Chapter 30 Chapter 15 (ii)
Fae
He didn’t leave the next day.
When he found out where I was moving, he made a call to expedite the documentation for the sale. He made another call, and someone went to my new three-bedroom unit to ensure that everything was clean and ready for a quick move. I wrote a check for payment that same day.
Before the afternoon was over, I had checked all the items on my list. All the decorations were gone from the walls. The shelves were cleared of my books and stuffed toys. My cosmetics, perfumes, and lotions were no longer on the vanity. Bathroom items—checked. Rugs on the floor—checked. The unit was bare and naked before it got dark outside, with everything packed and boxed, ready for trucking. Trash bags were filled with discarded items. I gave a generous tip to the condo staff who would take care of the last of the cleanup when I left. I thanked Jigo. If he hadn’t helped, it might have taken me another day or two to finish it all.
Men arrived with a large truck, carried my belongings out and down the staff elevators, and into the truck, then drove to my new unit. I said goodbye to the place before I closed the door for the final time. And I admit to crying quietly as I rode shotgun in Jigo’s car to my new home. I was grateful when he took my hand to hold whenever he could, silently. We didn’t need to talk. He understood.
So, tonight, one of the rooms in my new condo would be slept in for the first time.
My boxes were still scattered in the living room, all open, but my clothes were already hanging on hangers inside the built-in cabinets in my new bedroom. The necessary items for cooking were already set up in the kitchen, and the fridge was stocked and ready for me to heat up something when I got hungry.
He had called Maria, his executive assistant, to take care of my needs in the kitchen among other things. I knew the woman, in her late 40s, whom I had met at one of the family gatherings. Maria sent her greetings through Jigo for my newly purchased residence. Before Jigo left, the grocery was already filled, delivered by a service from a supermall that Maria called.
I thanked her, of course. But I bit my lower lip in worry. I hoped that Jigo’s request for Maria’s help didn’t become the cause of gossip in the office. I hoped all they would think was that it was what Lola Leah asked her grandson to do for me. But Maria was close to Lola Leah. Would she tell the old lady that Jigo, a multi-millionaire CEO, had stayed the whole day and micromanaged my move to another condo? That Jigo, who on regular workdays like today would be in his three-piece suit sitting behind an executive desk on the executive floor of the Myrick high-rise building, had given me a whole day and the next?
I told him that and he said I was overthinking again.
I felt sad when he had to go. My new place was comfortable. All the locking mechanisms were installed on the windows and doors. The electrical units and light bulbs were checked. The plants I moved with me were already on the balcony. There was nothing left to do, but he had to fly early somewhere tomorrow and he had to leave.
“Goodbye,” I playfully shooed him away after a long kiss that had my whole body tingling with pleasure.
He chuckled softly, his eyes droopy with amusement. “Goodnight. I’ll visit you again as soon as I can.”
I nodded. “Okay,” I said. What else was there for me to say? I didn’t want to think anymore.
His hand raised to cup my face more securely and he kissed me again. But it was a sweet, goodnight kiss, telling me it was okay and he would really be back. I waved at him forlornly before I closed the door on his back.
After he’s gone, I realized that knowing he would come back had completely deleted that sadness that had stayed with me after leaving him like that on the island, when I thought nothing like this would ever happen again between us.
I was happy about this. I really was. And this time, that was enough.
Jigo was right. After I cleaned up in the bathroom in preparation for bedtime, I crashed as soon as my head touched the pillows. I didn’t long for him in those final moments before I fell asleep because I slept lying on the pillow he used the night before, wrapped in the blanket we’d shared, surrounded by his scent and the memory of his gentle embrace from earlier that morning...