SHE put on her backpack. Selen was ready to sneak out of the house when her cat suddenly appeared in between her legs. It meowed softly as if it knew what she was about to do. She picked Lulu up and pressed her foreheads together.
“I’m sorry, Lulu… I can’t take you with me right now, but don’t worry because I will be back. Don’t be a picky eater and forget about your attitude when I’m gone, hmm?”
She lay her cat down on the bed.
“`Bye, Lulu,” Selen whispered softly before sauntering to the window.
She climbed down on the rope and rode her bike, going to Reinald’s home. Early in the afternoon she phoned her best friend and told him that she needed help. She asked Reinald to him away, and he said yes.
Reinald was leaning on his car when she arrived.
Selen looked in the direction of Sage’s house just across the street. All lights were off. She wondered if he was home or not.
She shook her head.
Why would I care, anyway?
“If you’re wondering if Sage was home, the answer is no. I saw him leave with his kid early this afternoon,” Reinald told her, although she was not asking about it. “So, where are we going?”
“Back to the countryside.” She parked her bike in their garage and hoped inside his car.
“Countryside? Are you running an errand?” her friend asked when he positioned himself in front of the steering wheel.
“No. I’m running away.”
He halted from starting the car’s engine. “What did you say?”
“Running away…”
“You’re leaving home?” His eyes widened in shock.
“Yes, so you better start the engine and take me to the countryside before my grandmas wake up and learn that I’m not home at this moment.”
“Why?” Reinald asked with furrowed brows.
Selen heaved a sigh. Of course, she could not expect that this friend of hers would stop asking.
“Can I just tell you when we get there?” She leaned her head on the windshield and closed her eyes.
Pretending to be asleep was the only way she knew to stop him from bugging her.
“I know you’re not sleeping.”
She heard the car’s engine.
Selen shushed her friend. “I’m on my way to dreamland.”
“Did you and your grandmas had a misunderstanding?”
She pressed her lips together and opened her eyes. “You got it right. Are you happy now?”
“It seems that it was a huge fight. You’re not the type of person to run away from home,” Reinald remarked.
“I have a lot in my head. I need space to comprehend everything.” She turned her gaze on him. “That’s why I’m using you tonight because you are my friend, and you’re supposed to be with me to share my burden.”
“That’s too much. After you rejected me, you’re still expecting me to lend you my shoulder so you could cry on it.”
“That’s what friends are for.”
He gave her a side-way glance. “Where is your boyfriend Sage? Why didn’t you—”
“Don’t mention him. I hate him.”
He suddenly stepped on the break.
“What the heck, Rei?”
He pulled over to the side of the road.
“What happened to you and Sage? Did he hurt you?” He saw his facial muscle clenched. “What the hell is going on? I thought you had a fight with your grandmas, and now you and Sage are not on good terms too?”
She breathed exasperatedly. “I told you to bring me to the countryside first. I will tell you everything once we got there. Okay?”
“Fine.”
“I AM not surprised that Sage did a good job at acting like he was really bewitched by you. He deserves an Oscar’s award for that.” Reinald handed Selen the canned beer that he opened for her.
They were now at the roof of their old house in the countryside. Back in the days, it was their favorite hangout whenever she wanted to escape from her grandmas. She told her friend everything when they got there. And now, she was leaning on his shoulder, crying her heart out.
“I’m so heartbroken, Rei.” She took a gulp of beer and looked at the night sky. “Everything was just for show…”
“But come to think of it, Selen. You did those things because you’re charming him to be your husband—”
“But I didn’t pretend to like him. What I felt for him was real. I love him… for real.” Selen started crying. “If my feelings for him weren’t true, I wouldn’t be hurt like this…”
“Yeah, right… Don’t say I didn’t warn you about Sage,” he said as he caressed the side of her head.
“But you know what hurts the most?” She sobbed. “Nana Violy was the one behind that charade… She said she did that for Nana Cora and me. But that was so wrong… As if lying to me about my parents’ death and our family’s curse isn’t enough.”
Selen has a lot on her mind. It felt like her head would burst any minute now. Her heart hasn’t recovered yet from the revelations yesterday, and now, another revelation unfolded. She just hoped that it all ends there because she could not take it anymore. If not for her friend’s help, she would definitely go crazy.
“Sometimes, the elders think they know what is best for us. But then, they’re not aware that it could hurt us too.”
“Nana Violy already apologized. But we both know that the pain won’t fade away easily…” Selen heaved a deep sigh and chugged down her beer.
“How about Sage? Did he apologize to you and admit that he was a scoundrel?” He scoffed. “Don’t you dare defend him to me now.”
“He didn’t…” Her voice was almost a whisper.
“Ah! I will beat the hell out of him when I see him.” Reinald patted her knuckles. “I promise you that scumbag will apologize to you on bended knees.”
“That’s cruel…”
“Well, he deserves it for lying to you!”
“But I haven’t heard his side yet.”
“Selen, wake up!” He grasped her arms. “Why are you still defending him when he had hurt you?”
“That’s what love is…”
“
Then, that love is blind!” Reinald freed her. “Why don’t you call him? Go on, Selen. Call him, and let’s hear his side of the story.”
She stared at her friend for a while before she got the courage to fished her phone and dial Sage’s number.
The other line rang, and it just kept on ringing.
“H-he is not answering my call…” Suddenly, her chest felt heavier than before.
“See? I don’t know why you wouldn’t believe me.”
SAGE had been waiting outside the operating room for hours now. He rushed Sean to the hospital early in the afternoon when he noticed that the kid was pale. He asked him what he was feeling, and Sean told him that his chest was aching and found it hard to breathe.
He learned that the kid has a vascular septal defect, and Sean’s case was severe. He needed an immediate operation because the blood that leaked from his heart already caused damage to him.
“Sage…” Marceline handed him his phone.
He left it at home out of panic when they rushed Sean to the hospital. Marceline went back to his house to get his son’s belongings, and she brought his phone too.
Sage saw Selen’s missed call when the screen lit up. She called him. Unfortunately, he was not able to answer it.
“Damn it…” He leaned back against his seat and ran his fingers through his hair.
“She called you.” He already told Marceline that Selen knew the truth. “Why don’t you call her back? Maybe she wanted to hear your explanations.”
“She called me, and I didn’t get to answer it.” He looked at his phone again. “Perhaps she hates more now…”
“Sage.” Marceline sighed. “You’re a total loser if you won’t tell her what you really feel for her.”
The love potion may not have worked on him, but Sage was not acting when he said he liked Selen. What he felt for her was real. And even without that favor, her grandmother asked them, he would still court Selen and make her his girl. Because he genuinely liked her. Selen managed to make her way to his heart with her natural charm. And he failed to tell her that because she pushed him away.
He understood how she feels at that moment. It was not easy to hear the truth and realized that the people you trusted the most lied to you. Sage knew he has to give her space to think and to heal.
He turned his gaze to Marceline and nudged her. “Will you help me?”
“With what?” she asked with furrowed brows.
“Well, you need to help me whether you like it or not because it’s going to be my last performance—”
He was not able to finish his sentence when the doctor emerged from the operating room.
“Are you Sean’s parents?” the doctor asked.
“I-I’m his dad,” he told the doctor.
“Your son is in the recovery room now. The operation was successful,” the doctor informed them.
Sage closed his eyes and silently thanked the One in heaven.