IN THE SHADOW OF OBLIVION

Chapter 14: Home to you

(Check out the inserted media as the song BG of this chapter)

Michelle's hands were shaking, while her heart's beating an irregular pattern in her chest, and her lungs wanted to collapse. The coffee shop was suddenly bright, the originally muted colors on the walls mixing together and swirling into bright neon patterns she was unfamiliar with.

Tiny white dots sparkled in her eyes and suddenly she felt lightheaded and it was hard for her to breathe. The air in the room had become stifling and she gripped at the jacket she was wearing, tugging it away from her neck.

The weight of the unknown was lifted from her shoulders as she finally realized what had been so plain in front of her all along.

She's in love with Anntonia.

Oh my God! Why I was so dumb? Shit!

She wanted to scream when she realized what her brain kept repeating to her, over and over again all these times. Suddenly, she wanted to climb to the top of the coffee shop and scream at everyone in Iloilo, just so she could be sure herself.

It was as simple as that. One tiny sentence from the woman she'd thought she'd loved about the one she really did love and it was over.

"Mich? Are you okay?" She heard Samantha asked with a genuine concern in her eyes. "You're sweating."

"I...I'm fine," she said, but shaking her head as she felt her mouth dry. "I just..."

"You didn't think it was going to hit you that hard, did you?" The woman asked, smiling at her knowingly while her eyebrows raised. "Listen. I'm pretty good at reading people and, let me tell you, if you'd shown up here and I hadn't been seeing anyone, I still wouldn't have given you a chance."

"Huh? Why not?"

"Because. It's more than obvious that you're hung up on someone else. Even if you'd never told me the story. It's all over your face. You've got that look like, 'I'm here but I'm not paying attention to a word you're saying because I'm thinking about someone else.' You know? It's really sweet, actually. I can't believe I didn't see it before when all you did was blabber about your best friend the first time we met in Makati."

"No Sam, no. I don't think... I mean..." she tried to deny while shaking her head vigorously but the woman just rolled her eyes on her.

"Let's say I'll believe you, tell me Michelle... Are you not having a moment right now? Are you not figuratively spinning your ass off in that chair right now? Dizzy? Hot? You've just had an epiphany, I think," Sam said, nodding, with a satisfied look for herself. "And you have me to thank for that."

"I did? I do?"

The confusion in her face made the woman laugh hard and loud that people around them looked at their direction.

"The only question I have for you is why are you still here? Shouldn't you be figuring a fastest way out to get your ass back to Makati?"

"I-I don't understand Sam..." she stopped, her mouth gaping open as she stared at the latter and shook her head in confusion. "This is... I mean..." still, Sam was laughing, her mouth spread into a wide grin.

"It's okay," Sam said, reaching out to ruffle her hair. "I can wait until you regain your composure. Falling in love is a lot like falling into a really big hole my friend. Kind of shocking."

Michelle felt lost for a moment, shaking her head again, almost as if she were trying to shake the sense back into her. How was it that all those blurred lines become so clear in just one moment? How had one small sentence changed everything?