Secretly Married (English)

Chapter 05

Kent couldn't believe it. His manager, Mel, sent him a DM on Twitter, telling him to check the trending topic: #HarleyVillaluzIsTaken. The moment he got back home from the shoot, he clicked on the hashtag and found several Instagram photos of Harley with his arms around a girl. His manager texted, "OMG, Harley just lost fifty percent of his fangirls. LOL." Kent let out a snort, but then when he looked at a clearer photo, he wanted to punch someone in the face.

The girl in the photo was wearing the same jacket as Phoebe when he came to fetch her at the gate last night. He was not obtuse. He knew who this girl was.

Not even looking at the time, he headed straight to Phoebe's room and knocked on it violently. What he saw next confirmed his suspicion even more.

Elisa was also on her way home when she saw the trending topic. Several photos of Harley with a girl wearing a hoodie—his hoodie, she knew because she'd seen it plenty of times when they were still dating—were RTed and tagged #HarleyVillaluzIs- Taken.

Really, Harley? Are you doing this to make me jealous? 'Cause I'm not, Elisa thought.

But still, she couldn't help it. She grabbed her phone and started making a call.

Phoebe opened the door, her eyes still heavy with sleep, and was surprised to find Kent standing there. She then became aware of how she was still wearing yesterday's clothes. She must have been that tired.

"Why, Kent? Is it time already?" She peeked at the wall clock and saw that it was just five thirty. "Kent! It's so early! Let me sle—"

Kent pushed his iPhone on to her and said, "Look at this, you idiot!"

Phoebe took the phone and saw several Instagram photos of Harley with her. She looked at Kent and saw that he was looking at something on her bed. She looked at it and saw Harley's hoodie on her bed.

"Phoebe? Can we talk?" Kent looked so serious that Phoebe felt like crying even when she knew she did nothing wrong.

Harley looked at his phone as he was getting ready for school. It had been ringing for quite some time now. Irked, he picked it up.

"Harley, who's this girl on the photos circulating on the Web?"

"What in the world are you talking about, Elisa? It's so early for gossip."

"Who is she?"

"Why do you care so much? Didn't you dump me already?"

It was true. Harley was still smarting from the hurt when Elisa denied their relationship in an interview and then proceeded to tell him that they weren't exclusively dating. While he wasn't intending to make her jealous, he somehow enjoyed the fact that he had the power to do that.

"You're not answering my question! Who is this girl?"

"You probably know her. She goes to our school." "Huh? Who?"

"I'm hanging up now. I'll see you in school, yeah?"

He hung up with a huge smile on his face. He had no idea transferring schools was going to be this interesting.

Kent waited for Phoebe to come downstairs so they could talk. He really couldn't believe his luck. Why is this Harley guy suddenly trying to mess with his life? But of course, he couldn't possibly know that he and Phoebe were married, so he couldn't be doing this on purpose, right? Right?

He had no idea why he was reacting this way. Maybe it's because he just didn't want Harley to be in every aspect of his life. He was cool with them being rivals— that's what keeps show business interesting somehow— but why did he have to be involved with his own wife?

He wasn't even sure about how he felt about Phoebe. After all, all he knew was that she was the last semblance of normalcy in his life—the one who knew him back when he was just a puny little kid who wore giant corrective glasses.

Anyway, it had been his plan all along that he would reveal that he and Phoebe were in a relation- ship on her eighteenth birthday, which was just in a few months. And so now why did this have to happen when he was already resolved on being out with their relationship? But still, he had to ask. And now that Phoebe was downstairs and waiting for him to talk, he let it out.

"Are you and Harley going out?"

Phoebe's eyes widened, and she wouldn't speak back for a few seconds.

Why is he asking me stuff like this now? Phoebe thought as she looked at Kent's serious face. What was she supposed to say? That she had agreed to go out with Harley so Harley would not reveal to the world that Kent Fuentabella is not an eligible bachelor like they thought he was? And that Harley knew because she was stupid enough to leave her stuff lying around for people to discover?

"Yes or no, Phoebe," Kent said.

Phoebe stammered a yes then a no.

"How is it possible that you can't even answer such a simple question, Phoebe?"

"I don't know!"

~~

Kent looked like he was about to explode. "What do you mean you don't know?"

"He said he likes me!" Phoebe said in retaliation. But as soon as the words came out of her mouth, she regretted it.

"He likes you, so you're going out with him? Is that it?" Kent looked betrayed, but Phoebe couldn't understand why he would be.

"That's not what I meant," Phoebe said.

Kent became very quiet then, sitting beside Phoebe, putting his head in his hands. Phoebe was about to pat him on the back when he looked up.

"Phoebe?"

"Kent, I'm so sorry—"

"Do you want to get a divorce?"

*later*