DRAKE:She was walking away. No. Driving away without me saying anything just to stop my ex-wife on her date while Christina was so happy for sending her off. No matter how much I forced myself to open my mouth, I could not do it. What right did I have when I hurt her in the past? I balled my palms into a fist. I wished...I could do something. I wished I could say something to make Beatrice change her mind. I did not want her to go. I did not want her to meet that Josh. What would happen to the complete family I envisioned? What would our son feel? With a new man in her life, where would that put me?It was your fault in the beginning, the other part of my mind said. If you only did not hurt her. If you only did not divorce her...then. Just the thought of that bastard touching her skin was enough to make my blood boil in anger. No one was allowed to touch her. I froze at the thought. Why is that? Did you personally put jibs on her? What was this intense jealousy I felt toward t
BEATRICE:I stared a couple of times at the man in front of me in this fancy restaurant. He wore his business suit while gawking at me, who was all smiles the whole duration of this meetup. He never grew or raised his eyebrows. The way he gawked at me was making me already uncomfortable. What the heck was wrong with him? I just wanted to go right now and let Christina believe that we did not click. This man surely did not want a woman who already had a responsibility to her son or daughter. There was never such a thing as that. Men usually run away from responsibilities. “Would you please stop looking at me like that?” I finally managed to say while playing with my hands at the top of the table. He blinked a couple of times. “Did I offend you?”The problem with this man was that he did not talk, and was only looking at me as if he was a fool. “I don't like it. I did not come here so that you could openly stare at me. Why are you like this? Is this your first time seeing a single
BEATRICE:Josh smiled. “I know you will eventually remember me. I am glad you finally remembered me, Beatrice. Faces like this are hard to forget,” he muttered while wearing a smile on his face. He was not bragging. He sure was handsome and this man knew it too.My forehead knotted. “How come I did not remember you?”He shrugged off his shoulders. “You have different interests. You were into reading while I was in sports. You never visited the stadium. You were always swimming in your books and if not for your friends, you would never watch any sports.”I was not really into sports. I did not understand any of that and when we watched in the past, my friends would just explain the rules of the game and how the team would get points.“Sports? What kind of sports?” Our school was indeed known for producing successful players which eventually competed in international sports competition to the point that some other schools were scared upon mentioning our schools.“Soccer. I remember you
BEATRICE:Was this even real? This was supposed to be an ordinary blind date. I planned on ditching this man after this and reprimand Christina for deciding things like this. But after knowing this man even well, those plans were suddenly thrown out of the window.This man was quite blatant in terms of his feelings. There was no topsy curvy curve. Just pure direct confessions of feelings. I liked how he was straightforward. We were already old and wasting time was no longer part of the plan.“Why?”“I have a long-time crush on you. You were my first love.”“Why?” I pressed.“You’re different from the other women out there. You came from a rich family, yet you don't look down on the poor. You were humble and did not brag about your wealth. Your friends were poor. All of them. I like how you did not choose friends. That you're not picky.”Does he even know about that?“We were rich before, because I have my family. But not right now. I'm already struggling to pay for my bills.”“That's
DRAKE: It was already evening, but Beatrice had not returned. Dammit. My heart had been pounding in my chest like crazy while my hands felt clammy. Is this the right time to go after her? Just to check? This is so unlike Beatrice. How could I stay still and not worry? This kind of situation made me want to put a GPS tracker on her phone just to know whether she was right now. Do you think tracking her would make her happy, Drake? Of course, it won't. It would make her even mad at me. For the nth time, I would occasionally glance at the clock to check the time, hoping that Beatrice would return. She sure was taking her time. Did she enjoy her blind date? It was your fault for being slow. If you were only fast. If you only dated her, this would never happen at all. Stop waiting for some kind of miracle that she would suddenly like you without doing anything. How could I date her when another part of me was guilty of what I did in the past? Did I even have the right to be with
DRAKE: “I'm not a fool and I was not born just now, Drake. You're waiting for her. Too bad. It's too late for you. She was having the best day of her life right now and her returning home this late is proof of that. Beatrice...she never went home this late especially if Grayson is waiting for her," she informed. “But now, she’s late, which surprised me.”Yeah.That woman had a point. She did not usually go home this late. She was always looking after her son. But now...she was suddenly changing. All because of her date? Who was it again? Was he better than me?Of course, he was. If it were you, your ex-wife wouldn't approve of that blind date. I forgot to ask Christina about it.You forget or you refuse to answer? Because she will rob it into your face that your ex-wife no longer cared about you and that she had already moved on from the past?"Who would know? Maybe the two went on a movie date? Beatrice loved watching movies in the theaters. Something she stopped doing when she gav
DRAKE: Marriage proposal? That fast? But they only know each other right now, right? What if the two were past lovers and were starting to rekindle their love? Could you do something about it? My mind felt like it was spinning. The thought of Beatrice being married to someone else felt like I was being stabbed a million times in my chest. It was painful. It was so painful that it was becoming difficult to breathe. Did Beatrice feel this kind of pain as she begged me not to divorce her? If it was this painful, I must be paying for the pain I made her suffer. If this was the only way that would make her return to me, I would be willing to suffer the consequences as long as she will forgive me again. “I don’t believe it,” I commented, trying to forget what I felt right now. A marriage proposal was already a serious thing. “She would marry a man that fast? That was so unlike Beatrice. You were only saying that to anger me. Beatrice had never dated anyone for the past few years and
DRAKE: CHRISTINA looked at me in disbelief before she laughed. "Why? You're threatened now or is it because your ego could not accept that someone out there like your ex-wife and is willing to take full responsibility to your ex-wife and your son because that was what Josh promised to me. That man had been in love with your ex-wife since they were still in high school and that feelings turned into love until now. Beatrice was his first love, you got that. And nothing could beat first love. So, if I were you, stop being stubborn and get out of her life as soon as possible so that Josh would be able to come here freely." "I am already here, and I am planning to stay for the rest of my life. Beatrice will have to deal with my presence, and I won't allow it that they got to marry that Josh," I declared. Her eyes narrowed and folded her arms in front of her chest. "What do you think are you doing? Making a mess in my sister-in-law's life?" "This is not making a mess, Christina. I am on