LOVE ACROSS TIME

CHAPTER 8: CLUB

JERVIN BRYSON RAMOS POV'S

YEAR 2022

Stepping into the club's parking lot, a sense of reluctance envelops me like a heavy fog. The prospect of entering this lively establishment evokes an unsettling feeling within, a feeling rooted in the unknown, a realm where my fears remain elusive yet palpable. The anticipation, however, is not born from a lack of awareness of my fears but rather from an inability to pinpoint them with precision. It is a peculiar dichotomy where I am acutely aware of the things I dislike, yet the specific fears elude my conscious understanding.

The catalyst for my presence in this space is Kirsten—an individual whose influence compels me to venture into this realm of discomfort. A decision seemingly innocent on the surface, yet one that unfolds as an irksome obligation. Kirsten, a person whose desires or inclinations diverge from mine, becomes the driving force behind this undesirable excursion. The sheer annoyance in the prospect of being here adds an extra layer of reluctance, transforming what could have been a casual outing into an experience tinged with discontent.

As I reluctantly approach the entrance, my steps feel burdened with a weight that mirrors the internal struggle within me. The club, a place synonymous with vibrant music, pulsating lights, and an energetic atmosphere, stands as a stark contrast to my current state of mind. The question lingers: Why am I here, willingly subjecting myself to an environment that seems diametrically opposed to my preferences?

The apprehension intensifies as I stand at the threshold, contemplating whether to cross into the unknown. The thumping bass from within resonates through the walls, serving as a rhythmic reminder of the lively scene that awaits. Despite the external allure, my inner resistance persists, manifesting in the reluctance to delve into the heart of the club. The mystery lies not in the external surroundings but within, where my fears, though elusive, cast a shadow over my decision-making process.

The internal conflict becomes palpable as I grapple with the reluctance to take that next step. It's not merely a physical movement but a metaphorical crossing into a realm of uncertainties. The fear of the unknown, exacerbated by the dissonance between personal preferences and external expectations, creates a mental barrier that seems insurmountable.

As I reluctantly enter the club, the layers of discomfort persist, reminding me that sometimes the things we fear most are not easily discernible. The journey through this experience becomes a metaphorical exploration, a navigation through the complexities of personal boundaries and societal expectations. The club, once a symbol of discomfort, transforms into a metaphorical crucible, challenging preconceived notions and pushing the boundaries of self-discovery.

"Do I have to do this?" I asked myself annoyed.

I slowly walked until I heard the noise coming from inside the club.

I just sat on the floor because my knees went weak when I saw different lights. I really don't want to be here! I really do not want!

FLASHBACK>>>

I am currently here at daddy's company office because I don't have much to do at home. What am I going to do there, I'm only 10 years old. If I want to play, it's not fun because I don't have anyone with me. I'm the only child and my mommy and daddy don't even have time to drop me off and pick me up from our neighbor to play.

"Jervin, I'm just going somewhere!" Daddy said but the panic in his voice could be seen.

"Where are you going, daddy?" I asked, I followed him until we left the office.

"I'm just going somewhere. Don't leave here until I'm gone. I'll be back. Do you understand?"

"But daddy, I want to go with you. Will you eat? I'm hungry." I said. I was here early and daddy didn't take care of anything but the papers and his cellphone that kept ringing until he just said he was leaving.

"Ahh, is that so. Alright, I'll just bring you food here as long as you don't leave." He told me to call his secretary and gave me food.

"You stay here. Don't leave here, ok?" He repeated said before kissing me on the cheek and leaving.

His secretary invited me to come inside and eat. It was only a few minutes before daddy left that I decided to follow him. I invited my bodyguards to drive and follow daddy. At first he didn't agree but I forced him because I had a bad feeling just from daddy's voice.

I called mommy's cellphone but she didn't answer.

This morning she said goodbye to me while she was leaving because she said that she had a meeting with a client, maybe she was still busy.

After a few minutes we followed daddy until we reached the club.

What will daddy do here? What do people do here when they come? Playing?

As soon as I saw the light inside, I felt happy because it was different colors and it even rotated on the whole club.

Maybe there are children inside... Maybe someone is celebrating a birthday, it's fun. Yehey!

"Sir Jervin, you can't go inside." My bodyguard stopped me as I was about to go inside.

"Why? My dad is there!" I slipped under his hands that were wrapped around me.

"Maybe your daddy will see you. I will be ruined, I might lose my job."

"What do I care about you? You'll find a new job." I said to him annoyed before running inside the club.

When I entered I was surprised because there were so many people and some of them were old, maybe 50+.

What are they doing here? Is that their sign?

As I traversed the desolate club, my steps were weighed down by an ominous foreboding, a haunting premonition of the familiar scene that awaited me. The darkness of the night was punctuated by the dim glow of neon signs, casting an eerie pallor on the urban landscape. The cacophony of distant laughter and the muffled thump of bass from nearby clubs created a dissonance, juxtaposing the apparent revelry with the somber undertones of my reality.

There, at the end of the dimly lit alley, I saw them—mommy and daddy, seated amidst a group of rowdy men, each swigging from bottles, their laughter echoing in the cold night air. My heart sank as I registered the scene before me. Were they indulging in that self-destructive ritual again, drowning their sorrows in the bitter liquid that seemed to erode the remnants of our shattered family?

The thought lingered, a heavy cloud over my already burdened soul. The inevitability of the aftermath weighed on my mind — who would they assign to clean up the wreckage of their inebriated revelry this time? The pattern repeated, a relentless cycle of chaos and despair that left me questioning the foundations of familial love.

My contemplations were abruptly shattered by a deafening gunshot that reverberated through the air, shattering the fragile illusion of normalcy. Time seemed to freeze, the world unraveling in slow motion as the source of the disturbance became painfully apparent. My eyes widened in terror as I witnessed the unthinkable—daddy, struck in the chest, a crimson blossom staining his shirt.

Pandemonium erupted instantaneously. The once jovial atmosphere transformed into a chaotic tableau of fear and confusion. The air was thick with the acrid scent of gunpowder, and the dissonant symphony of panicked voices drowned out all semblance of order.

In the midst of the disarray, my gaze was drawn upward to the origin of this tragic symphony—a malevolent figure, a silhouette against the backdrop of urban decay. A sniper, an unseen arbiter of fate, callously disrupting the fragile equilibrium of our fractured existence.

Adrenaline surged through my veins as I raced towards daddy, my mind a whirlwind of disbelief and horror. But tragedy struck again, a cruel twist of fate that unfolded before my disbelieving eyes. Another gunshot rang out, and this time it found its mark—mommy, a victim of the same ruthless assailant who had callously torn apart our tenuous family fabric.

As I knelt beside their lifeless forms, the gravity of the moment enveloped me in a suffocating embrace. The night, once pregnant with potential, now bore witness to the shattered remnants of a life forever altered. The crimson stain on daddy's chest and the vacant gaze in mommy's eyes served as poignant reminders of a reality that defied comprehension.

In the aftermath, as the wails of grief echoed through the desolate alley, I found myself ensnared in the cold embrace of despair. The abruptness of their departure left me grappling with the cruel capriciousness of fate, a narrative marred by tragedy and stained by the indelible ink of loss. And as the shadows of that fateful night lengthened, I was left to navigate the bleak landscape of a world forever changed by the irrevocable sting of sorrow.

END >>>

The incident cast a long, foreboding shadow over my perception of the club, transforming a once seemingly innocuous venue into a haunting reminder of a fateful night that etched itself into the recesses of my memory. The reluctance to revisit that space was palpable, a visceral response to the traumatic residue left by the unexpected turn of events. The dimly lit corridors, once filled with the pulsating beats of music and the vibrant chatter of revelers, now seemed to echo with the haunting whispers of that unsettling night.

Yet, despite the palpable unease that lingered within me, the magnetic pull of obligation tugged persistently at my conscience. Her name was a whisper on the wind, a reminder of a commitment that, though born out of goodwill, became a vexing burden. That girl, with her compelling influence, emerged as the catalyst that compelled me to breach the boundaries of my comfort zone.

The dichotomy between my aversion to the club and the perceived necessity of my presence became an unwelcome paradox. The question lingered like an unwelcome guest: Was there no alternative? Couldn't the trajectory of our interaction steer clear of the ominous ambiance of that place, steering towards a locale free from the haunting specter of the past?

The annoyance simmered beneath the surface as I contemplated the absence of alternatives. Was this, then, the only path available? A resignation settled over me as I grappled with the seemingly limited options. The prospect of entering the club once more, a venture laden with emotional baggage, loomed like an insurmountable hurdle.

The very notion of returning to that space, with its flashing lights and pulsating beats, felt like a compromise of my emotional well-being. Each step towards the entrance echoed with the footsteps of a reluctant soul navigating the corridors of discomfort. The paradox of my predicament gnawed at my resolve, pushing me to question the extent to which personal boundaries could be stretched in the name of obligation.

As I contemplated the possibility of circumventing this unwelcome obligation, my mind sought solace in the idea of an alternative rendezvous, a neutral ground where the specter of that incident would remain dormant. The yearning for an escape from the club's haunting embrace intensified, creating a mental landscape where the burden of obligation could be lifted.

In the end, the quest for an alternative path persisted, a fervent hope that there existed a route devoid of the echoes of that haunting night. The desire for a compromise, a middle ground that would accommodate both obligation and emotional well-being, lingered as a beacon of possibility. In this delicate dance between duty and personal comfort, the search for an alternative became a testament to the human spirit's resilience, a quest for equilibrium in the face of adversity.

"What are you doing here?" I looked at the man who asked and saw that it was uncle Julian.

He helps me stand up and go inside.

"Just close your eyes when you can't tell yourself you're here." He slowly sat me down on the sofa.

I can't close my eyes. I need to see Kirsten because she might leave here and I won't be able to get her permanship.

"It's ok. Thank you." I said to him before turning around.

"Don't worry, there's no sniper here." He said before tapping me on the shoulder.

I'm not looking for a sniper, I'm looking for Kirsten that has escaped. But thanks for his concern.

"Drink this, first." He handed me a bottle of wine.

"It's bad, are you planning to get me drunk uncle?"

"Haha, I have a lot to do. I can't take care of you, just talk with that wine." He said.

It's terrible, does he think I'm a weird person? Huh!

I drank some wine before looking around again. Kirsten is now sitting at table 18 while talking to his two friends. Her friends are beautiful and they seem to be on the same age. Who among them has a birthday?

"I still order" said the woman enthusiastically, I looked at her.

She is Rhino's friend, right? The one who was sitting there earlier in the---.

I stopped thinking to look at the place of rhino and his friends.

Why is it like that?

I looked back and forth between his friend and the girl who was busy ordering.

Are they the same?

"We are twins but we don't look alike" she said while drinking.

"Really?"

Shit! In my 32 years of living in the world, I have only seen twins. I often only see it in pictures and sometimes it's other people's stories. Cool!

"Yes, but we don't look alike" she reminded again.

"How come you don't look alike and you have almost the same face?" I said in amazement before looking at her twin who was now looking around, maybe she was looking for her twin.

"We don't look alike. Look at her" she pointed to her twin.

"Tss. Even from a distance you look alike."

"Ahh, come with me so you can see us up close. You will see the difference between us" she promised and stood up.

"Not anymore. As long as they really look like---" she didn't let me finish speaking because she pulled me away.

Is she just dragging a man with her female partner? Is she that desperate to make me see that she and her twin don't look alike? That's great!

"So, who was that guy earlier?" I caught her friend in a ponytail asking that.

"That's nothing. Drink it---" Rhino stopped talking when she saw me.

"Why are you here?" She asked me annoyed. "Angry birds!" She added that made her friends laugh, she said it slowly. Tss.

I was embarrassed to look at them.

"What do you call her? Angry birds? HAHA, why? She looks good, he's cute." Commented a twin with a shrill voice, that's probably the best word I've heard today.

"Thank you" I said to her and gave her a sweet smile.

"Arrogant, tss" I heard Rhino whisper. She rolled her eyes before standing up and facing me. "What are you doing here? Are you following me?"

What?

"Why would I do that, are you crazy?" I looked at her annoyed.

"So why are you here? And my friend is still with me?" She looked at an energetic twin.

"I invited him to come here."

"Why?"

"Tss, you already know that," said a twin. "She's always flirting just to show that we don't look alike. That's how she's always been," she added before taking a drink.

"Oh that's right. Sit here angry birds" ponytail hair invited me before patting the seat next to her.

"No more, I'm leaving too"

"Why are you leaving there? I saw you just entering earlier."

Did she see it? Am I out of luck now?

"You're always looking at the entrance haha. You won't find anything there" the twins joked to her with a shrill voice.

"Give it to me, it's my birthday today," Ponytail said and pointed to himself.

A few minutes later I sat next to ponytail and they sang 'happy birthday'. They just used a picture of a cake on their cellphone because they said they didn't buy anything.

A lot of time has passed and the others are getting drunk, and I am also getting hit with alcohol because I have been drinking too much. That's ok! It's fun! Yeeeeyyy!!!

Many stories have been created such as Rhino's sudden wealth because of her job, about her grandmother who only has a few months to live so she wants to get married, Ponytail's single life, and the difficulty of having twins .

"You really want to get married, Kirsten?"

"Not at all. Actually, I don't even want to, but grandma wants to marry me."

"Just pretend to be married!" It was a good idea that the twins said in a shrill voice. The contract immediately entered my mind.

"That's right! I have a contract here, you can show it to your grandmother to pretend you're married" I promised and showed the paper, it was still a bit crumpled because I folded it 4 times before putting it in my pants pocket.

"Tss. That's cheap, I'm only married on paper?"

"Yes. Why do you really want to get married?"

"No, I don't want to"

"You sign it, I have a ballpoint pen here" Ponytail said and immediately took out the ballpoint pen he was carrying.

I put the paper on the table before looking at Rhino and grinning.

Sign it, hurry!

She was about to sign it when she looked at me.

"Why does your role seem so strange? It's beautiful" She stroked the paper.

Why does she have to praise the paper?

"Let it go. Sign now"

"That's going to sign! That's going to sign! Kana, kana, is going to sign!"

She is about to sign to see us again.

"Do I really have to do this?"

"Of course. For your grandmother" Ponytail said before cheering again.

She was about to sign it when she looked at us.

"This ballpen is fine. It's beautiful!" She said happily and almost stuck the pen to his eyes.

"That's really fine, there's nothing wrong with it. Besides, I bought it in Singapore a while ago. I just went there to buy that ballpoint pen. It's fine, right?" Ponytail gave a thumbs up.

"How are you doing there? Maybe the ink is gone"

"Oh yeah, look at me" Ponytail took the ballpoint pen and was about to write on the paper when I stopped her.

"You write here" I presented my hand to her but he just looked at it in surprise. "Maybe because the marriage contract will get dirty"

"Ahh, yes. She's right, just test it on her hand"

Ponytail had already written and it had ink so he handed it to Rhino again.

After giving it, her friends were all cheering so he signed!

Finally! I got her signature too!

***

Written on: July 26, 27, 2023