Ang Lalaking Nagmahal sa Akin (COMPLETED)

Chapter 14

“EVERYTHING all right, Sir?”
Tumango lamang si Zeph sa tanong ni Greg kahit hindi siya sigurado. Something strange was happening to him and it was so new it sort of made him feel uneasy. Wala pa ni isang babae na binigyan niya ng regalo ang tumanggi roon. At hindi niya inaasahan na si Flor—ang babaeng inaasahan niyang matutuwa o masasabik sa regalo niya—ang nagsauli sa kanya niyon.
What a character!
“Have someone take her home.”
“Flor?”
“Yes. Make sure she gets home okay.”
That was something new, too. Kaya marahil bahagyang nagtaka si Greg. He didn’t care about the women he slept with. If they wanted to leave, they could and he wouldn’t ask anyone to make sure they were okay.
“You have guests, Sir.”
Hindi niya napigilan ang pagtawa. “How many guests do I have, Greg?”
“Seven.”
Napailing na lamang siya. Kahit kailan ay hindi niya inimbitahan ang mga babaeng iyon na magtungo roon. Subalit gabi-gabi ay mayroon siyang “guests.” He couldn’t understand what it was about him exactly which these women were after. His gifts? Maybe. His company? Maybe. But he didn’t know for sure. And he had no real desire to find out.
I only want to sleep with one woman tonight, Greg. And she just left.
“I’m gonna be busy tonight,” aniya. Tumango lamang ang assistant niya at tumalikod na. Alam na nito ang ibig niyang sabihin. He locked his door and sat on the couch.
Nakita niya ang jewelry box sa ibabaw ng coffee table. Binuksan niya iyon. It was such a waste. Siya mismo ang pumili niyon. He saw it on TV and thought it would look great on Flor. Napailing siya.
There was a part of him that was glad she didn’t accept the gift. She was smart enough to know that most men—including him—would want something in return. And as he gave her the gift, he thought it was an essential tool for seduction. And he truly was pissed off when she handed it back to him.
How dare a housekeeper do that to him!
It was strange that he remembered everything about her. Everything. Some of the women he slept with he couldn’t even remember the names, but Flor, he could remember even the way her fingers felt against his palm.
He could remember the way she smelled—soap and that was it. She smelled so clean and so nice. He could remember the way her nose moved when she was tense, how her mouth and eyebrows moved when she was mad, the look in her eyes when she laughed, the funny and cute noises she made when she ate. Every damned thing.
Hindi niya maunawaan pero bahagyang nakakapagdulot iyon ng alarma sa kanya—kahit pa nga magaan sa kanyang pakiramdam—sapagkat kailan lamang niya nakilala ito. He figured maybe the reason for all that was because he had never met anyone like her before.
Maybe it was the fact that she was not throwing her clothes off for him to take her at once that made him think about her a lot. And thinking about her made him think of other things as well. Like how ridiculously empty he felt.
He sighed and lit a cigarette. Nagtungo siya sa bintana at pinagmasdan ang makulay na siyudad. He found himself shaking his head.
Nang pumihit siya ay nakita niya ang piano. Playing it always calmed him down. That was mainly why he played it when he felt a bout of anger earlier on. He learned to play when he was a little boy. His mother insisted for him to take piano lessons. Back then, he thought he was going to be a musician one day.
Pero nagbabago marahil ang mga pangarap. He now loved his job managing his empire. The little boy wanting to be a musician was now gone. That boy had turned into this man...
Muli ay may nadama siyang kung anong kahungkagan. Kasabay niyon ay ang miserableng pakiramdam na noon ay panaka-naka mang gumuguhit sa kanyang dibdib ay iniignora lamang niya. Alarm, guilt, sadness.
He didn’t even know what he was guilty of. But there it was. There was something off about everything he was doing; he just couldn’t place a finger to it.
He found himself playing Flor’s favorite song. David Benoit’s version of it was one of his favorites, too.  “'Yong ‘I Just Can’t Stop Loving You.’ Paborito ko si Michael Jackson saka mataas ang score ko diyan sa videoke.”  Naalala niyang bigla ang sinabi ni Flor.
And he found himself laughing so hard his tummy ached.
“Flor...” he whispered and smiled.