No Reason But Us

Chapter 61 : Romeo's Agony

The pink paper was lying on the floor, and it caught Rita's attention, so she picked it up for him. "Hey, Gage, I think you dropped this..." She began to recognize the color. "You got this from Oddey?"

"Uh... no... Not really," Gage stammered. "Man, I almost forgot about that thing."

"He found it in the campus garden the other time," Felix said. "He kept it because there's a drawing of his face."

"What!?" Rita reacted in amazement, then started to unfold the paper and saw the Romeo's face on it with her best friend's style of drawing. "Oh! My God, you know, Oddey has a pink paper sketchbook just like this."

"So, it's hers?" the architecture student gasped. "I knew it."

"Yeah... Oh, wow! I remember she did say that she drew the face of the mysterious guy who rescued her from falling off a bridge, but she told me too that she lost it."

The two guys were in disbelief at what was going on. "Shit, what are the odds?" Felix snickered and then looked at his buddy. "You did say you're gonna find the person who drew it."

Gage took the paper back from his best friend's girlfriend and gazed at the drawing. "So it was with you all along," Rita chuckled to him.

"Again. What are the odds, right?"

The more Gage glanced at it, the more it shed some light on all the questions that were lingering in his head. "So that means she did love me," he mumbled.

"Gage, she does love you," Rita assured him. "Even before you guys were together and knowing who you are, she talks about you non-stop. Look, I know what she did was wrong, but believe it or not, her feelings for you are true. Oddey broke her rules for you, you know."

The Romeo darted to her. "What do you mean?"

"Mr. Magnum said not to fall for you, and yet she already did, and Ms. Hermosa kept telling her to stay away from you, but she didn't, did she? Oddey tried to listen at first and fought off her feelings just for her Dad, but no matter what she did, she loved you and wanted to be with you."

Gage looked back at all the moments with his Juliet, and even though she lied, she was still genuine.

----

Later at night, the Romeo was back in his old house. He sat up on his bed and was in deep thought as he stared at the hand illustration of his face. It made him think back about how he treated Oddey after discovering the truth about her true identity.

His contemplation of his regrets and guilt was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Come in," he said.

It was the mother, entering his bedroom. "Just checking in," she told him. "Aren't you going to sleep?"

"In a while, mom."

"Oh, what's that you're holding there?" Marie went to her son and saw what was on the paper. "Oh! Is that one of those self-portraits? Looks amazing. I didn't know you could do that?"

"It's not mine," Gage replied. "It's Oddey's."

"Well, she is very talented."

"Yeah, it also made me think that she loves me."

Marie lifted a brow at him. "I always knew she did," she remarked. "Any news about how she's doing?"

"Rita said that she's in critical condition," Gage answered.

"Oh, no... Gage, I'm so sorry."

The Romeo let out a heavy sigh of frustration. "Maybe if I hadn't believed in Dad's lie, maybe... it wouldn't come to this."