The Stars Trilogy (85 page)

“Dare, the Filipinos love you!”

“Thank you! I love you, too!”

Screams again.

“But Celine was recently interviewed and she said that you’ve broken up. Honestly, we were quite shocked. We just saw you so happy together in France and then Celine did an interview saying you broke up. Care to clarify on that?”

“She said that?”

“Yes. To our disappointment, of course.”

“Hmm. Well...I’m here to...how do you say it in Filipino?
Li-ghaw.”

“Li...oh
ligaw
! You mean to court her?”

“Yes, yes, that’s it! I’ll
li-ghaw
Celine.”

More screams.

Celine didn’t know what to think or feel. After mercilessly breaking her heart who’d loved him for a decade to irreparable pieces, he was on TV declaring he would court her? She didn’t know what to make of that. Really, she didn’t!

“
Ligaw
is serious business here in the Philippines, you know, Dare,” Taryn teased him. “CeIine is no ordinary woman, too. She’s the princess of AZN Channel. I hope you know what you’re getting into.”

“I know she’s an extraordinary woman and I don’t know how I’m going to go about the courting thing. I’m hoping you guys will help me,” he addressed the audience which responded in a chorus of ‘yes’. “I’ll do anything, anything at all to get my girl back,” he added earnestly.

Screams to the rafters.

“Celine hasn’t been seen in town for weeks now. She’s been hiding from the press. We don’t know where she is.”

“That’s why I’m here. I know she’s watching. She’s kind of pissed off at me.”

Pissed off? Hah! She was not pissed off! She was broken! She still was! If he thought he could erase all the pain he’d inflicted on her with some cheesy lines he’d picked up from his past rom-com films, he was dead wrong! She was no longer this blind, devoted, stupid fan who’d believe anything he’d say. Her delusions were gone. Her stupid fairy tale fantasies were definitely over!

“What do you wanna say to her?”

Dare faced a camera, his eyes serious. “Celine, baby, wherever you are, I will find you. You’re not getting away from me. You can’t hide from me. You and me, it’s destiny, baby. You knew that. It took me awhile to realize it, fool that I was and I’m so sorry, but I know now, I feel it, you are my phoenix, my lucky charm. I adore you. I love you.”

Deafening screams that lasted for minutes.

Her tears fell. She wanted to throw the remote control at his face on the screen.
You’re one month and an ocean of tears too late, you jerk!

“Anything else you wanna tell her, Dare?”

“Before I piss off the Filipinos for having the audacity to declare my love for Celine in the middle of my messy life back home...but you know, I hope you will understand that I don’t want to waste any more time being away from her. So I will brave this despite possible judgment. But I don’t care what people say really. All I care about now is getting my girl back. I want you all to know that I am divorced. I’m single and free to court your beloved Celine.”

There was no commercial break for straight fifteen minutes until Dare said his thank you and goodbye and his promise to come back to the show.

Furious at his clever use of his celebrity to make his way back into her life the easy way, she shut off the TV.

“That’s it?! Just an ‘I love you’ and ‘I adore you’ were supposed to make everything all right? The gall!” she ranted in the room.

She grabbed her phone, intending to call her mother. It vibrated. She looked at the caller.

It was HIM. For the first time since she left LA, Dare was calling her number.

She just stared at the phone while it continued to vibrate.

She answered it. “Go to hell!” she screamed on the phone and turned it off.

Wait, did he say he was divorced?

A traitorous part of her wanted to rejoice but she curtailed the feeling.

So what if he was single again?
He was divorced three times for crying out loud! She didn’t have any plans of becoming his fourth ex-wife. That man had a bad habit of breaking his vows.

She went to swim in the infinity pool to cool her head and kill the growing hope in her heart.

“I think she turned her cellphone off. She can’t be reached anymore,”

Dare scowled deeper. “Why do women play hard to get? I don’t get it.”

“Ha ha. Since you unceremoniously dumped her thinking she was having an affair with your bodyguard, jackass.”

“I didn’t tell her that.”

“But you’ve thought about it.”

He sighed. “I didn’t know she could be this stubborn.”

“You really don’t know her yet, period.”

“But wouldn’t the fact that I flew all the way from the US, leaving all my important commitments there just to be with her matter? I even declared my love for her on national TV like one of those stupid rom-com heroes. Isn’t that what modern knights in shining armor do?  She should be polishing my lance now with grateful appreciation. I just got inducted to the Tom Cruise Hall of Shame for her benefit.”

Kelsey laughed. “It least you didn’t jump on the couch and wrestled with the host.”

He sighed again and dropped his bulk on the sofa. “Okay, she won’t talk to you, she won’t talk to me, she won’t talk to Ken, she won’t talk to anybody connected to me. She leaves me no choice.”

“I’m listening.”

He went to the tall windows of his penthouse suite at the Peninsula Hotel.

“I have a good feeling about this country. I may stay here indefinitely till that witch decides to quit being stubborn and hop into bed with me again. So, I might as well work.”

Kelsey clapped her hands in glee. “I love Asia!”

Celine emerged from the shower.

She donned a flowing rayon sun dress and rubbed her wet hair with a towel.  Her stomach growled. She’d asked Pipay, the villa’s cook, to whip up a classic Filipino recipe.

Anticipating a really hefty lunch, she walked out of the bedroom, combing her wet tresses with her fingers.

She heard the sound of a chopper. That puzzled her. Was her mother arriving in El Nido earlier than scheduled?

The whirring sound became louder. It was definitely approaching the island.

She went downstairs, toward the wide front porch of their Mediterranean-inspired villa.

It was Jordan’s Sikorsky, alright. It just touched down on the helipad near the shore. Their island security men were running toward the chopper to assist the passengers.

She saw her father alight from the chopper first, then he assisted her Mom out. Jordan and his co-pilot Rudy came out from the front doors.

And then another person came out.

She froze where she stood when she recognized him, her eyes wide in disbelief.

He wouldn’t dare come here!

Well, no pun, but he was here and already walking toward her.

If not for the presence of her folks, Dare would have run toward her and imprisoned her in his arms. He would have hugged her tight and kissed her, lifted her in his arms and whirled her around like a knight in a fairy tale would. And then he would undress her...

Shit, helluva way to have a hard on when surrounded by his future relatives. But he had missed her. A month away from her had been torturous.

The way she was looking at him made him nervous. Man, if looks were lightning bolts, he would be one charred jackass right now.

She hugged her parents and kissed her brother on the cheek.

“What the hell is he doing here?!” was how she greeted him.

“Celine, he is our guest. Mind your manners,” Mrs. Lavega said, gently reprimanding her daughter.

Bless you, Madam.

Truth be told, he was scared to face her after what he had done to her.

He did a despicable thing to a wonderful woman who truly loved him. He rejected her love, practically accused her of cheating on him when she was pure and innocent and worst of all, he denied the child she was carrying as his.

Despicable. Unforgivable.

God, if only he had the power to erase that ugly episode from her memory, he would.

“He is not welcome here! Make him leave!” Celine declared and marched into the villa without a word.  The rigid set of her shoulders and ungraceful gait proclaimed he was in another hostile territory. Very hostile. Then she came back.

“What the hell happened to his face?!” she demanded.

Her folks didn’t answer.

“I just gave him a very warm welcome, dear sister.” Jordan said.

She looked at her brother and smiled ferally. “You should have dropped him in the South China Sea. The sharks there are short on food.”

She marched back into the villa, her nose in the air.

“Forgive her behavior, Dare. She’ll come around,” Mrs. Lavega said apologetically.

“I don’t mind at all, Ma’am,” he replied with a smile.

He did mind. He was not used to being treated like a leper by women. Well, hell, there was always a first time for everything and he was getting it from the woman who had been his most die-hard fan since puberty. The irony of that.

“Well, come in! Welcome to our humble abode!” Mrs. Lavega said cheerfully.

Humble? Was she kidding? The place was magnificent. White sand beaches, a lush tropical forest and a sprawling villa in the middle of an island they owned. Filipinos had a peculiar way of using the English language.

Uniformed maids suddenly appeared and lined up to greet them. Armed men, probably a dozen of them were on standby some meters away. Cruz was definitely not needed here.

He smiled at the maids one by one. They giggled shyly. He was surprised. They knew him. He didn’t know he was famous all over the Philippines. Well...ain’t that grand? He felt right at home. He could enjoy and relax here, but how was that possible when the resident tigress was in the man-eating mode. If only he could switch her appetite’s interest south of his body. Alas, she wanted to rip his heart to pieces.

The Lavegas, as he had discovered today were one of the wealthiest and most and influential families in the country. Seeing firsthand the extent of that wealth, he felt more embarrassed now that he even thought Celine was an opportunist.

According to Kelsey and Cruz who’d gathered important information about the Lavega clan, they had blue blood coming from their noble Spanish ancestors. He hoped they were not snobs. He cannot claim a single drop of blue in his veins. His ancestors were common farmers from Texas. He was ‘royalty’ only by virtue of his celebrity.

Like a businessman, he had quickly assessed his position vis a vis the Lavegas. They owned a huge multi-media company. He was in the same business. Good. They had investments in mining. He had investments in oil and natural gas. Compatible. Better. They liked pricey real estate. He did, too. Great. They loved their Celine to bits. He did, too. Now THAT was not looking good, so far.

Thank God Mrs. Lavega was a darling. He had charmed the madame to his side.

But Mr. Lavega and Jordan remained like two bulldogs ready to tear him apart limb by limb any moment. Jordan attempted to do just that when he stepped into his CEO office yesterday with Rocky in tow. But he came prepared. He stated his business right away, succinctly. As he’d expected, father and son listened to him from a corporate stand point. Who would say no to Dare Montgomery guesting exclusively in every important show in their TV network? They were not stupid to turn down such lucrative offer. He appeared in a celebrity show for their channel yesterday.

After the show, father and son invited him again to talk. He went along, thinking they were already on amicable terms. Wrong.

“Why is my sister here now? Why did she leave you?!” Jordan had demanded without restraint this time.

“She’s not talking, as usual. I know she’s just protecting you. She told me you both decided to part ways amicably, but I know my daughter. She’s a good girl. She was a mess when she arrived! What did you do to her?!” Teddy Lavega was mottling in the face.

“Sir…”

“You promised us you would take care of her! We trusted you! Damn you, nobody hurts my daughter and gets away with it!”

Hell, he had difficulty answering their rapid fire questions. He hadn’t even talked to Celine yet and her father and brother were interrogating him like he was a criminal. And he didn’t take kindly to such line of questioning or threats.

“I want to marry her,” he simply stated.

Father and son were speechless.

“With your permission, of course, Sir,” he added.

“Why?” Teddy Lavega had asked, but in a calm voice.

“Because I love her.”

“So why did she leave you then?” Jordan had sneered, not convinced.

He lost patience and delivered his pièce de résistance. He had knocked up their little princess. Indeed, getting Celine pregnant was definitely one of the most defining moments of his manhood. No, it was THE most defining moment of his life. All his other achievements paled in comparison to this. He never thought he’d ever father a child, at all.

All hell broke loose.

They would have sent him to kingdom come had Mrs. Lavega, bless her, not rushed to his defense, sowing reason into the vicious heads of her husband and son. Thus, he was still in one piece.

Right now, he was  in a standoff with the Lavega men.

Now, if only he can get their Princess Mulan to bat her pretty lashes in his direction again...

Lunch was a feast but Celine was inwardly fuming. Their maids were all busy in the kitchen preparing a meal fit for a king and she didn’t even know it! They were all conspiring against her!

She could read Dare’s strategy clearly. He was using the public to charm his way into her country and into her life. He was putting her on the spot, so she won’t be able to refuse him. She was worming his way into her family’s heart and it looked like he already got them, too! Even her parents were not immune to the charm of Hollywood, after all. And they used to disdain her Daredevil fan club. Hah! Her folk could be the biggest hypocritical snobs. She was stewing over it all and she was annihilating her meal with her knife and fork.

“Dare, you should learn to eat rice. It’s part of our regular meal,” Marjorie told Dare sweetly.