Remember That Day

Chapter 17

Damek was supposedly going to a group meeting with some of his friends with the same job as him, but it didn’t end that way. He cancelled all of his appointments—he wanted to be alone, for the meantime.

He locked himself in his room and his questions overflowed. He couldn’t contain the unexplainable feeling that he was feeling after he and Jayda argued early in the morning.

“We were okay last night. What happened? Wasn’t she too harsh?” he asked to himself as he lied on his bed. His face was a kind of he was attending a funeral service.

“I just want to be friends with you,” Damek replied, face almost begging.

Jayda let out a sigh. “Thank you, but I’m really fine. I’m okay. Thank you for the concern, really. I have to go—”

Jayda was about to turn her back to him when Damek held her arm. Her eyes automatically landed on his hand holding her then to him.

“Jayda...”

“Damek, I have a boyfriend. I wouldn’t want to worry him or to get him upset. Please, I really have to go.”

It was said to him politely, but he couldn’t deny that it was like a sharp knife that stabbed his chest. Slowly after realizing how she really wanted to go, he finally let go of her arm.

“How dare she trampled my heart to death after I took care of her? My first heartbreak...” he whispered and locked his eyes at the ceiling. “It is like a grief that comes in waves, gruelling, stealing appetite and sleep alike. It is a fragment in my guts that never leaves, though perhaps in time, the edges will dull. It feels like death just as the same as bereavement. In quiet moments like this, it is like it chokes the breath from my body and short circuits my mind.”

Without any changes of his expressions, Damek turned to his right and stared at the plain wall.

He whispered, “My heart that was once whole is now shattered. Where once was peace is emptiness, echoes of a love I put my everything into. My only crime was to not be able to cope with your rage, with the words you allowed to spill unchecked. Nothing is all that is left of a once a proud and strong soul. Fragments on the floor, scared that the next wind will blow them away.”

Then he bolted upright from bed, snatched some tissue and blew his nose as loud as the wind blew from outside.

“I suddenly felt cringy with myself. You’re so disgusting, Damek Ivanov!”

After a half hour, Damek was all dressed up. Cleaned face and shaved mustache and beard, sprayed a very manly scent of perfume, got his shades from his drawer and he was ready to go. He left his room without giving any look to Jayda’s unit. A bitter young man with a broken heart.

“I’m sure he’s going on a date!”

“Oh, I’m jealous. He’s too handsome!”

Damek had a kind of face that would make any girl stop in their tracks. His sweet and seducing smile added to his charm. He’s slim, mascular, and with a towering height. Who wouldn’t fall for him? The fact that he got an obsessed fan, no one could deny that he got a great looks.

He grinned as he stepped out from the elevator. He mumbled, “Yes. I’m too handsome to just get dumped by a mere woman who haven’t any idea of how worthy a Damek Ivanov could be than any other man out there!”

But unfortunately, getting a girlfriend was way too hard for him than illustrating a whole book in less than a month.

As he got to the parking area, he started to call his busy friend, Gon. Although he knew that, he couldn’t think of any other person to accompany and console him and his broken heart.

“You punk! Pick up your phone!” Damek hissed as he drove to the sections of the city, particularly going to the hospital where Gon was working. “Come on!”

A few seconds more of waiting and the call was put through. But Gon was not able to make the first greeting when Damek yelled.

“Da—”

“Finally! I’ve been calling you forever!” Damek announced.

“Just be thankful that it’s you. I don’t usually answer calls when I’m at the hospital. I’m busy. How many times do I have to tell you that, you dimwit?”

Damek pouted. “Right. You have never been nice to me.”

“The hell you sound like a kid? Stop it! It’s making me cringe!” Gon said teasingly. “Why? You seem in a hurry. What’s the matter?”

“Gon! Let’s grab some beer and chicken right now,” he said, smiling widely as he drove first just around the corner to buy the food. “My treat. I’m on my way.”

“Oh. I’m getting a break any moment,” Gon replied. “It’s lunch time anyway. But what? You want beer? Are you crazy?”

“Call me crazy all you want, but I want to get drunk until my heart gets well.”

“Your heart... what? Hey, I’m warning you. Don’t try to get yourself messed up in my office if you don’t want me to cut your throat with my scalpel!”

He grinned as how Gon tried to warn him about getting drunk in the hospital. He answered, “Let’s see, my dear friend. I’ll be there in a minute. Bye!”

“Damek—”

And the call was hung up abruptly without Damek letting his friend to threaten him again for the second time.

It was not long when Damek finally arrived at Gon’s office. The Surgeon was not yet inside, so he waited for him patiently. Patiently like he spun himself on a swivel chair, threw himself on a couch, and messed around the neat and organized table of Gon.

The moment that Damek heard the door squeaked open, he looked over his shoulder only to see the person with a scrunched up face, glaring at him.

“What the hell did you do to my office?” Gon yelled right after he locked the door and scrolled down the blinds.

Damek smiled and crossed his arms as he turned to him. “What? Just be thankful I didn’t burn down your office.”

Gon lips twitched as he roamed his eyes around the room. The last time he remembered, it was as all messed up like this when Damek visited him last month.

He snarled, “Yes, you didn’t! But you almost turned my office upside down again, you jerk!”

“You can just clean them later. Stop nagging.”

Just as Gon accidentally glanced at the couch, a huge box without any label caught his attention.

“What’s inside the box?” he asked, but Damek just shrugged his shoulders as he grinned.

“Guess what?” Gon rolled his eyes over him.

“You know what? You’re making me sick!” Gon inched towards it and what were inside it made his eyes grow wider. He started to yell again.

“What’s this? How could you enter the hospital with a case of beer without getting caught by the guards?” he shouted, brows knitted and mouth half-opened.

Damek rolled his eyes and walked towards the box, grabbed a bottle then waved it. “Relax, Gon. It’s just a guard. A female guard. If you know what I mean.”

That was when Gon realized how presentable and decent Damek with his outfit.

“It’s easy to get them hypnotized with my charms,” Damek said with a confidence in his voice. “They easily forget their job and just let me enter the building.”

Not until a memory suddenly wanted to tease him.

But no matter how Damek tried to calm himself, he ended up facing a front desk agent to ask for a girl named Jayda, although he knew, of course, that it was confidential.

“For the tenth time, I’m saying sorry, Sir. We cannot give out names of our guests. We have to keep the information confidential for safety,” an agent said, giving her most beautiful smile to Damek who seemed very upset.

“Just this once, please? I won’t do anything. I’m not a bad guy! I just really have to know if she’s the one I saw before I arrived here,” he pleaded, but he received a big fat no again.

“That’s not counted. I’m sure she would’ve let me know if I pushed more,” he whispered under his breath, the reason why Gon looked at him with so much confusion.

“What?” Gon asked.

“Ah, nothing.”

Gon just wagged his head with the sudden thought about how Damek successfully arrived at his office with it.

“Charms, my ass. We will be both get screwed if I let a mad man enter the office with beers.”

“Only if you’ll report me. Just drink with me. I’m here anyway.”

After a couple of arguments, Gon just let his friend drink inside his office. What could he possibly do more?

Damek opened two bottles of beer for both of them partnered with two buckets of chicken. It was almost noon and Gon just couldn’t believe that Damek would drink this early.

“What’s wrong with you? Why so sudden?” Gon started to get curious.

“I just want to drink. Come on, just drink with me!”

“I can’t drink right now. I still have some rounds to do after lunch. And I don’t want to get fired yet just because I smelled like alcohol.”

“Whatever, you killjoy.”

They were on the couch and in between them were the bottles and the chicken. Five drumsticks and Gon was good, but Damek was not. The beers were like water for him when he opened the third bottle.

“Are you sure? You just saw her few times and you’re telling me now that you are broken hearted?” Gon exclaimed. “You haven’t confessed to her yet you were dumped?”

“Yes. I’m in love and heartbroken,” Damek answered, smiling. “Did you know what made me broken?”

Gon just stared at him. He was licking his fingers and waiting for Damek to tell him why.

“Do you hate me?”

Last two steps and Jayda halted. She had breathed when she heard Damek asked it. When she turned to see him, she saw him holding his knees and gasping for air.

“What?” Jayda asked, forehead creased.

Damek tilted his head and repeated himself, “Do you hate me? You’re always cranky around me as if I made something wrong with you.”

Jayda stood straight as Damek inched closer to her. He even received a serious face from her.

“No, I don’t hate you,” Jayda answered.

“Does that mean...”

“Look, Damek. I don’t have anything about you. We’re... we’re not just close.”

Damek didn’t know that it would cause his heart a little pain. He wished that he was just overreacting, but he was not.

“Why don’t you try to know me? Be friends with me?” he asked, wondering. He even smiled, trying to please her.

“I got a friend already and I’m fine.”

Damek slowly nodded his head. He said, “You got a friend, fine. But last night, you had no companion or anyone to look after you. You only had yourself only. Luckily, I was there...” Damek bit his lip. “Jayda—”

“Damek,” Jayda interrupted him, “what’s with the so much concern that you are offering me?”

The two didn’t mind if they were in the middle of the city and fighting over something that Jayda couldn’t understand.

“I just want to be friends with you,” he replied, face almost begging.

Jayda let out a sigh. “Thank you, but I’m really fine. I’m okay. Thank you for the concern, really. I have to go—”

Jayda was about to turn her back to him when Damek held her arm. Her eyes automatically landed on his hand holding her then to him.

“Jayda...”

“Damek, I have a boyfriend. I wouldn’t want to worry him or to get him upset. Please, I really have to go.”

It was said to him politely, but he couldn’t deny that it was like a sharp knife that stabbed his chest. Slowly after realizing how she really wanted to go, he finally let go of her arm.

“You poor guy,” Gon whispered as he shook his head. “Does it really hurt that much?”

“Of course.” It was like an answer from a kid who hurt his knee when tripped. “My poor heart.”

“Move on. She got a boyfriend already.”

“How?” Damek asked it with his eyes barely closed. “Can you find me a heart donor? I want a heart transplant. Change my heart right now. I’m willing to pay any amount. Name your price!”

Gon smiled and crossed his arms. He was just staring at Damek which head was a little swaying. He was a little drunk already.

“If only a cardiologist like me could ease a broken heart with heart transplant, I would be willing to do your surgery right away. But unfortunately, it will never be the way to move on.”

Gon suddenly heard him hiccuped. He added, “Stop drinking already.” But he just ignored him.

“Am I ugly?” Damek asked between his hiccups.

Gon chuckled then answered, “In your mother’s eyes, yes.”

The corner of Damek’s lips rose upon hearing it. Just as he took another bite of chicken, he asked again, “I’m handsome?”

“I’m sorry. I’m not your Mother.”

It was the best answer from him that made Damek cry. Although Gon was teasing, he knew it was hard for him to endure a heart that had been shattered because of a girl.