She's My Sleeping Pill

Erwin ran outside with the gift in hand. He drove out one of the cars in the garage and tried his best to catch with Sabrina. 'Damn it! Who's driving her to the airport? Ah! So stupid.' He told himself as he pulled his phone from his pocket. He dialed Cayenne's number to ask him about the driver and after knowing it was Martin, he ended the call and dialed Martin's number this time.

"Erwin? What's the matter?" Martin asked as he continued to driver.

When Sabrina heard the guard utter this name, his heart skipped a beat and she was torn between excitement and worry. She was hoping that he was calling for her but at the same time, she was telling herself not to get so much hope or she will be disappointed.

She looked outside the window instead and started singing a song in her head so that she couldn't hear the conversation.

Martin gave their current location to Erwin without stopping the car. He thought that the man was just calling for Sabrina's safety. He had no idea that he was chasing after them.

"Pull your car over to the side of the road. I'm on my way to take over."

"Ha? Why?"

"Just let me drive her to the airport. Don't tell her anything yet."

"Oh." Martin nodded his head with a wide grin on his face. Just based on the desperate sound of his voice, he could now deduce what's going on. "Fine. Be quick."

Martin slowed down the car to give Erwin enough time to catch up to them and when he saw noticed the car not far from them, he pulled the car at the road side.

"Why are we stopping?" Sabrina asked when she noticed what Martin was doing.

"I'll just check the tires at the back. Give me a moment please."

"Okay."

Martin got down the car with his phone and went to the back of the car; not to check the tire but to exchange keys with Erwin instead. Erwin jogged towards him with a small gift in hand and threw the keys in the air to Martin. The latter did the same and the two finally exchanged keys.

Martin drove the car that Erwin used back to the property while Erwin got inside the car silently to drive Sabrina to the airport. Sabrina was still looking outside the window and didn't know that the driver has been changed. However, when the aircon hit Erwin's body, his perfume wafted in the air.

Sabrina instantly turned around and looked at him with wide eyes. "How come you're here? Where's the driver?" She looked at the back of the car but there was no shadow of her previous driver. "Cayenne asked for him to come back?"

"Yes." Erwin took a deep breath and started the engine. "I'll drive you to the airport."

She just nodded her head and didn't say anything. The atmosphere inside the car was really cold and they're like strangers even though they spent so much time together in the past few days. None of them spoke.

Ten minutes later, Erwin found a drive thru fast food restaurant and ordered some food that Sabrina could eat. "Take this. Your flight will be long and it's not good to travel with an empty stomach."

"Thank you." She received the food and she wanted to be happy for what he's done but she felt like, it was the last meal she will ever have from him.

Erwin continued to drive while letting her eat. He didn't drive fast nor slow, just enough to make their time to the airport.

"Don't you have anything else to tell me?" Sabrina questioned after some time, braving up herself to confront him.

"I have. I'm just finding the right words to say them."

"Just say whatever you have in mind." She told him while taking a bite of her French fries. "I won't judge you. I'll listen."

Hearing her words of encouragement, Erwin stole a look at her through the mirror. "I like a woman. Even though she's bossy, I still like her. I like her smile, her laughter, and her ways of encouraging people. I like her because she could understand me. However, we're actually poles apart. We're like south and north poles, no chance of meeting in between. So, I decided to let go of her before my feelings would grow deeper. I decided cut my feelings before it turns to something she would hate. I don't want to drag her down. I don't want her to become the laughing stock of the town if people find out that she's hanging out with a person like me."

"Did you even ask the woman how she feels about you?" Sabrina asked with red-rimmed eyes. She wanted to cry but she stopped herself from doing so. She didn't want to look desperate and miserable in front of him.

Erwin looked at the gift on passenger seat beside him. He wanted to stop her from going back but if he did that, what can he do for her? How can he give the life that her parents have prepared for her? "There's no need to know about her feelings. I'm sure this is just a one-sided love."

"How sure are you?"

"Because she never really showed a single hint to me. She annoyed me and she bossed me around. Although we'd talk like friends sometimes, she'd also treat me like a servant most of the time. So, - "

"What if she was only pretending to do all of those? What if she just did those things to make you look at her? What if she likes you?" Her hands were trembling while asking this question. She didn't even try doing this to Stefan before. She didn't confront Stefan this way and she didn't explicitly told him her feelings. This was the first time that she got so much courage to start showing her own feelings to someone.

"Why would she like me? I don't have any good points. Well, if she needed a servant, perhaps I fit the requirement she has in mind."

"Is that how little you think of yourself?"

"It's not how little I think of myself. It's the truth. I'm a servant."

"But I still like you despite being a servant. I like teasing you because you easily get annoyed but you still ask me what I want later on. I only bossed you around to annoy you. Didn't I change in the last few days? Didn't I try to be the independent woman that you like? I don't really care if you're a servant. So, tell that stupid girl that you like her because she's telling you now of her true feelings." Sabrina was heaving for oxygen after telling him these things in one go. She was embarrassed. She was scared. But she was also happy that she got to express her feelings.

Erwin stopped the car once again so that they can talk since the airport was just few minutes away from them. He reclined his chair and turned to face her. "I like you. I really like you even though you snatched the toy from me. And I like you even more after knowing that it's you little red who's been playing with me in the game." Sabrina was about to smile but his next words crushed her heart to dust particles. "We're not really suited for each other though."

Sabrina's tears that she had been holding back for a long time started rolling down her face. "How do you know we're not suited when we haven't even tried it?"

"Sab, I'm not rich. My savings can't be compared to your riches."

"It doesn't matter!" Sabrina yelled in anger. "I don't need those riches! What can it do to me? Buy me things. I don't need material things. I've had enough of them. You don't have to compare your status to mine."

"But I'm a man. It's not really good for a man to live off of his wife. I should be the one providing for us."

"Then, I'll leave. I will leave everything behind."

Erwin was stunned to hear her response. All this time, he only thinks about himself and what other people would think of him if they find him liking someone like her. He was thinking of his pride.

Erwin took a deep breath and sighed. "Do you really like me?"

"Hn."

"Then, I'd be shameless to ask. Can you wait for me? Give me a year. I won't try to match with your riches but I will look for a decent job."

"I can wait. I can. Just don't give up on me. Just don't." She held his hand tightly, looking so pitiful with her tears falling on her face. Some even fell on the back of his hand.

"I won't give up on us. I will do my best to find a job that you can be proud of." Erwin pulled her closer to him and hugged her. Sabrina moved to sit on the seat beside him and also received his gift. It was pictures of them together at the park.

When they took pictures, she intentionally asked him to use his own phone so that he can have those with him. She didn't expect that Erwin would develop a copy for her and even make it into a memory book with lots of heartfelt words written on them. He learned it from Dalia and Daisy and he even asked those kids to help him with the designs.

Erwin had no idea that the moment he chose her, Sabrina chose to give up everything for him as well. She understands a man's pride. She knew that he will be walking on a difficult path because of her. Instead of riding on her parents' coattail, she decided to start with her own career without their help.