That Unexpected Feeling

Chapter 4

Justin was not amused.

After he and Alessa went their separate ways, a phone call came from his sister asking him to pick her up from school. Worried over the reason of the call, he drove the fastest he could only to be ushered into the principal's office as soon as he arrived.

To his left he saw his sister, seventeen year-old Bianca Rosaceña, accompanied by her class adviser. The young Rosaceña's face was flustered and Justin thought he saw scratch marks on both of Bianca's arms.

"Binks, what happened?" Justin asked exasperatedly. Although his sister was quite the feisty one, he never expected her to be involved in school violence which he managed to avoid during his high school years.

"Your sister here figured in an incident, Mr. Rosaceña," a stern-looking woman explained. He recognized her as Mrs. Constancia Mejia, the high school principal of Forest Hills. "She and a fellow student were arguing right in the hallways of the senior building."

"Nadine started it first!" Bianca bellowed.

"Watch your mouth, Rosaceña!" came the voice of another student. Justin turned and saw another girl seated across his sister.

"You've been spreading lies about my family ever since I refused to introduce you to my brother," his sister's face was filled with annoyance. "And now you're trying to turn my friends against me? Why don't you fight fair, you witch!"

Always the impulsive one, he knew how protective Bianca was of their family. Much has been speculated of Justin's life ever since his mother married Arthur Rosaceña eighteen years ago. When they met, his mom was a single mother of a four-year old boy. Separated from the child's father, she worked as a bank teller to support her son's future. Arthur was the heir apparent to one of the province's prominent families known for their political and business connections. There were rumors about his engagement to an heiress from Tarlac but society was shocked when he announced his upcoming wedding to Olivia dela Merced instead.

"You allowed this behavior among your students?" he asked, turning to the principal for answers.

"I'm really sorry, Mr. Rosaceña. We don't condone incidents like this within our school's premises," Mrs. Mejia said. "I can assure you we will speak to the students concerned and sanction them properly."

"But kuya! Why do I have to be punished as well?" Bianca complained.

"Because what you did was wrong," Justin explained, feeling bad but sternly assuring his sister the disciplinary action was called for.

"Kuya, you saw what they did –" Bianca said angrily.

"Mrs. Mejia is just being fair –", he told his sister. "I'm really sorry for my sister's behavior," turning to the older woman.

"We understand, sir. I assure you incidents like this won't happen again," Mrs. Mejia promised.

"We're counting on that," Justin said.

With their concern done, he led his sister towards the door. It was a quiet ride on their way back as Bianca sulked in the front seat still smarting over the incident that they barely said a word to each other the entire day.

That weekend, the group decided to meet up at village clubhouse to discuss Trina's party and work on the invitations. Steffi and Jen recently got into the whole hand lettering craze and they offered to design the invites. As soon as Rafa and Benj arrived, they made a beeline for the girls' workstation when Melissa Gualvez and her posse stopped them in their tracks. They curiously asked if there's any truth to the rumors that Justin has been dating someone recently.

"Mel, not to be rude or anything but – I don't think it's any of our business if Justin is indeed dating someone." Rafa answered coolly.

"Someone saw him at Galleria the other day," one of Melissa's minions spoke up.

"Are you running surveillance on our friend?" Benj asked. "Or did Daniela put you up to it?"

"Dani? No! She's in Manila, remember?" Melissa deflected. Both guys rolled their eyes in disbelief, clearly not believing any word she said. They dismissed the girls when Erik arrived, addressing the group with worry in his eyes.

"Guys, we have a problem."

Her presence startled him as pressed the button to lock his car. He had a hunch he was being followed. But what Justin didn't expect was to see an unwanted guest waiting just a few cars away.

"What are you doing here?" he said bitingly.

"Can we talk?" she replied eagerly, clearly not picking up on the icy reception.

His laughter was sarcastic.

"We have nothing to talk about –"

Disappointment flashed through her face. But she was persistent. "Come on, for old time's sake?"

"Stalking me won't achieve anything," Justin made himself clear. "We're done, Daniela. Everything ended between us five years ago."

Daniela was dumbfounded. Her words had no power over him anymore and she hated it. She was used to being in control.

"Breaking your heart was a mistake –"

"The realization's a little too late, don't you think?" he spat, irritated at the pity card act. "Clearly you had no problem dumping me when you snagged the attention of your hotshot varsity boyfriend."

"Liam was my parent's choice," Daniela explained. "I had to toe the line otherwise they'd cut me off."

The Javiers belonged to the one of the old families in the city. They usually intermarried within their circle and were known to frown upon outsiders. Justin, although now legally a Rosaceña, was considered as one since he was born prior to his mother's marriage.

"So you picked trust fund over love," Justin emphasized. "I guess it's a good thing we ended things before it turned serious."

"I want you back, Justin." Daniela's voice was calculating yet desperate. "And I know you still love me too."

He chuckled at her ridiculous confession. "Are you even hearing yourself? That ship has sailed, Daniela."

Justin's constant rejection of her advances broke her. "I tried to play this nicely," she retorted, finally dropping the nice-girl facade. "But you're obviously still pre-occupied with your infatuation over Miss Perfect."

"Leave Alessa out of this," he warned his former girlfriend. "She has nothing to do with us."

"Oh, really? See that's where you're wrong, Justin." Daniela sneered. His steadfast defense of Alessa further confirmed a suspicion she'd been harboring since high school. "Are you even sure she likes you? You're nothing but a friend."

"I don't see how that's any of your business," he said, brushing her off.

"Then you're the pathetic one!" she yelled.

Justin chose to simply ignore her taunts. "We're done here," he told her for the last time as he furiously got in the car, started it and maneuvered his way out of the parking lot leaving a bitter ex-girlfriend fuming mad.