Chasing an Angel

C8.2

Although Leo noticed Mae's unusual silence, he thought nothing about it but when she looked up from her plate while they are eating her swollen eyes did not escape him.

"Were you crying?"

"This is nothing kuya, I was just carried away with what I am reading."

"You are not good at lying Meng and you know that. What really happened?"

Meng remained quiet so Leo pushed further. "I could be of help Meng, please don't hesitate to tell me anything that bothers you."

At this point Meng could not control herself anymore so she began sobbing. Leo stood up from the opposite side of the table and sat beside her.

"What is it Meng? Please tell me as I will not be pacified until I know what is troubling you now." When Meng still did not speak he asked.

"Has RJ something to do with this? I am aware that he has not been calling you lately like he used to do before?"

Meng sobbed louder this time confirming Leo's suspicion. He let out an expletive that made Meng realize what this may cause on a friendship build up for years.

"Don't blame him kuya. Maybe it was not his fault that I lost my trust on him. Please promise me that whatever will happen between us this will not destroy your friendship."

"How could I when I could clearly see that he has taken for granted the things that I had been reminding him that I don't want to happen to you?"  

"Kuya don't make it more harder for me, please."

"Okay, I promise to avoid violence at all cost for the sake of our friendship, but I insist you tell me what happened."

"Kuya please, let the real reason be between me and Alden alone. What I could just share is that he had totally destroyed my trust. This is too painful for me so I have already decided to resign from my job and go back home. I am very thankful that you have all been very supportive of me on my stay here. I have enjoyed so much and found a family and another home in your midst but if I have to stay longer, chances are I will be seeing him again which I may not be able to endure anymore. Seeing him in the flesh would be too much for me to handle hence, I believe that it would be best for both of us if we won't see each other anymore. Tomorrow I will be filing my resignation and I hope the company would be lenient enough to grant me a less that thirty days' notice which I know is their present policy. The sooner I leave the better it would be for me."

"I will respect and support whatever your decision is. We will have to tell papa and tito about this. Should I have known that this would result to this, I would do all means to keep him away from you then."

"It is all over and we cannot undo what has already happened. Just help me go through this while I am still here. Kuya, the only favor that I will beg from you is, if ever he happens to come home while I am still here, help me find a way to avoid him for I do not want to see him anymore."

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Meng promptly filed her resignation letter on her next working day. She just reasoned out that there is an urgent family matter to be attended to back home. She pleaded to his boss to allow her resignation to take effect within fifteen days which he conceded.

Meng felt like a robot working on every day. She is just doing her routine works without feeling any emotion, doing her best to keep away Alden and anything that remind him from her thoughts. She had also gathered and placed into a box all the things that he had given her and requested Bing to give these back to him.

The issue was never discussed between her and her cousins in the house. Life routines seemed normal and even Bing has kept her mouth shut on the topic and they only discussed and talked about mundane things and routinely family concerns.

It was early morning on Saturday when an office mate informed her that her sweetheart is on the phone. It was unexpected and so she asked quietly if it was Alden and when she nodded to confirm she got panicky and requested her to tell him that she was out of the office. Wondering, her office mate did what she requested. It was not a good alibi however, for he called up again half an hour later. This time as she had requested, her office mate had to tell him that Meng is busy attending to a guest.

As there was no choice for her but to seek the assistance of her co-workers just to avoid talking to him, Meng pleaded to them that she be spared from answering phone calls, and, to create plausible reason in her behalf every time he calls why Meng could not possibly talk to him.

Her officemates willingly cooperated. When he called up again just before noon, the staff who answered the phone told him Meng is out for lunch and, when he called up minutes before two in the afternoon he was informed she has already left.

Her office mates are curious on what is happening between them and why she obviously avoids talking to him on the phone. For involving her co-workers, she knows that she owe them an explanation, so she was constrained to tell them that they already broke up and that it is best for both of them that she does not talk to him anymore.

The persistent calls from Alden kept coming in again on Sunday morning and was repeated on Saturday and Sunday of the following week. And in all of these, her office mates had been very helpful by feeding him the same set of reasons that it is either she is out of the office, attending to a guest or had already left.

Aside from the Saturdays and Sundays incidents of two succeeding weeks, her remaining days in the office although uneventful but was generally peaceful.

Her cousins and the rest of her uncles' families are already aware of what happened between Meng and Alden. They had respected Meng's request to let the matters be between her and RJ only. But it was evident that two unspoken rules are now being observed by everyone, and these are: he is "never to be named" in any household discussions and, any circumstance leading to any information or reference about him is a "topic of no interest" at all.

Despite the calmness shown by her relatives when they learned what happened to their relationship, Meng is however worried for she is very sure that they will no longer give RJ the same treatment they used to before.  She also felt guilty for despite her kuya Leo's positive answer to her plea that he won't let this affect the friendship the two had build up for years, she could feel that that is not what he will actually do or what will really happen should they come face to face with each other.  She's just holding on to her Kuya Leo's assurance that he would never resort to violence in retaliation for the pains he had caused her.  And today, being her last day in the office,she felt so relieved and pleased that she could now go home to her family and be away from the reminders of a very painful experience. She could now really start living again peacefully, delete everything about Alden from her life, and, start venturing into what she hopes would be a brighter and happier future.