Chapter 1 - Forever With You

“Hey Mitch! What’re you doing here? The party’s inside,” Nikole called out as she approached her friend.

But Mitch just answered with a shrug. She knew that she should answer Nikole but she couldn’t find the right words to say. So she just opted to stay silent as her friend sat down on the sand beside her.

Michelle and Nikole are co-workers in an advertising company. In fact, it was Nikole who interviewed her for her application to the said company. Michelle was good at her job until recently when she came across a turning point in her life. All of a sudden there were some “problems” with her output which have resulted to the big boss talking to Nikole –as she was Michelle’s immediate supervisor –and telling her to fix the situation.

Nikole, knowing what her friend needs, asked their boss if they can both take a leave so that she can personally oversee the situation regarding her friend. And since she worked closely with the boss, it was no wonder that she was given the boss’ consent.

And here they are Mitch thought, in sunny Boracay where the atmosphere is festive every day. The only problem that she’s seeing is that she’s here not because she wants to unwind but because she is recuperating from a broken heart. And with that thought in mind, a single tear escaped from Michelle’s eyes and trickled down her cheek.

Nikole knew for a fact that a tear fell from Michelle’s eyes and so she decided to leave her friend for a while.

“Alright then, I’ll just go back inside”, she said as a farewell to Mitch. “Just come inside once you feel like partying already, okay?”

Mitch could do nothing but to nod in return. And with a sigh she let herself travel back to the circumstances that have led up to that moment.

 

 

She had a terrible headache that day and as a result she has to cancel her date with Brent who was her boyfriend. Her parents were also not home because they went on a vacation for their wedding anniversary the week before so she opted to call Nikole. And without a doubt her friend came to her rescue—or sort of as Nikole’s remedy for headache is a good dose of shopping.

Michelle was left with no choice but to let herself get dragged to the mall by Nikole. After some time inside the mall, they both decided to look for a coffee shop so they rest their feet. As they entered the coffee shop she has some sense of foreboding but she just pushed it right out of her mind.

Nikole was busy talking about the latest collection of her one of her favorite designers who is Diane Von Furstenberg when something caught Michelle’s attention. And that was when her world turned upside-down.

Without her knowing, Michelle let out a strangled gasp.

“Mitch what’s wrong?, Nikole asked as she immediately turned to the direction that Michelle as looking at.

All the color drained out of Michelle’s face as she uttered “Let’s get out of here”, to her friend.

“What?! You’re just gonna walk out like nothing happened? Are you freaking kidding me?” Nikole was ready to raise hell.

“Let’s go. I can’t do this right now”, Michelle whispered as she hurriedly walked out of the coffee shop.

“Asshole!” Nikole managed to call to Brent in a voice that was laced with suppressed violence and managed to catch some attention before she stalked after Michelle.

When Nikole found Michelle she was leaning on the passenger’s side as if she had lost all her strength while trying to hold back her tears. Just as soon as slid inside the passenger’s seat, she let go of all the tears she was trying to stop from falling all the while.

“How could he do this to me?” Michelle burst out but she easily corrected herself and started making excuses for Brent.

“What the hell are you talking about?!” Nikole blasted! “You saw the’’ –she was about to say a very harsh expletive but decided against it because she saw that Michelle was barely holding up—“you saw that moron kissing another girl and yet here you are making excuses for him?”

“But Brent will never do such a thing to me,” Michelle replied meekly. “Or maybe that was not him but somebody who just looks like him.”

“Oh, yeah! Like his long lost twin maybe? Are you out of your mind?!” Nikole was on battle mode but when she looked in to Michelle’s eyes all that she could say was “Jeez!”

They sat in the car for a couple of minutes but to Michelle it has seemed like an eternity. When she glanced at Nikole she had her headphones on and she knew that her friend was trying to calm herself also, if only for her sake. After a while, she tapped her arm and told her that if she’s ready they can go home.

 

 

Something wet touching her toes pulled Michelle out of her reverie and she realized dimly that it was little waves that had touched the tip of her toes. The tide was rising so she decided to stand up and shake the sand particles that had clung to her dress. She couldn’t believe that it had been a month since the “incident” happened. She was pretty sure it was a lifetime ago because she had stopped feeling after that.

Michelle debated whether she will go to the bar that Nikole went or to just head back to the hotel. When she heard the music blaring and saw the strobe lights, she knew she not yet ready for places like that. So she decided to call it a night and headed back to the hotel.

 

Little did Michelle know that there was somebody who was observing her all the while. There beyond the shadow of a coconut tree as a man. And he stood there as she stood up from sitting on the sand and watched still as she headed back –to what he conceived to be the hotel she was staying—and disappeared into the night.