Lost in a Love Maze (completed)

9 | False Hope

Cliché as it may seem, time indeed passed by in a blur. It was just two years ago when he left to pursue post-graduate studies abroad and now the plane was about to touch down in his hometown.

He was in no hurry to leave the airport. He only had one luggage to pick up from the conveyor belt in the arrival area. His parents and close friends were well-traveled people who would not expect any souvenir or homecoming gifts from him. In fact, he did not even inform anyone that he was arriving that day. They were just aware that he would be coming back home soon this month.

As he was about to approach the conveyor, he was jostled hard by a woman walking past him in hurried steps, oblivious to her surrounding as she kept on talking in her earpiece. His ears perked up when he overheard her saying Jenny to whomever she was talking to on the phone.

He knew his ears reddened up as well. He reprimanded himself from immediately thinking of his own Jenny on his first day back. He had not thought of her for awhile. He would like to think that he had successfully moved on from that bittersweet experience.

While they were standing side by side waiting for their respective luggages, he overheard enough to know she was talking to a relative. She even talked to her child whom she repeatedly called as 'my baby girl'

The woman was clearly on a struggle as she tried to pick up all here baggages in one go. As she ran after the remaining bags, he decided to help her since he had longer stride and longer arms and only because he could tell which of the bags were hers because of the unusual and colorful luggage tags attached.

"Here are the rest of your bags, Miss," he said as he quickly handed over the bags. "Did you get a cart? I'll help you load all of them."

The woman seemed taken aback by the unsolicited act of kindness but she let him assist her while she was still talking over her phone.

They walked alongside each other. He exchanged his lone luggage with the heavy cart the woman was pushing. They both did not bother on having small talk for which Drake was grateful. It would be awkward to carry on a useless chatter to someone he would not meet again anyway. He just felt light-hearted from doing something helpful and gentlemanly.

Only when they were at the bay area that the woman spoke, "Thanks for your help. My cousin would be picking me up here soon," to which he responded, "No problem."

After they switched back their respective luggages, Drake opened the app on his phone. Apparently the woman noticed the logo that appeared on his phone since she reacted with "Oh, you're grabbing a taxi? You could ride with us if you like. I'm sure my cousin rented a van instead of bringing her car since she expected me to have this much baggage."

"Thanks for the offer. I haven't decided yet my itinerary," he politely declined. He felt no need to extend their acquaintanceship by sharing a ride with her family. They might even be on the opposite direction from where he was going.

He continued accessing the app when the hairs at the back of his neck stood up as he heard that familiar voice addressing the woman he was with. Slowly he looked up, in time to see Jenny hugging the woman. Just then, Jenny's daughter alighted from the passenger side of the van and ran

"Mommy! I missed you so much," the girl squealed and hugged the woman tightly.

"Missed you more, baby girl. I won't be leaving you anymore, okay?"

Drake was stupefied. It was the same girl he mistook as Jenny's daughter, just taller now. It was the sound of the door closing at the back of the van which took him away from his state of disbelief.

He was mesmerized to see Jenny again. He could not believe his luck. He looked for her like crazy before he left but did not find any trace of her. Now after two years, without expectation or effort, fate somehow delivered Jenny right in front of him.

Jenny tried to duck quickly back inside the van but Drake managed to grab her from the wrist. "Jenny! I have been looking for you," to which Jenny responded with a raised eyebrow. Understandable. How could have two years passed quietly if he indeed looked for her.

It was an awkward chance encounter but Drake will not let this chance go to waste! Yet fate seemed to have other plans or this would be a cruel joke as a traffic police car glided by urging the van to move on.

"Look, Drake we have to go. Let's just meet some other time."

Drake hurriedly took a calling card from his wallet and thrusted it in Jenny's hands. "Please call me on this number. Don't disappear on me again, please."

He had no way of knowing what happened two years ago. But he just refused to believe that Jenny deliberately avoided him back then. But he held on Jenny's parting words this time. She said to meet some other time therefore she was willing to see him again.

As the van was no longer in sight, he rejoiced on the fact that the little girl was not Jenny's daughter at all. That knowledge gave him the push to rekindle what happened between them two years ago.

Immediately he thought of his best friend Nico and called him, "Bro, I'm back. No need to pick me up. I already grabbed a taxi. I just need to know where you are. Got some good news to share."

-oOo-

That good news soon turned to be another false lead. It had been three months since they met at the airport but Jenny never called him. He felt so stupid to assume she would want to resume where they left off.

The first time he blamed on a missing or stolen cellphone to justify why she never got to call him. But this time, would he still make believe that his calling card was lost or misplaced?

He felt so inadequate. He thought they had a night of shared passionate and explosive moment but if Jenny could resist him, then it had been memorable only to him.

Back then, he thought it was because Jenny was still secretly married to whoever was the father of her kid. But now that he learned she was still single then it meant she never shared the same sentiment he had. He was the only one smitten with the intimacy they shared. It meant nothing to Jenny all along.

Nico was so mad at him. "Bro, you left here so devastated and now you were back on the same state. It's been two years without her yet you survived. That means you can live without her. Move on already."

Drake could not even form a coherent response. The circumstances were clearly telling him that Jenny did not wish to see or talk to him anymore.

"Stop acting like a whiny teen," Nico continued. "It doesn't suit you at all. Don't embarrass yourself. You would soon forget her. Believe me bro when I say that you had been chasing her only because she is elusive. It's the challenge that eats at you. Give it up, bro. Time to concentrate on the real fight. Your business. You are back here to prove something to your dad, remember?"

Drake grimly agreed. "Yeah, you're right. Dad is already a tough challenge. I had to surpass at least one competitor's stats for him to take me seriously."

A month after that conversation, Drake already managed to successfully launch an aggressive marketing campaign that tremendously increased their profits, much to his father's delight. Gaining his father's confidence on his management ability was what mattered more than anything else.

There was nothing that could distract him now, he vowed to himself. That chance encounter was a gift but Jenny's indifference shattered the last hope he had.