Sweet Downfall (38 page)

“There are no words that can express our regret, Jaq. But I want to say it nonetheless. We are sorry. We really are. We were wrong.” Rad said in a very humble tone.

It must be eating up at his enormous ego, to be asking for his forgiveness like this. It was the first time too that Rad Yulo used a respectful tone on him. For as long as he could remember, this guy treated him like dirt. If it wasn’t so fucking ludicrous, it would have been included in the book of wonders.

“Tell you what, go fuck yourselves.” He slammed the door in their faces.

He was so freakin’ mad he couldn’t go back to sleep.

He took a cold shower to cool his head.

An hour later, Jaq joined Alexis at the Lothario pool side for lunch.

“I thought I’d never see the day when a Yulo would come to you with his head bowed and his tail tucked between his ass, much less two Yulos,” Alexis commented, slightly shaking his head in wonder.

“I don’t give a rat’s ass if they cut each other’s head off. I’m definitely done with the Yulos.”

Fuck Rad. Fuck Ram. Double fuck their father. Triple fuck the entire Yulo clan.

He inspected the bounty on the table. Food at Lothario was always served like a feast for the gods. The club had become his sanctuary of sorts the past few years.

The first time he came back here five years ago, he’d expected to have lost his old friends. He cut all contacts from his homeland for three straight years, just wanting to forget. But the moment he made contact again, they welcomed him back with open arms. He thought they’d avoid him in deference to the Yulos, but to his surprise, that didn’t happen. They embraced him back into their fold without question.

When Alexis built Lothario, Jaq was honored as one of the pioneering members. That was the most coveted place in the club roster, the mysterious inner sanctum. Rad and Ram didn’t belong in Alexis’ tight group of friends and he got a huge kick out of that. Money definitely didn’t talk the loudest at Lothario. Bottom line, it was still brotherhood that mattered.

He sat down opposite Alexis and dug in.

“Is Angie alright?”

The fear he’d felt while watching Angie being revived last night would always haunt him. He was only reassured by the fact that her family could afford to have her treated in the best hospitals anywhere in the world if needed. “Yeah, she’s fine. Now, can we change the subject, man? I’m eating here. I don’t want to puke all over your table.”

“Party lasted till 3 AM last night. Your truck is at the garage. There’s your phone.” Alexis gestured to the phone lying on the table.

“Thanks, bro.”

“Your two chicks were pissed off.”

He snorted. “I bet after you finished with them, they were already singin’ a different tune.”

“Nah. I entrusted Gwenna to Rydon who was so eager to show her his brand new chopper, among other things. He’ll will take good care of her, don’t worry.”

He gave a short laugh, relieved that Gwenna found a new “hobby”. “I just bet he does. What about Wendy?”

“That babe didn’t need to be taken care of. She went home with three guys I think. Forgot who.”

His brows arched. “And you went home with...?”

Alexis shrugged. “Was beat.”

He widened his eyes in exaggerated surprise. “Beat? You? The Energizer? Perpetual record holder of Citizen Dildo? What the hell is happening to the king of Lothario?”

“Shut the fuck up. Eat.”

They ate in silence for a few minutes.

“So, what are you doing later?” Alexis asked.

“I don’t know. I need to go back to work.”

“You need a break, man. Take a few days off from work.”

“Where would I go?”

“Go to my place in Calatagan. Use one of my choppers to get there. Anytime.”

He was moved by the generous offer. Alexis’ beach front property in Calatagan was a paradise, a world-class private resort. It was near his set, too. “I don’t know what to say. Thank you, bro.”

“Wanna bring a bunch of geishas with you? Take your pick.”

He shook his head and smiled wryly. “Nah. Peace and quiet. Means alone.”

The visitor was the last person Angie expected to show up in her hospital suite.

She teared up. “Jordy.”

Jordan smiled at her and walked toward her bed.

“How are you, princess?” he asked her gently. He would always call her princess in the past. It was his simple way of making her feel special. He was not a very expressive man.

She felt a huge weight lifting from her shoulders when she heard the gentleness in his voice, when she saw kindness in his eyes again. Whatever ill-feelings she’d harbored for him in the past weeks melted like ice. “Oh, Jordy, I’m so sorry!”

“Angie, don’t cry.”

She wiped her tears with the hem of her blanket. “I don’t know what to say. I hurt you so much.

He held her hand. “It’s okay. Let’s just move on from that.”

“No. I can’t move on without telling you anything. You’ve treated me so good all these years, you and your family…and I did that…I’m a bad, bad person, Jordy.”

“No, Angie. I said things to you, too, things that really hurt you.” He sighed. “I said so many things out of dented ego. I was a selfish bastard. I’m so sorry, Angie.”

She shook her head. “No. I deserved all of it.”

He touched her cheek gently. “Are we gonna have a who-did-worse contest here?”

She stared at his handsome face with regret. She could have been the luckiest woman on earth but she knew, she didn’t deserve this great guy. Some other woman would make him truly happy.

“Jordy, about Sherry…” she gently broached the subject.

The gentleness in his face was immediately wiped out, replaced by a shuttered look. “I already know about that. She told me. I don’t want to talk about her, if you don’t mind.”

She nodded. Even now, it was hard to come to terms with what her sister had done. Never mind her damaged reputation. It was the betrayal of her own flesh and blood that was hard to forget or forgive.

“Are you feeling better now? They said you had blood transfusion.”

“Yes, but I’m fine now. The doctors just advised me to rest. So, I’m taking a time off from everything.”

“Yeah. Scandals are so draining. I think I need a break, too.”

They both laughed.

She held his hand tighter. “Thank you so much, Jordy. For everything.”

He kissed her forehead. “You take care always, princess.”

And that was how she formally broke up with the best husband she could have had if she had not blown it. The only consolation there was that she knew, Jordan would always be her friend.

Angie spent five days at the hospital then persuaded Darry
to have her discharged. The somber atmosphere was making her feel depressed instead of getting better. She wanted to breathe fresh air.

Darry took care of her. Her other three close friends, the Monleon sisters were vacationing in Europe with their mother.

She refused to see any member of her family after their big confrontation days ago. She wasn’t ready to face them again. Her pain was still raw.

“Are you sure you can handle it already, Ange?”

“Yes, don’t worry, Darry. I just can’t stand the smell of this place anymore. It’s so sickeningly sanitary. I can’t breathe properly.”

“Okay. You’ll stay with me while recuperating. I’ll take care of you.”

“Thank you. What will I do without you?”

“You need to relax. You have to take extra care of your health now. You’re breathing for two.”

She nodded and touched her flat belly. Her doctors had explained her condition to her and she was forced to obey their orders for five days for the sake of her unborn baby.

She had not realized she was already pregnant. She thought her period was just delayed, as usual, as it had always been irregular, but she should have known this would happen. She and Jaq had never used any protection in all the times they’d made love. Their every encounter was driven by impulse and she simply forgot everything when they were together.

Jaq…

How can she ever make things right between them? The wrongs that separated them were overwhelming she didn’t know where to start mending and rebuilding. Jaq had suffered so much because of her and her family and she didn’t know if he can still forgive her. She didn’t even know if she can forgive herself.

The only thing that was sure in her life right now was she had to be strong for her unborn baby. It was the only light she could see at the end of the tunnel and she must not lose sight of that light. She must live for that light.

“It’s Jaq’s baby, isn’t it?”

Darry’s sudden question shook Angie from her painful thoughts. She nodded.

“Aren’t you going to tell him?”

“One day soon. But not now. Not yet. I don’t have the courage to face him again yet.”

Darry nodded in understanding. “Okay, darling. One day at a time.”

Chapter Sixteen

THE WEATHER WAS PERFECT .

Jaq walked barefoot on the fine, white sand of Baluarte de Alexandros in Calatagan. The gentle wind caressed his face as he gazed pensively at the beautiful sunset.

After working non-stop for almost two weeks, shooting for his film was finally done. It was pack-up time. While his crew stacked all the equipments in container vans to be shipped back to the US, he asked his production managers to take charge as he took the weekend off. He really needed it to regroup and think about what lay ahead for him after everything that happened in his life recently. He drove to Calatagan.

A whole day of total peace and quiet could force a man to do some deep self-introspection. He was thankful for this much needed solitude. He’d realized so many things while staying in this paradise.

It was really time to close the book of his past and start a new one, here and now, fresh and devoid of all the hang-ups. That acceptance brought a squeezing pain in his heart. His eyes burned with tears. And this time, he let them fall freely down his face.

This was the day that he would allow himself to finally mourn the loss of his first love. For years, all he had nurtured inside of him was the hate and bitterness. These negative emotions fueled his strength to go on living. But God, he was so tired of hating her. He was so tired of hating her family. He was so tired of running forward while looking back and repeatedly stumbling in the process.

He missed his old self. How he missed the times when all was innocent and new and his heart hadn’t been broken yet, when all his dreams were clear and all the passion in his heart were pure. For all his self-proclaimed strength of character, he was one weak fool.

He finally admitted to himself that he was such a damn coward for keeping all these baggage inside of him for so long. He had squandered so many years of his life nurturing his hate for Angie and his family. He hadn’t even given himself the chance to fall in love again with another woman, to look for another source of happiness because he had kept his heart within the prison of his hatred and shut off any possibility of finding someone new to love.

Now, for the first time in years, he had truly, wholeheartedly acknowledged that Angelina Yulo was finally, totally just a part of his old memories.

Now, he can finally accept that he had suffered greatly in the hands of cruel individuals and he had no justice from that, no vindication, but he no longer had any desire to make them pay for what they did to him, or wish them harm. Fate had its own ways. He would just leave everything to fate. What went around would eventually come around.

It was time to really move on.

He sighed deeply and enjoyed the breathtaking sunset. Such beauty moved him so much that he could even wish Angie good luck now in finding her own happiness. Jordan would be good for her.

Most important of all, he could forgive her now. Truly let her go.

No more questions. Maybe they were better left unanswered. And the answers didn’t matter anymore.

Jaq was walking back to the rest house
when he heard the sound of an approaching chopper. He scanned the horizon and saw it. He ran up to the veranda and waited. The sun had just fully set, leaving a swathe of bright amber in the sky in its wake.

He watched as a white chopper descended on the runway near the rest house. He didn’t recognize this chopper. Did X buy a new one again? Or were they guests like him?

He slowly walked down the steps to greet the guests. He figured it was his duty since he was the lone occupant of the rest house at the moment.

The passengers disembarked from the chopper.

Well, well, well. Just when he had decided to forgive and forget, the three ex-plagues of his life decided to pay him a too early visit just an hour after his new life-changing resolution.

The Yulo twins and Jordan Lavega approached him.

He didn’t move. He waited for them to come near. He didn’t say anything. They came to him. It was their call.

Ram greeted him. “Jaq.”

“Ram,” he said curtly.