This is How We End (Published under Pop Fiction)

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

I stared at the screen of my phone for a long time. Nibbling my lower lips nervously, I typed Zeus' name on the search box and waited for a few seconds for the results to load.

Zeus Vincenticus Ferrer

4 mutual friends

Ngumuso ako at pinindot ang pinakaunang profile na nakita. His profile showed up. I clicked the display picture but it was set to private. Sa huli ay nagpunta nalang ako sa timeline niya.

All of his posts are set on public. And it seems like he's very popular, especially with girls. He has so many friends and lots of followers. Hindi na rin ako nagtaka. With a guy as handsome and talented as him, he wouldn't be a secret especially now that he's studying in the city.

Biting my lower lips, I clicked the tagged photo of him by someone named Orianna Acosta. First few photos are just pictures of Zeus and his friends. Mukhang nasa bar ata sila. Habang tumatagal ang pags-scroll down ko sa mga pictures ay mas dumarami rin ang mga larawan nila ng babaeng nagngangalang Orianna.

She was smiling widely at the camera. Zeus' arms are lazily resting on her trimmed waist in a dimly-light place with neon lights blinking at the background. He was dressed in a white floral polo shirt and skinny jeans, but it didn't make him any less elegant. In fact, it suited him very well. And the girl wore a skimpy outfit. Her collarbones, shoulders, and a bit of her cleavage are exposed. The little black dress made her elegant face more regal.

My eyes caught glimpse of the 130 comments below. They're all but congratulating and teasing the two. Kumunot nang bahagya ang noo ko habang binabasa ang mga comments nila.

"Sagutin mo na kasi yan, Orianna!"

"Aww. You two look adorable."

"So much talent and beauty in one photo. Lol."

Hindi ko alam kung anong mararamdaman habang binabasa ang comments ng mga kaibigan nila sa litratong iyon. They are very enthusiastic about the two of them. Try as I might, I could feel the first prick of jealousy poking my bones. I was about to close the tab when I saw the reply of Orianna Acosta to the first commenter.

Orianna Acosta: He says he can wait ;)

I quickly clicked the home and turned my phone off. Burying my face into the pillow, my heart throbbed painfully. What was that picture and comments all about? I bit my lower lips and tried not to think about Orianna. If the schoolgirl who keeps on coming to Zeus when he was still in senior high school looks elegant, Orianna looks like she's born to be a princess. She's every bit as a girl who should be with someone like Zeus.

And all of her friends are very supportive about the two of them. Tumingala ako sa kisame at bumuntong-hininga. What would it feel like to have them all support me and Zeus?

Disappointment started to gnaw on my bones. You're a married woman, Naia! How could you think of... of things like that? Ashamed at myself for where my thoughts drift by, I pulled myself up and hastily grabbed one of the wooden drawers open. I pulled out the piles of papers where I wrote the songs I want to sing for him and stared at it.

He said he loved me. My lips trembled. He said it himself but now he's seen with a different girl, just a year after we've been painfully separated. The more I stare at the papers I've worked so hard on, the more it seemed ridiculous to me. Why would he even want a girl like me for a long time? Sure enough he'd find some nice girl in the city with no complications. The one who'll not give him heartaches and headaches.