The Love Expert

Chapter 13

Johnny rushed outside. He could not endure looking at Claire and Luke. He felt that he was betrayed. His mind was filled with hatred. Claire ran after him.

“Hey! Why are you running after him?” Luke hindered Claire from running to Johnny.

“I just want to clarify some things. I wasn’t able to talk to him about this.” Claire explained.

“You don’t have to. Besides, he just became part of your life because you thought that our relationship won’t be fixed. Right? Now, it’s fixed so forget about him.” Luke told her in an angered manner.

Claire could not argue with Luke. He was right. It would be a form of unfaithfulness to Luke, if she would be close to Johnny again. She felt sad that she was not able to explain to Johnny about her relationship with Luke. She was worried about the reaction and feelings of Johnny.

Johnny returned home. Anger and hatred were the only two things that were on his mind. He thought that Claire would be his girlfriend after their romantic night in her house but suddenly, all things were turned upside down for him. He did not know what really happened about them. He guessed that Claire simply used him to make Luke jealous and to get him back to her. His phone rang and he saw that Claire was the caller. He turned off his phone because he no longer wanted to hear her voice.

That night, Johnny went to a bar to use the liquor to take away all his feelings. He drank too much that he felt wobbly. His vision became a little blurred and he could not understand well what was happening in his surroundings. After he paid for all the drinks he gulped, he walked outside. He tried to walk properly as hard as he could but the alcohol has already possessed him. From out of nowhere, a woman assisted him. Though it was not absolutely lucid because of he was drunk, Johnny could recognize that the woman was Kate.

“Kate, is that you?” Johnny suddenly thought that her name was not really Kate. She was Kate only in his fantasy.

“How did you know my name?” the woman said. Johnny was stunned. Johnny wanted to construe how her name became exactly the same as in his deep dream but he was too dizzy to think. He fainted. The only thing he knew was that he was given help by the woman named Kate.

Johnny woke up in a place he does not know. He was naked lying on a bed. His intoxication was gone and he was fully aware and alert. He found his clothes scattered on the floor. After he clothed himself, he went around the place to investigate. He was in a messy room. He assumed that it was a motel where the woman named Kate brought him.

Suddenly, someone poked him. “Hey!” Johnny was horror-struck. He turned around and saw that she was only Kate.

He knew that they did not really know each other so Johnny courteously apologized for the incident the night ago.

“Why are you so blasted last night?” Kate asked.

“I just had a problem so I tried to besot myself.” Johnny answered.

“It’s not the right way to fix problems.” Kate advised him.

“I know.” Johnny replied.

“Then why don’t you do the correct way to fix it?” Kate asked him.

“I think I cannot fix it anymore. Anyway, thank you for helping me last night. I gotta go now.” Johnny said.

“Good bye, Johnny.” Kate said as he was closing the door. Johnny was shocked again that the woman knew his name. He could not remember an instance wherein he introduced himself.

He was thinking deeply while walking when he bumped to another woman. He was shocked again to discover that the woman was Melanie. He looked around and saw that some of the pedestrians on the sidewalk were all the people he interacted with when he was still in his fantasy.

“What’s happening?” He said to himself.

To end his mystification, Johnny went to the cemetery to check whether he was dead, dreaming, both, or it was all coincidence. He went to the same location where he found his own tomb in his dream. His pulse rate rocketed because of great tenseness. He slowly walked towards the tomb. He settled down to learn that the name engraved was not his.

“Johnny…”

Johnny saw the old man, the driver of the bus.

“Why are you here again?” Johnny was frightened.

“Remember Kate, Melanie, and all the persons you saw a while ago?”

“Yes. They were part of my dreams. Why are they here?”

“We all died in the accident, Johnny.”

Johnny could not speak.

“Johnny, we all had unattained aspirations. We all had ambitions that we haven’t achieved yet. We cannot achieve them now because we died. Johnny, you’re fortunate you’re still alive and you can still do everything you want. Don’t waste your time, Johnny.”

In a blink of an eye, the old man disappeared.