Chapter 19

Graduation day came for Isabella but she refused the celebration that Franco offered. She also didn't invite her mother on the ceremony.

"No, Franco, just helping me reach this day is way enough for me. I do not know how I can repay your kindness to me."

"Well, my offer's still open if you want," he replied.

"Silly! But who knows? I'm not closing my doors anyway."

"Hmmmm. Sounds like music to my ears. Let's have lunch together? Just the two of us?"

"Of course, it's just you and me. Is there anyone else you want to invite?"

"No, three is a crowd." They both laughed. They ate again at the same five star restaurant where they had dinner before. During their course of lunch, Isabella opened up a news to him.

"I already got a job."

"Seriously? Where?"

"In London."

"Wow! That's a long way from here but it's nice to hear that. How did you get the job? You haven't taken the board exam yet."

"Well, yeah, I won't be an accountant there. My classmate's parents have a business in London and they offered both of us to manage it."

"Wow! That's great!"

"Yeah, I'm excited!"

"But if you don't mind me saying this, I suggest that you take the exam first, so you know, whatever happens you already have your license as a CPA."

"But that would take me another six months to review."

"You don't have to review. I know you can pass it in one take."

"You really believe in me that much?"

"More than that."

"Okay, well I guess there's an exam two months from now, I can register to take it."

"Good girl."

"Ha-ha! Wish me luck. Her parents want us to go there immediately, but sure, I'll tell them that I will take the exam first before going there."

"By the way, I have a gift for you."

"What is it?"

Franco stood up from his seat and went to hug Isabella.

"You'll always be special to me. Thank you for the two years that you agreed to stay with me even just as friends."

"Someday, you'll find someone who will love you more than you deserve. Someone who will stay with you until the end of time. You just have to look around."

"I think I can't do that when my eyes are just focused on you."

"Brush it off, lover boy!" she laughed and waved her hand to gesture what she just said.

"Is that all?"

"Yeah."

"I thought you have a gift for me?"

"Well, I don't hug just anyone so that's considered a gift from me to you."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was expecting something more tangible."

"I'm just kidding," he pulled out a square black box from his pocket, opened it and showed it to her. It's a silver necklace with an angel pendant. He took it from the box and put it on her.

"It's beautiful. Thank you."

"You are an angel to me, Isabella."

After their lunch, Franco asked if she wants to go to her family and offered to drive her. Isabella still refused, she said that she'll just go to a friend's house to celebrate. They went to the condo first and before dark, Isabella left.

"I'll be back," she said.

"You have the keys," Franco said sweetly. "Take care."

Isabella took the bus going to Cavite, then she went straight to Carlo's house. Nervously, she knocked at the gate and waited for someone to come out. She knocked again.

Carlo could hear the knockings on their gate but he refused to get out of his bed. He is thinking that it must be Jane again. She's been visiting him for the past week trying to reconcile with him.

Just go away, Jane, he murmured.

Isabella knocked again, this time, louder. Lucy who was already asleep woke up and walked towards the door. As she passed through Carlo's room, "Why don't you get the gate, Carlo?" When she opened the front door, she was surprised to see the woman outside their gate.

"Isabella!" she said excitedly, as she walked fast towards the gate to open it.

"Lucy!" she hugged the old woman tightly and kissed her cheeks. "I missed you so much!"

"Oh look at you, child. You look very pretty and gorgeous! Come in, come in."

When Carlo heard her name, he stood up right away and stepped out of her room. He stood by the doorway looking at Isabella hugging Lucy. He was waiting for her to run towards him and hug him tightly, excitedly. Isabella handed Lucy the cake that she bought and they both walked towards the door slowly, which disappointed Carlo. Lucy entered the house leaving Isabella in the balcony. Isabella went straight to the brown wooden chair and sat down. She put her legs against her chest, hugged it and rested her chin on her knees. She closed her eyes and inhaled the old familiar air of their past. The wind whistled and the trees wrestled as if waving happily to see her back. Carlo sat beside her and stared at the crescent moon.

"I'm glad you're back."

"Me too."

"Congratulations on your graduation."

"Thank you."

For a moment, they just sat there in silence. Lucy didn't bother to disturb them because she knows that they have a lot of catching up to do so she went back to sleep. Carlo wanted to talk to her, to say something, to ask her if she still loves him, but no words came out of his mouth. Isabella broke their silence of almost an hour.

"For two years, Franco and I lived in the same roof but nothing happened to us. I was able to convince him that marrying me wouldn't be enough payment if we do not love each other," Carlo knew where this conversation is going so while Isabella is still talking, he is already rehearsing in his mind what to tell her once she brought up the issue about Jane.

"…he respected my decision, and never in those two years has he attempted to touch me. Even on the night when I got totally drunk that I am already expecting him to take advantage, he didn't. He was a gentleman in all ways," she paused for a moment to sigh before she continued.

"For two years, I have waited patiently to be with you. There were times when I wanted to give up the fight but my soul is telling me to hold on. As if I will lose myself the moment I let you go, just like what happened to me when I let you go the first time. Franco asked me to give him a chance to show his side of self. For two years, he's almost always out of town but whenever he gets back, he brings me stories that inspire me to continue this fight. The fight not just only to live but to keep the fire burning in my heart for you. Sometimes he confuse me, because he wants me to give him a chance. But when he saw me crying because Jane texted me that you were back together, he was defending you. It was crazy. I don't know why he did that but he did." Isabella stopped and started to cry.

"Don't cry, Isabella," Carlo said as he gestured to wipe her tears.

"No, just let them fall. Just let them all fall until my tears are all dried up, so next time I will miss you, I will never cry again," she said, pushing his hand away.

"Do you still believe that we still have our future in our hands or is the past all that we have left?" she asked.

"I believe that we both have them. We are the only ones who can create our future. It is based on our decisions at the present, on the things that we do today."

"Do you think we still have a chance or is this just an illusion of a colorful past that we used to have?"

"I don't know. Chances? I do not base my life on chances. If you still want me, if you still believe that our love is still real, then we can still make this work."

"For the past year, when I learned that you and Jane got back together, I felt devastated. I guess that's just my karma. It felt so bad to believe that the person you love the most would lie to you and I remembered the day when I first left you. You must have felt the same way or maybe worse, while I didn't feel anything. For the past year, I made myself believe that our time has long passed, and that the fire that once used to burn our souls with passion and desire has long died. What were left are just ashes and pain that we have mistaken as the fire that once consumed us, because they both hurt."

"My love for you never ended, Isabella. I may have wronged you, I may have lied to you, but I never stopped loving you. I always hoped that one day, everything will go back to where they're supposed to be, until then, I will be wandering around picking up the pieces that I don't want to be back and throw them away."

"But the world continues to revolve, and time never goes back."

"Then stay with me and let us make more memories. Happy memories way better than what we had before."

"I will be leaving for London in a few months. I will just take the board exam to become a CPA, and then I'll leave."

"Wow!" Carlo sighed in anger. He stood up and breathed deeply. "You're leaving again. Why are you doing this to me? Why do you have to come back when you plan to leave again? You always return for a while then leave me. With what you're doing, you are killing me over and over again. What have I done to you to deserve this, Isabella? Is this what I get for loving you so much?!"

"See, we never get along together. I guess I should leave now."

"You're leaving again. Whenever things are not in your favor, you escape. It was not my fault that we were born about the same year. It is not my fault that when you met me, I am not yet rich like Franco. This situation, this life, this is not my fault. But I have been working my ass out, studying so hard so we can have the life that we've always wanted! But I need you to stay with me. To be beside me. We're supposed to be partners, Isabella. We're supposed to be helping and supporting each other, but all you do is leave me alone. And when I tried to look for someone to at least lighten up my day, to fill in the empty space you've left, you get upset and accuse me of not loving you enough. Don't you think it's unfair? You have Franco to always be there for you while I have no one."

"I have to go," she said as she stood up, ready to leave.

"No, please, don't leave me again, Isabella."

"I have to."

"If you really want to go, then go. But please never return. Never come back and just let me move on with my life. Stop making me believe that one day you will stay with me and we will have a happy family. Because I don't think you can do that. I don't think that you really love me. You're right, our love has long died. It may not even be love. You just needed someone to give you the love that you never felt from your family."

Thunder stroke the heavens and the wind blew hard, as hard as the slap that Carlo received on his face.

"Thank you for insulting me." Isabella left and travelled back to Franco's pod.

Franco is there on the couch, sleeping, then she saw a box, gift wrapped on top of the center table. She bent over and kissed him gently on the check, which woke him up.

"Hi!" she greeted.

"Hi," he replied as he sat up on the couch. "I'm glad you arrived safely. I was worried about you, it's already one am."

"I'm sorry. I should have called you."

"It's okay. As long as you are fine. Are you hungry? Let's eat. I bought some roasted chicken and vegetable for dinner. I was waiting for you when I fell asleep."

"Yes, I'm starving."

"What happened to your friend's party? Did you enjoy?"

"Not much. There's a lot of people, and you know me, I can't eat much when there's a lot of people around," she lied.

"Okay. Let's go," he said and they walked towards the kitchen.

"Did you cry?" Franco asked, noticing the redness of her nose and her reddish swollen eyes.

"No, I'm just having colds, I guess. You know, it was a tiring week for me, a tiring day."

"Okay then, please rest after dinner. I'll just sleep on the couch so you'll be comfortable in the bed." Isabella smiled, trying to keep herself calm because if she utters another word, she might burst into tears again. While they were eating, Franco stared at her and suddenly said, "You look beautiful."

"You always say that."

"Because it's true, and I have one more thing to tell you."

"What is it?"

"I love you."

Isabella looked at him for a while, her tears started to well up her eyes again. For some reason when Franco said those words, she thought she heard Carlo's voice. Franco was surprised by her reaction, he didn't know what to do.

"Oh, no. Please don't cry. Have I said something wrong?" he asked worriedly.

Isabella bowed her head and wiped her tears with the table napkin. Franco rose from his seat and bent over to hug Isabella, trying to console her.

"What's wrong, Isabella? Please tell me…"

"Carlo."

"What about him?"

"It's all over between us. I thought our love will never end. I thought no matter what happens to us, we will be able to survive and make it til the end together. But I was wrong. We were both wrong."

Franco didn't say a thing. He was both happy and sad for her. This will be his chance to really show her how much he loves her but he doesn't want to see her devastated like this.

Isabella stood up and hugged him tightly. She buried her face in his broad chest while Franco lightly tapped her back. She continued to cry, while standing there for like forever until her tears stopped falling. She released herself from Franco's arms and looked straight into his eyes. They stared at each other for a moment. Franco is still trying to guess what's going on in her mind. Isabella tiptoed and kissed him on his lips. He could not believe her but also cannot resist her soft lips. Those red lips that he has always wanted to kiss for two years are now against his. Her soft kisses slowly became wild, and all he can do is to respond and kiss her back. Franco slowly walked backwards, pulling her with him, until they reached the bedroom. Their lips never parted, his arms still wrapped around her. She pushed him towards the bed and started unbuttoning her blouse. Franco watched her, his chest still pumping hard. He is not sure if it's because of nervousness or excitement. Then Isabella crawled over him, with only in her underwear.

The rain started to fall outside, like a thunderstorm. The trees swayed with the strong blows of the wind. The birds started seeking for a different nest to rest in. The weather became wild just like Isabella's feelings towards Franco. Wild and uncontrollable. The moon was covered with thick clouds, clouds that are filled with anger and sadness, and not one star was able to peek through the heavens.