“They respect you, Santi,” Kira corrected him. “And I think your customers wouldlovea tartufo made with my chocolate.”
“It’s the chocolate that makes people fall in love,” Santi noted. Then he looked down at his cup, remembering what she said about destiny. He wondered if this was how it revealed itself to him, in the form of Kira Luz showing up at the right place at the right time.
“Are you falling in love with me now, Santi?” Kira asked, a little chuckle in her voice told him that she was joking, but still, the question caught him off guard, made him pause.
“I was...” he said, very suddenly, out of words.
“Joking, I know,” she told him lightly, looking away. “I just don’t want to lose the shop. Don’t get me wrong. I love the Laneways, and everything about it.”
“It’s easy to see why.” Santi nodded, looking out at the space before them. He could see Sunday Bakery just across the street, where the staff was speaking to their last few customers. Next door to that was Café Cecilia, warm and welcoming. On and on, the shops went, offering different temptations and comforting things, and it was nice.
There was a reason why he wanted to be a part of it, too. Not just because it was popular, there was...there was a magic to it that he couldn’t understand. No competition, no fighting. Just a group of people coming together to make something special.
“But it’s not mine.” Kira wrinkled her nose in distaste, like it was physically unpalatable for her to say so. “It belongs to all of my family. And I’m happy to keep working for them if they need me, but one day, they won’t. On the Laneways, I’m a Luz. But in Gemini, I’m just...myself. I’m everyone’s friend. The one they turn to when they need something. Gemini is my haven. My safe space.”
A place like this was such a bubble in a country like the Philippines, where business was harsh and competitive, where it was always about one-upping each other and exerting authority that you maybe didn’t have.
To Kira, Gemini Chocolates, and by extension, the Laneways, was a safe haven. Santi understood that, because isn’t that exactly why he was here? Exactly why he drew a firm line between his Lipa life and Manila life? He was here tonight because he’d needed that safe haven. And just like Kira, her presence here meant the world to him. She mattered because she was here.
Santi should have never asked his grandfather about what he could do. He regretted it the moment he’d asked.
“It’s a good space,” he assured her. “I feel safe here, too. And I find myself enjoying this.”
“The tsokolate,” she said, nodding. “It’s amazing, if I do say so myself.”
“Not just that. It’s spending time with you again,” he clarified, and it was worth saying something that he never would have otherwise admitted, just to see Kira Luz blush. “Talking with you again. I missed you, Kimberly.”
“Same,” she said simply, and Santi wanted to exhale in relief. She missed him. She understood how missing the other person felt like, because she felt it about him. She wanted him, and he wanted her. It sounded so simple, so reachable. All he had to do was take it. Say yes. Be selfish.
“Also,” he added, “one of us has to believe in the universe. And it has to be you.”
“Hasto?” she asked him curiously.
“It means something to you,” he told her. “It has guided you and led you to some interesting places—opening the Laneways, making your own chocolate, building your community, matching couples, convenience stores in the middle of nowhere, Japan.”
“But not security for Gemini Chocolates.”
“But there’s something you can do about that,” he pointed out. “Somethingwecan do.”
“We. I like the sound of that we.”
He looked at her, and knew he saw Kira Luz, and everything she represented. Good things and magic, possible happiness. A bit of chocolate had lingered, just at the corner of her lips.
Their faces were close. Close enough that he noted the color of her lips, achieved by some kind of lip product. It made her lips glossy and deep berry red, reminding him of the roses she loved so much. Did she still love them, or had she outgrown them? he wondered. There was so much about her he longed to know. To rediscover. To remember. Three years waiting for a kiss was a long time.
He was about to ask if he could stop waiting, and just kiss her, when his phone started to ring, loud and demanding as it vibrated violently in his pocket. Santi hastily pulled out his phone and frowned at the name flashing on the screen, as if glaring at it would make it go away.
“Hotel stuff?” Kira asked, frowning.
“Yes. Nothing too bad, but something I have to handle right away,” he sighed. “Rain check on that dinner?”
“I never understood what that meant,” Kira mused. “But yes.”
He placed his mug between them. Then before he turned to leave, Kira tugged his hand and kissed him. It was a soft kiss, a casual press of her mouth against his. But Santi felt his entire body melt against hers. Felt himself curl toward her, like a flower turning to the sun. He kissed her back, in between breaths, and he felt Kira’s lips curve when she smiled.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said softly, tucking a strand of hair behind Kira’s ear before he turned and left. His stomachache had miraculously cleared.
Chapter Eight
