Secretly Married (English)

Chapter 18

Harley shook Phoebe, and she came to but only barely. He felt that she was hot with fever.

"Isabelle, are you okay? Come on, let's get to the car."

"Can you really make me happy, Harley?"

"Stop talking."

He led her to the car with her arm around his neck. She fell asleep as he drove off. He then called his manager.

"Sam? I need your help."

"Where are you? The producers at the radio show are looking for you!"

"I need your help, quick. How fast can you get to my condo?"

"I'm on my way. I was going there anyway. What's wrong?"

"Just get there as soon as you can." He dropped the call and drove as fast as he could.

He arrived at his condo a few minutes thereafter and found his manager by the door. She looked at him and then at Phoebe.

"Who's that?"

Harley unlocked the door and didn't speak.

Sam followed him in and asked again, "Who's that? Why's she unconscious?"

"She has a very high fever. Can you change her clothes? She's drenched."

"What is this, Harley? What's going on?"

"Just change her clothes already! I'll explain after." 

He laid Phoebe down on his bed and left the room.

A few minutes after, Sam got out ofthe room and sat beside Harley. "Now can you please tell me what's going on?"

"That's Kent's wife."

Sam stood up, shock written all over her face.

"Why's she here?"

"She—she needs me to protect her. And I want to be with her," he said.

Sam shook her head insistently. "No, no, Harley. You can't do this. I don't know what you're talking about and why you're involved with Kent and his... wife? But you don't want to ruin your career over this."

"What? Is that the only thing I should be caring for? Just promise me this won't get out. Just promise me we'll put a lid on this."

Sam looked at Harley and sighed. "Fine." "Thank you," Harley said as he hugged her. "Don't thank me yet. I haven't done anything.

"Poor girl," she said.

When Phoebe finally came to, she looked at the unfamiliar surroundings and wondered where she was. She looked at her clothes and saw that she was wearing a guy's huge shirt and nothing more.

Where am I? she thought.

She got up quickly and got dizzy with the quick movement, so she had to sit back down. She felt her forehead, and true enough, she was still a little feverish. But where was she?

She saw the clothes she was wearing yesterday on a hanger and put them on. She then opened the door, only to find Harley sitting on the sofa. He stood up when he saw her.

"Hey! You're up. How are you feeling?"

Memories of last night suddenly came flooding in. The kissing scene, her walking out and catching a cab, getting off at the bridge, and then—shoot. Was that Harley that she kissed?

"Why am I here?"

"Isabelle . . ."

But she was already out of the door.

Phoebe took a cab home and asked the driver to wait while she went to get money from her savings. Amid Manang Lourdes's calls and questions, Phoebe rushed to her room without speaking and proceeded to take a bath. She kept replaying what happened last night, and she felt a rush ofguilt. She didn't know why she kissed Harley. She just felt so lonely and hurt and confused, and she didn't know what to do when he came there.

She wasn't even sure about what happened between them. Why she was suddenly wearing his shirt after sleeping on his bed? Oh no!

She rushed to school and found her best friend who hugged her as soon as they saw each other. "Phoebe! You're okay! We were so worried about you!"

"We?"

"Kent! He was out all night looking for you!"

Phoebe felt so guilty. Kent was looking for her while she was sleeping on someone else's bed.

"Jhone, I have to tell you something."

Phoebe told her best friend everything up until the point where she woke up in Harley's bedroom wearing his shirt.

Jhone clapped her hand on her mouth, speech- less. She shook her head.

"Oh no, no, no, no, Phoebe Isabelle Bernal. This cannot be true. How were you together with Harley?"

"I don't know . . ."

Phoebe wanted to cry. She didn't know how she could face Kent after what she'd done.

Kent got home early from the shoot and was relieved to hear from Manang Lourdes that Phoebe came home earlier.

"Did she say where she went?"

"No, she was in a hurry."

Kent waited for Phoebe to come home, and when she did, he got up. Phoebe would not meet his eyes. He wondered if it was still because of the kissing scene.

"Phoebe . . . ," he called out. But she was already on her way upstairs. He followed her and took her hand. "Hey, look, I'm so sorry. I—that was just acting, okay?"

"I'm sorry too, Kent." She started sobbing, and Kent felt like he had to hug her to stop her from crying. He patted her hair, but she started crying even harder.

"Hey, stop crying. I said I'm sorry, you idiot, can't you understand?" For some reason, she cried even harder after that.

"I was so worried about you. Thank God you're home."

*later*