Tú Eres Mi Sol

V

"Sir Richard, your meeting is moved to next week, it seems that Mr. Herrera had some family emergency."

"Thanks, Tom. What's next on my schedule?"

"Well, Sir, it's one of those rare times, there's nothing on the calendar for the rest of the day"

It was 4 in the afternoon on a Friday. He asked Johnny, the driver, to take the rest of the day off. He's now driving to one of the hip exclusive restaurants in the city, owned by one of his friends, Jerald.

As he walked in to the restaurant, he asked one of the crew where Jerald was and pointed to one of the tables. 

"Hoy, Faulkerson, Buti naman at nagpakita ka. Akala namin magrereport na kami sa pulis. Ang tagal mo nang hindi pupumunta!"

Everyone on the table laughed.  These were his friends, he's known them since elementary days. They all went to an exclusive boys school. 

Jerald Napoles, a restaurateur who owns about 6 restaurants in the city. Everyone of them are in the family business. They have been featured in the magazines, as educated, rich and young. People to watch out for. This also included Kris or Tuns, who's family is in banking, Rodjun, who is in trucking and distribution and Mark, who now runs his family's automotive business. Sa, who was in his family's retail and lending business and a collector of vintage cars. This was their hang-out place, they'd meet here on Friday nights and catch up. 

"Hay naku, if I know, Faulkerson misses Friday nights because he's dating different women. Faulkerson, tumatanda na tayo. Hindi mo ako gayahin, may Joyce na ako", Tuns said

"Tinamaan ka talaga dyan ki Joyce no! You curved your womanizing ways!", Jerald quipped.

"Huwag ka nga. Iba na to. Basta. Masaya ako. Maghanap na din kayo, lalo na ikaw, Faulkerson!"

It was around 8 in the evening when everyone at the table grew silent as they saw who came into the restaurant. It was Philip Arcilla, one of the sons of Matteo Arcilla, the Faulkerson's toughest competitor, it was not Philip Arcilla, who caught their attention, it was who he was with, Dei Mendoza, who at the moment was laughing. 

If RJ was elusive to his friends, Dei Mendoza was even more elusive. They knew how RJ and Dei were close to each other and are very protective of each other. All of them at some point wondered why the two weren't together. They were perfect. 

It confused the hell out of his friends and everyone around them. They finally gave up asking but not betting. 

All of them watched the youngest Faulkerson, who scrunched his eyebrows at Dei and her date. 

"Hoy Faulkerson"

"Hoy Faulkerson"

"Hoy!" Jerald now waving his hands in front of him.

"Bakit? Anong problema mo?"

"Problema agad, ano ka ba? Matutunaw yan si Mendoza sa kakatingin mo!"

He was there in that table physically but his eyes were on another table. His demeanour changed, he was no longer smiling like earlier. 

"Hoy, Faulkerson. Yung salad mo, laing na ang itsura. Kanina ka pa kaka-slice. Patanggal na natin, change plate ka na lang!"

RJ looked at his plate. And looked back to the other table. His hands formed a fist when a certain Philip Arcilla placed his hand over Dei's.  It was just for a few seconds as Dei took her hand back to eat. 

***

Right after Dei and Philip left, he left the establishment, too, to the surprise of his friends. He said he wasn't feeling well. 

As Rodjun hands his Patek Philip watch to Jerald, he comments, "I really thought RJ would just storm to that table and give Philip a shiner! Hahaha!"

"I think Faulkerson is still in denial!"

Mark hands his credit card to Jerald. 

"Thanks, Mark for the dinner!", Tuns said while laughing.

**

Rose Faulkerson receives a message late at night. "This one is still in denial. Jealousy does not look good on him." It had two photos, RJ with furrowed eyebrows and a photo of Philip and Dei taken from afar.

Seems like fate been planning something too, Rose thought.

**

Richard kept on tossing and turning that night. Sleep seem to evade him. There was something different today, felt different, he wasn't sure what it was, it was the first time he's felt something so intense like that. There was only one thing that was clear, he wanted to knock the living daylights out of Philip Arcilla.