Tale as Old as Time (La Fortuna Series #1)

Kabanata 27

Kabanata 27

Perseverance

"Why are you here?" ulit ko sa mas mariing boses dahil hindi ako naniniwala sa sinabi niya.

He took a deep breath before leaning his hands on the railings, sweeping his eyes away from me. It was dawn and I should've felt beaming with happiness and hope but I wasn't. Galit ako kay Chamuel. Galit ako sa ginawa niya sa seguridad ko. Galit ako dahil sinundan niya ako rito. Pero mas galit ako... sa sarili ko.

If this was a curse, then could the Heavens please tell me how to undo it? Kasi nakakapagod na. I tried to distance myself from him but here he was beside me again. Ano ba talaga ang gusto ng mundo? The waves took me here, away from La Fortuna and supposed to be, away from him as well... Why did he go against it? Why did he have to be here and defy the waves?

Sinulyapan niya ako. "I just want to say I'm sorry, Tace. Alam kong malaki ang naging epekto sa 'yo no'ng nangyari sa Bistro. I didn't want it to happen... nobody did. At kinuha ko man ang mga tauhan ko, pumunta naman ako roon upang siguraduhing hindi ka mapaano."

My eyebrows furrowed. He did what? Why didn't I realize this sooner? Of course, if his men told him that I was there, then he was aware of my presence when he went there with Anayah. Alam niyang nandoon ako!

Napangiti ako ng mapait. Alam niyang nandoon ako pero tinawag niya pa ring baby si Ana. Alam niyang nandoon ako pero naghalikan pa rin sila. This meant that he didn't care about me at all! Nakalimutan niya na ako kaya dapat ganoon din ako sa kaniya!

I gave him an unflinching gaze. "Your fiancee is busy with the wedding preparations and yet here you are in the middle of the sea, following a girl you're not supposed to. You're acting like you're in love with me instead of her."

Malalim ang mga mata niya. There was a flicker of submission in his eyes when he nodded.

"I know."

"What?" Namilog ang mga mata ko. "Are you really still in love with me?"

Umiwas siya ng tingin. Parang sasabog ang puso ko sa antisipasyon. I didn't know what I wanted to hear.

"No," he trailed off. "I shouldn't be. May boyfriend ka na."

"May fiancee ka na," I corrected and scoffed.

"You wanted me to marry her."

"Tama ka. Kaya ang pagsunod mo rito sa 'kin ay isang malaking katangahan. You will stir up rumors. Sasabihin na naman ng lahat na kumakabit ako sa inyo. I'm sorry but I'm not interested to be the other woman. I'm more than that."

I faced the stretching horizon and tore my eyes off him. Pareho na kami ngayong sa karagatan nakatingin at hindi nakaharap sa isa't-isa. We were inches apart and I couldn't help but smell his scent. Man. That's all I could associate it with.

"You were more than that. You were my only woman," aniya sa malamig na tono.

I pressed my lips in a thin line. Were. Past tense, hindi na ngayon... kasi tinulak ko siya. At kailanman, hinding-hindi ko 'yun pagsisisihan.

"Anayah isn't so bad. She's beautiful, soft-spoken, elegant. Your family likes her, the whole town likes her, and you do too, right?" venom dripped in every word I spoke.

"I do," tango niya. "But I liked someone else better. I liked her more than I liked my family, more than I liked the whole town, and more than I liked Anayah. Pero pinakawalan niya ako. She told me to marry someone else. She wanted the waves to go that way. So who was I not to oblige?"