"I am..." Antonio repeated the same words over and over again, but his sentence couldn't be completed. He didn't know how to address himself. 'Friend? No, I'm not a friend. Childhood- no, not that either. Boss? She isn't under my supervision, and I wasn't the one who hired her. I am her one night stand? That's too awkward....'
Seeing his flustered expression, Selina grew more and more suspicious of him. She began recalling details from Lia's conversation at the office.
"Are you that bastard?" Selina was tired of him going around in circles with his words. She directly spoke her mind. Instead of calling him the baby's father, she called him a bastard.
'A man who sleeps with a woman and knocks her up just to scram off is nothing but a bastard. Of course, that depends if the bastard comes back to repent. It seems like Antonio doesn't know anything.' Selina thought to herself.
"Yes, that is the- Wait, what?" Antonio shook his head a few times, knocking some sense into himself.
"Wait, what? You think you have the name 'bastard' stamped on your face to advertise for everyone to see? I asked, are you that bastard who hurt Lia?" Selina was straightforward once again. She looked him straight in the eyes.
He hesitantly lowered his gaze to the floor. Then, he heard Selina's strict tone again. "Will the floor tell you who you are to Lia or does it have the answer written on it? This is a simple question. What is your relationship with Lia? Are you the bastard who left her after sleeping with her? Is this direct enough to define the term 'bastard' from my mouth?"
"I am.." He nodded, not daring to raise his head and look at Selina any longer. Ashamed of his behavior, he didn't have the courage to face her. Hence, he continued staring at the floor as he waited for Selina to toss items at him. For a second, he thought he was facing an angry parent after bullying their daughter.
"Why are you lowering your head? Do you feel that you've done something wrong? If so, then do I have to toss you back to primary school where teachers teach kids what they should do when they do something wrong? What do you have to do when you've done someone wrong that hurt another individual? You apologize."
Selina reached out to the bowl of fruits and started eating another piece of fruit. She waited for Antonio's response that never came. Arching her brow in full amusement at this point, she looked at him again. "Let me ask you this. Why are you here?"
"I..I want to ask about Lia." He answered.
"Great. So, now that you know what you are here for, take a look around the room." She smiled.
After giving the room a quick glance, he shrugged. "What am I supposed to look at?"
"Do you see Lia anywhere in this room?" Selina continued stuffing another piece of fruit into her mouth.
"No, but I just want to know whether you two said anything to each other before her two weeks break. I want to figure out where she is at right now, so we can have a good talk." Antonio confessed his intentions.
"I understand, but I can't help you. You've already seen it, haven't you? Lia is not here right now. I also cannot tell you what we spoke about two weeks ago. This was a private talk and whatever tea exposed in the office, remains in the office. If you are truly apologetic for what you've done to her, then try to look for her yourself. If you can't find her, then wait until you see her again. Text her if possible. This is between you two, so I will not intervene."
Selina promised Lia to keep her pregnancy a secret. If she wanted to tell the baby's father about the pregnancy, she wouldn't consider doing an abortion. Since she told Lia that she won't tell anyone about her baby, she will keep her words.
"Selina, please. I just want to see her once. I just want to explain-" Antonio attempted to explain everything again, but Selina remained calm and composed as if his words didn't affect her at all.
"Are you done? I told you, I don't know where she went. No matter how many times you want to use my empathy to get information, it won't work because I really don't know where she is. If I know where she is, I would be the first to keep her here." This time, there was not a hint of friendliness in her tone.
To summarize, she practically told him to scram. "I kept my attitude to the best I could control it to. I was being polite. However, if you want my words to prick you at every painful spot, I can as well. Didn't you walk away after sleeping with her? Didn't you want her to lose her job? Didn't you find faults in her every time you had the chance to do so? What about now?"
She scoffed mockingly at the man in front of her. "You only realized what you could have had and once had when you lost her entirely. The only person you should be apologizing to right now is her. I will only repeat myself once more. I do not know about her whereabouts. The door is that way. Please see yourself out."
Seeing her mood plummet in a matter of minutes, Jason strode over to Antonio and held his shoulders lightly. He whispered, "Leave right now. There is nothing good that will come out of this for both my wife, my baby and you. Lia really never came here. She already left. When Selina was in the examination room, she came to speak to my in-laws and me. Her plane should have left already."
Suddenly, Antonio's eyes widened. "Plane...Plane.. You just said plane??? Did you just say plane??"
"Yes. She should have left by plane already. This was a few hours ago. You were right there when she came to us. You should have stopped her, but you stood on the side instead." Jason remembered how Antonio purposely distanced himself from Lia.
After hearing Jason's first word, Antonio's mind turned blank for a few seconds. 'Plane..Hijack...No wonder dad cut me off on the phone! I'm such an idiot!' He pulled out his cellphone, dialed a number and rushed out of the room.