Chapter 73 - Go Back to that Slump

[PRESENT TIME.]

"Last night, all of a sudden, I thought of something. That's right. Javier Salvatorre and I can never be together. If I go insane again and give into the ways of love, and resist, and throw a fit, everybody will try to break us apart."

The sun was already high in the sky that morning. Megan paid no attention to the people around her and Javier as she followed him, watching him walk towards wherever.

Javier walked ahead of her, clutching a cup of coffee, while Megan trailed behind, observing his every step, pondering how they could reconcile, reminiscing about their joyful moments, all the while feeling torn apart by longing in her heart.

"Then I will trust those words and trust those who are going to break us apart. For the last time, I will go to him... I will hold his hands for the last time. I will hear him for the last time."

Megan saw Javier sitting on the bench by the sidewalk, so she also sat on the bench behind him, not too far from the man. She simply gazed at Javier while conversing with herself in her mind.

Her what ifs. Her very last wish.

"I will tell him my true feelings for the last time. For the last time, we can tend to our wounds. For the last time, reminisce about how we were together."

Megan smiled sadly while still watching Javier as he brought his cell phone to his ear. She didn't want to take her eyes off the man. She didn't want him to leave yet. She wanted Javier to stay in his seat so she could have enough time to look at him.

Even just in this way. Megan's thirsty heart seemed to tell her that she still wanted to be with him for a long time. She used to freely hold, embrace, and kiss Javier. Now she can't do that anymore.

"Did we do the right thing? Was this the only way? Did we choose to ignore the other ways?"

When Megan saw Javier stand up and start walking again, she followed him once more.

"We can talk through the night... try to get a resolution through the night..."

Javier slowed down his pace when he felt like someone had been following him for a while. When he glanced over his shoulder, he caught Megan turning away from him in fear that the man might notice her.

"If we can't agree on a resolution, and if we can't give up on each other... don't let me go, I want to be with you. I can't lose you like this..."

After a few seconds passed, Megan slowly turned back around, and there she saw Javier walking again, so she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Can I just grab his collars and insist we be together? Because I will trust those who will break us apart."

***

"William!"

"He was going to die anyway. Just think that what happened now was bound to happen in a couple of months. In his life, he's enjoyed fortune and power that not many can even dream of. He won't be sad to leave."

"You are crazy."

Javier could clearly hear Ava's trembling voice on the recorder placed on the table between him and Marco, along with William's determined voice.

At this hour on the recorder, Pantaleon Hidalgo was fighting for his life, and the two were just watching the old man. That's what Javier had in mind as he listened to the recorder.

"Is anyone out there?" Ava screamed for help, but they could hear how William silenced her.

"You asked for my help. You told me that you wanted to stay here long, and didn't want to go back to that hellish dump. You asked for my help..."

Before William could finish speaking on the recorder, Javier quickly turned it off, his hands trembling. He couldn't believe what he had heard.

"Why did you bring this to me?" he asked Marco.

"Why are you sharing this with me now? Shouldn't you be asking that question first? With this alone, we can easily send Ava Choi and William Almario away. What have you been doing with this all this time? Who are you really? Aren't you supposed to throw a punch at me first?"

Javier lifted his gaze to Marco while slowly realizing the implications of his words.

Why indeed weren't those the first questions to come out of his mouth?

"That's why I've brought this to you. Rather than throwing me a punch, I knew you would ask why I brought this to you first."

Javier remained speechless, simply staring at Marco. After a moment, Marco picked up the recorder and played it again.

"Your entire conversation has been recorded on my cell. I will take this to the police station now." It was Marco’s voice Javier could hear now.

"Go ahead. Go straight to the police station. There is something else that you also need to take to the police station. It shows that your father... was involved in Megan's mother's car accident."

Javier's mouth opened in disbelief as he looked at Marco, who now couldn't meet his gaze directly.

"That makes no sense. Don't make up such an absurd story!"

"It was your father who made that story into a reality. I was involved in it because I was his most trustworthy employee. He was showing his loyalty to the president..."

William's words on the recorder were cut off by Javier before they could continue, and he looked at Marco, who appeared uneasy.

"Once Megan recovered her memories, I was going to tell her everything. But Megan... has already started to go after the one who killed her father. I was afraid. I wasn't afraid of her being resentful. I wasn't afraid of making my sick father take the responsibility. Her promise to avenge her father's death and the threatening look in her eyes made me afraid..." Marco slowly confessed to him.

At that moment, Javier seemed to understand the fear reflected in Marco's eyes because of Megan. Those same eyes of the woman were Javier's weakness. They were also one of the reasons why he allowed himself to fall for her and ultimately forget his vendetta against Ava.

"I know revenge not only hurts you but the people around you. I don't want to see her suffer anymore."

Javier lifted his gaze again to Marco upon hearing his last words. He knew Marco had genuine feelings for Megan from the beginning. Like him, that's all he wanted now.

He no longer wished for Megan to be hurt again and to live peacefully.

After their conversation, Marco promptly headed to William's office. He found William there, seemingly engrossed in his work, so he approached him immediately.

"What brings you here?" the man asked him.

Marco didn't respond. Instead, he retrieved a white envelope from his coat pocket and placed it on the man's desk.

"What is this?"

Without responding, he took the recorder from his coat pocket and placed it on top of the envelope.

"It's a copy of the recorded conversation on the day of the president's passing."

William became alert when he heard Marco’s words.

"Marco Yboa!"

Marco smirked at him.

"When I told you that I deleted it, you didn't perhaps believe that, did you?"

William stood up abruptly, his expression seething with rage.

"You..."

But Marco remained unfazed, his expression hardened as he stared sharply at William.

"Are you now..." William paused, as if realizing something from Marco's words.

"Fine. Shall we both tell? Let's both reveal the story. Your father was involved in Megan's mother's car accident. Let's tell that one, too," William threatened him as if Marco cared about it still.

Marco hardened his expression even more as he stared at William.

"I was being a hypocrite. Love doesn't mean that you own the person. I wanted to have Megan to myself. I didn't want to lose her to Javier. When she recovers her memories, it's just a matter of time before she comes to me. She will know my true feelings someday. I was waiting with that thought. I was going to have this recorded file buried forever..."

"And?" William uttered firmly to him.

"Sending her away and giving her up is also love. It's a bigger love than keeping her to myself. I recently realized that would make me truly happy," Marco stated firmly, tears welling up in his eyes.

William's jaw clenched even tighter, his face contorted with fury. His eyes blazed with an intensity that seemed to scorch the air around them. His hands trembled with unrestrained anger as he struggled to maintain his composure.

Every word from Marco seemed to fuel the fire of his rage, igniting a storm of emotions within him.

"What?"

"Javier taught me that," Marco stated which made William laugh in a crazy way.

"Surrender to the police, William. You and I... should stop committing crimes. Let's turn ourselves in."

Meanwhile, in his office, Javier listened repeatedly to the voice recorder given to him by Marco.

“You asked for my help…”

“Help me…”

Javier could hear the greed and malice in Ava's voice as she spoke. He realized even more deeply the extent of his wrongdoing against Megan.

If not for him, this wouldn't have happened. He felt like he was the root cause of the chaos in Megan's life.

"Help me, Javier..."

Javier was stunned by those words, and memories of their childhood with Ava suddenly flooded back into his mind.

He remembered how Ava would run to him whenever she was being beaten by her brother and father.

Moments later, another memory quickly registered in Javier's mind. It was a scene that changed his life and made it utterly miserable.

"Help me, Javier..." Ava's trembling voice as she cried.

Javier held Ava's hands to calm her down.

"You can turn yourself in. It was self-defense and involuntary manslaughter. They will consider the circumstances," Javier tried to persuade Ava that night.

The night Ava killed someone.

“If this gets out, I’m done as a lawyer,” Ava refused and sobbed continuously.

“So what if you can’t be a lawyer? You can always do something else.”

Ava’s expression became firm and angry.

“Are you asking me to go back to that dump? Do you even know how I’ve come this far? Do you know how I finally got out of there? Are you saying I should go back to that dump again?”

At that moment, Javier couldn't respond. His conscience and overwhelming love for the woman hit him like a punch in the gut.

"Just ask me to kill myself. I'd rather die."

If he were the same Javier now, he would never succumb to her manipulations. He wouldn't allow himself to be lured into the abyss Ava had created for him just to save herself in the end.

Perhaps this was indeed the right time to return to the garbage he came from, Ava...

***

In her office, Ava held her head in agony due to the intense pain. She was in that position when her secretary suddenly arrived.

"Ma'am!"

"Yes, what is it?" Ava replied, raising her gaze to her secretary, who handed her a folder.

“This is the recommendation from the board of directors.”

“Can you read it to me?” she asked her secretary.

“Although it’s only a scheming report, Hidalgo Empire is suffering from bad publicity. The best solution would be Ava Choi temporarily stepping down from her position. It’s recommended the management be transferred to the professionals.”

Ava winced as she heard the news. Her headache seemed to worsen as she listened to her secretary.

"Team leader Javier Salvatorre will be let go."

Moments later, the door to her office suddenly opened, revealing a smiling Javier.

“Ava… do you want to go on a date with me? At 6:30 after work, at the park in front of the building. Okay?”