The Red Flag Enjoyer (BL)

🚩15: Creaking Floors

WIN

We all met in La Dolce Di Firenze. Naging madali sa akin na makita sila dahil nasa bungad lang silang lamesa. As I walked towards them, the view of Wren made me feel at ease. The revelations I read in the first entry of his journal helped me understand the situation from his perspective. I kept my emotions bottled up, carefully holding them inside.

Hindi ko ikakailang nagseselos ako sa kanilang dalawa. It's not that I felt jealous just because I love Wren or anything, but the idea of them being together made me realize that soon, Wren would neglect me and give all his attention to Pablo. In that way, ako na lang ulit mag-isa.

Wren was wearing his casual white long sleeves with a necktie and black slacks. Pablo, being an attorney, was in his coat and tie, making them look good together-both professional.

"Good evening," bati ko sa kanila nang makalapit kami.

Since the table had five chairs, I took the seat beside Warren. Nasa harapan niya naman si Pablo at hindi naman siguro magseselos ang isang 'yon sa akin. Ako pa rin naman ang best friend ni Warren kaya 'wag siyang ma-eme. Ako ang original!

It was a round table. Si Calvin at Amanda ang kaharap ko. Wren and Pablo were on either side of me.

"Order na kayong pagkain," sabi sa amin ni Warren. He handed us the menu. Nang makapili ay tumawag siya ng waiter upang ipaalam ang napili naming pagkain.

After the waiter took all of our orders and walked away, Pablo started talking about the news.

"What do you want to hear first? The good or the bad news?" he asked.

"Unahin mo na iyong hindi maganda para mabawi iyong lungkot ko nang magandang balita pagkatapos," sabi ko sa kaniya.

Pablo gave a side glance to Amanda and Calvin before speaking. He said, "We got the CCTV footage from your company, but it didn't give us any leads, so there's no use checking it. The good news is, I found the sender of the file with the help of my IT friend, who helped me trace the IP address of his device."

What I will hear next will help us win the case.

"Adrian Adraneda, a former employee at your company, leaked the file to your rival company," Pablo said with finality.

"He resigned one week before it happened, Win," Amanda commented.

Napaisip ako. "Wala naman akong ginawa sa kaniya. What made him do it?"

"Sa pagkakatanda ko ay may sakit na cancer ang nanay ni Adrian. Maybe that's his reason to do that without even thinking the consequences. Kailangan natin siyang makausap ngayon. We already got his address," sambit naman ni Calvin.

"Right. After this dinner, let's all go to Adrian's place and ask him the story behind it. He will be the key to win this case," said Pablo.

Our food arrived. We prayed and began to eat. There were times I secretly gazed at Wren beside me, but I couldn't look him in the eye. Sobra akong nahihiya dahil sa mga nabasa ko sa journal niya. All along, he had been keeping that secret from me-that he loves me since high school and was content just having me by his side. Nahihiya tuloy akong makipag-usap sa kaniya.

"One more thing, your company accepted my proposal and agreed to meet with us next Monday to settle the agreement," said Pablo.

I thanked all of them. Dahil sa kanila ay naging madali para sa akin ang sitwasiyon na ito.

I continued eating my food while they talked to each other, sharing their stories about life and love, until I felt a hand on my leg, gently squeezing it.