24/7

Glass of Water

•~• Jay's POV •~•

As soon as the words left my lips, I felt her stiffen and recoil from my touch.

"You.. killed Vivienne? How?"

I tightened my hold on her, afraid that if I let go, she'll walk out the door without even looking back.

"The dance floor was packed with people so Vivienne and I decided to step out onto the balcony. She was leaving the next morning for a short holiday with her family so we wanted to spend as much time together as we could."

I felt her slowly relax inside my arms so I loosened my hold on her. She burrowed closer and then I felt her hand latch onto my ear. By this time we were already laying flat on the bed and her actions smoothed the last of my frayed nerves.

"We were slow dancing and talking about our plans once she gets back from her holiday. Kami lang nasa balcony. Until Juan Carlo arrived. He was drunk and spitting mad. He kept calling me names. Accusing me of ruining his life. The more he raged, the angrier he got. I was trying to calm him down. Viv was also talking to him. But he just got angrier and angrier."

"Then what happened?"

I took a deep breath, not sure whether I could keep going but Nic needed to know the truth so I continued telling her my story.

"He broke the bottle of beer he was holding and threatened me with it. I knew I needed to do something to de-escalate the situation. So I charged him. I felt I could disarm him easily seeing as he was drunk and I was stone-cold sober. In my haste, I forgot about Vivienne."

I felt Nic tremble beside me.

"She tried to stop me. Tried to stop us from fighting and getting hurt. Pero I was so intent on disarming Juan Carlo and he has hellbent on hurting me. I don't think anybody could've stopped us at that point. Juan Carlo swung the broken bottle but I was able to grab his arm before it connected and used his momentum against him. His grip on the bottle was too strong though kaya hindi ko pa rin siya na-disarm. He charged again and I jumped to the side but not before I punched his face. The force of my punch plus yung momentum niya must have pushed him forward just as Viv was running towards us. It all happened so fast. The bottle slashed Vivienne on her side, she slipped on her own blood, fell and hit her head really hard on the marble floor."

I took another bracing deep breath.

"Then the hotel security arrived and got everything under control. Someone called the police. The hotel sent up first aid people. They were able to stop the bleeding but Viv still hasn't regained consciousness. One of our friends helped me rush her to the nearest hospital. She died two days after. Hindi na siya nagising, Nic. And it was my fault. Vivienne died because I decided to be a fucking hero."

She hugged me tighter and I felt her tears on my arm.

"You didn't kill her, Jay. You didn't. You need to stop blaming yourself."

"I'm partly to blame. That's the reality of it. She's part of the reason why I focused on work. When she died, I think I died a little too. And I was fine with that. As long as I focused on work and taking care of my family, I won't have time to remember her. I won't feel suffocated by the guilt. I didn't care about finding love anymore. Until..."

"Until?"

I pulled away from Nic's embrace and faced her. Gently, I tilted her face up so I can look her in the eyes.

"Until you."

*•*•*

Author's note: My apologies if I didn't make it clear in the previous chapter that Vivienne was the girl Jay and Juan Carlo was both introduced to and fell in love with.

This part from the previous chapter:

👉🏻We didn't really like the same girls so there was no competition when it came to that. Until we were introduced to the most amazing girl. She was perfect. Smart, funny, easy to talk to.👈🏻

Most amazing girl = Vivienne

Ayan kasi, feeling writer. Palpak naman. Sorry again.