Somehow Ria manages to go back to her table and collect her things ready to go home early. After half a day of thinking and re-reading the proposal she finally came to a conclusion, She must admit Mr. Charles has a point.
Given a chance to be a part of the interior designer team was her dream in the first place. If she needs to prove herself that she is worthy to be a part of it by proposing this document to Mr.Villar then so be it!
What bothered her is the place and this so-called Mr.Villar that says he knows her. She grew up in the province but she never once encountered this person.
Although the last name rings a bell, still she didn't have a single clue who it might be. The location in the proposal is her hometown. She was given a month to fulfill her mission or else, she will be fired.
For the sake of her family that rely on her, she knows she has to do her very best. Her family doesn't have a clue of her real situation. They thought she's doing all fine. She told them that she's the head of an interior design team in one of the most famous companies in the city.
Well, that is what she imagined she would be when she came to manila.
But just like any country bumpkin who taught the big city is the key to their success she was disappointed when she realizes she's living in a dream.
Realization slapped her hard in the face, manila is nothing but she can't turn back the time. From then on her lies became the truth for her family. She never complains about her misery to them, afraid that it may cause her parents to blame themselves for letting her go and venture alone in a huge city like Manila.
Whenever she talks to them it would always be a pleasant topic, like things she achieved while working which are all made up lies. She thought to herself since she insisted to be in this golden city. She has to deal with her own problem and not let them get involved. All of her suffering when she left them to try her luck in the big city she will keep it from them and bury it till her last breath.
Ria woke up by the rustling sound of keys in the front door of her condo. She looked at the time and saw it was past twelve o'clock in the morning. She didn't realize that she had fallen asleep next to the files of proposal she decided to take in. Her brows furrowed, she noticed that Micheal is frequently going home late this fast few weeks and most of the time he is drunk too.
She wishes he was not intoxicated tonight.
She still needs to wake up early today and she's not in the mood to clean up his filth.
Arranging the files, She places it neatly on her computer table afraid the papers will be crumbled. This file is too important to mess with and if it does she knows it's the end of her work too.
She walks to the main door and looks at the spy hole to check who's outside before opening it. In Manila, there are too many casualties of rape and robbery especially if you're careless of your surroundings.
Most of the time all the houses around manila have high gates, barbed wire, grill windows and doors to protect them from thieves. Hoodlums nowadays use a spray to cause people to fall in a deep slumber. Usually after they wake up they look ok but all of their belongings are gone without them waking up. If the intent is only robbery then the victim is lucky but if some of these bad guys have ill intentions like rape and killing, then their life is at stake.
Ria felt goosebumps all over her arms from thinking about it. She sighs in relief when It's really Micheal. She opens the door and helps him in. The stench of alcohol and a strong female perfume engulfed her. Instantly she cringed her nose, she felt a fang of jealousy creeping on her heart, when she saw his lips have a smudge of red lipstick and his suit has it also. She closed the door and locked it securely.
"Ohh, here's my obedient girlfriend, come here I'll give you a reward." Micheal took her arm and pulled her in a hug but seeing the smudged lipstick on his lips, She dodge his hug which made the latter slumped in the ground.
" What the fuck Ria! What's wrong with you?" Micheal asked furiously. For the first time she felt scared seeing him mad. She was utterly surprised to see this side of him.
The Micheal that she knows is a gentleman with a sweet smile that loves to cuddle her all the time. But now seeing him act barbaric, makes her think twice if she really knows her boyfriend completely.
Fighting back her fear, She even offered her hand to help him up.
" Where, have you been Micheal? It's almost one o'clock in the morning," She asked in a low voice afraid that their neighbors will wake up from her noisy boyfriend. Micheal took her offered hand and stood up without answering her question. He grabs her wrist and holds it tight while he strode with her in a forceful way until they end up in their shared room.
Her boyfriend threw her on top of their bed.
Ria was shocked that Micheal used force on her.
She cringed, rubbing her wrist to ease the pain.
With his forceful move, Her hello kitty cotton dress was disheveled revealing her slender legs and lace panty. She quickly pushes her dress down to cover her lower body and look at her boyfriend with a questioning look.
"Stop, stop what you're doing." His face looked angry when he met my gaze. "My dear girlfriend are you hiding your body from me?" Then he laughed in a mocking way. "When did you have the guts? Fuck! I've seen and tasted your body for two and a half years, what's there to hide?" Micheal smirked while untying his necktie and his suit, his face looked dark and dangerous. " It seems like you forget already who helped you all these years and now you're showing disobedience to your man." He said before pulling her one leg. She struggled to be free but a man force is completely different from her. She ends up halfway on the edge of the bed, while Micheal manages to undress himself leaving his naked body in view.
She turned to look on the other side and said: " Stop this, Micheal, you're drunk and you are hurting me..." She wanted to remind him maybe he will sober up and apologize to her. But his eyes showed lust. She felt terrified she never likes to make love with him in a drunken state and Micheal knows that far too well. She hates the stench of alcohol, and she finds him disgusting when he tries to kiss her with those smudge lipstick on his lips. She can't accept sharing kisses with another woman!