CHAPTER TWELVE: GHOST

Elaine curled her fist into a tight ball slightly deforming the paper in her hand. She was sitting on the bed while her back leaned against the headboard. The sun is about to surface in a few minutes, and yet there she was, still deep in her thoughts.

She already took her medication for insomnia a few hours ago but it didn't kick in just yet. She could not fall asleep after reading the documents that Tan told her to sign for. She heaved out a sigh and put the papers on the table. She adjusted on the bed so she could properly lie down.

Conditioning her mind that signing the papers would settle everything was a bad idea. There were some conditions she had to meet Tan, himself made. Tons of them. They will move to a house. This basically means that she won't be living in his mansion. Odd it may seem, Elaine didn't have any violent reactions to it. The best and fastest way to win his heart over is to live with him under the same roof.

In addition, Tan won't be hiring a housemaid to avoid hypocrisy in the house. Meaning that she would be the one to take care and maintain the harmony and the neatness of the house. That actually sounds fine to her. She knew how to do household chores anyway. If she wanted to cook, she could just search it up on the internet. She was confident that it wouldn't be a hassle at all. But thinking about the reason why he was doing all that slightly pinched her heart.

Tan also added in the agreement that he didn't want to cross paths with her outside their home. He didn't want her to interfere with his personal space. He wanted to make it clear to her that they are married only on paper. That she was being paid for it for the sake of business. No affection. No attention. They wouldn't be sharing the same room. If they saw each other in the house, he wanted her to just pretend that he was not around. Just ignore each other like a ghost and call it a day. After the contract expires, they'd be back to their normal lifestyle anyway. But that was only applicable to Tan.

Elaine rolled over to the side. A heavy sigh escaped from her mouth. She’d be incomplete without him and her life would never be the same ever again.

She slowly blinked her eyes shut. Random thoughts started to crowd her mind. In Tan's eyes, she will always be the cruel ex-wife who left him after taking his money. But Elaine would not lose hope. She was holding onto a chance that someday, she could find a way to win his heart again. To achieve that, she would leave no stone unturned.

"THE stocks will arrive any time tomorrow so if ever Mrs. Efferstein showed up while I'm not around, just have her sign these papers, okay? I already called the supplier about it," Elaine told Anne, handing over the papers she signed for approval.

"Wait, so you won't be able to come here tomorrow?" she asked.

Elaine just smiled. "I am going to be busy tonight because Tan and I are going to move to our new house tomorrow. I have to do some packing and stuff, you know, like furniture shopping and other things that need to be done. It's going to be a long day, for sure. So, I'm sorry if I couldn't make it here tomorrow."

Anne nodded with a smile. "No problem. I’ll take care of it. Also, congratulations, ma'am. Let me know about the housewarming schedule so I can prepare something ahead of time."

She smiled. "Of course. I'll let you know about that. You may invite your boyfriend to come over so I can finally meet him."

When Elaine sat on the stool, she saw a familiar figure of a man through the glass wall. He was wearing dark glasses, walking towards her shop. Elaine started to freak out. She jumped out of the stool and hid under her desk.

It was Marco again.

"Listen, if he's looking for me, tell him I didn't come to work today, okay?" she told her assistant. Anne gave an awkward and slight nod.

Elaine huddled under the desk. After the humiliation scandal yesterday she didn’t want to face him anymore. Shame brewed into her. However, she couldn't help but wonder; Why did he keep coming back anyway?

"Hi, sir. How may I help you today?" she heard Anne's voice, greeting him.

"Is your boss around?"

Elaine pouted her lips. And he really did look for her, huh? She couldn't help but shake her head in disbelief.

"I have something to talk to her about."

Elaine's brows met. She was kind of wondering what he was really up to.

"Ah. . ."

Elaine sneered. Anne needed to do better in expressing alibis, for real. It took her time before she was finally able to speak again.

"I hate to break it with you, sir, but ma'am Elaine couldn't come to work today. But maybe I can be of help. What brand and size are you trying to look for?"

At last. Elaine could breathe a sigh of relief. She restrained her ears. However, she could not hear the man's response after that. She pressed her ear against the desk. Had he left already? She clicked the tip of her tongue. Did he really go there just to see her? So, he didn't really intend to buy at all. What does he want from her?

The guy was not able to buy anything yesterday because of what happened. Perhaps, he noticed the discomfort in her face so he decided to leave and told her to come back some other time instead. She had no idea he was actually capable of keeping his promises in less than twenty-four hours.

"What the heck!" A face that appeared right above the desk startled her.

The cop's smile broadened, amused by her reaction. "What's up?"

Elaine bit her tongue realizing how foolish she was. Heat rushed into her face.

"You look cute when you blush."

She rolled her eyes.

"I told you to stop hitting on me. I'm taken, do you understand? So, stop trying because it won't work on me anyway."

A mischievous grin formed his lips. It was her first time seeing Marco's face that close. He looked decent and neat. Maybe because he had fair skin and he knew how to carry himself well. He looked handsome. There was a tiny dimple that played at the corner of his cheek whenever he smiled. Elaine realized that he was about 5 feet and 11 inches tall, almost as tall as Tan's height. But in Elaine's eyes, this man would always pale in comparison to her husband.

She shook her head. What was she thinking about comparing this man to Tan?

"My fiancée would get jealous if you kept staring."

"Excuse me?"

Amused, he smiled and reached out his hand to her. Elaine froze to the ground while staring at his hanging hand. Why is this man being gentle and kind to her now? She crawled out of the desk on her own, refusing to take his help. She wanted to hit herself. What's up with her?

Elaine sat on the chair as if nothing happened. She poured her attention to the piles of paper on the desk, pretending to arrange them. Marco turned around to face her assistant.

"Thank you for the offer, Anne. However, my fiance and your boss happened to have the same body size. It would be better if she'd try on the dresses I plan to buy, don't you agree?"

Elaine stood speechless, staring at him in utter disbelief.

ANOTHER series of irritable sighs escaped from her mouth as she took off the first dress. The brute picked two white maxi dresses and two blouses. What a generous fiance he must be. So, he's really getting married? According to him, it was a surprise gift for his woman. She must be really fortunate. But not enough to make her feel envious.

Then she thought of Tan. He used to give her clothes and surprise gifts back in the day. Just like Marco, the prices didn't matter to him.

Elaine shook her head. Her eyes flew towards the mirror in the fitting room. She stared at herself. The dress looked good on her. Her fair skin complexion really matched the colour of the dress. It was a floral multi print midi dress that reached below the knees. The dress really showed how slim her figure was.

She slid the curtain aside and got out of the fitting room. Marco was sitting on the couch, waiting patiently for her to come out. He was busy scrolling through his phone but he raised his face to look at her.

He stared at her keenly. Then, a smile etched across his lips. Before she knew it, the man lifted his hands and took a photo of her before she could even react.

"What's that for?" she protested.

"I'm going to send the picture to the maid of honor so she could help me decide. Don't worry, I won't be sending your face. Just the dress and how it actually looked."

"But it's not part of the deal. . ."

Marco folded his arms against his chest, crossed his legs and said, "Next please."

Anne handed another set of clothes to her. She took it with a sour face and stomped towards the fitting room without showing any hint of enthusiasm.

He took pictures of her every time she stepped out of the fitting room and sent them to the maid of honor.

"I wanted to give you guys a tip but I don't have cash here."

"No need. Happy to help," Elaine declined.

"How about I treat you to dinner to compensate for your good service? How's that sound?"

"You sure have lots of time on your hands aside from money, huh. Are you a real cop for real?" she raised a brow. She could not help but notice but it seemed that good-looking cops are increasing in number nowadays.

"If you really want to get to know more about me, then you should accept my dinner invitation. I have so much to tell about myself."

She gave him a dirty look. It was her first time to encounter a man who's about to get married but had the nerve to ask another girl for a dinner date. Couldn't he get any more impressive?

"I am a busy person so, thanks but no thanks," she said.

The man was about to say something but she preceded him right away with a bow. "Thank you for your purchase, sir. Please come again."

"ARE you sure you don't really want us to escort you?" Macon's voice registered from her phone's speaker. She stuck her phone between her shoulder and ear while she was carrying the two suitcases into the trunk of her car.

"Don't bother. I'll just invite you to come over to our housewarming soon. Okay?"

"As you wish. You take care of yourself. . ."

"Uh, one second, Macon. By the way, did Mr. Chito already know about this?"

"That you and Tan are married again?"

"Did he say something?"

"Nothing. Aside from "She's going to ruin her life again" that was pretty much it," he said, mimicking Mr. Chito's voice.

Elaine exhaled deeply. Is she really about to ruin her life again? No. She was beyond ready to face what's about to come. She had no intention to ruin something but rather she's going to build something meaningful.

She slammed the car's trunk door closed before running towards the driver's seat. She held her phone properly this time.

"Just tell him that Tan and I had gotten along well already," she said before she finally hung up the call.

Elaine had gotten home before the clock reached three. She needed to pack her things fast. Tan texted her the address of the house in Makati. She checked the time on her wristwatch. Five minutes to eight in the evening. Lucky enough if there's no traffic, she'd probably reach her destination before ten sharp.

She brought her fingers to her cellphone, clicking the Waze app open. Her fingers were moving fast trying to locate the address. Off she went right away once she found it and followed the navigation map flashed in her phone. However, the route took her to a bumpy road instead, far from the wide and safe highway she was expecting. She tried to refresh the app just in case it was glitching but the route map was working just fine. She was on the right track.

A few minutes later, Elaine brought her car to a stop right in front of an old house with a rusty gate secured around it. Hesitant, she climbed out of her car and she could see the slightly opened gate from where she stood. She carefully peeped into the gate. A one-story house. She might sound like exaggerating herself but the old house will more likely to collapse in just a snap of a magnitude four earthquake.

She grabbed her phone and dialled Tan's mobile number.

"Hello?" she greeted when Tan picked up her call. The man from the other line didn't respond so she continued speaking through the phone. "I'm here. But can you double-check if the address you gave me was correct?"

"You arrived in the right place," he answered assuredly.

"But. . . How can you be so sure? This is not a condo or even an apartment. I just want to make sure if—"

"The gate is open. Just come in."

Confusion rose into her even more. She tried to push the door open as he ordered. It made a squeaky sound as it opened. Hesitant, Elaine took a careful step in until she reached the pathway leading to the main door. The door bust opened, revealing Tan. His hand was in his pocket and just like her, his other hand was holding a phone pressed on his ear.

Their eyes met.

When he smiled, Elaine's heart started to pound in her chest. However, the way it pounded inside felt something different. Like not in a way she'd feel excited about.

The deep glimpse of his eyes was trying to leave a message that's too painful for her to decipher; six months of suffering and shedding tears.

Will she be able to make it until the end?