would find someone like Bruno. 'He better not make her cry again..' Calyx thought.

---------------------------------------------

Alegria opened her eyes. 'Ahh.. It was just a dream, right?' Alegria rubbed her eyes, disappointed. She looked at her clock, it was 6:12am. She saw the note beside her clock. 'Huh? What's this?' Alegria said to herself as she took it.

Good morning, Mrs. Soon-to-be-Hernandez.
I'll pick you up at 8am, so you better don't wake up late.
I love you, forever. :)

-Mr. Hernandez.

"So it wasn't a dream?!" Alegria said to herself. She looked at her clothes. She was still wearing the dress that Bruno gave her. She smiled. "It wasn't a dream.." She immediately got out of her bed and went downstairs.

"Good morning." Calyx smiled. He was cooking breakfast for the two of them.

"A very good morning, indeed." Alegria answered as she went inside the bathroom and brushed her teeth. She went outside and sat at the dining table.

Calyx laughed as he noticed Alegria's dress. He put the omelet on the table and sat down.

"What?" Alegria said as she started to eat her omelet.

"You like that dress so much?" Calyx asked.

"Of course I do. This is the first dress that Bruno gave me." Alegria answered.

"You didn't come home yesterday." Calyx said, looking at Alegria's eyes. He knew something happened.

Alegria turned red immediately. "Uhm.. Yeah.. I didn't.." She ate her omelet faster.

"I see.." Calyx grinned at Alegria. He liked how he could make his sister turn red that easy. He didn't even have to continue asking her to know if something happened.

Alegria finished her omelet and stood up. She ran towards the bathroom and brushed her teeth. She really hates how she can be easily teased. Calyx was the best at it, he can make her easily turn red. She brushed her teeth fast and took a shower. She went to her room and got dressed.

She wore her black lace fitted dress and black high heels. She dried her hair and curled it. She put on her light make up on face but wore a blood red lipstick. She wore black rose earrings and, a silver black onyx bracelet and a silver necklace with a ruby pendant on it. Then she looked at the rings that Bruno gave her. She sighed. 'Am I really gonna marry Bruno fucking Mars?' She smiled to herself and took a final look at the mirror.

She took her cellphone, red lipstick and pain killers and put it in her bag. She was just about to go out of her room when she heard a beep of a car from outside her house. 'He's here.' She took her bag and went downstairs.

"I'll be going now. Bye." She kissed Calyx on his cheeks.

"Ewww.. Lipstick.." Calyx said as he wiped off the red lipstick on his face.

Alegria laughed. "Sorry.." She said as she went out of the house and ran to Bruno's car.

"Take care, you two! Hey, Mr. Hernandez, drive safely." Calyx smiled as he shouted.

"Yeah, good luck on your date!" Alegria smiled as she went inside Bruno's car. "Let's go."

Bruno took off his shades. Alegria looked stunning. Her hair.. Her eyes.. Her outfit.. Wow. He smiled.

"What? What's wrong? Do I look funny?" Alegria said, worried. 'Is it my make up? Or my dress?'

"No, no.. I am just happy that I'm gonna marry a very beautiful and dazzling woman." Bruno said as he drove the car and smiled.

Alegria smiled. "You know, you should stop flattering me."

"I'm not flattering you, I'm just telling the truth." Bruno grinned.

"Ugh.. There you go again. You know Bruno, liars go to hell." Alegria said, smiling.

"No, really. You're beautiful. Trust me, you really are. Even without make-up on or you're not wearing a beautiful dress, you're still beautiful." Bruno said. He sounded serious and upset. He doesn't like it when Alegria doesn't admit that she's beautiful.

Alegria sighed. "Fine. Thank you for the compliment, Mr. Bruno Mars." Alegria said. Bruno kept silent. He was still upset at Alegria. "What?"

"Don't do that again."

"Do what?"

"Act like you don't know you're beautiful."

Alegria raised her eyebrow. "Bruno, first of all, I am not beau--"

"You're doing it again." Bruno rolled his eyes. "Alegria, you're beautiful. You really are. Why don't you just say thank you whenever someone says that to you?"

"I already say thank you.. Why are you angry?" Alegria said. Bruno said nothing. She sighed. "I'm sorry Bruno.. Don't be mad at me, please?" Alegria tried to sound cute and blinked her eyes a lot.

Bruno smiled. He can't resist Alegria. "Alright, alright. Just don't do that again."

Alegria smiled. 'Bruno is just so kind.' She thought. He hasn't even seen Alegria's high school pics. Gosh, the braces. She had to wear them to straighten those crooked Japanese teeth. She inherited that from her mother. Then she remembered her grandparents. "Bruno, when do you wanna meet grandma and grandpa?"

"Hmm.. How about tomorrow? Pops said that he'll be here the day after tomorrow, and Eric will pick him up. We'll meet him at the studio." Bruno said.

"Ohh.. I see. You really wanna meet 'em tomorrow? I mean, aren't you busy or something?" Alegria asked. She was quite worried about hier grandfather.

"Well, yeah, I wanna meet 'em tomorrow. I'm not really busy this summer. So yeah, we will have so much time to prepare for the wedding." Bruno grinned.

Alegria smiled. 'Oh, if you only knew how rude grandpa is..'

After a few minutes, they arrived to the studio. They rode a bus from there. After a few minutes, they have arrived to the place where the TV show would take place and some bodyguards assisted them to the backstage.

"You'll have to sit with the audience." Derek told Alegria.

"That's fine with me." Alegria said. Was then assisted by a bodyguard as she went and sat with the audience.

"Oohh.. I hope they'd ask about Bruno's girlfriend." The girl beside her said.

"Yeah! Have you seen the pic of Bruno kissing a girl in Hawaii?" Another girl said.

"Oh, that bitch! If I ever knew who she was, I'm going to kill her!" The girl said.

'Oh my gosh.. And I'm sitting right next to her.' Alegria gulped.

"I guess she's Bruno's girlfriend. But it's still inappropriate to kiss each other in public." The other girl said.

'Oh, but you don't know what happened..' Alegria thought. If she could only explain to these girls what had really happened there.

"The show's gonna start in a few minutes!" A girl from behind Alegria said.

Alegria looked around. 'Wow..' Almost all of the audience were females. Then the host started to talk and introduce Bruno. Bruno came out, waving to the fans. The fans started screaming, Alegria just clapped her hands as she stood up. He spotted Alegria and winked at her.

"Oh my gosh, he winked at me!! Did you see that?! Gosh! I am ready to die now!!!" The girl beside Alegria said.

"Ahhh! You're sooo lucky!!" The other girl said.

Alegria just smiled at Bruno. "You make these girls crazy." Alegria mouthed to Bruno.

Bruno just smiled as he sat down. The host then started to intevew Bruno. He asked a lot of questions. The fans went silent when he asked Bruno about his lovelife. "So, tell us the truth. The girl that you kissed in Hawaii, is she your girlfriend?"

"Yes, she is." Bruno said. The fans started screaming after Bruno said that.

"See, I told you she was his girlfriend!" The girl said.

"Ladies, it's official. Bruno Mars has a girlfriend. Bruno, you're such a heartbreaker!" The host laughed. Bruno smiled at the interviewer then he looked at Alegria.

"Actually, we're getting married." Bruno said. Then he heard someone in the audience say, "Yeah, he's gonna marry me!!" The host and Bruno laughed with the audience.

"Wow.. Really? When did you propose to her and how?" The host asked.

"Just last night. I sang her an Elvis song, and asked her to be my queen, and she said yes, and that's it." Bruno answered.

"It wasn't hard for you to make her say yes, huh?" The host asked, smiling at Bruno. "So, who's the lucky girl?" The host asked. It seemed that he knew who Alegria was. The host looked at Alegria and smiled.

"She's actually with me, and she's sitting with the audience." Bruno said. Fans started so scream frantically.

"Where is she?" The host said, he was already looking at Alegria.

'Oh gosh.. Bruno, don't..' Alegria said, she started to get nervous.

Bruno stood up and walked towards Alegria. Alegria signalled Bruno not to come, but Bruno just smiled at her and stood infront of her. He held out his hand as he smiled. "Mrs. Hernandez?"

Alegria rolled her eyes as she smiled. "Oh, alright." She took Bruno's hand and stood up.

The girl beside Alegria was surprised. Her jaws dropped as she looked at Alegria.

Bruno held Alegria's waist as they walked towards the host and sat down.

"No wonder a guy like Bruno Mars would be mesmerized by this woman right here. She's very beautiful!" The host said.

"A very beautiful woman, indeed." Bruno smiled as he held Alegria's hand and looked into her eyes. Alegria just shook her head as she smiled.

"So, when's the wedding day?" The host asked.

"We haven't really thought about it.. Actually, I asked her to marry me because I'm too afraid that another guy would steal her from me." Bruno answered. The audience awwwed to what Bruno said.

"That's Mr. Casanova for you." The host said. "Well, Bruno Mars is gonna sing something to his beloved fiance. Give it up for Mr. Bruno Mars!" The host said and the audience applauded. Bruno and Alegria stood up and walked towards Phil and the others.

"This was the song that I sang to her last night." Bruno smiled as he looked at Eric and signalled him to start. Eric rolled the drums and started to play the song.

Bruno started singing and Phil and Phredley sang in background.

"Wise men say, only fools rush in..
But I can't help falling in love with you.
Shall I stay? Would it be a sin,
If I can't help falling in love with you.."

The fans sang with Bruno. Bruno grabbed Alegria's waist and pulled her closer. He put his forehead against Alegria's. The fans awwed again when Bruno did that, and he continued to sing.

"Like a river flows surely to the sea,
Darling so it goes,
Some things are meant to be..
Take my hand, take my whole life too,
For I cant help falling in love with you.."

Alegria felt tears in her eyes, and tried to stop them. She wiped them gently, hoping not to mess her make-up.

"Aww, she's crying!" The host said and the audience awwed again.

Bruno smiled as he helped Alegria wipe her tears. He continued singing.

"Like a river flows surely to the sea,
Darling so it goes,
Some things are meant to be..
Take my hand, take my whole life too,
For I cant help falling in love with you.."

Bruno then looked straight into Alegria's eyes as he sang the last part of the song.

"For I cant help falling in love with you.." He then gave Alegria a peck on the lips and smiled. "I love you, forever."

"I know." Alegria answered. The crowd awwed again as they clapped their hands.

The host then did some final words and ended the show. Bruno and Alegria went to the backstage.

"Why'd you do that?" Alegria asked.

"Why not?" Bruno grinned.

"Did you know that one of your female fans said that she wanted to kill the 'BITCH' that you kissed in Hawaii?" Alegria said.

"Really? Well, she's just jealous." Bruno chuckled. Alegria just rolled her eyes. Bruno looked at Alegria. "You, why did you cry?"

"Nothing.. I'm just.. Happy." Alegria said as she smiled at Bruno. Bruno said nothing, but he smiled back.

Then they went to a radio interview. Good thing the interviewer didn't ask about Bruno's lovelife. The radio interview was finished and they went to another. And another. Alegria just looked at Bruno while he talked. 'He's gorgeous even when talking.' Alegria said to herself. They went to the studio after the interview and rode Bruno's car.

"Bruno, you wanna meet my grandparents now?" Alegria said. She didn't wanna do the 'introduction' tomorrow. Bruno would experience more hours of pain and misery. It's better to visit them now.

"Hmm.. That's fine with me. But why the rush?" Bruno asked, curious.

"Well.. I just don't want you to experience longer hours of humilty and pain and misery and everything." Alegria warned Bruno.

"What do you mean? It's not like they're gonna torture me there, right?" Bruno asked.

"You don't know them Bruno." Alegria looked at Bruno. "Wait, before we go there, let's buy a wine. Grandpa likes wine." Alegria said.

"Okay, just tell me the direction to their house." Bruno said as he drove the car.

----------------------------------------------

"So, you wanna marry our Alegria?" Alegria's grandfather said. He looked grumpy and scary. But Alegria's grandmother looked so gentle and so kind.

"Uhm.. Yes, sir. I wanna marry your grand daughter, and I'm asking for your permission in order to do that." Bruno said as gentle as he could.

"Well, what do you do, child?" Alegria's grandmother asked, smiling.

"He's a famous singer, and he also produces songs." Alegria said. She was nervous, but she tried to kept calm.

"If he's famous, I should have heard him on the radio or TV." Alegria's grandfather said.

Alegria closed her eyes. She didn't wanna hear her grandfather's insults to Bruno.

"Dear, please  be kind to him.." Alegria's grandma spoke in Nihongo.

"It's okay Grandma.. Bruno would understand." Alegria spoke in Nihongo.

"I wanna ask you another question. Why do you love my grand daughter?" Alegria's grandfather said, completely ignoring Alegria.

Alegria looked at Bruno, nervous.

"Frankly speaking sir, I actually don't know why I love her. It's just.. Whenever I see her, I just feel happy and complete. I'm happy when I'm with her. That is all, sir." Bruno said.

Alegria's grandfather smiled at Bruno. "You passed." Alegria grinned at Bruno

"Excuse me, sir?" Bruno asked, confused.

"You can now marry my grand daughter." Alegria's grand father said as he smiled.

Bruno grinned and bowed. "Arigato gozaimashita!"

Alegria hugged her grandfather. "Grandpa, you're the best!"