Until you were gone (Complete)

7 - (TOO HARD TO PRETEND)

Kanina pa nakaalis si Bianca pero hindi ko mapigil ang sarili kong hindi matawa. She thinks I am gay? Fuck. I am gay? And si Antoine ang lover ko? Kapag nalaman ni Antoine ito baka sapakin ako. I am very much sure to myself that I want women. But naisip kong magandang drama na rin iyon para hindi na magtanong pa si Bianca kung ano talaga ang pagkatao ko.

I received a text from Antoine. He is at the airport already. I told him to take a cab and texted Bianca's home address.

Napangiti ako. At least this is a breather. Antoine will be here. He can help me again resolve my problem.

A few more hours and I saw a cab parked in front of Bianca's house. I smiled when I saw Antoine going down from the car and took his luggage from the compartment. I immediately went outside ang welcomed him.

"Bro," he smiled when he saw me and gave me a tight hug.

"Are you good? Are you sure you're not being followed?" Tanong ko habang pinapapasok ko siya sa bahay.

"Yes. They know I am no longer connected with you after you fired me five years ago," natatawang sagot niya.

Antoine is my personal assistant when I was in Texas. Anak siya ni Nana Josie and he works with me in our company. He is like a brother to me kasi we are almost the same age. Aside from Nana Josie, he also helped me with my tagalog kaya I can understand and speak fluently.

I helped Antoine to carry his bags nang makapasok kami sa loob ng bahay ni Bianca.

"Whose house is this?" Tanong niya habang inililinga ang tingin sa paligid. "Nice. Cozy and comfy."

"My wife's house," pagmamalaking sagot ko at naupo ako sa sofa. Nakita kong nginitian niya ako ng nakakaloko.

"Talagang wife?" Natatawang sagot niya.

"Yeah." Kinuha ko ang luggage niya at inilagay iyon sa isang sulok na hindi makaka-istorbo. Baka pagalitan ako ng asawa ko kapag nakitang nakakalat iyon pag-uwi niya.

"So, this wife of yours. Does she know your story?" Naupo si Antoine sa couch at isinandal ang likod doon. Halatang pagod sa mahabang biyahe.

Umiling ako at naupo rin sa tabi niya.

"Nobody knows who I am. Just my boss. Si Nancy. Your sister," natatawang tumingin pa ako sa kanya.

Nakita kong napailing - iling si Antoine. "Why did you get married? You know you are engaged to someone else since you were small. You have a contract. What you did was a drastic measure that will fucked up everything," nakita kong napakamot ng ulo si Antoine. "What you did is a fucking big mess. The moment you ran away from your family, you already made a big mess. And then this?"

Napahinga ako ng malalim. "I don't have a choice. I thought that was my last option to ran away from everything. I thought it would answer all my problems."

"If your dad knew about this-" at napahinga ng malalim si Antoine at napakamot ng ulo. "Do you even like her?"

Tumingin ako kay Antoine. Talagang hinihintay niya ang sagot ko.

"Yeah. I guess," alanganing sagot ko. Do I like Bianca? Hell, yeah. Physically she is pretty. She is smart. Sexy in every way. She is the total package kaya gago si Armel at pinabayaan niyang mawala si Bianca. But I thought, Armel was in love with someone else kaya kahit perfect woman si Bianca, hindi pa rin talaga niya magagawang mahalin ng buo.

"You're not sure?" Paniniguro ni Antoine.

Tiningnan ko ng masama si Antoine. "We got married in Vegas. Understand?" Parang gusto kong iparating sa kanya kung bakit kami biglang nakasal.