Five Years After

23

I sat up straighter when I heard Pancho talk. Pareho lang yata kaming lost, walang alam at nagamit lang.

Alam ko na ang sagot kung bakit ako kinidnap ni Collin, pero ano naman kinalaman ni Grace dito? And who the hell were Damien and this Pancho guy? I wanted to know what in shit's name was happening!

Instead of answering him, Grace turned to me teary-eyed. "Cara, I am so sorry. I can't—I know you won't believe me, but I swear on my father's grave I did not mean for that to happen. It was not part of the plan Collin and I had. He wasn't supposed to do that. And I know I won't be able to forgive myself if something happened to you."

Hindi ako gumalaw o nagsalita. Images of thirty minutes earlier suddenly flooded my head at hindi ko napigilang lumuha.

"What the fuck is this deal, Grace? And how the hell did Damien get involved?" Pancho asked through gritted teeth. He was still furious.

"Shit." She closed her eyes and sighed. "It's a long story."

"And I have all night. And she's not going anywhere, right, er, what's your name again?" he looked at me.

"Cara," I replied with a voice worse than that of a frog's.

"That's settled then. Now, you better start talking o baka gusto mo sa presinto ka na magpaliwanag?"

"Okay, okay," she raised her hands. "Okay. Collin has been obsessed with her since they met in college –"

"Shit, this entire thing goes all the way back to college? Seriously?" instead of replying, Grace just nodded and continued.

"After they broke up, he was so pissed that she filed a harassment case and a restraining order against him. And he was so pissed that Jaxx beat him up badly. He insisted that he was her side piece but I was with Jaxx then, and I knew that he wasn't cheating."

"Fast forward to when you and Jaxx got together, and then I was the one who got really pissed and jealous. I admit I was jealous, and I wanted to break you guys up. So I was so relieved that he left for the States and heard that you guys broke up for whatever reason.

"So then, I met up with Jaxx whenever I was in New York or Philly, trying to win him back. But he wasn't over you and he wouldn't kiss me. Heck, he wouldn't even touch me! He was miserable yet he didn't want anything to do with women. Because he was still so hung up on you.

"One day, I heard you were pregnant with his child, but then you miscarried. I could not help myself, Cara, it was devious and, thinking about it, nahihiya ako sa ginawa ko. But I wanted him back so bad, so I told him that you had the child aborted. I knew it was a miscarriage but I thought, I thought that if I told him you got rid of your child he'd hate you and he would love me again. Because he always came back to me.

She tried to reach for my hand but I pulled it away. She was the reason why Jaxx was so mad at me. She manipulated him again, this time, into hating me! This bitch!