Chapter Three

“ARE you going home now?” Roeden asked after her boss left.

The formality of his tone was gone now, and it seemed to her that he had calmed down.

“Yes,” Avon heaved a deep sigh. “We’re done with the meeting, so it’s now time to go home.” She checked her wristwatch. “Oh, it’s already past four pm. I have to go.”

She was about to leave her seat when Roeden suddenly grasped her arm.

“I’ll drive you home,” he told her.

You drive me crazy!

“Don’t bother.” She bravely met his gaze.

“Why?” His brows furrowed.

“You live in your condo somewhere in Makati, right?”

Little did Roeden know, she knew everything about him. She has a reliable source—his sister. And if only her publisher mentioned the name of his company, she could have avoided that meeting.

“I’m going to Batangas today.”

“And why?” She arched a brow. His sister said Roeden was always busy with work he has no time to come home, so his family were the one to visit him on his condo during weekends.

“I’m going to get something at home.” Roeden stood up. “Well, it’s your choice if you’re going to hitch or commute.”

Avon rolled her eyes and stood up. “Why do you give up so easily? You should have insisted a little more.”

“As if I don’t know you.” He laughed.

“Can you show a little more concern?”

“Are you coming with me or not?” His eyes got even narrower. She wondered if he could still see her. “If you don’t want a free ride, then I’ll leave you here.”

Roeden started to walk away from her. He was almost at the door when she caught up with him. Avon followed him as he walked towards his car that was parked just across the building.

He opened the door to the passenger’s seat.

“I’ll just sit in the back.” She has no plan to make her heart suffer. Avon knew the moment she sat beside him her heart would not stop beating erratically. She might end up to the hospital instead of her home.

“You don’t want to sit beside me, do you?” Roeden said with furrowed brows.

“I…” Avon thought of an alibi. “I don’t like the smell of car fresheners. It triggers my motion sickness.” Which was true.

“Ah, I see.” It looks like he believed in her. He closed the door and opened the one at the back. “Hop in.”

She did what she was told.

Avon had foreseen the awkward ambiance inside the car during the ride, so she fished her phone from her bag and kept herself busy watching videos of her favorite boy group.

“How are you, Avon?”

She raised her head and looked at him through the rear-view mirror. He sounded so sincere, like a good old friend you met at the grocery store by chance.

Well, Roeden was indeed a kind person. Imagine that he managed to be her friend for how many years despite her weirdness and craziness.

“I-I’m fine.” She swallowed the lump that formed on her throat.

“I’m glad to hear that.” He glanced at her through the rear-view mirror that made her feel conscious. “Won’t you ask me how I am?”

There was no need to ask because she already knew everything she want to know. And even if she wanted to, she would never ask. Avon did not want to give him the impression that the old version of her still lives.

She had to act like she already moved on.

“You look fine to me,” she said nonchalantly.

“What happened to you?”

“Eh?” Avon arched a brow. “What do you mean what happened to me?”

“Well, I went out with our friends a couple of times. You didn’t come with us.” She was surprised that Roeden noticed that. “Have you decided to abandon your friends, Avon? I’m a bit disappointed in you.” He shook his head. “It was you who told me to spend time with our friends again.”

For an unknown reason, Roeden distanced himself from everyone. It took him so long before he showed himself to their friends again, including her. But when he decided to show himself again, Avon started lie-low. She started distancing herself from Roeden, particularly because she decided to move on and silently cure her broken heart.

“I don’t abandon my friends. It’s just that I’m always busy writing my novels. I had a lot of collaboration projects with deadlines.”

“Of course, you were busy writing for five years.”

Roeden’s tone did not even sound sarcastic, but Avon could read between the lines.

“I traveled a lot for the last five years. And it just so happened that whenever one of our friends set a meet-up, I wasn’t home.”

“Ah. I thought you’re avoiding me,” he said somberly.

Avon almost choked. “A-avoiding you?”

“You know… after that day we—”

“Stop the car!” she cut him off when she saw the gasoline station sign ahead. “I-I need to pee.”

Of course, it was a lie.

She got off his car abruptly when he pulled over at the gas station.

Roeden was bringing up their past—the past that she was trying hard to bury. She knew it would hurt her more now. For heaven’s sake, she was trying so hard to move on from that incident.

Avon locked herself inside a cubicle and called her cousin to ask for help. She needed someone to fetch her there so she could escape from Roeden.

“Damn it, answer your damn phone, Josh…”

Sorry, the number you dialed is now unattended.

She groaned in frustration and closed the toilet seat’s lid, and sat there. Maybe it would be better to hide there for a while and wait until her heart and mind have calmed down. Most of the time, those two always disagree with one another, but at that moment, they decided to join forces and baffled her. And she could not face Roeden in that state. She did not want him to see her like that.

After a few minutes, her phone rang. She almost threw it away in shock when she saw Roeden’s name on the caller ID. Yeah, she did not delete his number on her phone. Avon kept his number and stared at it whenever she misses him. And it was the first time since forever Roeden phoned her again. A familiar warmth crept on her chest that made her heart flutter. Darn, too bad for her health.

She heaved a deep sigh before answering his call.

“Hmm?”

“Hmm? That’s all you can say? You said you’re going to pee. It’s been ten minutes. Are you draining all the liquid inside you?” Despite what he said, his voice sounded normal. There was no hint of annoyance in it.

With that kind of situation, she was left with no choice but to activate her acting skills. Avon badly needed an escape from him.

“I’m sorry, Roeden. I didn’t mean to keep you waiting, but I’m in a situation right now…”

“What kind of situation?”

“My period suddenly came, and there’s no vending machine in her—Hello? Roeden?”

She took the phone away from her ear and saw that he already hung up on her. Then she heard a knock at the restroom door. Avon slightly opened the door to the cubicle and took a peek. She saw Roeden talking to a girl wearing the station’s uniform.

She pushed the door closed when the girl went inside the restroom.

“Avon? Where are you?” said the female voice. “Your husband asked me to give you this sanitary pad because he couldn’t come in.”

What? Her husband? Did she assume that he was her husband because he bought her a sanitary pad? It could be a fiancé, a boyfriend, or a friend. What made that girl think of that?

Ah, whatever!

“I’m here…” She laid out her palm under the cubicle’s door.

The girl handed her the sanitary pad. And she was surprised to see the note written on its packaging.

I bought the non-wing type just in case you still have an allergy.

Avon felt her cheeks burning. Roeden remembered that? She put the sanitary pad inside her bag and stormed out of the cubicle.

Roeden, who was waiting for her just outside the restroom, blocked her way. He took off his coat to cover her behind. She could only hold her breath as he tied its sleeves on her waist.

“R-Roeden, what are you doing?” Her voice was almost a whisper.

“Covering your bloodstain.” Roeden raised his head and met her gaze that caused her heart to hammer hard against her chest. “Let’s go…”

He held her by the hand and ushered her to his car.

Avon was speechless. There was this feeling that something has changed.

What happened to Roeden within that five years?