When the Fireworks Begin

Chapter XVIII

Sam finally decided to give his phone the much deserved rest.  He has been trying to reach Devon for an hour, but her phone just kept on ringing until it was finally unreachable.   Sam called her office, but they said that she has filed for a sick leave. 

Sam visited her but her parents refused to let him see her, saying that Devon was not feeling well and was sound asleep. This was the first time Devon was able to sleep for more than two hours in weeks.

“Sorry, hijo,” Aling Linda carefully explained. “She needs to rest.  It has been awhile since she slept, we cannot wake her up.” 

Sam understood and left. Now, a day after his visit, she was still unreachable. She has been avoiding him since the day James saw them holding hands.  Sam sighed.  His phone rang disrupting his thoughts.  He quickly answered it, hoping that it was Devon.

“Hello,”  Sam answered. 

“Finally!”  Aleli exclaimed in the other end of the line. “I have been trying to call you for an hour but your line was busy.”

Sam sighed and leaned back.  Sam, James and Aleli have known each other since college.  Even when the two started dating, Sam never felt that he was the third wheel and this is how he realized that James has always thought of Aleli as a friend and never more.

“I was busy with work,” Sam denied. “And you’re calling because?”

“Let’s eat out. I am bored to death. James would not answer my text messages and calls. He also doesn’t want to eat lunch with me,” Aleli whimpered.

Sam sighed.  “You know that he is preoccupied, why do you keep on badgering him?”

“Because I like to be with him,” Aleli reasoned out. “Please, Sam.  I just need someone to talk to.”

Sam gave Aleli a dramatic sigh. “Okay. I will leave the office in 10 minutes.”

Aleli shouted in glee. “Goody! See you in Chef Anton’s!”

Thirty minutes later, Aleli and Sam are already sharing a glass of wine in the posh Chef Anton restaurant.

“I never thought that being back will be so damn lonely,”  Aleli pouted.  “I have run out of stores to shop,  my pantry is full, and I have already attended all the parties.”

Sam shook his head, Aleli is somebody who does not have to sweat for a living.  Her parents, who owned a string of fashion lines and export businesses have made sure that their only daughter is well-provided for.  She does not have to work to live comfortably. 

Despite from living a sheltered and spoiled lifestyle, Aleli is far from being dumb.  Sam winced when he remembered how Aleli ran a classmate to the ground in a debate during their college years.  This particular classmate, thinking that Aleli was one of the kids who got into the prestigious university solely because of their parents’ money, decided to take Aleli head-on on the debate.  It only took Aleli four sentences to grind their classmate’s points to dust.  But this display of wit was not one of Aleli’s interests.  She decided to take fashion designing and landed an esteemed scholarship in one of New York’s fashion schools.