Anna looked at her watch and sighed. She’s expecting the call from the hired investigator any moment. She received the email that there’s an important matter that she has to know about Faye’s case. For now, she’s in a coffee shop in a business district in Manila with Intin, who is busy browsing on the internet through her laptop.
“Oh my,” Intin muttered.
Anna curiously looked at the laptop. “What?” She saw a page where Nick just came out from the restaurant and standing face to face with the new actress, Laila Newton. Jealousy overwhelmed her as she thinks about the times that they could have been together and the people know about their relationship.
“It’s Laila, Nick’s ex-girlfriend,” Intin replied and began telling her about the story between the two. Anna only half-listened to Intin as she reads the article. She smiled when she read the last part. ‘Nick doesn’t care about the unexpected meeting when he shrugged it off and continued to walk off with his friends, even laughing as if what happened was only a joke and nothing mattered to him anymore. Laila, on the other hand, was frowning and immediately went inside the restaurant to avoid the media frenzy.’ Nick still hasn’t called her since the last time she talked with BJ. Maybe he’s busy with the making of their new album.
“What are you smiling at?” Intin asks her.
“Nothing, I’m just smiling. Should there be a reason?”
“You’ve been interested about Nick lately. Is he courting you? Did you exchange numbers and he’s calling you?”
Anna looked at her friend. “Yes, he’s calling me but that’s because we chose to be friends. Is there any problem with that? And no, I’m not going to give you his number.” She added when she saw Intin pouted. She knew that Nick gave Intin his number but he changed it as soon as he got back to the States. “That’s just it, Intin.” She avoided her eyes because she really feels guilty about this.
“And you kept on glancing on your phone because you’re expecting him to call you anytime now…”
“No, I’m expecting the investigator to call me because he said that he finally has the lead on the death of my sister,” Anna replied. She felt her friend’s hand on hers.
“I’ve been hoping that you will get through it soon because I don’t want you holding back yourself from anything that you wanted to do because you wanted to finish that thing about your sister, Anna.” Intin said.
“Thanks,” Anna smiled and nodded. She wanted to tell the truth to her friend about her and Nick. She hates to lie, especially to this person of whom she considered to be one of her best friends. She knows Nick will understand. Anyway, he already told his siblings about them. “Listen, Intin…” Just then, the phone rang. Her heart raced when she read the caller ID. “Norman, what’s up?”
Intin watched as Anna’s face contorted into a deep frown. Her heart is beating fast from the anticipation to know who might have the lead on Faye’s death. She saw Anna’s tears began to fall. “Please, Norman. Kindly submit the reports to me tomorrow morning and I’d like to see you, too. I need you to do something about this.” She heard Anna said. What’s going on?
The call ended so soon. Intin stared at her friend. “What happened?”
“It was a family quarrel years ago that compelled one of my uncles to try to sabotage my dad and hired someone to plant the bomb. It wasn’t intended for Faye. The plan backfired when she suddenly decided to come home and the car was used to pick her up. It was intended for my father, Intin. Faye was the victim.”
“Did your father know about this?”
Anna shrugged. “I still have to know tomorrow. Norman doesn’t talk on the phone for long. He only told me briefly about the investigation. We will talk tomorrow.” She gripped her phone in hand. She wanted to call Nick and tell him what happened. Hearing his voice somehow provides comfort in her and she never thought that she’d look for that in a man. She wanted to talk to Nick. She stood up. “Excuse me, Intin. I just have to make an important call.”
Intin only nodded and watched her go out of the coffee shop.
Anna found a cozy spot in the park facing the coffee shop and sat on one of the benches. It’s quiet and she needs that to have a nice, long talk with Nick. There were four rings before he answered her call. “Hi, what’s up?” She could hear noises in the background.
“Where are you, Nick?”
“I’m at the red carpet for a celebration of nature foundation with Kevin. I told you that, remember? Hang up while I go and find a quiet spot. I’ll call you.” Nick said and ended the call. Anna tried to imagine Nick on a red carpet. What could he be wearing, a suit? She smiled at that thought. It took her to wait for almost fifteen minutes until her phone rang and Nick is calling.
“Sorry, I just have to answer some interviews and make a discreet exit at the parking lot. I’m in Kevin’s car right now. How are you?” Nick said. There’s silence in the background. Surely, Nick really took the effort to go to some place to have a private conversation with her.
“I’m fine and you? You seemed to go out a lot lately, huh?”
“It’s part of the schedule that was given by our publicist, Anna.”
“Intin showed me the article about you meeting Laila.” Anna said. There was silence.
“So, you’ve seen that. You should have known what Brent has told us as we walked towards my car that night.” She heard him chuckled.
“What?”
“He farted right in front of Laila and the paparazzi. Our meeting was publicized but never the bad odor. Could you imagine that? That should do something for my reputation but they didn’t include that.” They laughed. Anna knows she can trust him. “Anyway, I know that you won’t call me without the intent of telling me something important, especially tonight when you know that I’m attending this charity party and you forgot about it.”
“Nick, I already knew the person who led my sister to death.”
“Really? Who?” There was a sudden urgency and concern in Nick’s voice.
“My uncle,” Anna replied. There was silence between them until Nick broke it.
“Are you alright? What are you going to do?”
“The full investigative report will be at my desk tomorrow morning. The only thing that I think I can do here is that to confront my uncle. Afterwards, I’d like to talk to my dad, too. And I’d like someone to go to jail, either of them will do.”
“Anna…” Nick sensed the anger and the sorrow in her voice. It frustrates him to have the need of wanting to pull her in his arms but they are very far apart from each other to do that.
“…Or both of them may go to jail, whichever comes first. I don’t care. Faye didn’t deserve to die like that.”
“Anna, you should think about the consequences of what you want to happen and what you are going to do. That is a very complicated matter,” Nick said. For a moment, there was silence. “Okay, this weekend, I’ll go there. I will see you. We’ll get through this together.”
“No, I’ll be fine, Nick. You should consider yourself, too. Even if you fly here, do you think you can help? You can’t even stay long. You have a job and your friends need you. And then the media will find out about us.”
“Damn the media, Anna! I want to see you!”
“Please, Nick, not now. It will be harder if you’ll be here,” Anna replied.
Nick frowned. “You mean, I’m a nuisance to you. You really don’t want me around, do you? You don’t trust me to handle this situation about us if I go there to see you.” His tone turned hard.
Anna’s eyes filled with tears by the way Nick thinks about their situation. “Excuse me, wait a minute. I’m not saying or implying that you’re a nuisance or that I don’t trust you. Please understand that I’m only concerned about us, most especially to you because you have your stable career and I don’t want you to do something that may affect it. And Nick, I belonged in a family of politicians. I know how this kind of situation works and it’s dangerous. Faye’s tragedy is proof enough of that. I don’t want you to get involved in this mess.”
“You don’t know how much I wanted to see you. I’m sorry, Anna. I just really want to see you again.”
“I feel the same way, Nick. Stop pushing on the matter of being here.” Anna sighed. “By the way, there’s also this matter that I’d like to deal with you.”
“What about?” Nick asked quietly.
“How come that your sisters and brother know about us and I didn’t even tell any one of my friends here?” Anna could imagine him biting his lower lip at her unexpected confrontation. They have an agreement of secrecy and she should be mad. But after BJ’s call and realized that they can be trusted, she didn’t find any reason to be mad. She’s actually thankful that they know and they are ready to stick with Nick through everything about them.
“BJ found out about you when she browsed my phone,” Nick defensively replied, “I didn’t have the chance to deny because she saw our pictures. You know, the part that we’re cuddling in AJ’s hotel room sofa…” he stopped. “Wait. How did you find out?”
“She called me. She’s wise enough to sneak on your phone that you must have just left lying around there and got my number. Even Angel knows about it, too.”
“Angel! Fuck…”
“Hey, bad words.”
“Sorry, baby,” Nick quickly replied. “Anyway, beware of Angel. She’s really protective of me. She drove me mad sometimes.”
“I know,” Anna is smiling, amused at Nick’s panic on the other line.
“Wait. What are the other things did BJ tell you?” Nick is now smiling too.
“Well, let me see…” Anna paused, “BJ said you peed in your pants when you’re about to go to school once and that you like to pick your nose, roll the booger in between your fingers and just snap it anywhere.”
“Hey, that’s not true!” Nick is laughing.
So does Anna. “Anyway, Nick, I want you to promise me something.”
“What?”
“I need you to trust me on what I’m about to do here and that you will never go here until things are resolved. I don’t want you to get involved.”
“But I want to be beside you throughout your ordeal,” Nick answered immediately, “You should know that I never leave any one during hard times, Anna, most especially you.”
Anna sighed heavily. “Why is it hard for me to convince you? Don’t be stubborn, Nick. Stay there until I’m done, okay? Do you understand?” There was silence. “Nick?”
“Y-yes, baby.”
