Sweet Downfall (18 page)

She found out that she could feel love and hate at the same time for the same person. And she could walk into a prison of her own making, escape and then walk back in on her own volition, because it was the right thing to do. These arms wrapped around her were no longer the embrace of a sweet sanctuary but the iron bars of an immovable fortress.

Her life had turned into a lonely paradox.

Jordan’s lips caressed her hair like a butterfly’s gentlest wings. But it didn’t comfort her. Something had been irrevocably lost between them, if it was there in the first place.

“We will be good, together, Angie. Trust me, all of this will pass. You take care of me, I’ll take care of you. We will be fine if we stick together. Always remember that.”

She closed her eyes.

She could feel it. Every single breath that kept her alive was a step towards that tragic end.

Chapter Six

ANGIE DECIDED TO TAKE A PAGE
from Jordan’s book of ruthless pragmatism.

He was right of course, as he always was. She would treat the scandal like some petty smear campaign and deal with it the way she should have dealt with it right away. After all, PR was her line of expertise. For awhile she had forgotten her hard-earned power as she was blindsided by it all. But it was time to get her act together and rebound.

She showed up at her office after almost two weeks of moping at home. She won’t be cowered by this, driven away by shame.

Betty was surprised to see her. “Angie! You’re back! I mean…Great to see you again!”

She gave her PA a bright smile. “Hello, Betty. Call a meeting with the Marketing and PR execs in fifteen minutes.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Fifteen minutes later, she felt like her old self again. She presided at the head of the conference table like a Yulo, commanding, decisive. But she noticed the discomfort of the executives, especially the men. They couldn’t look her straight in the eye.

She leaned back on her swivel chair and crossed her legs. “So, did my video scandal affect our bookings?” she asked no one in particular. “Are we losing?”

Jaws dropped. Nobody dared to answer.

It felt good to be able to talk about it as if it was just an agenda in a meeting. “Come on, guys, give me figures. Marvin, talk to me.”

Marvin faked a cough, adjusting his neck tie. “On the contrary, Miss Yulo, our bookings even escalated in all our branches locally just days after the uhm...after the video came out. We were always fully booked considering it’s not peak season. Our Metro Manila branches are doing exceptionally great, as we speak.”

She tapped her fingers on the table. “Hmm, I should make another video, then? To increase sales? Maybe my father won’t kill me if he saw the resulting profit.”

Again, no one dared to comment. They probably thought she was serious, too.

She smiled. “Come on guys, I was joking.”

Laughter erupted. That certainly broke the ice.

The meeting went on without tension anymore.

She went out to lunch with Darry
and the Monleon sisters, her best friends, at their favorite restaurant. She’d avoided them for days but no more. Almost all the frequent customers of the restaurant knew her but she braved it and acted like nothing happened. She went her usual way and air-kissed everyone who greeted her.

“Girl, are you alright?” Darry asked her when they’d settled at their reserved table.

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”

Her friends looked at each other.

“You’re acting weird,” Dana commented.

“What, you were expecting me to be so depressed I’d wear a blanket over my head in public, or take a hike to the mountains and never come back for a century?” she said with deliberate insouciance and sipped from her glass of sparkling drink.

“Well, not exactly like that but the Angie we know would deal with it in a different way, in a quiet way, like go abroad or something to hibernate,” Dana said. “But of course, we will always be here for you, no matter what. We’re glad you’re back in the circ so quickly.”

It surprised her that her friends still saw her as that timid, self-conscious, painfully insecure girl of ages ago. She thought she’d totally ditched that negative aura and it irked her that she hadn’t, at least in her closest friends’ eyes. She shrugged and struck a glamorous, confident pose. “Well, introducing the Angelina Yulo version three point zero, the reigning video scandal queen. Brass, bold and doesn’t give a fuck what others say.”

They were looking at her in complete stupefaction.

Rightfully so. She rarely ever swore. And never with the F-bomb.

“I’m not sure what to make of the new you,” Darry said cautiously. “That attitude is mine.”

Angie combed her hair with her fingers. “Well, sorry to be hitching in your spunky boat girlfriend but I’m finding this attitude quite empowering. I think I’m gonna keep it from now on. Angie the doormat is gone forever.” She flicked her wrist away. “Like GONE to oblivion!” She smirked and sipped her sparkling drink. “No pun.”

Darry shook her head, looking at her in a funny way. “Wow, what happened to you?”

She shrugged. “That video set me free.” In more ways than one, that may be true. The scandal had put her in such a defensive position where she had to change her self-image to survive. She needed to evolve as a person, as a woman.

“Hmm, I think I’m liking this new you, Ange. Frankly, you were getting way too boring for everyone’s comfort,” Tisha said teasingly.

She feigned innocence. “I’m so sorry it took me so long to catch up with your exciting personalities. I promise, version 3 will kick ass.”

Her friends laughed and they group hugged.

Lexi lifted her glass. “Let’s drink to that.”

“To the new edition of Angelina Yulo, reigning sex symbol of the country,” Dana declared.

“Now that’s taking it too far,” Angie protested.

“Didn’t you know you beat everyone by a mile as the most desirable socialite of the month at Manilasocial? We are talking 100K plus likes in two weeks!”

She almost groaned out loud in mortification. That notorious blog ran by a vapid social climber was the last place she wanted her name to land on, and certainly not on that even more notorious list composed of the most vain and superficial women.” “Is that good or bad?” she asked Darry.

“Are you kidding me? I have never been on that list. Now I know how. Make a sex video,” Darry replied in her usual deadpan humor.

Angie cringed. A sex symbol was a woman known for her sexual attractiveness. She was the last woman to be viewed in that light as she had always downplayed her looks and personality in public wearing simple, conservative, clothes, saying the nicest things, doing benevolent deeds. She was the most boring personality on the planet. But in that video, the public saw a different side of her. For thirty minutes, she was herself in that video, naked body and soul.

Unfortunately, society cannot reconcile the Angie of today and the Angie in that video.

Sex symbol. It strangely sounded good to her ears.

She would take that to another level. She would show them all who she really was, what she was capable of. It was time she let her father and brothers know that she can no longer be manipulated like a meek lamb for their selfish agendas.

Oh, she can handle Jordan. Whether he would still be her future husband remained to be seen. But it will be on her terms.

And she most definitely can handle Jaq Montero, her bastard ex.

The next thing Angie did shocked her family
and the entire nation. She gave an exclusive interview about the sex video scandal at Jordan’s TV network. It topped all TV ratings that day.

When her family confronted her, she was prepared. Gone was the woman who cowed and bowed her head at their accusing stares. Gone was the spineless weakling who always begged for their forgiveness.

“What on earth came over you?! Why did you do it, Angelina?!” her father demanded.

She raised her chin, undaunted by her father’s harsh voice, less afraid now that he would have a heart attack. He survived the video. He would survive this.

“I did it to gain back my self-respect, Dad, to reclaim my credibility. I can no longer live a lie. That was me in the video but I will not deny that to save face. Some cold-blooded bastard leaked the video to the public and I’ll be damned if I let him win and run me to the ground. I am fighting back.”

She surprised even herself at how confident she sounded, how calmly she spoke. She relished her father’s apparent shock. “As for Empress Hotels and Resorts, records will show that the video has greatly affected our sales. It increased by 40% after the video was leaked. Meaning, I’m quite an effective ad campaign for our business.” She couldn’t help the dig in those last words.

“Bring it on, Angie. We’re the most respected entertainers in the country right now and they’re gonna honor us with an award for producing the best video of the year,” Rad said with dripping sarcasm.

She turned to her brother. “Speaking of respect and honor, brother, why do I feel that I carry the sole responsibility of preserving our good name and upholding our family honor? What about you, guys? You make quite a habit of dragging the family name through the mud with your reckless escapades.”

Rad looked at her blankly. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I am talking about your own affairs,
Kuya
Rad.
That thing you had with that congressman’s wife? Our good name was dragged into that scandal, too. The congressman and his wife split because of you.”

Rad laughed her argument off. “They split because they cannot stand each other, not because I was giving the wifey a good time,” he retorted without remorse.

“You wouldn’t say that if I were the one who got involved with a married man.”

“I’m a single man. You’re an engaged woman. There’s a big difference.”

He squared her shoulders. Dealing with chauvinist pigs in the family took some mettle and a whole lot of patience, especially this particular Yulo. “It’s the same. I take the responsibility of protecting our good name seriously but you have condemned me for a single mistake that happened years ago when I was only a teenager. But both of you do it all the time. You don’t care about our name.”

Rad raised his hands in the air, exasperated. “What bullshit is this? I’m lost!”

“You won’t ever get it because you have double-standards. You judge me differently because I’m a woman, but we are all the same. We commit the same mistakes.”

Rad shook his head, clearly frustrated by her reasoning. He glanced at his twin. “Can you believe this?”

Ram just shrugged and said nothing.

She addressed their father again. “I did that interview to put a rest to the issue once and for all. As long as I and Jaq are not talking, the media will still continue to run the story. The best way to kill the scandal is to admit it, own up to it and move on.”

“Who’s the fool who advised you to do that? Admitting it was the height of stupidity!” Rad shouted.

“Sorry if we have contrasting views on the matter,
Kuya
Rad, but I will face the consequences of my past actions as a rational adult even though I can easily excuse my behavior because of my youth. I was only eighteen. You’ve done worse in your day, when you and
Kuya
Ram both had sexual relations with Charlotte Rocha, remember? When she got pregnant, she couldn’t tell which of you was the father of her baby. You
guys were only what, fifteen?”

Rad clenched his jaw, his cheeks flushing.

She felt smug. She scored a hit there. “So, what would you have done? Hmm? Make a bet and whoever wins will marry her? But her family made her get rid of the baby so you were off the hook. Lucky you, Daddy was so good in shutting the press up that nothing came out. But unlike you, my dirty laundry hasn’t been totally locked in the closet. It’s out there in the open and people are having fun at my expense. What am I to do? Hide? Lie about it? Pretend it wasn’t me?”

“Yes! No legit media would have dared insist it was you if you just maintained your silence. They were all just speculating, alleging, guessing. They were all afraid we’d slap them with defamation lawsuits.”

“Who are you going to sue? The millions who have downloaded the video?”

“If you didn’t open your trap and admitted it, it would have remained mere speculation.”

“For how long will I be able to hide the truth? Time will come when I won’t be able to hold it together and that would make me a liar ten times over. That would be more shameful. I’d rather come clean now than later.”

“You just admitted to being Montero’s plaything years ago. Does that make you feel better about yourself?”

“Oh, is that an issue for you, brother? But you got it all wrong. Jaq Montero was MY plaything years ago. See, like you always do to your poor women, I got rid of him, too. Thanks to you and Dad for that. Don’t worry, from now on, I will follow your example when it comes to handling men. I’ll use my mind and never my heart. Come on, it was only sex. No big deal.”

That certainly rendered her misogynist brother speechless.