Chapter 16

MELISSA QUIZON

"Just take him to his room," I said to Eugene as he lifted my sleeping son out of the car.

He was tired from participating in various games. The event ended almost at dusk, so we went home at night.

Eugene nodded and headed straight for Reid's bedroom door. I put down the bags that held the clothes we had used earlier. I took out the food containers one by one and put them in the sink. If I took care of it tomorrow, it would probably stink so bad.

When I turned around, I saw Eugene standing behind me. I could see the tiredness and joy in his eyes as he stared at me. Reid always teased him because he liked to swim in the deep part of the pool. I didn't know how to swim, so he only invited Eugene.

I wiped my hands. "You want a chocolate cake?"

He reached for me and put my hair behind my ear. "'Don't bother. I know you're tired too."

I closed my eyes as he gently kissed my forehead.

"Eugene..." I said softly as our eyes met. "Are you willing to wait?"

"Yeah." His thumb caressed my cheek. "You know I can."

I saw the sincerity in his eyes.

"I'm sorry if we're both having a hard time with our situation." I held his hand, which was resting on my cheek. "I can't just love you with my broken pieces. It will hurt us both, Eugene."

He nodded. His arms wrapped around my shoulders. I heard the loud and fast beating of his heart. I also felt mine—no, it wasn't as fast as his heartbeat. I wanted to love Eugene. But there seemed to be some force holding me back.

"Don't let your anger consume you." He pulled away and lowered his face to give me a soft kiss on the cheek. "Good night, Mel."

"Good night."

I waited for Eugene's car to disappear from my sight before I finally closed the door. I locked it and went straight to Reid's room. He was lying on his bed and sound asleep. I took a pair of pajamas out from his cabinet. The Transformers were printed on it. Then, I approached Reid to dress him up.

I slowly removed his clothes and replaced them with pajamas. He would be more comfortable if he were wearing pajamas. I kissed him on the forehead before gently closing his bedroom door. I took care of myself before I went to sleep. I lay down on my bed. My eyelids became heavier, maybe because of fatigue.

Three days had passed without Wright noticing us. I was thankful that he didn't bother me anymore. He seemed to have accepted the fact that I didn't want him.

After I took Reid to his school, I went to work. I greeted my other co-teachers as I entered the faculty room. I put my things down on the table and sat on the chair.

"Oh, my gosh! Are they breaking up?" I turned to Ellyza. She was staring at the television. Almost all of my co-teachers stopped what they were doing when they saw the news about Wright.

"Wright and Claire part ways?!" read the caption as the screen showed pictures of Claire and Wright hugging inside an exclusive restaurant. "And Mr. Wright Agoncillo confirmed it!"

Suddenly, a video popped up, showing the media surrounding Wright as security personnel worked very hard to protect him.

"Yes. We already broke up. To be honest, we have not been in a relationship for a long time now. Before I went home to the Philippines, it was over between us. But we're still friends. That won't change," Wright said as he found it difficult to walk due to pressure from various media.

"Wright, someone saw you go to church after you went to a resort. What did you do there?" A man managed to pass through the strict security.

"No comment," Wright responded and smiled.

"Aren't you anyone dating today?" a female reporter shouted.

Wright smiled sadly. "No one. Because the woman I want still does not want me. Yet."

My heart pounded when he looked at the camera. The press was even more aggressive when he said that. They still stumbled to interview Wright even though the elevator they boarded was closed.

"Oh no! He is single! This is our chance!" My co-teachers were thrilled.

"But it was obvious that he and Claire were no longer together. Claire is already dating another man! I saw her pictures on social media sites."

"Yes. Wright is so private. But the media keeps on harassing him. My poor, broken baby," Hilda said.

I secretly smirked at them. I didn't know why I was disgusted right now. I was so irritated. It was good that Wright had his eye on someone right now. Then, he would stop bothering Reid and me.

"Of course. He is an actor and a multinational businessman. He has the right to keep his life private!" Marites said. I was just listening to their talk.

Suddenly, there was a commotion outside of our faculty room. I would have ignored it if my co-teachers hadn't just run to see who was outside. Maybe we just had a new student who was the son of a well-known personality. We often had that since we worked in an exclusive music school.

I brought the papers containing the music because I would now teach piano to my students. I fixed them as I walked out of the faculty room. Then, I bumped into someone.

"Ay! Sor—"

"Dammit!" I looked, and my smile faded.

"Hi," Wright said. His smile widened.

Shit. "What are you doing here?"

I noticed a lot of people taking pictures of Wright and me, so I did everything to make myself look professional. There were guards preventing people from entering the faculty room.

I saw how alarmingly gorgeous this guy was. One of his hands was fisted in his pocket, and it tugged at his jeans, revealing a small sliver of a taut stomach. "Uh... I was just going to ask why Bobbie doesn't want to go to school."

I was surprised by what he said. It was only now that I realized that Bobbie hadn't come in for two days. I hadn't noticed if she had an enemy in the room or if anyone was teasing her. Bobbie was quiet as if she wanted to avoid people. Was it my fault? Was she not satisfied with my teaching? Did I scare her?

"Where is she? I want to talk to her, Mister Agoncillo," I said formally but with a hint of concern. I didn't want others to notice that we had a past as much as possible.

He stared at me.

I stared back.

"This is a serious matter, Miss Quizon. Can we talk in private?" he asked as he stepped closer.

"Private? Really," I echoed. I clenched my teeth and worked to keep my lips in a neat, straight line.

He nodded. "Yes."

I looked around us. Even Ellyza, Crissa, and Nadine were already involved in taking pictures with Wright. They smiled as they looked at the pictures they took. When they saw me staring, their eyes seemed to say that I was lucky. Why were they so madly attracted to this man?

I kept my expression blank. I was a professional. "Follow me."

I walked first. Even with my back turned, I could still feel Wright's scorching gaze. I moved my shoulders to relieve the tension there. He whistled as he continued to follow me. Gradually, the noise around us also disappeared.

I opened the door to the Guidance Office. In situations like this, he should not just talk to only me. The principal had to be with us as we spoke.

"After you," I said coldly to him.

One of his eyebrows rose, and he smiled. Suddenly, his head lifted as he smiled. "No, after you."

"Okay," I said so that we would not talk further. Yes, I was shutting him out. Shutting him out of my life. The principal looked at me. I smiled at her. "Good morning, ma'am."

"Oh, hi, darling—my goodness." Ma'am Esqueza's head shook when she saw Wright by my side.

"Good morning, ma'am," Wright said sweetly.

Ma'am Esqueza cleared her throat and adjusted her eyeglasses. Her face had also become formal, but her awe could still be seen. "Please, have a seat."

We sat side by side in front of Ma'am Esqueza's table. I avoided looking at Wright. I stiffened my neck and fixed my eyes on Ma'am Esqueza.

"I'll cut the chase, Ma'am Esqueza. My niece, Bobbie, doesn't want to go to school anymore, and I wonder why," Wright said directly but softly. There was no uncertainty in his voice.

Ma'am Esqueza frowned. She wrapped her two hands resting on her desk. "What class does she belong to, Mister Agoncillo?"

"In my class, Ma'am," I said politely. From the corner of my eye, I saw Wright looking at me as well. I bowed a little. "I don't know why she doesn't come in anymore."

"Why don't you know? She's in your class, Miss Quizon." I bit my lower lip as the astonishment in Ma'am's voice was palpable.

"The only thing I noticed about her was that she was quiet and avoided other children. I always monitored her because she is new, and it's not easy to adjust." I took a deep breath before speaking again. "It's my fault, ma'am. I failed to pay attention to her."

Ma'am Esqueza took a deep breath. "We need to talk to your niece, Mister Agoncillo. We need to find out why she doesn't want to come in. Can you bring her here?"

"I'm afraid I can't do that."

My eyebrows met. I turned to him. "Why?"

"Her parents have already decided that she's just going take home lessons on the piano." He touched his jaw and stared at me. "And I decided to take you as the tutor, Miss Quizon."

I sat up straight. My system started to panic. "What? No way!"

"Miss Quizon, you're not in any position to complain. May I remind you that it's your fault Bobbie doesn't want to go to school? You didn't pay attention," Ma'am Esqueza said with authority.

No! I did not want to. Shit. "But, ma'am, I have classes from Monday to Friday."

She shrugged and raised both hands. "Saturday and Sunday, then."

"But the..." I glanced at Wright. He stared at me, his eyes following my movements. Then, I looked at Ma'am Esqueza again. "My son, ma'am. I can't spend time with him. He will be alone."

Silence covered the room. Ma'am Esqueza tried to think of a possible way to make Bobbie's home tutoring possible. I didn't want to be assigned there. I couldn't even bear to be with Wright for less than thirty seconds! No freaking way!

Even though I wasn't looking at him, I could still feel the warmth of his gaze on me. My heartbeat, which I had previously controlled, increased again.

"Ma'am, how about we find someone else to tutor Bobbie? How about Nadine? She doesn't have Sundays and Mondays. She doesn't have children—"

We looked at Wright as he cleared his throat. "I'll buy your Thursday and Friday, Miss Quizon. I'll double it. I'll pay you for those days."

"Huh?" What? Heck, no!

"That's it. I'll just look for someone who can sub for you on that day. And since you're Bobbie's adviser, try to encourage her to go back to school. She'll have more friends here." Shit. I was fooled.

I could do nothing but agree to what they wanted. If I refused, Ma'am's questions would rain down on me. It was hard for me to let the trip slip from my tongue and talk about the past. What else could I do when I was really at fault? If I had just focused on Bobbie, this wouldn't have happened. Damn it! Destiny seemed to be betraying me.

Ma'am Esqueza requested that she and Wright take a picture. When I looked at him, his smile was within eyesight. It was like he had won the lottery. I rolled my eyes at him before leaving the office.

After finding out that he had planned this, I wanted to slap the Grand Piano into his face.

I was stopped from walking when someone blocked my path. I raised an eyebrow at Wright. Now that the two of us were alone in the faculty room, his appearance became even clearer to my eyes.

His black hair was longer than it had been the last time I saw him, but it was still fairly short, brushed back from his face and emphasizing the strong, fierce features that had haunted so many of my nights. And his eyes. They were deep, almost black, a midnight blue that made my heart beat faster.

Damn it!

"Uh, thank you for accepting my offer. Even though—"

"Bobbie was my intention there and no one else," I said coldly. "I still have class. Excuse me."

I walked past him, but I was stopped when he touched my elbow. I didn't look at him. I kept my expression blank.

"Melissa..." His voice was difficult. I stiffened my neck so as not to look back at him. "If you could just hear me out. Please. I'm damn desperate to have you again."

I would no longer be carried away by his flowery speech.

I slowly turned to him and looked at him coldly. My eyes dropped to his hand, which was still holding my elbow. I firmly withdrew my elbow from his grip. Then, without a word, I walked out of the faculty room.

He would never have me again.

I didn't want to have any connection with him again.

I wouldn't let him in close enough to hurt me. Again.