Love Sucks, But Not Always

Chapter Eight

"What are you wearing, Jairee Alexia Sorell? You look gorgeous!" Vera beamed at me when she saw what I was wearing. She sat on the sofa and watched me look at my reflection in the mirror.

"Do I look good?" I asked her.

"Where are you going, by the way?"

"I'm planning to surprise Isaiah. It's his birthday today." I answered and sat beside her.

She made a face. "Ang corny ah. I mean, corny ka naman na noon pa pero mas naging corny ka no'ng naging kayo na ng Isaiah na 'yan."

"What? I think it's sweet." I clung to her.

"Sweet? Jairee, it's disgusting!"

Tumawa naman ako atsaka tumayo. "Kaya wala kang jowa, Vera." pang-aasar ko sa kanya.

"It's okay. I'm saving myself from stress and possible heartbreak. Don't worry. You can still cry to me when he hurts you. I'll punch him to death if that happens." she said while looking at her newly-made nails.

"Do you think he'll be surprised?" tanong ko kay Vera. Bumuntonghininga naman siya at tumango.

"You said it yourself. Sweet things."

I thought Vera was right. I thought surprised are sweet. But no. It could be painful. It could crush you.

I thought I was the one who's surprising Isaiah tonight, but I was wrong. I was the one who got surprised.

"Happy Birthday, Babe." a woman kissed my boyfriend in front of me. Isaiah's friends have no idea I'm here, but Xandro saw me. He saw me, and yet, he didn't do anything. He just stood there watching me.

I did nothing and went home. I was just crying the whole night while the scene I saw a while ago kept repeating in my mind. I turned off my phone, so no one could reach me. I didn't even greet Isaiah kahit sa text na lang. Just how long was he cheating on me? And why- why is nobody telling me? Why are his friends tolerating his actions?

It was past 4 when someone knocked on my door. Is dad home already? I thought he was going to stay in Manila for a week? It has only been two days since he left.

Nagulat ako nang tumambad ang lasing na Isaiah nang buksan ko ang pinto. What is he doing here? Pinapasok ba siya nila manang Imelda?

"What are you doing here?" tanong ko kay Isaiah. Tinignan niya ang mukha ko na para bang sinusuri niya ito.

"Did you cry? Why did you cry?" he asked in a sweet voice. I felt like crying again, but I stopped myself.

"Nothing. I just finished doing my homework. Did you enjoy the party?" I lied.

He smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I enjoyed it so much," he said, chuckling.

Nakaramdam naman ako ng kirot sa dibdib. He enjoyed cheating, huh? I forced a smile and looked away because I thought I would cry again.

"Hindi ka pa ba uuwi? You should sleep. Lasing ka na."

"I want to spend the night here. I missed you. Hindi ka nagpunta sa party ko." he pouted like a kid.

I did. I want to say I went there only to see him cheating on me, but I can't. Lalo na ngayong niyakap niya ako na para bang ako pa rin talaga iyong mahal niya. I want to yell at him. I want to hurt him like how he hurt me.

"Did you eat? Do you want to eat?" he asked while caressing my cheeks.

I shook my head. "I'm too tired to eat, Isaiah. You should go home. Late na." I sighed.

"Jairee," he called my name. I didn't look at him. I remained looking at the floor. "Do we have a problem?" he asked, making me scoff. Really? Do we have a problem? Yeah. We have a problem here. I caught him cheating on me. But that's not really the problem here. The problem here is that I don't want him to know that I caught him cheating because I don't want to lose what we have. I'm so stupid.