"I have bad news Boss. Your wife was kidnapped from the cruise ship. Her bodyguards colluded with the kidnappers."
"What?" The pen he was holding snapped into two. His face contorted in fury.
"Find out who the kidnappers are right now! Exhaust all resources to bring her back!" He commanded urgently, his voice filled with both anger and anguish.
"Bo… Boss. Their getaway boat was caught in a tornado and capsized. The kidnappers' bloated bodies were recovered. Your wife is missing." The assistant was scared to say that probably his wife was also dead.
Time stood still.
Erik felt as if an iron fist squeezed his heart. It stopped beating for a few seconds and he cannot breathe. Clutching his chest, he staggered backward and fell down as he lost consciousness.
An hour has passed when Erik regained consciousness. Against the doctor's advice, he boarded a helicopter and scanned the area where the cruise ship traversed last night hoping against hope that miraculously he will find his wife safe and sound.
Marlon, Erik's assistant alerted the marines and rescue boats were deployed.
The search continued for the entire day and the days that followed. Erik ordered the search area to be expanded to neighboring islands including the uninhabited small islands dotting the West Sea. In desperation, he announced a huge reward for those who can provide a lead to where his wife was.
Erik slept for only two hours each night and ate very little. A week passed but there was no news about his wife.
Perhaps his rational mind has accepted that indeed there was no chance for her to survive the tornado. But his stubborn heart was in denial. For as long as he does not see the corpse of his wife, he shall hold onto a glimmer of hope that she was still alive.
"Yana, why did it come to this? Next week is only our first wedding anniversary!" He lamented bitterly.
At the end of the week with very little sleep and nourishment coupled with extreme exhaustion and emotional upheaval, Erik collapsed and went into a coma. He stayed in the hospital for a week.
On the day he was discharged, he went to the bar with Marlon and his two best friends, Alex and Franco.
He downed glass after glass of liquor. His friends were just silently drinking with him. No words of comfort were being said. They just accompany him.
"I regretted not coming home that night and not going with her on that trip. I really regretted it." He said in a mournful voice.
It was the day after the company's anniversary. He was called to the Lee's ancestral home for a family gathering. Aryana has an important dinner meeting but she promised him that she will follow.
Erik drank a few glasses of alcohol when he felt dizzy. He frowned and suspected that there was something wrong with the alcohol. He went to his old room to rest and wait for Aryana but somehow he fell asleep.
When he woke up, he felt hot. He was naked and Cassie was straddling him. He was still muddle-headed and had no reaction when he met Cassie's lustful gaze.
"I know that you still love me and I love you too. All these years, I never stopped loving you." She then kissed him on the lips.
Before he can push her away, he heard a loud gasp at door. When he pushed Cassie, he saw Aryana standing at the door, a shocked expression on her face. He scrambled out of the bed and hurriedly walked toward his wife.
"It's not what you think...I was sleeping and I just woke up. I did not know why she was here when I woke up."
Erik paused when he saw her eyes. Her eyes were always bright and they sparkled like the stars in the sky. At that moment he can only see the hurt and the light from them was snuffed out. He saw the tears streaming from her eyes before she turned and ran away.
...
A pleasant male voice coming from the speaker filled the air. The scene playing before Erik vanished into thin air and he was brought back to where he was … the VIP room of a famous night club in Central District. Their room was on the second floor and has an unobstructed view of the stage below if the thick curtains were drawn. Speakers were installed in the room so guests have the option to listen to or block off sounds coming from the stage.
All four men glanced at the stage where a handsome man was standing beside a beautiful woman who was sitting on a tall chair with her right leg overlapping her left leg and her right hand holding the microphone. The duo was no other than Gary Shaw and the famous diva, Zha Zha singing the classic duet "One Sweet Day!"
'Sorry, I never to told you, all I wanted to say yaaa ye … Now, it's too late to hold you, 'cause you've flown away, so far away yeyyy.' Gary's voice was soulful. It mirrored how Erik felt about his wife.
Erik's hand holding the glass froze mid-air and he felt as if a thousand knives were cutting through his heart turning it into tiny shreds.
'Never, had I imagined, living without your smile. Darling, I never showed you, assumed you'd always be there. I, I took your presence for granted, but I always cared, and I missed the love we shared.'
"Ahem… ahem." Alex cleared his throat. "Maybe we should turn off the speaker."
"I think you are right." Marlon stood up to turn off the speaker but Erik glanced at him fiercely.
And so, they continued to listen to the duet while drinking in silence.
'Feeling and knowing you hear me, It keeps me alive… alive!'
Erik looked at the female singer on the stage. In his drunken state, it seemed to him that she was looking into his soul and sending him a message of hope.
'And I know you're shining down on me from heaven, like so many friends we've lost along the way. And I know eventually, we'll be together, together, one sweet day aaay ye'
He had a sudden feeling that his wife did not die and they will be together one sweet day.
'Sorry I never told you, all I wanted to say.'
The song faded into silence. Despite the melancholy air, a loud applause was heard on the ground floor.
Erik twisted the wedding ring on his finger. He closed his eyes, as a tear drop escaped from each of them. He raised his glass to no one in particular.
"All I wanted to say is I love you so much, my dear wife. Happy Wedding Anniversary. Come back to me please!" He said loud enough for everyone to hear and then he passed out.
His three companions sat motionless for some time. In all their years together, they have never seen him so broken. He was truly in love but what a tragedy!
Meanwhile in a hospital in another country, the middle and the fourth finger of a young woman's right hand were resting on the golden band on her left hand. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and blurted out hoarsely.
"Erik!"