Behind Every Man (COMPLETED)

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

"What?" Archie asked when he caught me staring at him.

I slightly shook my head. "Nothing," I said.

"Black tie, right?" he asked.

"What?"

"Dress code," he replied. "For today's event," he continued nang hindi ako makasagot agad.

"Right," sabi ko. Tumango ako. "Yes," I continued.

"Okay," he said while slightly shaking his head and fixing his tie.

"I'll go and prepare," sabi ko na lang dahil hindi ko alam kung ano ang sasabihin ko sa kanya. I was not used to him being home this early. He usually goes as late as he possibly could go. Siya na yata lagi ang huling umuuwi. Did he feel bad for his staff dahil hindi rin sila makakauwi hanggang nasa trabaho pa rin siya?

"Okay," he said. "Take your time. Maaga pa naman."

"Right..." I just replied and then I headed straight to the room.

I tried to ignore his presence and just focused on preparing. I'd be meeting a lot of people tonight—Maven and Abby included. I needed to be relaxed and get my head straight.

I took a half bath and then started to prepare. I decided that I would straighten my hair since I would be wearing a tube red floor length dress.

I grabbed my clutch nang matapos ako sa paglalagay ng makeup. Lumabas ako at agad na nakatingin si Archie sa gawi ko na para bang nakaabang siya sa pagbukas ng pinto.

"Let's go," I said when a few seconds passed and he said nothing but stared at me. I stood there, waiting for him to say something pero nanatili lang siya na nakatingin sa akin. "What?" I asked when a full minute passed with him doing nothing but to stare at me.

Instead of saying something, tumayo siya.

"You look good," he managed to say.

"Thanks," I replied. "Let's go."

He did not give any indication that he's ready to leave.

"Do you have something to do? Or somewhere to go?" I asked dahil baka nagbago ang isip niya. It's fine. Sanay naman ako na pumunta sa event mag-isa. And it's not like the people around me weren't privy to my private affairs. I knew they know. Didn't matter—business is business.

"Wait here," sabi niya.

If I didn't know any better, I'd tell him that we needed to leave already. Instead, I stood there and waited hanggang sa makabalik siya. When he came back, he was holding something on his hand. That was the least of my concern. Gusto ko na lang makapunta sa venue. We had lots of people we needed to talk to.

"Can we leave now?" I asked.

"Just one second," he told me as he walked until he stopped right in front of me. He gently pulled the box open and a diamond necklace appeared right in front of me.

My forehead creased as my eyes went from looking at the necklace. Was that a diamond necklace? I wanted to tell myself that there's no way Archie could afford that kind of necklace with his measly salary, but the sparkle could not be denied.

"Can I?" he asked, indicating that he wanted to put on the necklace around my neck.

I looked at him. "Where did you get that?" I asked with my forehead creased.

"What do you mean where did I get this? I bought this," he replied.

"With what money?" tanong ko. By the looks of that necklace, it's at least a million.