In Screaming Color

Chapter 31

With her eyes closed and her arm serving as a pillow under her head, she takes a deep breath and relaxes herself. She just came from a meeting with a family friend and to her relief, it went well. Meeting up on a holiday was too much to ask but she has had made her decision, and there is no more turning back. He was just too kind to give in to her sudden request.

Bea has always been a person with secrets. With all the skipping classes, to sneaking in her room at 5 am from a drinking session with friends, to secrets she held because it was too painful to talk about. And now, this. Her secret that might change everything she has now, to how she is now, and somehow it makes her smile.

When she opened her eyes, she was greeted by the sky behind the thin branches of the trees. It was a familiar view, she has visited and revisited this place over and over again for months now and here she found inner peace. No eyes, no work, just her. Something she badly needed.

She looks at her watch and crunches her face as she sits right up.

"What's taking you so long?"

She mumbles before standing up. Patting her lower back and her butt for dirt, she was pacing from here and there but then stops. She was starting to worry, he was never the late comer, that's her part. And he would text if he was stuck on traffic. What could've happened?

Bea stops and tells herself to calm down. She was about to text her brother when she finds it along the driveway. She took a deep breath of relief and waits for him. But to her surprise, her brother was with someone she didn't expect.

Fidgeting and walking in a shy conscious manner, Bea finds herself staring in awe and panic. She was literally frozen on her place, so was her tongue. Loel walking behind the girl gave her an innocent smile that she almost had her eyes rolling for him. When the two stopped right in front of her, she cleared her throat.

"Kuya, why is she here?"

She tried not to sound rude but she saw Jhoana smile and shake her head. Realizing she did sound like one, she quickly shook her head and hand infront of Jho.

"That's not what I meant."

She tries to save herself, of course it wasn't what she meant. It's not like she wants Jho away from her, or leave for that matter. She misses Jhoana so much she would ran out of words to explain it. It's just that she didn't expect their reunion to be like this, to be in this place.

She had everything in her head, like puzzle pieces perfectly fitted to each other. She would greet Jhoana in a warm tight hug and shower her with kisses because let's be honest, that's all she wanted to do to her. But here she is, frozen and sounding rude.

She was starting to panic again but upon seeing the smile crippling on the latter's cheeks. Her heart started to melt. She remembers herself tilting her head to the right as she stares at her girl.

"Um, I saw Jhoana earlier after I bought this."

Loel interrupts the staring contest of the two as he lifts the bouquet of flowers on his hand and continued,

"We had a short talk before I decided to bring her with me. Surprise?"

Bea just looked at him with a confused face. And before she could say more, Jhoana butted in.

"Well, unlike you, Kuya Loel is talkative. And she mentioned a few things you never did."

"Uh, like?"

Kuya Loel came closer to her and patted her shoulder. Pulling her to a few distance away from Jho.

"Like your true role on the company. Bei, kung hindi niya alam ang simpleng information na yan, am I right to assume that she knows nothing about you? I mean the important details?"