Love at the Nth Time

The Beginning of the Ending

Chapter 14

I wished to show her the real me, and it exceeded my expectations of being hated.

I chuckled.

"Serves you right, Seth," I whispered, putting a smile on my face that everything was all f****d up, and I couldn't even know what to do anymore. I tried to make up with her. She told me not to be nice, and what's the result of covering up the real me?

Thereafter, I headed to my office to get my wallet as my cards were all in there. It's a wrong impression to let the client treat regardless. Concurrently, Win, Rose, and another older woman expected my presence.

"She's not with them anymore. Did something happen?" I glanced at Win for a second and watched Mrs Ladesma, whom they called "Mentor", talk about their business events and activities.

We sat at the back of the room whilst the people enjoyed the orator at the top of their organization. She introduced herself to me as the mom of a young Indian boy and her achievements from being in this career for more than ten years. The respect which the title she bore, monetary value, and the physical things which I had owned since I was born.

"Why are you asking me? Ask her sister, stupid." Win laughed. The motivation and encouragement Mrs Ladesma planted into the people who believed in the success of their same journey as a business distributor to limitless possibilities gave me more understanding of how she influenced Rose. The sister of support displayed similarities, yet the fruit of labour Rose earned was raw—lacking leadership in how Celine leads her people, communication, and body projections, which Mrs Ladesma and Rose were significantly displayed. Even so, Celine held onto the sane delusion of achieving the success of the same path.

"Rose told me Celine, and her boyfriend broke up." I pulled up from my rivers of thought as I heard the whisper of Win. I looked at him with wide eyes. He laughed. "You seem interested now." I gazed away.

"What are you saying…." I mumbled.

I liked to know why but mostly, I yearned to see her.

"Here." I heaved a sigh and handed the premium coffee to Win.

"Thanks, boss." Win snickered as he took the specific coffee he requested.

I hopped in my car and shut the door. It took me 20 minutes to reach the café and another couple of minutes waiting as the shop was crowded with customers. The waiting and the anxiety of the story agitated me.

"Could you tell me if I need to do anything more?? You're being annoying. I wanna kill you." He laughed aloud. Crap, I should kill him now. I glared at him and started the engine. He asked about whether our meeting with the foreign client would take more than half an hour when arriving at the pub, and the road was starting to pack with vehicles.

"Why don't you go ask her directly? You fought, but it doesn't mean you don't know each other anymore."

"Win, I told you I did something terrible."

"Yeah, you said something horrible though you only acted who you are. As if those women of yours keep getting offended whenever your way of saying things sucks. If she hates you now, isn't it time to give up? You don't like those kinds of women in the first place, right?"

Win had ways of reading situations. As for him, he's only advising me; however, it felt like it was hitting me directly, to the point of not forgetting any words he stated.

"They got into a fight because of her boyfriend. It's horrible. She caught her boyfriend's plan. She accidentally read her boyfriend and his friend's messages about doing a threesome with her in Boracay. Fvck. They even bet her on money."

All I could hear was the loud beating of my heart, and the words of Win haunted me, whence the client meeting procured till I reached my condo unit.

"Well, women have these kinds of instincts. It's part of their nature for them to protect themselves, but it works actually, and that's the good part." Win had no clue how her teary-eyed and red cheeks Celine left before she walked away affected me. Damn. It's terrible timing to show the bastard me.

I badly wanna see her. I must apologize, or I will not get an inch of sleep.

*calling... Celine

The call rung, and my heart skipped a beat as she didn't block me anymore. My heart pounded when she answered it. Oh my god. I stood up from lying on the bed.

"Hello?" her voice sounded normal.

"Hey."

"Who's this?"

She deleted my number!? I couldn't say anything. I just hung up the call. f**k. Was she that mad to delete my contact?

I breathed deep. It's not like it's not going to happen.

The next day, I felt somewhat tired. I yawned and even stretched my arms, ponying my hair in one. I have been getting back pains these past few days.

"You didn't sleep well?" I messaged Win. I stayed at Dad's office since he kept on asking my location. I wouldn't ditch the party later! I missed the beer and was hoping I could drink again now.

"Your grandma called me to come to visit them. They're in Liverpool for the next six months," informed Dad while I idled around his office, solely changing the scenery. He collected a couple of great antique watches from the Philippines. Their appearance alluded to meticulous care, as the antiquarian exceeded his knowledge and expertise in preserving their value.

"Wow, cool oldies."

"Don't talk like you don't know those oldies I'm talking about." I smiled. I was getting excited about the party later. Even some of my crushes in modelling would come. Oh crap. I faced Dad as he sat on his chair whilst chatting with the board of directors in a timely manner.

"Dad, can we hold the party without those people in the modelling department?"

"What? Why? Oh, you have chicks from them, haha." If they came, it's unpredictable what would happen if some of them faced each other in between me.

"I'm serious here." He gazed at me behind him.

"So what? It isn't your first time seeing your women facing each other accidentally because of you." I heard knocks on the door.

"Seth! It's getting late!" I put up my eyeglasses a bit and smiled mockingly at Win, who was wearing his signature outfit of tuck-in dark blue short-sleeve polo, cream jeans with an eye-catching Versace belt, and brown leather Oxford shoes. "Okay, okay, I'll find you a man for tonight, got it." I passed by him and walked into the hallway. "I'm not even asking you!"

The venue was held in the main hall next to the exhibition room on the ground floor. The main entrance could occasionally open for events and gatherings, and the guests were exclusively invited over.

As my foot, which wore Aubercy shoes, stepped in the entryway, familiar voices called my attention.

"Seth, baby!!" Ryan hung his arm around me. He's one of the models from H&M.

"Hey! Long time no see!" Another co-model raised his fist and made a fist bump with me. I kept approaching these men as they greeted me.

"It feels awesome when we get here. I sorta miss the old days." I stood in the corner with the other three men. Ryan, Michael, and Nico. We'd known each other for more than two years of modelling part-time in a company. Our familiarity with each other was based solely on work, chicks and career.

"Yeah, we don't see each other often. It's because the lady killer is so occupied." They went on teasing me about not doing modelling for months now. I accepted offers, although it depended on my mood. I love modelling. It's one of the recreational activities I enjoyed, connected to creating clothes.

"Ah, one here," I called the waiter and took the glass of wine on his plate. I could count the number of guests who lingered in the venue. It was still early to start the event, and the set-up started with guys coming in first, then the ladies. It's more convenient to spot acquaintances easily. Even though the program had not yet started, the music background, drinks, and snacks placed in the corner, high tables without chairs to sit in the centre, were prepared majestically.

"Hey, your drinking still bad, dude?" inquired Michael. He's half American and Filipino, yet his features weighed more on the American side; dirty blonde hair, hazel brown eyes, and wide jaws.

"Yeah, I tried to drink one last night, but it only made me sick and I threw it all up."

"That's sad, man," reacted Nico. A full Filipino who had an army cut and tanned skin.

"Well, you can have cigs and women anyway!" joked Michael. I laughed at their teasing.

"The ladies will come here now," announced Ryan proudly.