Romantic Short Stories [DUBREDO]

III. Afire Visage

Elise finally accepted the idea of Rodrigo leaving for two years to study abroad. She held into his promise that they will keep each other's contact and will constantly communicate through their phones.

For a couple of months, they learned that sms would be their best way of communicating due to the difference of their timezones. They would leave messages for each other whenever they can.

Each day without each other felt like forever to these two hearts in love. She missed him so bad, his touches, his kisses, his cuddles but there is absolutely nothing she could do than to leave him a message.

One day, as Elise was walking home, she saw a homeless kid begging at the Luneta park. She wanted to just pass by her but her kind heart couldn't handle not being able to at least help the kid. She stopped by the corn seller and bought one for the homeless kid.

"You eat that, okay?" She told the kid but as soon as the kid took the corn, she immediately ran away in fear of how Elise looks. At least, I helped. She sighed.

Suddenly, a stranger guy approached her. "Hi," he greeted her. "Hi," she replied with a hint of uneasiness.

"I'm sorry, I know you don't know me but I am Sonny, a surgeon, plastic surgeon, specifically." He introduced and shook her hand. "I am actually doing some experiments and I was wondering if you'll be interested in it?" He asked. "It's not illegal though, don't worry." He assured to make her feel at ease.

"What experiment?" She asked. "Plastic surgery." He replied, she didn't know how to take such response from a complete stranger. "I'll do it for free, under supervision of licensed nurses, hospital, everything. It's on me. I could show you my credentials and all in case you're in doubt." He guaranteed but it appeared offensive to her.

"Why me?" She asked. "Well, I just thought you might be interested—"

"Why because I look like this?" She cuts in, he was silenced. "No, uhm... I was just hoping you'll be interested in it."

"Well, I'm not." She replied with a stern voice. "Okay then but in case you change your mind here's my calling card. Dr. Angara." He handed her the card and politely walked back to his car.

She showed no hint of interest but she took the card anyways and placed it in her pocket as she continued walking home.

—

Elise and Rodrigo continued to constantly exchange sms messages updating each other on a daily basis but it was inevitable for him not to get a bit bombarded by school works disabling him to frequently update her. His messages started to lessen as their hell week approached. Despite that he informed her about how time consuming and demanding the university's hell week is, it still bothered her to feel his absence.

One day, his phone got robbed at the road on his way home requiring him to change his mobile number and everything. Unfortunately, the only number he remembered from the people he know in the Philippines was his mother's.

As soon as he got his new phone and new number, he immediately contacted Soledad and asked her to tell Elise his new contact number. Soledad agreed and promised to tell her about what happened to him.

She asked Jocelyn to buy a new sim card to text Rodrigo's number and pretend that they were Elise. With it, they could control their relationship already and eventually, end it.

Elise started to worry after not receiving any update from Rodrigo for one whole day. The next day, she tried to call him but he was out of reach. She texted Soledad asking for some updates just in case but she didn't get any reply as well. In three consecutive days of not hearing back from him, she started to overthink that he got tired of her but then she still had a little light inside her.

I won't leave you. I love you.

His voice echoed in her ears. She held onto it for a week.

She visited Soledad's house to personally ask about Rodrigo to have some peace of mind.

"What are you doing here?" Soledad asked after Jocelyn opened the door for Elise. "Hi Ms. Soledad, sorry if I didn't inform you about my visit." She began. "I just wanna ask about Rodrigo." She followed. Soledad looked at Jocelyn and allowed Elise in.

"I haven't heard from him for almost a week. I tried calling him but his number cannot be reached. I was wondering if he changed his number? Do you have it? Or is he sick?" She explained and asked them for some information but Soledad's replies were brief like she was insinuating something.

Elise wasn't sure if she just doesn't want to give her his new number or if he asked her to say something to her. Either way, it made her anxious.

"You really wanna know why?" Soledad asked making her feel even more tensed. "I'm just worried about him." She replied with a shaky voice.

"You're worried about him or are you worried he doesn't care about you anymore?" Soledad retorted leaving her speechless.

"Because that's what's happening." She followed, Jocelyn was shook. Elise felt like she was slapped on the face, her world slowed down. "What do you mean it's happening?" She asked.

"Rodrigo changed his number and he told me not to tell you because he wants to end it already." She explained. "You know how nice my son is. He didn't know how to tell you he wants to wrap it up so he decided to just cut your communication with him." She added making her feel scourged.

"You're kidding, right?" She asked with a cracking voice. "I'm pretty sure, I'm not." She replied confident of the information she just spilled to her.

Elise' heart shattered into pieces, she looked at Jocelyn but she just gave her the look of assurance that Soledad was telling the truth. They showed her photos of Rodrigo with a beautiful caucasian girl. She was actually his second degree cousin but Elise didn't know about it.

They made her believe it was his new girlfriend and it was easy to believe with their closeness on the photos. It made Elise even more devastated, the only man she loved, the man she trusted her whole life betrayed her. "Face it, Elise. No one can love that kind of face. You're no longer part of this family so don't ever bother us again." Soledad chastised.

In a snap, all her insecurities that Rodrigo wiped away came back. She felt so alone and broken as she headed home. Her mind floated, everything felt so unreal.

Her biggest fear of falling in love and being left behind finally came and she felt so weak it made her so vulnerable. She wanted to kill herself, the temptations went pass by her eyes — the cars speeding up at the road, the bridges and everything else but then she didn't want to cause more troubles to other people.

When Rodrigo promised that he would never leave her, she thought he would really never leave her but then after what she just knew, she realized that Soledad was right, nobody can really love someone like her — a hideous looking woman who can't even finish college because she didn't have enough money. She felt worthless, useless and distraught. She found no light in everything.