YVONNE was doing her best to move on with her life—a life without Rohan. She barely left the house since she left the island and didn’t answer his messages and calls. She blocked him in every possible way. Yvonne even blocked their mutual friends, who kept telling her news about Rohan. Carmina said that was sour, but she didn’t care. All she wanted now was to never hear about him. His name was a forbidden word that shouldn’t be spoken.
“Are you really sure about this?” Her mother sat on the edge of her bed and watched her as she packed her things. “I thought you didn’t have plans of working abroad because you don’t want to leave us alone.”
She heaved a sigh and sat beside her mother.
“Mom…” She held her mother’s hands. “I’m so sorry for breaking my promise. But please understand that this is the only way I know I can forget about everything.”
Yvonne didn’t hide what happened to her mother. She told her everything because she didn’t know how to keep quiet about those negative emotions she’d been feeling since then. Confiding in someone she knew wouldn’t judge her and would understand her more helped calm the storm inside her head. However, it didn’t disappear totally. There were tiny bits of them left. So, she decided to run away… for a while.
As if heaven heard her silent plea, an opportunity knocked on her door. Just a month ago, Yvonne received an offer from her father’s former boss, who was residing in Italy, to be her assistant. Dr. Rosa Bernardi was a researcher who needed a helping hand. She grabbed that chance, hoping that being far from Rohan would help her move on.
“I’m going to miss you,” her mother said somberly before hugging her. “Take care of yourself, darling. And promise me that when you come home, you’ve moved on.”
“I’ll do my best.” She caressed her mother’s back.
“You must.” Her mom withdrew from the embrace and cupped her cheeks. “Your father and I will be there in a few months to visit you. There’s no way we wouldn’t be celebrating Christmas together.”
She was relieved to hear that her parents would be with her.
“That’s good to hear.” Yvonne wiped her mother’s tears. “Maybe you and Dad can stay with me as I work there. What do you think?”
Her mother heaved a deep sigh.
“You know your father doesn’t like the idea of staying there for good.”
“Well, I’m not proposing we’ll stay there for good. Maybe a year or two?”
“We can always go on vacation every year to see you. Or you can go home for a break.”
“Well… it seems that I can’t change your minds.”
She resumed packing, and her mom helped her.
“Anyway, I almost forgot. A package arrived for you this morning,” her mom informed her after a while.
She briskly turned in her direction.
“A package?” she asked, puzzled. “I didn’t order anything.”
“Well, maybe it’s a gift.” Her mother shrugged.
Her brows furrowed. Who’d send her a gift? She had no idea.
Yvonne rushed downstairs to check the package her mother was talking about. There were two boxes in the living room. She immediately checked the waybill. The medium-sized one was from her publishing house. They sent her the complimentary books for her latest series, released a month ago. But the second package immediately made her tear up.
It came from Rohan’s mother with a note telling her everything inside the box were souvenirs and gifts she bought from her tour. Madam Edwina also wrote that she wanted to give her those in person but didn’t know if it was right to meet her again after what happened. Yvonne couldn’t help but feel bad for Rohan’s mother. She was nice to her from the start and did nothing wrong, but she had to stay away because she was his mother. Moving on also meant that she was cutting everyone connected with him.
She wiped her tears and fished her phone from her pocket. Maybe one last call to Rohan’s mother wasn’t a bad thing.
“Yvonne? Oh, dear… how are you?” asked Rohan’s mother when she answered the call.
“I’m fine, A-auntie.” She swallowed the lump forming in her throat. “I… uhm… received the package that you sent. I called because I want to thank you and apologize for not seeing you as promised—”
“You don’t have to be sorry, Yvonne. I understand.” She heard her sigh in the background. “It’s just that… I couldn’t help but remember you, so I bought everything and sent it to you.”
“Thank you so much, Auntie.”
“I hope you’re well, Yvonne.”
“I-I can’t really say I am, but… I’m coping up.” She bit her lower lip when she felt she was about to cry.
“Let’s meet one day when the weather is fine.”
She knew what Rohan’s mother meant by that.
“Hm… let’s see each other again on a good day, Auntie.” Yvonne ended the call.
“Who’s that?”
She turned in the direction of the door and saw her father come in.
“O-oh… uhm, a friend.” She picked up the packages.
“I heard you say auntie.” Her father’s brows furrowed.
“A friend whose years older than me, that’s why I addressed her that.” Yvonne sighed.
“Ah. Let me carry those for you then—”
“It’s okay, Dad. I can manage,” she said as she headed to the stairs.
“Are you done packing?”
“Yeah. Well, almost.”
“I already told Jonas to drive you to the airport.”
She stopped in the middle of the staircase and turned in her father’s direction.
“Aren’t you—”
“Your mother and I decided not to drop you off at the airport. The less drama, the better. You know your mother.” Her dad pocketed his hands. “But don’t worry because we’ll be there in a few months to visit you.”
“Right.” Her lips pursed.
Her life had been a roller coaster ride for weeks, and she didn’t need another drama.
 
“SHE did what?” Rohan stopped taking another sip of his whiskey when he heard his friend talk about Yvonne.
He was at his friend’s diner to kill some time. Rohan extended his leave from work, or should he say he was taking a break indefinitely.
“She blocked me after I asked her what was happening between you two.” Axel shook his head and popped peanuts into his mouth.
He told Axel what happened.
“You already know what happened and still asked her about it. Why?”
“Well, I was just fishing for more information… you know. I need Yvonne’s version of the story.” His friend grinned.
“Which made her hate you as well.” Rohan sighed.
“Did you even try talking to her?” Axel nudged him on the side. “You know… to reconcile. You’ve wronged her, Rohan.”
“I tried, okay! I swear I tried!” He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed exasperatedly. “But she blocked me. It’s clear that she didn’t want to talk—”
“You should’ve gone to her house and begged for forgiveness.”
Rohan turned to his friend with furrowed brows.
“Do you think it’d work?”
“The worst thing that could happen is that she’d slam the door in your face.” Axel laughed.
“Damn it, Axel. You’re not helping, you know.”
“Well, I thought you said you were sorry.” His friend shrugged. “You know the best thing to show sincerity is to apologize to her in person.”
“What if she won’t face me—”
“Fuck those what-ifs!” Axel cut him off. “You wouldn’t know if you won’t go to her house, Rohan. If you’re afraid, I can drive you to Yvonne’s place—”
“Maybe what she needs is time.” He stared at the remaining whiskey in his glass.
“Are you kidding me?” His friend looked at him with disbelief. “It’s been months since it happened, Rohan. Two months to be exact! If Yvonne needs more time to heal and forgive you, it’s up to her. But your apology should’ve been instant, moron!”
After his mother gave him the liberty to do what he wanted, he suddenly realized that what he did was wrong. He regretted hurting Yvonne after knowing she even defended him from his mom. She was right. He was a total jerk.
“Rohan, just this once… be honest with me.”
“About what?” He stared at Axel intently. “Do you have feelings for Yvonne?”
He couldn’t respond to his friend’s question instantly because he was unsure of his feelings.
“I-I…” His fists clenched above the table. “I can’t answer your question.”
“And why?” Axel raised a brow.
“I’m confused.” He breathed exasperatedly.
“Let me rephrase the question then.” His friend folded his arms across his chest and stared at him with narrowed eyes. “Do you hate yourself for hurting her?”
“That’s a totally new question—”
“Just answer, Rohan.”
“Of course!”
“Did you also feel bad when you rejected her back then?”
“Sort of. Come on… I’m not that bad. It’s just that—”
“You have feelings for her. It’s just that you’re in denial, Rohan.” Axel tapped his cheek. “Pull yourself together and be true to yourself while it’s not too late.”