13 - Marianne
"Mr. Ryan Gonzales?" I was surprised when I saw my client then. It turns out to have been Ryan, the same guy Jack and I talked to once while we were on vacation right after he graduated from university.
"Marianne?" The moment he laid eyes on me, he, too, was taken aback, and he started to laugh. "You-You're my date?"
We couldn't help but laugh at the way things were set up. The world is indeed very small. Who would have thought that the person I was set up on a blind date with would turn out to be one of my clients?
As we sat down to dinner, Ryan commented, "I thought you're married."
"Legally separated but currently living with my son," I explained, as Ryan simply smiled and nodded his head in response to what I said.
I never thought I'd see Ryan again. My last encounter with him was at the signing of a lease agreement for the condominium unit that he is going to be renting out. It was a few days after Jack and I had returned from our vacation at the resort. The number of days is also ideal, but who would have guessed we'd cross paths again? The fact that Jonah chose him out of so many others to introduce to me makes me wonder.
"Jonah is your closest friend, is that correct?" Ryan asked as we ate. After he made it clear that he wanted to be treated in a casual manner, I did my best to comply with his request. He even suggested that I drop the formalities and that I should just call him by his first name like we were close friends. He said that I should stop using his last name. According to him, I treated him too formally and he didn't like it. I couldn't help but laugh and just cave in to his demands.
"Yes, we went to the same high school together and became best friends. We still are now, pretty much. How about you?" I asked back.
A gentle and endearing expression appeared on his face when he smiled at me. Looking at this angle, I noticed he did have a good-looking face as Jonah had mentioned. In fact, he didn't appear to be much older than mid-30s. He had to be a few years younger than me. I'm curious as to what led him to get a divorce though... He was still so young, good-looking, and had a promising career...
"At a seminar, we struck up a conversation with each other and became friends. Jonah, she is quite talkative. I've heard a lot about her younger years, grade school and high school years mostly. I believe she was referring to you when she talked about a close friend in one of her stories, the funniest thing in her high school life or something," Ryan remarked, laughing slightly as he did so, as if recalling the story he heard from Jonah herself.
I also found myself laughing when I thought of my closest friend. "Tell me about it. That has always been the case with her. And yes, that would most likely be me. She always brings me up in conversations." I don't even know which part of our high school life Jonah mentioned to Ryan.
See, Jonah appeared to have a hobby of talking about her closest friends, which of course included me, to complete strangers or random people she met. Jonah wouldn't think twice about sharing any story, no matter how embarrassing, funny, or scary it was, whenever the mood struck her. She would do this without hesitation whenever she felt like it and if the other person was getting her vibe. It was just a part of her personality, and all of her friends, including myself, had gotten used to it by this point.
It appeared that Ryan had a solid grasp on the vibe I was going for, too. Similar to how I feel whenever I hang out with Jonah, I started to feel more at ease with Ryan.
Sure enough, the night went off without a hitch. Before I even realized it, I had already let Jack know that I might be coming home later than usual for tonight, just in case he went looking for me.
"What do you say we have a late night chat at the bar?" Ryan's question was straightforward, but his smile was subtly suggestive. I could tell what he wanted to happen.
I was about to speak when my phone suddenly rang.
"Sorry, I have to take this call," I said politely after answering the phone. It was Jack.
"Mom? Where are you right now?" Jack asked me.
"I'm having dinner with a friend. Didn't I send a message earlier?" I tried to remind him. I blinked my eyes and stood there looking perplexed. Didn't he get the message I sent him via text?
"Dinner at this late hour? Where exactly are you?" Jack asked me again, his voice hinting a sound of dissatisfaction in it.
After a while, there was nothing I could do but tell Jack where I was and tell him not to worry if I was going to be late. Fortunately, I didn't hear any grumbling or nagging from him, so I assumed he understood what I was saying. I mean, Jack was already an adult, and the fact that he did not stop me at this moment only told me that he was mature enough to let me have some time to enjoy myself as well, right?
I went with Ryan to a bar in the hotel where we were staying. I didn't really intend to drink, but I've been a little stressed out lately, and because it would have been embarrassing to refuse the drink that Ryan gave me, which he assured me was just a light drink, I went ahead and did it anyway.
It wasn't long before I began to feel nauseous. It felt like my eyes and body would give out any second now, and I was on the verge of passing out.
The sound of a man's voice was the last thing I remember hearing before I completely lost consciousness.
When I finally woke up, I discovered that I was lying in a bed with nothing but a blanket over my body — my naked body, that is.