Confrontation

    Episode 3

The sweet friendship and love started years ago during their college days, and they hadn't planned on having a baby so early but fate had something else for them. 

Valentine took in when she was just fifteen, and that was how Tony came into the picture. Few years after his arrival, her aggravated parents insisted that she got married to Ryan. 

And back then, even if Ryan had showed her all the love he could, Valentine always thought that there was something special missing. 

Something she couldn't place her fingers on.

She'd to suffer a great deal even though Ryan was born into a great wealth. 

She worked her butts off just to prove to everyone that she didn't get pregnant just to get married to a rich guy. She made her own little money, earned her respect.

And now, she couldn't believe Ryan could actually doubt his paternity to Tony.

"How could you ask me that! You know he's your son! He looks just like you!" Valentine cried.

Ryan gave a short mocking laughter and shrugged. "Well, looks can be deceptive, they say." 

Valentine's lips trembled with anger. "How could you say that to me!"

There was a knock on the door, announcing the cleaner.

"Hold on." Ryan called towards the door, his intense gaze on Valentine's face. 

"You disgust me, Valentine. Not in a million years would I ever imagine you would get down so cheaply with someone else." A sharp slap landed on Ryan's face, cutting him short.

He touched his itching cheek and a smirk played at the corner of his face. 

He glanced at Valentine, grabbed her by the arm and pushed her against the wall behind her. "You won't ever lay your fingers on me again." 

Valentine struggled against him, trying to yank her arms off his hold, but it wasn't working. He was powerful, way more masculine than she could ever be. "Let go of me. You are hurting me, Ryan."  The words forced their way out of her mouth through clenched teeth.

 

Ryan moved his face closer to hers, and tilted her neck. He nibbled softly at her ear and breathed. "Did he do all this to you? Did he fuck you more than I do you?"

"Please stop!"  Valentine cried, her legs becoming weak that she found it hard to stand. "I'm begging you."

The door suddenly opened and it was Marina. She cleared her throat as they turned to look at her.

Ryan slowly let go of Valentine, his eyes fixated on his daring secretary. It had never happened. No one ever dared coming into his office without knocking for at least once. 

"What are you doing?" He asked, making sure she was in her right senses.

Valentine's eyes were on Marina. She'd met her few times she had come over to the company. 

And those times, she always looked like an innocent lady, but right now, there was this strange aura around her and it made valentine want to fling her across the next street.

Of course, she recognized the strange aura. This woman wanted her husband. "Don't you know how to knock? For just a worker, you sure do have so much liberty."

"I must have forgotten." Marina chipped in casually.

Valentine scoffed and glanced back at Ryan, then she noticed the wrapped scarf around his left hand. "What happened to you?"

"That's my scarf. Are you okay now, boss? Do you still bleed? I think you should go get a first aid treatment." Marina mumbled, walking towards Ryan. She took his hand and started loosening up the scarf.

Ryan only stared and for a moment, he decided it was best Valentine got suspicious. He wanted her to feel what he felt when he caught her in bed with the jerk. "That's true. I need to get it treated so it doesn't get infected."

Valentine's eyes watered. It was obvious what was going on in the room. Her husband was having something with his cheap secretary. 

She moved closed to the duo, and pulled Marina by her shoulder from her husband. "What do you think you are doing? Hello, I'm in here." 

Marina glanced at Ryan before looking at Valentine. "And what? Am I not allowed to take care of my boss? He was hurting, and I was here to help him out." 

Valentine paused, waiting for her husband to defend her from the disrespect thrown at her but nothing came out of his mouth. Not even did he send the secretary out of the office.

Bending down, valentine picked up her bag which had dropped to the floor, took a last look at Ryan and walked out of the office.

"Get your hands off me." Ryan exasperated. "And let this be the last time you come into my office without knocking. Get out if you have nothing else doing here."

Marina smiled. "That's not a nice way of saying thank you to me for keeping our affair a secret..."

"Is that why you had that recorded? You want to blackmail me in case I decide to fire you one day?" Ryan asked.

Marina nodded innocently. "Yes. That's correct. I can't risk being away from you or this company. I will send in the cleaner now, this place is such a mess." 

Ryan watched her vacate the room, and buried his head between his shaky palms.

A knock came on the door few minutes later. Ryan figured out it was the cleaners and sent them back immediately.

They could come the hell in and do their cleaning when he would have left.

Feeling like his head was about to explode, Ryan staggered back to his desk, pulled out a drawer and picked up a white small bottle. 

He uncapped it, poured out two pills from the container into his palm and threw them quickly into his mouth. 

He grabbed a bottle of water from his desk and gulped down the content. His phone began to vibrate from his pocket and he fished it out.

He scoffed on seeing the caller ID and for a moment, he contemplated on rejecting the call. On another thought, he went for the green sign as the line got connected.

"It's nice knowing you still have my number, Marcela or should I say... Mother?" 

There was a brief chuckle from the other side of the line. "How's my favorite son doing? Do you still have those deceiving dreams?"

A look filled with anger and contempt crept all over Ryan's face as he ran his tongue across his lower lip. 

Feeling too furious to hold his phone close to his ear, Ryan tossed it on the table and activated his loud speaker. 

"They are no deceiving dreams, Marcela. It happened. Damn you! It actually happened and I will prove it!"

The other side was silent and shortly after, a throat was cleared. "Calm down, son. You are having some phycological problems, and it's making you see things that aren't real..."

Ryan banged his fists on the table, glaring furiously down at the screen of his phone. "I was there. And I saw you do it. I was getting something under the bed, and when you crept in, I had this strange idea in my young head and hid.

 "You had a discussion before you did it, but why can't I still remember what you discussed about? Why can't I remember a thing!" 

There was a small laughter from the other line. "Come over soon, Ryan. A little get-together with your family won't hurt. I will be waiting." The phone clicked and the line was disconnected.

Ryan threw his head backwards and roared out a laughter full of rage, fury. And disgust.