Chapter Seven: Best Friends

Kieran was a part of the elite Student Council of his prestigious high school, Immaculate Heart Preparatory School.

He was the vice president for three consecutive years until his high school graduation. That's where he met Tommy and Emma. 

In his opinion, it was the best time of his life because he made plenty of connections (friends), experiments (business ventures) and positive karma points (debts of gratitude from his peers whom he saved from precarious situations.)

After their rosy high school days, he still met up with his close friends for dinner. They held weekly dinner meetings in a charming French restaurant, Bon Sejour, in Greenhills every Saturday night. 

Six handsome young men and one pretty young woman often took the best table in the corner with the best view of the restaurant. There was always a five-meal course, a bottle of good wine, stories and lots of laughter.

They've been friends for many years so weekly rituals were cherished and treasured. 

Even after the graduation of each one, they maintained communication with each other. They had rejoiced with every victory and shared loss when it came. They considered each other as the pillars of their world so living without each other was unheard of.

Tommy and Emma Wintergarden sat at the head of the table, glowingly in love.

The blond half-French and half-Filipino man triumphed in the end over his struggles with his grandfather years ago after it was leaked that he was a bastard child. His father refused to have any more children so Tommy still won out as the only heir of their family fortune. But he still had to work hard to make his way out into the world to earn his Lolo's respect. 

Now, he was the sole heir to the family fortunes and married to a wife whom he adored to the point of insanity. But they didn't have any children yet.

Emma, his lovely wife, was a top human rights lawyer since she couldn't be expected to be a stay-home wife. 

Everyone loved Emma from the moment she stepped into their privileged lives. She was petite, soft-spoken and brutally honest. Only Emma had the nerve (or ignorance) to scold, coddle and straighten up the laidback bunch of the Student Council. 

Anthony and Richard Hernandez, the Terrible Twins, sat beside each other with seats that faced the entire restaurant. They were handsome identical twins who dabbled in different careers. But they became successful when they chose to venture into the fashion industry while gathering raves and reviews along the way. 

They charmed and flirted their way into the top of the world with their unbreakable brand. They still worked together as designers or stylists. They maintained different labels and managed different stores under their brand. Whenever they held a private trunk show or a fashion show, it was immediately sold out. Everyone was mad for the Hernandez touch.

On the other side of the table sat handsome Jean Aguirre and his cousin, Jonathan Villafuerte. 

Jean Aguirre AKA the Mini Martial Arts Master settled down early to everyone's surprise. He married a charming young woman, Claudine, and they had a son. He was a pastry chef in his early twenties and he owned a chain of successful pastry shops.

His best friend, Jonathan Villafuerte, was a semi-famous fitness instructor. He was the head of a successful gym but he was often abroad. To the disappointment of many young ladies, he still refused to settle down because he was still intent on honing his skills in combat.

Kieran sat in the middle of the noisy table in comfortable silence. He was always listening and making mental notes. He was aware of everything that was happening to all of them but he preferred to let them believe that he looked forward to their Saturday soirees. 

Although they were a bunch of noisy idiots, they were his friends.

He would always be fiercely loyal to them.

Conversation usually began with business. Everyone would share their news to argue, to debate and to talk. Nobody made a move without consulting Kieran. They all respected his expertise so all of their businesses grew from his advice. Then it would move on to mundane topics like the weather, gossip and their daily lives.

They usually talked about their marriages, old friends and other sentimental things. Kieran wouldn't participate because he disliked the topic. It was always Tommy and the twins who loved to chat about other people's lives. 

Nobody would notice his silence and then the evening will end with new plans for their next pet project or their next business meeting.

Tonight was unusual because they all seemed to be eager to focus the spotlight on him. It was all Tommy's fault.

"So, Ran," the blond began warmly "I heard from your older brother that your father is setting you up on a marriage interview soon. This is wonderful news!"

Kieran's eyebrow twitched. He would deal with his annoying older brother later. "Yes, that's true. It's nothing serious."

The others exchanged mischievous looks. That was new. Kieran was being defensive so that meant something. They never had the chance to tease him so they grabbed it immediately.

"Oh?" Anthony said nonchalantly "Who's the lucky girl?"

"Or maybe unlucky," Richard piped up, chuckling.

“Does she know about your three month rule?” Jean teased with a conspiratorial wink.

Kieran glared at them. But they've all had a little wine on their veins so they ignored his death glare.

"What's she like?" Emma asked curiously. She worried about his friend for years because Kieran never had any serious relationships As Jean had pointed out, they only lasted for three months. "Do you know anything about her?"

"I honestly don't know," he answered simply.

Everyone stared, flabbergasted, at this piece of information.

Kieran got irritated by their ogling so he snapped, "I'm too busy for this nonsense."

Tommy smiled uneasily because his best friend was a double-edged sword so he was best handled carefully. "We know that, Kieran. We're your friends. Perhaps we deserve to know what's going on."

The blond man quailed under his best friend's fierce glare. His wife, unperturbed, turned to him with an easy grin. "I'm glad for you. She must be somebody really worthy to pass your standard."

"What do you know about my standard?" Kieran asked, surprised.

All of the men turned to the only woman in their table. She wiped her lips gently with her napkin before putting it down. Large brown eyes were laughing at them all. "Enough to know that you don't waste time on useless people, correct?"

It was stated with such blunt honesty that they all smiled in spite of themselves. That was Emma for them. There was no sense in wasting time or words. They only had to go straight to the matter.

Kieran adjusted his glasses. He sighed and gave himself up to the inevitable. "Her name's Ava Madrigal. She's 25 and she's looking for a husband."

"You made it sound like an ad," Richard smirked. "Kieran is so mean. You should be nice to the poor girl."

"She sounds familiar," Anthony said, chewing on a bite of chocolate cake. "Where have I heard her name before?"

Richard glanced at his brother with an amused smile. "You've heard of her. She won a  contest against us years ago."

"What?" The dark-haired twin looked honestly surprised. 

"She was at the Young Artist of the Century fashion contest three years ago. We were semifinalists for the award of being the newest designers to watch. She won.” Anthony smiled fondly at the memory. He ran a hand against his bright red hair. "She was very talented. Most of her clothes were beautiful."

"They were like battle costumes," his brother retorted, still stung. He recalled their defeat to the petite young woman clearly now. He wanted that award! "Her clothes were like a magical girl's costume parade."

"But she disappeared right after that," Richard added, nodding vigorously. "She was very mysterious."

That's interesting, Kieran thought as his mind worked fast.

Tommy tapped his chin thoughtfully. He'd heard that name before as well. There was something very familiar…

Emma beat him to it. "She's a freelance singer. She performed for one of your company parties."

Kieran rubbed his temples.

He wished that he bothered to dig up more information about his prospective date. Since he received the news a week ago, he put it off because he was far too busy to deal with it. Something would have to be done to confirm all of their stories.

"She might not be familiar to any of us because she never went to business with us.She also didn't go to Immaculate Heart Preparatory School either." Anthony said thoughtfully. He took a sip of his red wine and nodded approvingly. "Hell, she probably didn't go to any of the big schools we know."

"True. I don't forget a pretty face either." Tommy nodded.

His wife promptly pummeled him.

They erupted into laughter.

Kieran was left looking at his plate, deep in contemplation. 

As his friends resumed their conversation and moved on to the news of their schoolmate Allan Ortega's upcoming wedding to Giselle de Leon, he wondered why he failed in his routine background check.

Kieran was the shadow king and the puppet master. How come he didn't do the usual routine of getting a background check, hiring a private investigator to find the woman or an internet search? He was slacking off already. 

Then he realized with a sinking feeling that his blind date was actually tomorrow.

Sunday.

"Shit," he muttered under his breath.

"Are you okay?" Anthony asked since he was sitting next to him. The red-haired young man was probably the most level-headed and sensible of the group. He had long established himself as the best listener since all of them were loud talkers.

"I'm really screwed," his friend said frankly.

His friend looked surprised at his admission. Hazel eyes glittered. "It's your first date with her, right? Don't tell me you're nervous."

Actually my first date was with Emma, Kieran thought involuntarily. We got lost in the mall because of you idiots and that traumatized me. I was so flustered that I treated her coldly. I didn't know what to do so I lost my chance...

"No, I'm not. What bothers me is that my father is going to ask me how it went." Kieran said coolly.

Anthony winced. Now he understood what was bothering Kieran. They all knew Kieran's father as strict, traditional and downright cold. If his father invested in his love life then it was doomed before it even started.

“You’ll do well,” he said cheerfully “You’re the Ultra-Charming Dark King!”

Their friends stopped chatting for a moment to watch Kieran strangle Anthony for a bit. Laughter erupted within the group. Kieran was not acting like himself and they were all amused. 

Anthony winked at Kieran when the latter let him go. It took a few seconds before he could talk again though. "Y-You'll be fine."

Kieran wondered if it was time to find new friends. 

x0x0x0x

Friday morning found Imogen dreading her blind date that was scheduled at 4 o’clock in the afternoon.

They were going to meet in a lovely hotel cafe in Bonifacio Global City (BGC). All of the details were laid out meticulously in the invitation from the matchmaker.

It was supposed to be a lovely afternoon date with an eligible young man that would result in marriage for her, grandchildren for her mother and more prestige for her illustrious family.

Imogen wanted to scream.

There was nothing to wear in all of her closets. She sighed in exasperation. The heiress possessed enough clothes to put up a clothing store but she had nothing to wear for her blind date that afternoon. 

Ever since she resumed her activities and duties last week as Madrigal Group's head of sales and marketing, she was too busy to even go shopping.

The dark-haired woman rummaged in one of her closets while looking for something to wear.

She forgot all about the blind date until her secretary reminded her that morning. 

Her mother was away in a business meeting in another continent so she canceled her meeting with her sales team that morning. Then she went straight to her home to prepare.

She knew that she had to look beautiful, elegant and demure.

Most businessmen that she knew preferred a woman who possessed style and class. Although she didn't really care about her prospective date's opinion, she was still a woman to care about her personal appearance.

As she went through her well-organized closet, she stumbled onto something that she thought she would never see again.

Imogen's eyes shook as she took out a sapphire sheath dress that’s still encased in plastic.

It used to drape on her every curve with its daring neckline with its large crystal pendant on the center to draw the eyes to her perfect breasts and its modest knee-length hem made her feel like a princess.

She knew this dress well.

It brought back too many memories. She used to wear this dress to very special occasions. He always told her that she was beautiful in this dress. 

It was what she was wearing when they met again in one of the many summer parties after their high school graduation. It was what she wore to all three of their anniversaries because he requested her to be just as she was when they first fell in love. 

It was also what she was wearing when he ended everything…

The sapphire frock fell to the floor. 

She stared at it, biting her lip. The deep sapphire blue was the exact same color of his eyes. Oh, how she loved his eyes. She could drown in their depths forever. 

There was nothing that could make her forget how it felt when she stared up at his gaze as they danced.

When she twirled on his arms through all of those debutant balls, she believed that they would be in love for as long as they lived.

Imogen picked it up and brushed it off carefully. Her heart was beating fast and her fingers were shaking. It's been some years since she'd worn this dress and it still elicited the same reaction.

She was pathetic.

The dark-haired young woman pushed it inside her closet and found to her horror that it was the closet that contained all of the clothes from the same decade. She looked towards her left in the brightly lit bedroom and counted three large closets. This was the last one. 

She should have known that this was where she stuffed all of the clothes that she didn't use and for the things that she didn't need.

Since she owned so many clothes, she never realized that she hadn't seen these for some time. There was the prom dress from junior high school, the stained white dress from a school festival in senior year and the ratty old t-shirt that he accidentally left on her theater's couch when he slept over. 

In spite of her mind's protests, she grabbed it and brought it up to her face.

His scent swept over her. It was so strong that her knees knocked together. The shirt was blue like everything he owned. It smelled of soap, mint and a bit of cologne. It was fragrant with the scent of her first love.

Imogen looked into the closet again and found a single photograph wedged into the back of the closet door. 

It was their first picture together. They were only sixteen. She was smiling as she stared up at him but he was smiling at the camera. Any psychologist could interpret the body language that meant that she was more in love than he was.

I really loved you, didn't I? She thought as she took the picture and wedged it further into the clothes at the bottom of the closet. I loved you since I was in fifth grade. I was foolish to let you go. I'm still a fool for loving you even though you’re marrying another woman.

She realized that she was crying. Trails of tears went down her smooth cheeks.

The dark-haired girl shut the closet door and made up her mind to tell her maids to get what they liked. Perhaps it was time for spring cleaning even though it wasn't spring. 

For once in her life, she wanted to believe that this was sign from the gods that she should move on with her life. 

Imogen decided that she was going to wear that lovely white dress that she bought from Paris last year. She was going to make sure that she looked her best. She was going to make sure that she would have a good time.

When she checked her silver watch, she yelped.

She was going to be late!