A few days later, Derek visited the cemetery where his late wife, Cally Soo, was buried. Just as he was about to leave Cally’s graveside, he spotted Katie and Gillian approaching from a distance. He wasn’t surprised to see Katie; however, he was surprised that she and Gillian had developed such a close bond in friendship.
“Good morning, Derek!” Gillian greeted him with her usual cheerfulness as Katie only gave him a nod with a smile.
“Good morning!” Derek addressed them both and then directed his glance towards the bouquet of roses Katie was holding. “Those are beautiful! I’m sure Cally is very happy to get them!”
Gillian thought the happiest person was the florist, but she decided to keep that to herself. Katie decided to head towards the graveside and placed the flowers next to the ones from Derek.
Gillian and Derek stepped aside to give Katie some private time with her late best friend.
“Do you come here often with Katie?” Derek asked Gillian.
“No, this is the first time after the funeral.” Gillian replied. She didn’t want Derek to know their getting together was Katie’s initiative. “I’m just accompanying her this morning.”
Derek turned and took in a quick glance towards Katie who was still standing in front of the grave. He sighed as he made a remark. “I wish things could be different for her.”
“How do you mean?” Gillian was in her psychoanalysis role.
Derek turned back to face Gillian. “If I had not made a mess of things with Katie, Cally would still be alive.”
Gillian studied Derek’s eyes and facial expression for a moment. “It’s not too late to clean up the mess with Katie. Don’t turn memories of Cally into a shadow. She no longer needs love from a human heart. But Katie does.”
Derek’s eyes twinkled as if Gillian’s words enlightened something in his soul. He smiled and said regrettably. “I hope the stain is not too deep to be removed.”
“Use a stronger stain removal if you have to, just don’t give up!” Gillian advised. “And let me know your progress so that I can start saving up to buy a flight ticket back to attend your wedding.”
Katie happened to approach and interrupted their conversation that had turned into laughter. “What are you guys laughing about?”
Gillian refrained from answering as she was curious if Derek would take this opportunity to let Katie to know what they were talking about.
When Katie was waiting expectantly, Derek finally spoke up. “We were just joking around!”
When Katie acknowledged the response, Derek looked at his watch and then put forth a suggestion. “How about we go to grab a bite to eat?”
It was Katie’s turn to refrain from speaking. But Gillian could tell from her body language that she would rather not. Afterall, she was the one who had invited Gillian out for a one-on-one lunch. Gillian thought she had better say something before things turned awkward among them.
“Maybe next time,” Gillian gave Derek a smile. “It’s Katie’s turn to accompany me to do some last minute shopping.”
Gillian hoped Derek didn’t detect the lie she just told, but Katie sort of gave it away by her sudden reaction to the word shopping. As if the word was spoken in foreign language, Gillian had to repeat it to Katie to which she acted as if she just suddenly remembered.
After one hour of window shopping, Gillian bought one item to acquit herself from her guilt. When it was time for lunch, she was in the mood for sushi and so they went to a nearby Japanese restaurant.
“Derek and I used to come here often,” Katie told Gillian after they were seated inside a private booth.
Gillian looked up from the menu to read Katie’s expression. “You don’t mind coming here, do you?”
Katie let out a girlish chuckle. “No, of course not! It’s nice that they gave us a private booth.”
After placing their order, Gillian decided to share some of her observations with Katie. Afterall, she was the only person with the privilege of hearing all three sides of their story.
“You do know that Derek cares about you a lot, right?” Gillian began. “In fact, I can tell he still loves you very much.”
When Gillian knew for sure she got Katie’s full attention, she continued. “When Cally found out the reason you broke off your engagement, she told me exactly what happened that night at The Peak. Derek also told me the same thing later.”
Katie didn’t realize Gillian was going to bring up Cally and so she tried to avoid the issue. “It’s already in the past, do we really need to bring this up?”
“Because it was a misunderstanding at that time,” Gillian was doing her best not to allow Katie to head towards denial. “Everyone reacts to situations like these differently. It’s understandable, one was your fiancé and one was your best friend. You’ve lost trust in both of them instantly.”
“I felt so foolish when I saw them that night, and a bit angry.” Katie was finally opening herself up. “All my life, I didn’t want to end up with a relationship like my parents’ marriage.”
“Well, you had no examples to learn from, the only example was to keep everything inside; especially when it comes to matters of the heart.” Gillian stopped talking when the waitress brought their food to the table. She also didn’t want Katie to feel embarassed.
At the same time, Gillian was aware that the hostess was seating someone into the private booth next to theirs. The two booths were separated by a tall partition. When the person being seated thanked the hostess, Gillian thought his voice sounded very familiar. But when silence followed from the other side of the partition, she didn’t pursue on the matter and returned her attention to Katie when the waitress was done serving them their dishes.
“You kept everything inside yourself and never opened up to anyone; not even to the man you were about to marry back then.” Gillian reminded with a grin.
Katie admitted Gillian was right and guilt was written all over her face. “I know, Derek used to say the same thing to me.”
Gillian gave a comforting smile. “It’s not too late. Both of you can try to help each other open up again.” Gillian intentionally leaned closer. “And you have to stop avoiding Derek or else his guilt will eat him up eventually.”
“Guilt?” Katie voiced her surprise. “Why would he feel guilty? He still loves Cally and can’t forget her.”
“Well, he can’t forget you either.” Gillian emphasized. “And Cally doesn’t need his love anymore.”
Katie thought deeply about what Gillian said. Then she looked at Gillian and remembered her relationship with Ethan. She sighed and let her thougths flowed freely. “Why are we so unfortunate to wind up in such complicated triangle relationships?”
“You and Derek and Cally were never in a triangle relationship. He was only committed to one of you at a time, never the same time.” Gillian explained. “Fate stepped in and is trying to make it easier for both of you now. Remember, Cally will not suffer if you two were to be together again.”
Katie had no rebuttal to what Gillian said. As she watched Gillian help herself to the sushi, she wanted the conversation to change direction. That was when the balcony scene where Gillian was trying to disentangle herself from Ethan’s sudden embrace on the night of the farewell party at Derek’s home flashed across her memory. With genuine concern, she asked Gillian. “What about you? Do you consider yourself, Ethan and Anita in a triangle relationship right now?”
Gillian swallowed her food and started to lower her head and thought for a moment. She didn’t expect this sudden turn of conversation, least of all to be about Ethan. But she managed to pull out an answer that she had rehearsed in her head many times before. “No, but fate has intervened to reunite two people who were meant to be together. So, I have to let it be.”
Derek remained seated at the table while waiting for Ethan who had called him last minute to have lunch at this restaurant. He deemed it fortunate that Ethan was detained when he learned that Gillian and Katie were in the same restaurant, seated next to his private booth.
His heart grew heavy with guilt as he listened in on their conversation. Because of the situation, he didn’t feel it was the right time to let them know of his presence. So he didn’t and was most relieved when Ethan arrived 10 minutes after Gillian and Katie left.
“So sorry! There was an accident in the tunnel!” Ethan quickly apologized upon seeing Derek. “Did you wait long?”
Derek gave him a smile that was uninterpretable. He didn’t want Ethan to know he was there waiting for one hour, instead he teased. “Just don’t be this late when it comes to your wedding day!”
Ethan responded with a frown and picked up the menu in front of him. “I’m going to eat all the meat I can today!”
“Why?”
Ethan gave a wistful look. “Don’t you remember? I once said if I can’t get Gillian to marry me, I’m going to check into the monastery!”
Joking aside, Derek showed his concern. “Then what about Anita?”
It was just as well when Ethan looked up and didn’t have an answer because the waitress had approached to take their order. Ethan was not kidding when he said he was going to fill his stomach with as much meat as he could. Even the waitress had to ask him three times to confirm his order was for eat in and not take out.
When they were alone again, Derek decided to play the game of fate. “Why did you choose this restaurant?”
Ethan shrugged. “Just out of random? Why?”
“Just wondering if it was because you and Gillian used to come here a lot.” Derek started.
“Never!” Ethan gave him a scowl for trying to bring Gillian to the conversation. “My first time here!”
“Really?” Derek was enjoying this game of fate. “I wonder if it was Gillian’s first time here as well.”
Not following, Ethan tried to give Derek the brush off. “If you see her here, you can go and ask her yourself!”
“You sure?” Derek made it as if he was about to get up. When he noticed Ethan’s pupil dilating, he chuckled. “Too late, she left with Katie about 15 minutes ago!”
Ethan’s pupil constricted upon hearing the information. “You actually had lunch with them?”
“No, but we did meet this morning at Cally’s gravesite,” Derek took the plunge to bring up her name. “Then Gillian had some last-minute shopping to do.”
Derek could tell Ethan still had strong feelings for Gillian, perhaps more so than he had feelings for Anita. “She’s leaving the day after tomorrow, what are you going to do?”
Ethan lifted his gaze and didn’t have to say a word. The answer was written on his face. Nothing! Absolutely nothing! He had the blank look because Ethan knew Gillian’s personality and how she operated. There was absolutely nothing he could do. So, he took in a sigh and voiced out his predicament. “It seems she and I are back to the stage when we first started getting serious about our relationship. It’s her call. Now all I can do is wait for her to call!”