Overview: This chapter would all be about Nina's battle between love, hate and pride. She'll meet new friends along the way and would possibly know something that will surely help her in deciding whether to go or not to go
Quote for this chap : Relationships don’t need promises, terms, and conditions. It just needs two wonderful people; one who can trust and one who can understand.
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“Nina!”
“Nina!! Look at me!” He said while he searched for my eyes.
He took the newspaper away from his face and was surprised to see the headline of it
“Former lovers reunited? Whatta—Nina! Listen, This is ridiculous”
“Look, Nina. I’m sorry ..”
“Nina, Listen okay? We weren’t doing what you were thinking and --“
“Nina.. please, have an ear to listen to me” He softly said and tried to grab my hand but I immediately yanked it away
“I thought you’re different, Iñigo! but unfortunately, Im dead wrong! You're just another story to tell, another lesson to be learnt and you're just another person who walked away”
The catastrophe last night kept playing back inside my head like some kinda monologue flashed all in sappy lonely black and white screen. It continuously repeated the things he uttered to me and what’s worst? is the fact that I lost control over my head and can’t even stop playing it
Definitely, Guys are heartless douchebags I murmured to myself
Meg, just as what I expected her to be, was trying to be a protective big sister to me. She tried her very best to console and sprinkle me her magical words of wisdom that often works on me everytime I cry.
I really love her for always being there for me but this time, when she kept asking and wanting to know every little details on how things end up this way. I told her that I’m not ready yet to spill nor do I know where to start with.
My mind wasn’t even working at that time. All thanks to gazillions of questions running inside my head. I couldn’t even think straight and all I could do is to I cry my self the whole night
Why did he kiss her? Why didn’t he even say a word?
Were they dating behind my back?
Was I always meant to be second best in everything?
Ever since I was little.. I’ve always been second best.. second to my dear sister Rima. I don’t remember much out of my blurry childhood memory, but I could still pinpoint few nostalgic feeling like being second best
Everybody adored Rima. Everyone! Even my parents prefer her to me.
Then a slender porcelain hand waved right in front of my face, dragging me back to reality from my deep thoughts
“Hoy!! Nina!!”
I looked up and saw Jesse and was graced by her cheeky almond eyes. Her right brow was arched upward as she looked troubled by something
“You’ve been glaring at your coffee for quite some time now. It looks like you’re about to blast a laser beam out of your eyes. Is there something wrong with your coffee?”
I groaned inwardly thinking my emotions are too transparent not to notice. That I am really shallow easy-to-read type..
Maybe that’s the reason why.. I’ll never be good enough I thought
“Oh! let me guess is Oliver pressuring you on your next article? Don’t let him get under your skin.. He’s just too gay and too frank to say things. Don’t mind him”
She looked around and scanned the whole area just to check if someone’s listening on the nearby vicinity. Then she leaned closer and whispered
“Minsan, naiisip ko talagang may dalaw yun eh!”
And then we broke ourselves into few laughters.
Oliver Matias is a senior editor in sports writing and is apparently gay. Let’s just say we don’t get into the same boat ever since the very first day that I’ve arrived here.
And Jesse would often add that this dude despised every girl on the planet because he’s intimidated by us. Nonetheless, Despite the negative things that we hate about him, He’s one of those I’ve looked upon for being professional when it comes to his duties
“Slacking off on your work I see?” a deep voiced uttered from behind me. Both Jesse and I were shocked when we saw a skinny-as-stick man who stood few feet taller than us. He was wearing his favorite orange button down polo with his designer pink striped tie
and once I saw his curly jet black locks I knew, it was the devil himself
“Sir Ma—Matias. We were.. –umm- having a coffee break” Jesse stammered as she struggle to find to right words to say next
Jesse’s elbow jerked on my arms as she gestured me to say something next.
“I—uhh..”
Oliver cough fake-ly to catch our attention once again and when I turned my gazes back to his, He eyed us up and down
“It’s only 8 a.m and you’re already asking for a coffee break? That’s –uh—how should I put this?—bullshit!” He gave the profanity a little emphasize and glared at us
“Now, Ladies! Ms. Sustiguer and Ms. Fernandez. Get back to your desks and start working. We don’t need another fat-ass good-for-nothing dork in this venture. Now, chop chop!!” He said as he clasp his hands together to a sly clap
While Jesse started walking pass Oliver, She made few funny faces and mimicked him on his back. Good thing Oliver was oblivious enough not to notice it. T’was childish but heck, I find it pretty funny
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It was almost my time for lunch break, When I was religiously typing something on MS word. My browser suddenly lit itself from the bottom of the monitor and It seems that someone took all his time to personally message me on facebook
when I checked who it was…
I should’ve known better I thought as I sighed
Iñigo Bustamante : Nina! :(
Iñigo Bustamante : Why wont you pick up your phone last night?
I was busy crying my heart out all because of you!
A thought I’ll surely not type out loud. Especially, not on facebook!!
Iñigo Bustamante : Please. I know you’re still mad. But talk to me :(
Mad is an understatement, ya’know
Iñigo Bustamante : Nina! :( I love you and you know that. Please don’t ignore me like this :(
Iñigo Bustamante : Nina :(
Iñigo Bustamante : Nina :(
Iñigo Bustamante : Nina :(
Iñigo Bustamante : Nina :(
Iñigo Bustamante : Nina :(
Iñigo Bustamante : Nina :(
Iñigo Bustamante : Nina :(
Iñigo Bustamante : Nina :(
Iñigo Bustamante : Nina :(
Still, I was stubborn and Ignored him. I check on my notification and saw he sent me a ‘relationship’ request on facebook.
My mind was battling between to accept or to decline. I havr a lot of things to worry about and I don’t think this pending request helped at all.
Iñigo Bustamante : I know you’re there.. please, Just talk to me.
Then he sent another flood message on my chatbox saying
“Nina :(“,
I took a deep breathe realizing things.
It hurts nung ‘di niya ako pinakinggan before. Does he deserve to be treated this way? I sighed
Maybe I should really just talk to him
Nina Fernandez : I don’t think it’s the right time to talk about that yet. Im not ready.
Iñigo Bustamante : I respect your decision, Love. But, please .. Hear me out first.
Iñigo Bustamante : Let’s meet up and talk, Babe. I’ll be at Le Bistro Vert. Will be waiting for you ‘til dawn breaks. Please.
I sighed once again.
and when I was about to type my reply, A familiar faint-fake cough was all I heard. I was startled when I looked up and saw Oliver Matias. The same gay-man who scolded us awhile ago for having coffee in an early hours of work
“Tsk tsk tsk! Ms. Fernandez, Facebook? Can’t that wait ‘til you get your ass home?”
“But Sir, It’ll be my lunch break in about two minutes. I think its—“
“See? You said it to yourself! Its not yet twelve so get back to work or else, I’ll have no choice but to report you to the superiors.”
Then he suddenly got all curious by my sudden panicking and decided to peek on my desktop . I could tell he almost had the chance to read the whole conversation I had with Iñigo... good thing I covered the monitor with the first thing I saw on my desk ---- a long white folder
He turned his glares back on me and arched his brow in a questioning look
“A lover’s quarrel in the middle of high noon? You sure is something, Miss Fernandez”
and by then, He left with his loud bitter laughter that echoed in the office
and before I left for my Lunch break and call Jesse to join me, I managed to type a few words before logging off to my computer
Nina Fernandez : I’m sorry, Iñigo. But No.
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“Does this outfit make me fat?” Jesse uttered as we both slid out of Gail’s Crimson Chevrolet Camoro SS
“Since when did you look fat, Jess? You’re like those bamboo sticks in China. Long and Slender!” Gail cracked into a huge roar of laughter before she too slid herself out of the front seat
“Shut up, Gail!”
Bea and I just exchange weird looks and decided to join Gail in the midst of laughter ..
We were now in the middle of our lunch, dining at Hard Rock Café in Glorietta 3 and savoring our Caesar salad with Beef Stew,Pasta with Alfredo Sauce, Steamed Rice and a fruit salad that Jesse happened to live without
We were engrossed with our conversation when suddenly, I felt my blackberry vibrated from my Purple Marc Jacobs suade leather bag. I picked up my phone and saw Iñigo’s BBM …
From: Iñigo (fy739293)
I’ll be waiting for you no matter what ..‘til the dawn breaks. I’ll be waiting, Nina. I love you always and forever
“Oh! someone’s being OC today” Jesse cued from the opposite side of the table
“Having guy problems, Nina?” Gail teased as she shoved noodles of Pasta inside her mouth
“You know, Guys often complain how complicated it is to read women, but look at them! They’re just too insensitive.. too densed not to notice how WE feel. I mean, Come on!” Bea snorted as she laid her glass of ice-cold tea on the table
Abigail Moreto, Gail as she liked me to address her, and Beatrice ‘Bea’ Candido are both from Celebrity and Lifestyle department and are close friends of Jesse. I decided to invite them and get to know them both since Jesse would often tell me how nice these ladies are
“You know, you remind me of those bitter ex-girlfriends on movies, Bea” Gail uttered as she rolled her eyes
and then turned her direction to me to say ..
“don’t mind her, Nina. She’s been like that ever since she was dumped by her 2-month-boyfriend”
“FYI.. I wasn’t dumped. I did the dumping part, and take note I even slapped him across his handsome face and it was not 2! It was 3 months,Gail!” Bea reasoned out
Gail just rolled her eyes “Whatever, Bea. Like that would change a thing and make Alex-freaking-Llanza crawl back to you”
Whoever this Alex Llanza be, it sounded like another douchebag from hell. Heck, I don’t know if I even want to meet him in person. It’s odd but I feel for Bea. I think she’s too nice to deserve this kind of pain
“Anyway, Have you heard?” Gail glanced from left to right to see if someone’s listening
“Oh! gossip! I like that!” Jesse commented which adds fuel to our curiosity even more. Jesse and Bea drew their selves closer to where Gail was sitting while I sat still on my chair, feeling guilty about ditching Iñigo
“You’ve heard about Kendra Gainsborough right? You know, the latest news about her kissing the ultra-hot-smexy racing prodigy Iñigo Bustamante. Check?”
My head jerked to their direction as my ears were all up to hear the next she’ll say. Jesse glanced at my direction and we exchanged awkward faces from one another. Only Jesse knew about my relationship with Iñigo aside from Meg and Patrick.. and ofcourse Diane
“According to my source, Kendra was the one chasing after this prodigy eventhough she knew that Iñigo’s dating a total non-showbiz girl from his circle”
I should have known that
“Wait—what?! So Iñigo’s out of the Metro Mag’s eligible bachelor’s list?! Since when?! And who’s the lucky bitch?! She must’ve been way too lucky or maybe flirty to be able to catch a big big fish such as him” Bea commented which made me ,somehow, startled with her addressing me as a bitch.
Ouch! That bitten me
I don’t know how to react from that moment on. They haven’t had the slightest clue that I was the girl they’re talking about. Although, I don’t blame her at all since she knows nothing. Jesse coughed fake-ly and then eyed me for awhile before turning her direction to Bea and said ..
“Maybe she’s just an amazingly pretty, smart and really nice girl that Iñigo fell in love with” Jesse managed a winking at me and then smiled
“Ugh! Give me a break!” Bea rolled her eyes
“The blinky blinky demure Maria Clara bitch died eons from now, Jess! And besides how’d you know that?” Bea’s right brow arched itself as she eyed Jesse suspiciously.
“Ang daldal mo, Bea! Do you want to hear the bomb that I’m ready to explode or not?” Gail uttered impatiently
“As for your question, Bea-tch (bitch), the girl seems to be mysterious and hidden from the public eyes. And as much as I want to meet her, The media’s entirely clueless how she looked like.”
Hello! Im here!!
“And Jesse might be right, She have to be reeeeeally pretty to catch Iñigo’s attention. Anyway, as I was saying .. The photograph was , accordingly, planned by Kendra herself just so this mystery girl would go ‘bye bye’ to Iñigo” Gail added which made me eyes grew wider
“Wow! I knew she was a slut but I never knew a pretty girl like Kendra could sink that low .. I mean, She could get who ever she wanted. She’s really gorgeous to begin with. Why snatch someone that has already been caught?” Jesse said eyeing me from the side making sure I heard her words
You’re right. She has god-given gifts but It was all ruined with her personality
“Exactly, Jess! And let me show you girls something” Gail grabbed something from her Ayla Tangerine shoulder bag
It took her awhile before she finally said “Ta-daaah!” and laid a wallet-size picture on the table
It was a picture of Iñigo sitting on a rattan-lounge chair by the shore. He was shirtless and was smirking sexily on the girl right in front of her ..like he usually does
Stay still my heart I thought as I felt my heart sped up when I finally realized that the girl sitting on his lap was me.
I know it was me. Eventhough, my back was turned from the camera and was almost covered by few strands of my hair, I knew it was me. For sure, It was taken when we were in Tagaytay
“Where’d you got this, Gail? Are you some kinda stalker?” Bea said as she grabbed the picture and held it closer to her face.. examining every details of the photo
“Is this photoshopped?” She added
Gail immediately grabbed the picture from Bea’s hands and said “Idiot, ‘Course not! I just had my ways ya’know!”
“Right. You used your photographer of a boyfriend didn’t you? You used Marious to get this picture. Hah! I knew it!” Bea uttered in victory
“Let’s just say.. I got a little hand from my hubby. That’s all” Gail retorted back and slid her tongue out to annoy Bea
Jesse glanced at her watch and then said “ I think its time that we should go, it’s almost 1. you wouldn’t want our old Oliver Matias to bitch out about us being late, don’t we?”
“Blaagh!! Oliver! Just thinking about it makes me sick. Honestly, I think that Gay-man is just sexually-deprived and has a really dull and dead sex life. He needs to get laid!.” Bea commented and grabbed her bag.
We both giggled at Bea’s comment about Oliver’s sex life. Then we all stood up from our table and I called the waiter for the bill and paid him w/ matching tips
When we were at the parking lot I’ve looked up and saw how gloomy clouds block the supposed-raise of the sun in a high noon.
“I think it’s going to rain later. Have you girls brought your payongs with you?” Jesse uttered before she completely joined us inside Gail’s car
“Darn! I left mine at home” Bea added
“Well, That sucks.. It would definitely rain way too hard this afternoon. I'm positive” Gail said as she maneuvered the car out of the exit and to the road back to the building of Philippine Daily Inquirer
When I heard that from Gail, Iñigo was the only thing that crossed my mind.
Will he be okay if it actually rained?
and then I remembered his BBM sent on my phone
From: Iñigo ( fy739293)
I’ll be waiting for you no matter what ..‘til the dawn breaks. I’ll be waiting, Nina. I love you always and forever
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(A/N: Marious was the photographer who asked Nina to model for him sa Tagaytay. Yep! the one who approached her on the beach (referred to chap 24). Alex Llanza of TRB and Alex Llanza in this story is one and the same. and decided to dedicate this chap to Gail.. cuz, She's really nice and we would talk endless about things. haha! this is for you, Sis!
Comment. Comment. Comment!)
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