You are a Part of Me

13.

            "HOW are you?" tanong ni Exequiel kay Blaire nang minsang mapadaan ito sa restaurant niya. Ilang buwan na rin simula noong nangyari ang lahat ng iyon kay Blaire, and she's still carrying the same load of burden and sorrow.

            Blaire smiled and said, "I'm fine."

            "You don't look fine to me," sagot ni Exequiel habang nakataas ang isang kilay.

            Still the same, isip ni Blaire. Isinawalang-bahala ni Blaire ang sinabi ni Exequiel at tumingin sa mga batang naglalaro sa hindi kalayuan. Nasa garden area sila ng restaurant niya—sa usual na lamesa ni Exequiel.

            "I want to go somewhere," biglang sabi ni Blaire. "Somewhere far away, pero hindi muna puwede because I have a lot of work to do. Ang dami mo kasing trabahong binigay sa'kin," nakasimangot na dagdag ni Blaire. "It's as if you referred me to everyone that you know and exists."

            Exequiel laughed and said, "Isn't that what you wanted? To keep yourself busy?"

            "Whatever," sagot lang ni Blaire.

            "Where's Xavier?" tanong ni Exequiel at nagtaas lang siya ng kilay nang magkibit-balikat si Blaire.

            Within the two months, since she had a miscarriage, inaamin niyang ang daming nagbago sa relasyon nilang dalawa ni Xavier. It was not because of her doing; pareho silang nagbago na pati ang relasyon nila ay nagbago.

            Xavier's officially already starting to build his own company. Nakarehistro na ito't lahat-lahat. May mga investors na rin itong nakuha, bati na rin ang building kung saan matatagpuan ang kompanya ni Xavier ay inaayos na rin.

            Kung saan-saan nagpupupunta si Xavier para makausap ang mga investors nito and Blaire hardly kept track of his whereabouts, at minsan pa nga'y nagugulat na lang si Blaire na nasa isang bansa na pala si Xavier dahil bigla na lang itong magkukuwento sa kanyang nagpunta siya sa ganito-ganyan.

            Noong una ay nagpunta si Xavier sa Hongkong, then the next thing she knows ay tumawag na lang ang nobyo niya dahil hindi ito makakauwi sa Pilipinas para pumunta namang Singapore for an emergency meeting. Blaire had to cancel their hotel reservation in Cebu that time.

            Kung saan-saan nagpupupunta si Xavier that Blaire eventually got tired of trying to remember where her boyfriend is dahil bigla-bigla na nga lang itong napupunta sa kung saan and she can barely keep up with his whereabouts.

            Whenever Xavier calls her, she also tries to make the conversation as short as possible. Hindi naman dahil sa nagtatampo siya rito dahil naiintindihan naman niyang abala si Xavier sa pagkamit ng matagal na nitong pangarap.

            The reason why she tries to make their conversations short is because she knows that one day, she won't be able to stop herself from spilling the beans about her miscarriage and that will wreck Xavier. Magkakaroon iyon ng malaking epekto sa kung anong mayro'n si Xavier ngayon.

            The last time she and Xavier had fun was on the day that she finally showed up in his home after two weeks of being missing. 'Yung kumain sila ng Binagoongan. Iyon ang huling araw na naging masaya sila ni Xavier.

            Pagkatapos no'n ay they started doing things on their own. Naging masyadong abala si Xavier at inabala rin naman ni Blaire ang sarili niya because she wanted to take her attention away from her miscarriage.

            Sa totoo lang, mas nakakasama pa ni Blaire si Exequiel kaysa sa mismong nobyo niya.

            Xavier doesn't know that Blaire and Exequiel have grown close with each other again, but he knows that Exequiel is the man who's keeping his woman busy with a lot of work. Alam ni Xavier na si Exequiel ang nagbibigay ng mga kliyente kay Blaire.