Chapter 10 Ghosted

Her POV

"You should stay away from that man Claire! He's still in a relationship with his three years girlfriend. May hindi lang sila pagkakaintindihan, alam mo na ‘di ba? Na nature talaga sa mga lalaking magpaparaos sa iba kapag nagkakalabuan sa mga jowa nila, libangan kong baga." Mahabang lintanya ni Ely sa akin. Hindi naman na lingid sa mga kaibigan ko ang tungkol sa nangyari sa amin ni Jerick but when Ely found out about Jerick's relationship ay ‘di nito maiwasang mag alala para sa akin.

Kahit na wala na mang dapat ipag-alala si Ely dahil kusang loob ko namang binigay ang sarili ko kay Jerick, virginity ko lang ang nakuha nya hindi naman ang puso ko but I understood Ely's sentiments. She was there when I grieved about my five years failed relationship with Mikael. She saw all my pain. She helped me put my pieces back together kaya naintindihan ko kung saan galing ang lintanya nya sa akin ngayon. She was like a sister. "Alam mo kung ano ang feeling ng masaktan Claire. Alam mo rin ang feeling ng niloko. Sana'y wag mong masamain ang sinasabi ko ngayon sayo, I was just concerned baka-"

"Chill! Oo na I will... It was just a one night stand Ely, just a one wild night with him... I promise not to get in touch with him anymore, happy?" Saad ko nalang upang matigil na ito sa kanyang litanya. Gaya nga ng pangako kay Ely, ‘di na ako sumasagot sa mga tawag ni Jerick, ‘di na ako nagrereply sa kanyang mga text messages, pinutol ko na lamang kung anuman ang nasimulan naming dalawa.

I was inside the mall alone, I visited my favorite mani pedi shop. The staff who catered me just finished doing my finger nails, she was now cleaning my nails on my toes. I got bored so I took my cell phone out from my mini sling bag. I clicked the Instabook icon and it directly showed my account wall. I clicked my notifications button when I saw more than forty messages. Most of them were tagged photos with my friends' stories and posts while we were in Hernandez Paradise.

I scrolled down to see all of the notifications. I smirked when I saw that Jerick Saavedra just followed me.

I didn't follow him back but I went to his profile. My lips formed an ‘O’ when I saw his profile picture clearly. It was on one of the Islands we visited in Hernandez Paradise. He was only wearing blue board shorts. He wasn't looking at the camera to look like it was a stolen shot. "Nice abs..." I whispered, I didn't see it clearly when we had sex. “Ang hottie..."

I scrolled down.

I got curious when I saw a tagged photo of him with a girl, she kissed him on his cheek.

‘Happy third anniversary love! I love you!’ She captioned.

"Ang sweet pero niloko pa rin." I bitterly laughed. I saw myself to that girl on the picture. I used to flex Mikael on any of my social media account before, but I already deleted everything about him. "Sayang... Sarap pa naman niyang magdala... gwapo na nga, hot pa..." Of course hindi ko yon isatinig baka katakot-takot na tingin at panghuhusga ang makuha ko sa mga taong nakapaligid, baka kung ano pa ang sabihin nila.

I paid for the service. I also gave a tip to the staff who did my mani pedi. I went outside the shop, nagtingin-tingin pa ko sa mga store ng mga designer clothes and shoes. Nakabili ako ng bagong dress at bagong shoes. Uuwi na sana ako, but suddenly I remembered Justine's coming birthday so I planned to buy him his favorite brand of signed pen as my gift to him. Wala akong ibang maisip, he already got everything.

I went inside the shop, lumapit ako sa mga nakahelerang mga babasagin kung saan nakadisplay ang iba't ibang disenyo ng mga mamahaling ballpen.

"Good evening, ma'am!" Masiglang bati sa akin ng isang sales lady na naka assigned.

"Good evening, miss." Ganti na bati ko rin sa kanya at sinabi ang gusto kong ballpen na bilhin. Ngumiti sa akin ang sales lady at agad kinuha mula sa nakadisplay ang hinahanap ko. Nilapag nito iyon sa itaas ng display glass. Kinuha ko ito mula sa kahon at tiningnan, the quality itself fit for the price. I looked at the price piso nalang ang kulang para maging twenty thousand, just too expensive for just a pen. "Kukunin ko na miss, salamat."

Nag tingin-tingin pa ko habang hinihintay ang i-abot sa akin ng sales lady ang binili.

"Who would have thought that I’m gonna see you here?" napa-angat ang tingin ko sa lalaking lumapit sa akin. Sinundan ko ng tingin ang bawat galaw nito. I was surprised as well. Patagilid nitong sinandal ang sarili sa gilid ng display glass. He smirked at me.

Damn, soo dashingly handsome and he smells so good. He looked so hot in his dark blue long sleeve polo with three buttons already open.

"Oh, hello Jerick." I acknowledged his presence.

"Hi Claire... It's been a while." He intently stared at me sinalubong ko ang kanyang mga tingin. " I missed you..."

His POV.

"Tangina tol!" kay sarap batukan nitong si Adrianne, tawang-tawa nung sinabi ko sa barkada na ‘di na nagparamdam ulit sa akin si Claire. "Ghosted ka rin? Apir!" Itinaas nito ang palad, kahit na naiinis ako ay nakipag apir pa rin ako sa kanya. "Tangina! Mag-bestfriend nga tayo! Pareho tayong iniwan sa ere, tangina!" Natatawa pa rin nitong saad. Tinaas nito ang hawak na bote ng beer at tinungga. Inubos nito ang laman bago nito ito nilapag pabalik sa lamesa. Kumuha ito ng isa pa at binuksan. "Sa tingin mo karma ba natin to? Sa lahat ng niloko, pinaiyak at binusted natin, tangina." Tumawa pa ito bago tinungga ang panibagong bukas na bote.

"Sira! Matagal na kong nagbago baka sayo." Sinandal ko ang likod sa couch. Nilagay ko ang braso sa armrest nito hawak ko ang bote ng beer, itinaas ko ang paa at nagdekwatro.

"Baka ‘di nagustuhan performance mo tol." buti at wala si Gabby at baka nabatukan itong si Miggy. Sensitive pa naman yon sa ganitong mga topic. It was just me, Adrianne , Miggy, Nathan and Justine. Si Kevin ay kasama si Cheska, nagiging madalang na ang pagsasama nito sa barkada dahil laging kasama na ang jowa mukhang tinamaan na rin ang gago. Si Gabby ay may tinatapos na school work, naghihintay lamang si Nathan ng text nito upang sunduin ang bestfriend, habang si Jazlyn ay may tinatapos na marketing report para bukas.

"Malabo pare, she moaned my name a million times..." Hindi sa pagmamayabang but I always made sure that I satisfied each women I had sex with. Many of them loved my performance in bed. Ang iba nga hirap magmove on because I just don't fuck, I fucked hard but passionately...

"Basehan ba yon ng good performance?" Natatawang saad naman ni Miggy. “Feeling ko talaga, yun yon eh. She wasn't satisfied. Ayaw nya lang sabihin sayo dahil ayaw nyang mapahiya ka at aminin na natin, tumatanda ka na rin-"

I picked up the throw pillow on my side and threw it on him. He was just across from where I was seated.

"Tangina mo, hayop ka!" I cursed. Natatawa na hinarang nito ang braso sa mukha.

"Joke lang, pre, pero malay mo." Tumayo na ito ng makitang kumuha pa ako ng isa pa para ibato sa kanyang pagmumukha. Minsan talaga pasmado bibig nito. Hindi, mali, kada oras pala.

"No, maybe because she finds out about you still in a relationship with Gly." biglang sumabat naman si Justine. Ang tanga ko. Dapat pala si Justine yong tinanong ko dahil sya naman ang malapit dito kay Claire. "If you didn't know Claire had been in an almost perfect relationship, for five years. She was engaged but one day, she caught her fiance having sex with his secretary in his own office." Napaawang ang bibig ko sa nalaman. "Labis siyang nasaktan sa ginawa nung jowa nya. Sobrang mahal na mahal niya yun, eh. Nagulat nga kami nung sinabi niyang cance na yung wedding."

"but..." I wanted to tell them that she was still a virgin when I took her but I changed my mind. It would be so unfair with Claire kapag ipagkalat ko and I wasn't a kiss and tell type of a man pero limang taon? Impossible namang walang nangyari sa kanilang dalawa, when she didn’t think twice on giving herself to me.

"Anong but, pare?" sumabat uli si Miggy.

"Wala." I shook my head sabay tinungga ang bitbit kong bote ng beer.

"Ely asked me about you and I told her the truth, pare baka sinabi nya kay Claire. ‘Di ba kayo pa rin naman ni Glyden? You two haven't officially broken up yet, right?" Tumango-tango ako, totoo naman, hindi lang kami nag-i-imikan dalawa ni Glyden but we were not officially over.

"Yeah right, she also told me ayaw nya ng cheater. Siguro, dahil alam nya kung ano ang pakiramdam ng naloko." Tinungga ko ulit ang beer, nakaramdam ako ng konsensya at awa kay Claire but I never regretted taking her innocence.

I was on my way home ng maisipan kong dumaan sa mall upang bumili ng wine. Naubos na kasi ang paborito kong wine sa aking condo. I parked my car on the mall basement parking area, medyo madilim sa bahaging ito dahil sira yung ilaw. Pinagtyagaan ko na lamang dahil walang ibang available na parking space.

I went inside the mall and went straight to a wine shop. Papasok pa lang ako ay may nahagip akong isang pamilyar na mukha. I smirked ng makilala ko sya kaya imbes na sa wine shop ang tungo ko ay pumasok ako sa isang bilihan ng mamahaling ballpen. There, I saw her looking at the display. Siya lang yata ang customer sa loob ng shop. I went closer and leaned on the glass.

"I missed you..." She didn't answer me. Though it wasn't a question anyway. Una itong nagbitiw ng tingin sa akin at ibinalik ang mga mata sa mga nakadisplay na ballpen. "Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?" ngumiti ito then, she looked back at me.

"Do you want to have sex with me again?"

Napaawang ang labi ko sa diretsahan niyang tugon. I was surprised, ‘di ko yon inaasahan. I was about to say something but again she grabbed my polo and kissed me aggressively.