Present Day
The traffic seems to be worse everday. "I should have taken the bike." Mara thought out loud. But that would mean that Marco won't have enough space to ride on.
Marco always makes her feel refreshed after a long day of work. With his shiny brown eyes and chubby cheeks, he always recharges her tired-out spirit.
She might as well make that phone call first since the traffic doesn't seem to be letting out.
She knows he has been waiting because she can then hear his voice after the first ring.
"Mommy!"
Yes. She has a son. A five-year old handsome boy.
*********************************************
5 years ago
Seeing Richard wave at her goodbye before going down the bus, her heart broke. She can no longer hold the tiny sobs she has been holding in.
I don't know which one hurts more. That he cheated on her or that he broke with her via text. Was their relationship that absurd to him that he can just break up with her on text?
She feels foolish. All her love for him for 4 years has been washed away after 4 sets of measly text messages. I guess I should be angry with him. But she doesn't have the heart to be. She just feels distraught.
After crying for awhile, she decided to wipe away her tears and then send Richard a short message: "Why?"
That's all she could manage. She has already accepted the fact that he has left her. But what she can't accept is that he has decided to cheat.
Beep.
"I am sorry Mara. It was me. I just felt that my love for you has not been really for a lover, but only that of friend. I thought my feelings were romantic, but when I met Mary Ann, I felt something that I have not felt in all our 4 years of relationship."
Beep.
"My pretty Mara, I know you love me, and I love you the same, but I know you also feel that the love we have didn't sprout any magical feeling. Our relationship was built on camaraderie and we have never felt something really special towards each other. And that's all there is, friendship."
Beep.
"I should have broken up with you earlier instead of hurting you like this. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me and find a better person than me to love and devote your time to. I will always be a friend but I can no longer be a lover. Once again, I am sorry."
Mara felt hallow. "So that's how he sees our relationship all this time? Friendship?" But looking deeper, Mara doesn't feel hurt for being cheated at. She felt hurt at being... left behind. She hurts, as a friend.
But still...
She noticed that it was already her stop. After she stepped down from the bus, she then realized that it hurt like shit. And it doesn't feel pleasant at all.
"Only one way to solve this..."
**********************************************
"Two more bottles of beer please!"
This was her fifth and sixth bottle. One thing about Mara, she doesn't easily fall prey to beer. She can stand to a dozen or more bottles... in her dreams.
She is actually on her first bottle. That's the truth. And the second and third bottle she's ordering will be the death of her. She doesn't drink. At. All. She really doesn't believe in liquid courage or that beer can make you forget your problems. But she has to at least try. Right?
Her drunkeness will not be tolerated by her mother, so she has made sure to have her best friend's number, Jane on speed dial to pick her up and take her and her drunken ass to stay for the night in her house.
The two bottles were loudly dropped on her table. She smiled at it. Not the good smile, but she drunk wolf smile. She reached out for one but it seems to be moving away. So she tried to grab the other, same.
"Hey waiter! There's something wrong with your beer. It moves on its own." She slurred those words. But due to her strict language training, I can assure you it was still understandable.
Her words made her laugh out loud. Moving on its own? Am I crazy? She laughed again. And then realized the reason why she is here, sobbed out loud.
"Richard, why did you do this to me?" She cried an ugly cry. She doesn't care if people see her like crazy or if she out here in a small food stall making herself look petty. She might regret it tomorrow, but certainly not now.
After crying out she tried to grab the bottles again and it seems like they really are running away from her. Then...
"What happened, Mara?"
She lookes up with teary eyes.
Mark.
Mark is in front of her in all his glory. Black forma-looking shirt, with his short hair gelled and slick on top of his head, his big brown eyes, red kissable lips and sharp jaw and cheekbones. She blurted out what first came into her mind: "Where was the meeting?"
He looked puzzled.
And then she laughed. Like crazy with laugh. "I am messing with you. You look like a business man in your attire." She was now wiping laughter tears from her eyes.
He still looks puzzled but the decided to just put it aside. And that's when she noticed that he is holding two of her beer bottles. She then understood why her bottles were moving away from her. He is moving it away from her!
"How dare you?" Her accusatory tone took him aback. "You dare to take away my beer bottles? Who do you think you are? I will be paying for those so you can't take them away!" She is now shouting. Fuck blending in and being a wallflower. She is too distraught to even care about it. Not to mention very drunk.
Mark unapologetically returned the bottles to the owner saying something and then handing the owner a few bills before walking back to her.
"We are going home." Short but firm. Mark was like that.
"I am absolutely not! I still have two bottles of beer to finish!"
"I paid for them already and you are of no obligation or what to finish them. I already gave them to somebody else." He has the nerve to look exasperated at her.
"Who gave you the authority to do so? Are you my boyfriend? Ha? Ha?" Hearing herself talk about her boyfriend made her have another breakdown. Ugly tears came streaming down her face again. "You are not my boyfriend. He...'hic'...he...he cheated on me. And then broke with me through...'hic'... through text." That made her cry louder. She just realized how petty she sounds. And she cried the more.
He seems unsurprised and just shrugged his shoulders. "About time you know about it."
But she was surely surprised. "You knew about it?"
He didn't answer. Just looked at her with silence.
"YOU KNEW HE WAS CHEATING ON ME?"
The nerve of the guy to just shrug again.
"Why didn't you tell me? Why did you just let me look like a fool? Why did you let him destroy our relationship? Why did you not just tell me?" She was tearing up again. She could have done something if only she knew.
He still didn't answer.
"WHY?"
He drew closer to her and then looked her straight in the eye, saying: "Because you don't deserve him."