Another Part Of Me

Chapter 25

Luciana and Michael sat across from each other in silence. Luciana was nervous. Michael had informed her that they needed to talk. Luciana was clueless on what Michael was referring to, but she feared it wouldn't be good. Michael sat up and cleared his throat. "I'm not sure where to start."

"Maybe you can start by telling me why we're sitting here."

"Aren't we trying to save this relationship?"

"Are we? Because that's what I want. I'm not so sure about you."

"We are. Now that we've established that, you leave me confused."

"Confused how?"

"I turn on the televison to see your lips on another man's. I just want to know why."

"I didn't know you knew about that. You have to let me explain."

"Please do. As a matter of fact, I'd like you to start by telling me who this mystery man is."

Luciana froze and looked away from Michael's glare. "It was Eric.."

Michael rested his hand on his forehead. "You lied to me."

"You don't understand!"

"You've been seeing him behind my back?"

"What? No! I-I didn't even know he was going to be at the restaurant that night. Besides then, I've only seen him the night of my premiere."

"That doesn't explain why you two were kissing."

"He kissed me!"

"You must've led him on."

"Stop accusing me! Why all the blame on me? What about Lisa, huh? What've you two been doing?"

"What?"

"Don't play dumb with me!"

"How do you know about her?"

"No, it's your turn to answer some questions. How you feelin' about Lisa, huh? She must make you feel special. More so than Luciana freaking Santiago!"

"Luciana, stop!"

"No puedo hacer esto! Esto es demasiado."

"Calm down." Michael pulled her close to his chest. "Stop crying."

"I can't do this." She rested her head on his shoulder. They looked up as their eyes met. Michael kissed Luciana's lips. She held his face in her hands as the kiss continued more passionately. Michael removed her shirt and started kissing down her body. "Michael.." She stopped to catch her breath. "Michael, stop." He rested his forhead against hers. Luciana sighed and closed her eyes. "What are we doing?"

"I don't know."

"We shouldn't be doing this. If our relationship doesn't have honesty then what does it have?"

"Look at me." He lifted Luciana's chin on the tip of his finger. "You tell me what you think we should do. As of now, I'm clueless."

"I think you and I need a break. We need to release some tension between us."

"Okay."

"How do you feel about this?"

"At this point, I'm willing to do just about anything to save our relationship."

"Me too. Honestly, do you still have feelings for me at all?"

"I love you. Every relationship has its complications. We've both been focused elsewhere and it slowly made us drift."

"I guess you're right. I'll call you, okay?"

"Alright."

Luciana put her shirt on and walked into the guest room with tears in her eyes.

Luciana's Goodbye

I've sat next to Michael in the hospital before. When he was hurt, I hurt. I wonder if that's how he feels now. Right now, I feel our relationship is coming to an end. This is tearing me apart. I'm leaving today, and Michael's not home. I overheard him on the phone with Lisa last night. He sounded really happy. They were talking and laughing.. and I can honestly say that I'm becoming more and more envious of Lisa by the day. I didn't have the heart to tell him I was leaving for good, so I left him a letter with my engagement ring on it.

Michael

I found Luciana's letter on top of my desk drawer. I knew that it couldn't be good when I saw her engagement ring on the paper. I sighed and read it aloud. "Michael, words can't explain how much I love you. I'm fighting my tears as hard as I can right now. But anyway, I think this may be best for you and I. You have such a busy life, and I feel like I've just become a distraction." I shook my head as I was reading, because I knew she was lying. " You've got a lot on your hands and I don't want to be the one to put extra weight on your shoulders. I've had an absolute blast being able to tour with you. I felt as if you were the teacher, and I was the student. You're truly one of a kind. You never go out of style. I loved how we understood each other. I could just cry on your shoulder and your comfort just made me feel like the only girl in the world. You really are something special. You'll hold a special place in my heart forever, as my one and only Papi. I really wish I could have met your mother in person, but I love her as well. Conversing with her over the phone has been a blessing. Her words helped pull me through a lot. Let her know that for me. I don't know if I've told you this, but you inspire me. You carry so much passion in what you do and I admire it. Your love for children is also admirable, and beautiful as well. When I see you with children, it warms my heart. It makes me think about what a wonderful father you'd make. I really hope God blesses you one day with kids of your own. Last but not least, I'd like to say that you were my best friend, my lover, and my mentor. I shall cherish every magic moment we've spent together in my heart for the rest of my life. I'm going to miss you.. love you. Signed, Luce."

I'm heartbroken. I'm not sure why she just decided to give up. All of her things are gone, and I've come to realization that I've just lost someone who was my bride-to-be. I was determined to make our relationship work, but I feel like I've failed miserably.

Right next to her letter was a picture of Luciana, her sister, and I the night they came to my concert. She had a note attached to the picture that read:

Best day of my life. As corny as it sounds, I'll never regret finding your watch. I wanted you to keep this picture to remind you of 1988, where it all began.

Part of me didn't want to keep the picture. It'll probably sadden me in the future as much as it does now. I placed it back in the drawer where she usually kept it. I'm still quite overwhelmed about all of this. I don't know what to do. I'm not sure if I should do anything more than just let her go..