Thorns, Fire, and Petals

Chapter 3: The Unspoken Wounds

Sometimes it's not the tears that measure our pain, but the smile we make when we're hurt.--- Carlo

***

RIA's POV

Eman sent me a message again asking for Carlo, it's been 3 months since he left. The police are still looking for Steven, it's a good thing that Carlo managed to identify him as well as the Balut (duck egg embryo, a local delicacy) vendor who has rescued him after the assault. We helped him file a case against Steven, he seems to be following Carlo from the bar based on what he recalled.

My phone vibrated again, this time Eman is calling.

"Hey girl what's up?" I answered the call

"Girl, (our endearment with our girl and guy friends) any news from Carlo? It's been a while" Eman said on the other line.

It's a good thing that I'm also friends with Jane. I managed to get some information about Carlo, although he told her not to disclose other info and promised to contact us soon.

So, I'll just share the news to Eman so he can stop perturbing.

"Well I managed to get some info from Jane, Carlo's, cousin," I said "Carlo is fine and he will contact us soon. You just have to wait" I told Eman.

"Any news about Steven from your side? Is he still harassing you?" I asked

"So far, the phone calls stopped after I blocked his number and filed a complaint, I also told the office to check all the calls and block if anything is coming from his number or any unknown caller. The last thing I heard he's hiding somewhere in Antipolo, my friend from the bureau (NBI) told me since he is also wanted from other cases and illegal drugs" Eman said.

"Alright girl, I'll contact you once I get new information. Please be careful!" I said

"Bye Ria regards to Richard and Elaine" Eman on the line saying goodbye

"Sure, Bye," I said as I pressed the end call.

After the incident, Eman has been receiving calls from Steven asking for Carlo's whereabouts. Good thing that nobody in their office knows where Carlo and why he suddenly stopped working. They just know he had an accident and needed to leave.

Steven is such a mystery to us. He is our batchmate in college, he's one of the basketball varsity players, mister popular. I saw him talk to Carlo a couple of times before, he seems decent although he's a bit rough and egoistic, I never imagined him violent. Maybe his drug addiction changed him but why did he have to attack Carlo and now he seemed so obsessed with him. To a point that he is harassing Eman. I massaged my temple thinking of the past months. 

Remembering the call from Eman, that was right after Carlo left. Ria received a call from Eman.

"Ria, there was this guy calling and asking for Carlo. At first, I thought it was just a prank or something but it's becoming a habit. He's been calling like in the middle of the night or whenever I am out with my friends and it's somehow alarming. I think it's that guy who beat him. He sounded crazy, he was asking where I am hiding Carlo and then the next he was threatening to kill me as if I'm cheating on Carlo. Who is this guy Ria? I heard from Carlo before that you guys know him," Eman's litany.

"Are you okay? Was it only a call? What exactly is he saying?" I questioned him

" I am fine now, and yes it was mostly calls but some of the calls felt like he has been watching me. There was this one time I was with a friend on a date and out of the blue, I received his call. He told me," he suddenly changed his voice and continued

"I know what you're doing, and who's with you. You cannot do this to Carlo, I will not let you hurt him!" Eman imitating the caller's words and voice. "Gosh Ria, he is so creepy! As if Carlo and I are in a relationship. He felt like he's obsessed with Carlo, like an ex-boyfriend or something" those were Eman's words.

"Steven, who are you in Carlo's life?" Ria whispered to herself.

Carlo needs to explain this, is he hiding something from us? There's only one way to get the answer for this. Lucky that Jane gave Carlo's number after begging her for some time. I got his w******p number from her, I'll message him.

I typed in "Girl, how are you? Elain and I missed you so much. Please, enough hiding and speak to us. Luv Ria".

Carlo's POV

I was in the middle of my class when I felt my phone vibrate. I checked and quickly read the message and placed the phone back in my pocket. The message was from Ria, I'll answer back after my class. I need to finish this class first.

I finished drawing two animals using circles, I am now on my third circle animals. When one of my students raised her hands.

"Yes, Peerajet" I called out one of my students

"Teacher, can you draw a cat on the third circle," she said smiling

"Sure, you can also draw it on your paper. So, guys, I need you to draw at least 3 animals of your choice, use your imagination. It should be made from the circles"

After drawing six different animals that the kids can choose from or copy, I started going around to watch their work. I'm teaching grade 2 students; the class is about an hour. All I have to do is give examples and watch them do their work. I have an assistant teacher who speaks the local language in case the students need to translate the instruction. 

Ten minutes before my class ended, I asked my assistant teacher to take over.

"Khun Pheara, please take all their worksheets. I will take it from you later, krub. I just need to make a phone call krub," 

"Don't worry Teacher Carlo, I will take it from here," she nods and smiles. 

"Kob Kun krub" I thank her as I take my leave.

I went to the faculty room and read Ria's message again. Jane asked me if she can give my number to Ria and I agreed. I know they are worried about me. I got an email from Eman and Elain as well but I'm not yet ready to talk about what happened. I know I won't be able to hide any longer so it's better to face it, anyway it's been 3 months since the incident.

I called Ria's number, after 3 rings she answered.

"Girl, finally you answered. We've been worried sick" Ria said on the other line.

"Hey, how are you? I'm sorry if I took too long to contact you guys, I'm still not ready to talk about what happened. But I am ready to talk about what's happening now."

"That's all right girl, we understand your situation. We just wanted to know what's happening to you and where you are"

"I'm settling in just fine. The bruises are all long gone now. I'm currently staying with my Dad but don't tell anyone yet. I don't want people to know where I am, this is not far from the Philippines so it's better if only a few know of it."

"Okay, promise I won't tell. I'll let you tell Elain and Eman. Speaking of Eman, please contact him because he is so worried about you."

"Why don't we do a group chat later this evening after work. I'm currently at work right now."

"Oh. I'm sorry, let's talk later. I'll inform Eman and Elain, what time do you want to do the group chat?"

"8:00 pm there that's 7:00 pm here. How does that sound?"

"Great! I'll inform them and let you know. Bye, Carlo" Ria gave a smack as she waited for Carlo to end the call.

"Bye, Ria. Mwah (imitating the kiss sound) see you later" Carlo ended the call.

***

Carlo's POV

I arrived home at around 5:30 pm, I didn't go out with the other teachers. I went straight home from my class since I promised my friends, I'll chat with them after months of hiding.

"Kuya (big brother), let's eat! Mama cooked your favourite chicken Adobo." Rowena said showing the dish my aunt made.

"I'll be right there, I'll just change to home clothes," I said walking to my room

I brought down my stuff on the study table and started changing to home clothes. I glanced at my watch, I still have more than an hour before the group chat. I sat down at the dining with the family. They all waited for me to join dinner, Luke led the dinner prayer and afterwards, he passed me the rice and Rowena then passed the dish. Aunt Lucy asked if I wanted some soup and I just tilted my head and answered, "No, I'm good with Adobo." and I smiled. This is something I didn't remember having, the only memory of a nice family dinner I have is with my Nana and Uncle Uloy (my Mom's brother, he's a bachelor). I used to eat with my Mom when I was little but not the three of us, if ever most probably there's a celebration but there are other people as well. I feel my heart flutter thinking how nice and warm it is to be part of this.

We had a little chat of our day; I just silently listened and laughed with them as the two kids proudly told their accomplishments in school. 

"I've made my version of a flappy bird game today, and I was the first to finish it. You should try to play it, Rowena."  Luke boasts his ICT work

"Luke, you should call Rowena, 'Ate' since she's your big sister, not just Rowena," my Aunt butt in reminding Luke of some culture-related manners.

"You should ask Kuya Carlo, to have a look at your game since he teaches ICT," my Dad interrupts   

"I'll check it later, then I'll share you some techniques and improvements," I said grinning at Luke

I went to my room after helping Aunt Lucy clean-up the table. I checked on Luke's game on my phone since he shared the link to me. I sat down beside him while playing his game.

"Look at this Luke, you can add some sound whenever the bird fails the obstacles, it can be a funny or smashing sound, you can also change the background after a certain milestone. What do you think?" I ask him

"Wow, that's good Kuya. I will write it down and make some improvements tomorrow in school," he said with amusement. I excused myself and went to take my laptop.

I still have 10 minutes so I sat at the balcony and placed my laptop on my lap and the headset on my head while I put my feet up on the stool next to me. I received Ria's message; they were all in the group video chat along with Eman when I entered.

"Hey, girl, What's up? It's been a while. How have you been?" Eman immediately asked me while the other agreed on him.

"Well, I'm fine! The bruises are all gone now. I got a new job, in the international school where Jean is working." I said pouting

"So, have you found a boyfriend?" Elain asked in her teasing voice

"I'm still looking, but haven't found one yet" I answered laughing at Elain's question

"I met a lot of new people, I went out with my colleagues and roamed Bangkok, How about you guys anything new?" I continued asking them

"Well, I wanted to share the good news I just got. It's quite timely since Carlo is back from hiding." Elain said while giggling from the other side so we listened to her announcement.

"I got promoted! You're looking at the new Head of Marketing of QPay" Elain exclaimed. Elain's working for an online digital payment platform, they make it easy for the people who don't have a bank account to purchase online, while they help MSME (micro, small, medium enterprise) business to accept online payments.

"Wow! Congratulations" we all said

"Blow out!" Ria teased Elain while Eman joined in the chant asking a treat from Elain.

"It's sad that you cannot join," Elain told me after agreeing to treat everyone

I smiled and said "Next time"

"How about you Ria?" passing the ball to Ria

"Well, nothing new. Richard, on the other hand, has been assigned to their satellite office in Cebu. Which means I'll be on an LDR for about 3 months. I think it would also be good for us, as a test of our relationship." she chortles.

"Oh Carlo, you should ask Eman here, he has a new Daddy" Ria giggles

"Hey, that's not fair!" Eman complains "I should be the one telling the story, so shut-up, it's my turn," he said with an annoyed funny tone and sullen look.

"And we're just friends, I'm keeping him busy while he's here, anyway do you remember Cynthia?" he asked me and I said yes. "Remember she was matching me with her cousin?"

"Is that the one who will come to visit, the one from Australia?" I asked excitedly 

"Correct! He's the one, here's his photo. His name is Ulrich, he's a rugby player" showing us the photo next to his bed

"You really have a photo of him in your room?" Elain mockingly tease Eman

"Of course, he's my new inspiration," Eman said with a gleaming eyes 

"So, Cynthia introduced us and we exchanged numbers and that's it like magic. We started going on a casual meet-up, coffee, movies, bars and so on. I'm just enjoying the company while it last, no strings attached." he said 

"Have you kissed?" I asked curiously

"Uhm, secret" balling his eyes and touching his lips

"OMG! you teased," Elain said giggling, we all laugh at his revelation

When all of a sudden Eman cuts in and asks me "hold on girl, may I ask? I hope you don't mind. What's with that Steven?"

I was a bit clueless with his question so I also asked, "What about him?"

"Well, right after you left, he was calling and harassing me asking where you were," Eman said while the ladies seconded

"He was calling you? How did he get your number and how did he harass you? I asked furrowing my brow

"Uhm, he was asking where am I hiding you and threatens to kill me if I cheat on you as if we're in a relationship, duh! Ulrich and I, we're in a bar." their bar escaped must have reminded him of Steven

 "He called me several times, and in most of those calls, he sounds crazy. Sometimes he calls, humiliating me as if being faggot is a disease," Eman said. "Don't worry, I already filed a complaint and submitted a voice recorded call as evidence." he continued

"I'm sorry to hear that, I didn't know this would happen to you," I said.

"It's not your fault girl, that guy seems obsessed with you somehow. It was scary, a good thing that my team accompanied me home and the condo security was tight. Ria said he is just your acquaintance, is he your ex-boyfriend or something?"

"We told Eman that he is our batchmate in college. We don't remember him being in a relationship with you." Ria said

"Plus he's Clarisse's boyfriend in College. They're like the campus king and queen. Unless there's something you're not telling us." Elain explains

"No, I didn't have any relationship with that psycho. He used to insult me in college, calling me names. He is a bully, he hates gays so how would he be my boyfriend. All I know is that he hates me, what I don't understand is why he is picking on me and Eman now. I don't even remember getting in his way. I hope none of you guys is hurt because of me." I sighed.

"Carlo, he cannot do anything against us so don't worry and I'm sorry about college we didn't know he is doing that to you. You should have told us before," Elain said while looking at me.

"There's nothing to tell honestly, he is not significant. And you know me, I wouldn't waste time on someone like him," I said

I spoke with my friends until 10 pm, talking about their escapades and my new life here. I missed them and my Nana. I am now, lying in the pull-out bed next to Luke, I hope I didn't wake him up. My mind brings me back to Steven, I know I said I won't think of him again but I just don't understand what he wants from me and my friends. I don't recall offending him, I normally just walk away from him as if he doesn't exist. I close my eyes trying to forget him and go to sleep.