Book Two - It Should Have Been Us

Chapter Four Page Four

Wait…what??! And you’re only mentioning that now?

Nawala lang sa isip ko. I even told Paulo earlier today.

Really? She looked perplexed with the idea. How did he take it?

I sighed. Hay naku, sometimes, I feel like I don’t deserve Paulo. He’s too good to me…super understanding. The thought of him brought a smile to my face.

Oh. Wow. Yassi stared at me.

What?

Your face. It has a different glow when you think about him like that. A part of me still hopes you’d patch things up with James. But there’s this side that really likes Nath and genuinely feels happy for you and Paulo together. And well, just now when you smiled. Parang nawala yung doubts ko na you’re still into James or something.

We relished the silence after that. Sipping our drinks quietly.

In my head, an image of James pops up and it confuses the hell out of me. I think of Paulo and I’m reminded of how much he means to me now. He’s really my best friend. More than James and I ever were. And I’d like to hold on to that. They say the perfect life partners are your beast friends.

What time does he come in?

Not sure, depende kung what time sila matapos. Then he’s going to Len’s place in Dasma and switch cars with him pa.

Hmmm. Yassi stayed quiet for some time, then she looked sideways at me. About your dream, I think you should talk to James.

And tell him what?! I looked petrified.

She burst out laughing. Your face! Oh my god! Syempre not the sordid details ano ba! Just… I don’t know. Baka you just needed closure diba? Si James ba, is he sending any feelers na may something pa sya for you?

Ako pa talaga tinanong mo? Ang manhid ko sa mga ganyan ano ba. Wala, I don’t know. Wala siguro. There can’t possibly be anything there, right? I try to convince myself.

How is he and Nath?

Nath’s in a shoot at the Bahamas. Two weeks na.

Pero…are they still very much together? Nag-uusap pa ba? Skype? Facetime?

I don’t know. We don’t really talk about our personal lives. Pag kay Reese, nag-uusap kami. Pag sa bahay. Pero yung samin ni Pau, samin na lang yun. Yung kanila, sa kanila na lang. Pag naabutan nya na kausap ko si Pau sa facetime or skype he says ‘hi’ naman ganyan. They’re kind of friends after all. Pero hindi kasi ako privy sa conversations nila ng girlfriend nya.

My phone pings. Speaking of the devil. I glanced at the screen and texted him back. It’s time. I told Yassi.

Oh, wait. Sino? Ikaw na or ako na? She realized instantly what it was about.

Ikaw na, mine’s set on private diba.

She taps on her phone. Then scrolling through her feed, she cooes. Awwwww. They look so adorable. You have to admit, ang gwapo ng ex mo.

Oo na. She’s referring to the photo James recently posted.

We were instructed to time our posts. James uploaded a photo of him and Reese at the recording studio with a caption “Working on some new beats with my twin while Mama gets her girl time” He tagged me in the picture.
Yassi, on the other hand, posted our selfie photos and our photos getting a massage at the spa earlier. Caption says, “Gurrrrrrrl toyyym!!!”

It was timed perfectly. Another shot shows me holding the phone to my ear, while I was getting my pedicure done. The caption says, “Can’t really keep Mama away from Papa and baby boy for long” when in fact, it was Paulo I was talking to on the phone. Talk about duplicity. I hate fooling people. And I’m so not good at lying; it’s why the bosses suggested I work from home in the first place.

One day, I’m afraid I’ll let something slip that will get all of us caught in our web of lies.

Knock, knock. A masculine voice sounded from the open door and I jumped to my feet and ran into his arms.