Deception

Chapter 13

    With all the preparations for the funeral, Kris felt extremely exhausted. She was exhausted because of the physical repercussions of not having enough sleep but still continue with working the next day. She couldn’t take a rest, not with the exhibit opening coming really close. It was a good thing that Lee was there to help her out with the Eli issue. And at least, Megan would be arriving soon so the burden of this funeral would be passed on to her and to Eliza’s immediate family.

    After the long day, she didn’t go straight home and instead asked Lee to drop her off the grocery store. She thought that Megan would surely be hungry so she needed to buy ingredients for dinner later. The moment she stepped inside to get a cart, she felt that someone was intently watching her. She looked around and through the isles, but saw no one paying her any particular attention.

    She thought of Lee’s actions earlier. She observed that she was somewhat distraught the entire ride and she kept on glancing at her side view mirror. Kris thought that, like her, Lee must have had been tired and anxious. Now, she was hesitant and thought that maybe Lee also felt this weird feeling earlier, hence her actions. And because Kris was too focused on her thoughts, she hadn’t sensed him earlier.

    Yes, him. She suddenly saw a man wearing a gray hoody in her peripheral vision. So, she observed him through the grocery convex mirrors. She was right that the man was following her because he wasn’t really picking up anything but she would find him on the same isle as hers. She then decided to confront this guy so she made a turn towards another isle but instead of continuing, she stopped in place. And when the guy also turned to follow her, Kris was able to corner him.

    “Jairus?” she exclaimed. She hadn’t recognized him from afar, but up close, she could definitely tell that it was him. He had a beard and his hair was longer. He maybe even lost some weight. A lot of changes were visible but she could identify him.

    “Kris, hi.” He replied in shock. He had been tailing her, but now that she was in front of him, he didn’t know what to say.

    “Have you been following me?” she asked in bewilderment.

    Guilt and a trace of embarrassment flashed across his face, giving away his answer even before his reply. “Yes. I just… I wanted to make sure. I need to talk to you. Can we go somewhere private?”

    Make sure? Of what? She was puzzled but still she agreed. “Sure. I’ll just give Alan a call.”

    Kris called her boyfriend to ask him to cook dinner and to fetch Megan from the airport in case Kris was caught up with her unexpected guest. She decided to buy the stuff that was in her cart, nevertheless, she hadn’t really finished buying the necessary items.

    Because of the suddenness of this visit, the two of them decided to talk in Jairus’ car. She was in the passenger seat, while he was on the driver’s seat.

    “How have you been Jairus? I know I’ve called you… recently but I think it’s been months since I last saw you,” she said as she recalled her phone call with him to warn him about Eli’s recent cheating activities.

    “I’m good Kris. I’ve been in rehab but all is well.”

    “I’m glad that things are going well for you.”

    “How about you? I hear you have an upcoming exhibit.”

    “I’m holding up just fine. And yes, I’ve been busy with the exhibit, too.”

    “Congrats.”

    “Thanks. So… will you be there at Eli’s funeral?”

    “I wouldn’t miss my girlfriend’s funeral, Kris.” There was a slight irritation in his voice. Kris knew that they got back together and remembered that it was one of the highlights of their fight before Eli died. It made her curious as to what happened after that.

    “Right. Girlfriend. You still believed that she was genuine when you took her back? I told you—”

    “Whatever it is… was going on in our relationship, you were out of it. I respect your friendship with her, but getting between us? Don’t you think it’s too much?”

    The atmosphere inside the car changed instantly. And Kris knew that this conversation was heading towards a different direction that she had in mind. Jairus’ face morphed into a mirror of controlled rage, like volcano boiling lava beneath the surface.

    “Getting in between the two of you? I never would have dreamed of it. I am happy with my life, thank you very much.”

    “Really? Or are you still jealous of the fact that most of your dreams were never within your reach but within hers?”

    Kris’ eyes widened. Of course, Eli would weave such a preposterous tale. She couldn’t help slightly raising her voice because she felt the need to defend herself. How could a dead person even tarnish her name like this? “I am not jealous of her, Jairus. I envy her sometimes but I was never insecure. You have to understand that she even admitted to have stolen those jobs from me!”

    “Is that why you threatened her?” He asked her while staring at her coldly. She knew what Jairus meant when he mentioned the ‘threat’. It was her retort to Eli the day that they fought.

    “Look, Jai. I don’t want to argue with you. I was telling the truth when I said I saw her kiss a guy and went home with him. It wouldn’t matter now because Eli’s dead. But I want you to know that I only told you bearing the best of my intentions,” she paused because this was all getting too much. All the hatred she had for Eli sabotaging her, all the fake friendship that blinded her…

    She wanted to escape but when she grabbed for the car door, it was locked. She spun her head to look at him. He was now staring straight ahead with his hands tightly gripping the steering wheel. She needed to be calm to coax him into releasing her. Her heart beat loudly as the fear of what the man might do to her consumed her mind.  “I did it for both of you. I don’t want her ruining your life and hers. It wasn’t done because of envy or revenge. I loved Eli. She was my best friend.”

    “Wait! You mean Jairus locked you with him in that car? He could have laid a hand on you,” Lee exclaimed.

    Lee’s tiredness suddenly disappeared after Gabe told her of the news. She immediately visited Kris and brought her some fruits and water. It wasn’t her plan to interrogate her that night and only showed up to offer moral support. In fact, she was thinking of doing the questioning in the morning. But it was Kris who suddenly opened up the topic and Lee just went along. She didn’t interject while the other was recounting what happened.

    “Oh god. Did he?” Lee asked.

    “Did he what?”

    “Laid hands on you? Did he hurt you?”

    “Physically, no. Not at all. Although I remembered feeling so afraid of being trapped in that car. So I gotta say, emotionally, he hurt me. Bad.”

    Silent tears escaped from her eyes. Lee understood that the memory brought back the emotions that she was hiding. She was sure that Kris hadn’t told anyone about this, not even Alan.

    “Even though there weren’t any physical harm, you know you could tell me, right? Jairus still terrorized you.”

    “I can’t.”

    “What? Why?”

    “Because I think I terrorized him, too.”

    Lee was puzzled with her words. She looked at her and urged her to go on. And go on, she did.

    “He believes that I killed Eli.”