Chapter 4 Chapter 2 (ii)
FAE
Jigo was a quiet person. Stoic, and chilled, always mostly observing and watching. He rarely talked to me unless it was necessary or unavoidable, but he always greeted me with a small vow or a measured smile. Even though he was constantly present in my teenage life, we weren’t close. I wouldn’t be surprised if he could still see the fourteen-year-old Fae up to now… the one who bawled at her daddy’s funeral. His friend’s godsister who moved into Easton House the first weekend after her father was laid to rest.
Or maybe, it was because I was an orphan that he wasn’t a snob to me. Like, he was the ultimate snob. But he had always been polite to me.
When his grandmother ordered him to dance with me at the cotillion, he had obeyed. He also had escorted me to the debutante ball. I never felt that he was forced to do it because he always acted appropriate and proper. I wouldn’t really know what he thought of me exactly. He could make me so nervous sometimes that if I would try to befriend him, I would probably stutter all the time. He was too good-looking in middle school, and too gorgeous for his own good now, that he could still overwhelm me. It didn’t help that I rarely saw him. I didn’t really know him.
I was sure he was shadowing me now because I might do something stupid. He was a billionaire CEO. Goodness. What was he doing wasting his time on me if only to protect his best friend from me?
When I was back at the party again, I forgot about Jigo. I toasted for the newlyweds many times, going with the flow, chatting when someone talked to me, smiling when needed, nodding at times. I didn’t care that Sarah shot daggers at me with her eyes because it hurt more that Carl hardly looked at me since I came back.
Even though I drank champagne a few times, pain blocked me from getting drunk. I felt so numb.
And when the newlyweds were saying their goodbyes, I quickly ran out the doors before the grannies and seniors I had been avoiding could corner me. The newlyweds would leave by helicopter to get to the international airport in Manila and fly away from there to Thailand for their honeymoon. They were the first to leave.
I was booked at this hotel until tomorrow. Most of the guests were leaving after the party because they could only squeeze this little time into their schedules. I knew that. The invitations arrived merely two weeks ago. I heard Jigo’s nightclubs were also hosting parties for guests early tonight once they flew to Manila on Easton or Myrick chartered planes so I wouldn’t use that way to get back home. I also made sure to avoid boat travel after the reception so I wouldn’t bump into anybody. It was why I was leaving tomorrow for Manila.
The only thing I cared about for the remainder of my day was to not see anyone for a hundred years.
What I could do was get drunk, crawl back to my room, and forget what Carl would be doing with Sarah for the rest of the night... and the next nights to come of their married lives together.
I found my way to the hotel’s bar.
Ignoring anyone but the bartender, I started guzzling tequila shots sitting on a high stool at the farthest end of the bar. I was not worried. The bar staff’s vigilance was extra-special because their boss followed me from the ballroom but still didn’t walk up to me. He sat at a table in a dark corner and nursed a glass as he conducted business quietly on his smartphone and a sleek laptop.
He might have thought that I couldn’t feel his pity.
But I could. I really could. I felt it emanating from him across the bar as I worked on getting drunk. His business with me should be done as soon as Carl left. His friend was safe from me. I couldn’t believe he would think I’d planned to create a scandal once the wedding was over. He knew me. It’s something I can’t ever do.
But he’s watching, staying near, and for some reason, I was sure he was worried about me now. He could have just let his staff look after me, but instead, he was doing it himself.
I wished I could be grateful but I wasn’t sure what I felt. My heart was broken. It didn’t care about anything else.
I forgot about him again as moments passed. In the midst of the faint chattering of patrons at tables behind me, the tinkling sounds of bottles and glasses, and rock music from the speakers, I got more and more intoxicated.
And the time came when I knew I wanted to be alone. I tried to stand up. Good... I was so buzzed. I wanted it so that when I entered my room, I had nothing else to do but pass out on the bed.
But the walls moved around me, and I grabbed the edge of the bar. I waited for the light bulbs in the ceiling to stop swinging, then I giggled.
I giggled.
I had to walk. Go back to the privacy of my room. Crash.
Or bleed all my heart out here.
It was done. The day was done for me. I had to get done, too.
Someone grabbed my wrist.
Without looking at whoever it was, I pulled my hand away. He spoke, said something, and even mentioned my name. I looked at him, trying to place his face.
I knew him, but I couldn’t remember his name. I didn’t know he was a close enough friend of Carl’s to be invited here… ah, Tom. His name was Tom.
A player. A maniac. He gave me the creeps. What was he doing here?
He was such an arrogant airhead, only knew how to talk I-Me-Mine and was so heavy with the ego that we called him ‘The Hurricane’ behind his back. I and other friends, who else? Yes, I had friends other than the bitch and her circle of sex-crazy fiends.
And yes, this Tom was right smack in the middle of Sarah’s circle. That was the only reason I knew him.
Because Tom was one of Sarah’s sex bunnies, a fact they didn’t know I knew.