The Former Mrs. Tan

Irene

Coming from a tiring night shift, I should be going straight to my condominium to sleep; but no. I found myself driving my car to La Galleria, the biggest mall in Marcelo, which usually opens at ten o'clock.

My adrenalin had given me another shot of energy to see my ex-husband and his new girlfriend. I left Contact Point, Inc. at nine o'clock that Friday morning right after my last conference call for the shift. Since the company's headquarters was in the United States, we have been following their time zone. So I came to the office by ten o'clock last night and haven't slept yet.

"Are you sure you really have to go, Irene?" asked Billy Regino as we packed up our own laptops right after the conference call that ended half an hour earlier. "You'd better take some sleep."

"Billy," I said as I held his hand that was holding his laptop and gave him a reassuring look. "It was Herbert who invited me to the Expo and I accepted it. I hope you don't mind that, do you?" I said as I gave him a wink and fixed the triangle of his necktie.

I loved the gray necktie that matched his pinkish white trubenized shirt. It brought out the glow on his ageless face that I admired when I first saw him. That was fourteen years ago when I was being interviewed for the position Team Supervisor and he was still a Senior Operations Manager.

My relationship with Billy only began to become closer and stronger three years later, not just because he was my mentor and then the Program Director much above me, but also because he was my boyfriend who helped me pick up the pieces of a broken heart.

"Herbert invited you, really?" he asked.

"Yes."

Honestly, I invited myself. That thought made me laugh to myself inside the car on a Friday morning traffic going to Marcelo's central business district. The stop light turned red just before I reached the intersection.

Wow, I just lied to Billy. Actually, I felt a little bit of guilt over that. I've never lied to Billy ever since we've known each other. I bit my lower lip with my teeth at that change.

After a few minutes, the traffic light turned green, telling me to go. Go to where your heart leads you, Irene.

And I continued driving. This wouldn't happen if I didn't meet Herbert Tan a week ago. He told me of this girl he claimed to be his true love.

"I must meet her personally and warn her about you," I said laughing.

Herbert laughed and said, "That would be no problem, my dear. I'm sure, you'll like her."

It was not a laughing matter for me. The thought of meeting Herbert's new love was unthinkable at first. I couldn't believe someone would fall for meticulous, conservative, and philandering Mr. Tan. I found my married life with him too boring. Or was it I who was boring?

Thinking about it now, we just don't share the same interests in the first place. But here I am, driving to meet him after leaving him years ago.