This Could End

Chapter Forty-One

Minus the incident with Asia, everything was going according to plan.

My mother was so relieved when I broke her the news the same day my father signed the paper. She was more at ease now that the lawyer was about to file the petition for annulment. She already improved so much when I got back, but she was even livelier and healthier in just a matter of days.

It was painful to admit but I played a part on coddling her for years, treating her like a fragile glass. I thought shielding her from my father was the best thing I could do for her. I was too afraid that she wouldn't be able to handle the truth and that it would push her into an abyss of depression and wouldn't be able to recover. Clearly, I was wrong. I should have trusted her more and believed that her love for me was enough. There was no point in punishing myself thinking about it now though. What mattered now was that she was better than okay.

As for my career, everything was already set in stone. I would be acting from time to time but establishing myself as a director was the ultimate goal. Soon enough, I'd be working behind the scenes rather than being under the spotlight.

My latest issue with Asia was already old news. It helped that both parties never paid attention to it. Reacting would only douse fuel to the fire, and without the fuel, the fire eventually died.

The still nameless ghost of my past felt like an itch that I couldn't reach, but I knew that I could live without finding out who it really was. He or she had no power over me anymore; the card that whoever it was had, no longer had value to me. The only reason why I was scared of it before was because of my father, but now that my father was no longer a threat, I couldn't care less if those photos from the past got released.

If there was one thing that I was scared of right now... it would be losing Hadeon again. If he told me directly that he wouldn't take me back... I wasn't sure if I could ever recover. I was barely existing when I was in New York. The only thing that kept me going through those years was Film School, and the only reason why I enrolled in the first place was because of Hadeon.

It made me feel connected to him somehow. Even if it was just in my head. I could feel him supporting me each day, telling me how proud he was that for once, I was doing something for myself.

I couldn't take losing him again. I would do everything... just so he would forgive me for hurting and leaving him behind. I would never give him up again. I would never give us up like that again. I already knew what losing him felt like. I refuse to feel like that again.

Even if I had to stalk to get a glimpse or make some excuses to be with him, I would do it without a second thought. Like right now.

"Kaia," I heard Ate Lavie's voice before I saw her.

She rushed inside her office with a folder on her hand. I stood up from the sofa and removed my sunglasses to properly greet her. Nang makalapit siya sa akin ay bumeso ako.

"I'm sorry. Did you wait long? Meron kasi kaming meeting," paliwanag niya.

"No worries. Kakarating ko lang halos," nakangiting sagot ko.

It was true. Wala pang sampung minuto ang hinintay ko. Her assistant brought me in her office to wait.

"Nakakahiya sa'yo. Hindi ka na dapat nag-abala pa. I would have asked someone to deliver the invitation to you."

Just like what Mrs. Serrano promised, she asked Ate Lavie to give me an invite for their resort's opening in Batangas which was happening this weekend. I knew it was the perfect justification to see Hades today.

I grinned. "It's okay. I'm free today and I'm going to see Hades anyway," I reasoned out. That was my excuse to her, and I would be using the same excuse to Hades, except it would be the other way around.