Wishes Do Come True

It was the perfect plan.

Wes had spent half the day preparing everything and used the rest to set it all in motion. Unlike his past courtship attempts, he didn’t hide behind anonymous gifts and unnamed letters this time, nor did he hesitate. He could not wait that long to tell these feelings –

These feelings that led him to incur Seth’s wrath yet again as he snuck out of the office in secret, ordered a romantic deluxe gift package, and went on to reserve the café for a private rendezvous.

Mia wasn’t good with people. She probably wouldn’t feel comfortable if he made a spectacle of things like before, which was why he had the employees pack up early and only allow her entry. He then sent her the message and waited for her to arrive.

“I-I’m rooting for you, Wes! You can do it!”

But then, she had assumed he was going to confess to Alice. He didn’t think he’d been obvious with his real intent, but he also didn’t expect she’d jump to that conclusion. Not once did he mention Alice’s name, after all, not even during their makeover mission.

He couldn’t blame her, though, considering that’s the reason they’d become friends in the first place.

“Uh, y-you're confessing today, right? Ms. Alice w-will be here in a short w-while… Um, I-I happened to see her on the way,” she had gone on to tell him, and he’d found himself pondering for a moment.

She’d thought he’d invited Alice to the café so he could ask her out again, which he did not. He wondered what the odds were that she was even anywhere in the vicinity. Her elder brother, Xander, had already said he wasn’t aware of any business she could have around this area.

‘In any case, this might prove useful, if it does turn out that Alice Quin is coming,’ he’d mused to himself. ‘She has a huge following; she can be the first to know about our relationship and spread the word. I want as many people as possible to learn it soon, so that certain individuals will realize that Mia isn’t someone they can mess with. Of course, she might recognize me as the boy who confessed to her or the celebrity she idolizes, but nothing changes with the plan. Let’s give it a few minutes and see if she’ll really appear, and if she doesn’t…’

Wes would go right ahead and selfishly savor the expression that would show on Mia’s beautiful face after he confessed, keeping all of it to himself.

The press could wait. The world could wait. He would take her on dates and just let the public go wild over some paparazzi’s latest scoop.

Finally, the time for him to confess his feelings arrived. Alice ended up coming along with her fans, much to his dismay; the moment could’ve been more intimate had they not been around. What’s more, his target was no longer where he had left her.

‘The crowd must’ve scared Mia away.’ He held back a sigh, immediately regretting letting them in when they caused a ruckus at the mere sight of him. ‘But if Mia figures out who I am with this… Maybe it’ll make things faster…’

“Listen, there's something I realized; I think he confessed to me once.”

Upon hearing Alice’s remark, Wes couldn’t help but slightly raise a brow. It seemed she’d chosen to identify him as ‘the boy she rejected’ rather than what was already clear to everyone–rather than the model and actor he was widely known as. If what Xander said about her crush on Wes Ashthorne was true, she should’ve realized it was him, too.

‘I have a feeling where this is going. Will she act as if she never humiliated me and finally treat me like a decent human being now that she’s seen my true face?’

He could not care less. To begin with, he wasn’t doing this for petty revenge. He was more than happy to move on.

“Oh, what a wonderful surprise!”

Just like Mia, Alice thought this was all for her.

This pained him to watch. For both her sake and his, he quickly finished the charade she’d imagined herself in; he ignored her and kept walking. It mattered not to him what her reaction was.

His sole focus was Mia, who was, apparently, nowhere to be found.

‘Mia?’ He scanned the other tables, thinking she’d moved to avoid the attention. ‘But where is she? I didn’t notice her leave, and why would she even…? Ah!’

To his relief and delight, Mia had only taken a seat at the furthest table in the corner of the café. He silently hoped she’d give him a break from all these heart-stopping stunts of hers. If she did leave without a word, he wouldn’t know what to do –

No, he knew. He would run out of there and chase after her no matter what.

But at this moment, thankfully, there wasn’t any sign that she wanted to do so. Everything was just in his head; he was just nervous. Never did he feel like this before, not when he wooed other girls, when he stood in front of thousands of fans, or when he spoke before the board of directors.

Only she could make him feel this way.

The thumping in his chest was getting louder, harder. When she called his name and locked eyes with him, a dizzying wave of heat hit him in the head. The air became warmer, the noise lesser, and the world softer.

Every step he took felt like a fraction of eternity, each one bringing him closer to what he wished for most all his life. As she stared back at him with mixed emotions, he vowed to bare the whole truth to her once he had her in his arms.

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to surprise or confuse you.’ He swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. ‘You deserve only the best, so I…’

It had to be the perfect plan.

---

Mia couldn’t believe what’s happening.

Her surroundings melted into a blur at that moment. Time seemed to slow, and each step Wes took towards her felt impossibly long. She saw nothing but him, thought of nothing but him.

Him walking forward with red roses in his arm and stars in those blue eyes, and her waiting and struggling to hold herself together—it’s as though they were the only people in the world.

In the seconds leading to his approach, a flood of memories came surging in. She remembered her first crush telling her she was unsightly, then the second one who mocked her stutters, and then the third who recoiled from her as if her social anxiety was contagious. Those words had scarred her, had made her believe she never deserved love.

"You're boring. You're awkward to talk with. Don't even bother hoping you'd get liked back.”

They'd broken her. They'd destroyed her.

Since then, she had decided not to hope or desire too much because no one would ever think she was worth it, but then he came.

“Mia…”

His voice, calm and gentle, snapped her from her spiraling thoughts. She blinked again, then realized he was now standing in front of her. Her eyes searched his own for any trace of misunderstanding, of mischief.

‘Maybe he’ll just ask something he forgot. Maybe he's mistaken or nervous or…’

But all she found was clarity, endearment, affection, and something else she probably would never figure the extent or depth of.

“W-What are you doing?” she asked, the tremor in her voice betraying the whirlwind of emotions inside her.

He smiled, so tender it made her insides clench. “I’m confessing to you,” he replied quite matter-of-factly, as if it was the most obvious thing. It was, but just that it's not supposed to be directed to her.

“C-Confessing? To me? B-But what about-”

“Forgive me. I haven’t really told you everything yet. Shall I spell it out, then?”

Before she could react, he gently took her hand in his. She let out a small gasp as he lifted it to his lips and pressed a warm, reverent kiss to its back without breaking eye contact with her. The pounding in her chest intensified, and she could hardly breathe.

“I love you, Mia,” he said. “Will you do me the honor of becoming my girlfriend?”