MISMATCH

Chapter 22 - Frances: BFF Over

This cannot be happening.

I cannot believe he did this to me.

I cannot believe how much it hurts.

***

"You what?!" I asked Matteo to repeat what he just told me. He had brought me to his favorite coffee shop because he had something important to tell me, he said. I had to admit I was nervous because this was the first time I saw Matteo look so serious. After our anniversary, things turned out for the better. I did of course make sure to make that night special to make up for the years I neglected him. He was so moved by the gesture that for the entire week, we had been inseparable. This was the reason why I found his behavior weird when we finally arrived at Brew's Corner.

When he finally told me what was bothering him, I felt like a knife plunged into my heart. It happened when Tony brought me to Cagbalete Island. He said he was unable to reach me and found out that I had went on a trip with Tony. He never told me how he found out, and I wasn't able to ask because what he admitted was something I never expected of him.

"I got her pregnant." He averted his gaze and refused to look at me.

By that time, my face was already wet with tears. If it had been a one night stand, I would have forgiven him. But actually getting someone pregnant out of it...my mind was unable to function with the thoughts coming in. "How..."

"It happened one time, I swear. I found out two months after we cut communication. I couldn't just abandon her, Frances. She's carrying my child. You know I grew up with a father..."

I did know that. I also knew how difficult that was because I, myself, grew up with my grandmother alone. Matteo's father abandoned them when his sisters were born. He had been the man of the house since then. "Yeah."

"That's why I've been busy lately. But I swear I'm only there for the baby. Nothing's going on between me and the mother."

"Who is she?"

He still wouldn't look me in the eye. "Someone I met. I swear we're just friends. Or...we were..."

"What do you mean?" I was afraid of his next answer. They were? Does that mean...was he going to break up with me? My heart wouldn't stop beating painfully against my chest. Was he choosing her over me? Was I going to lose Matteo - the one person I never thought would leave me?

"It's complicated. We got into fight. And I chose you." He looked at me pleadingly. "I chose you, Cess. Because she..."

"Fell in love with you?" I finished for him. I couldn't blame her. I knew what kind of person Matteo was. And if for those months he took care of her, then I knew that thought was likely.

He nodded. "So now...I..."

"Got the courage to tell me."

"Yeah."

I sighed. Everything was too much for my mind to absorb. "And here I was thinking you wanted to break up with me."

"The reason I'm telling you all this is because you had the right to know. I haven't been the best boyfriend ever since this happened and I don't blame you if you hated my guts right now. But eventually...I hope you'd forgive me for everything."

"I need...time to think about...things..." I managed to say. He didn't reply and I figured he understood. He did just present me with news that I never expected. He was going to be a father - and I wasn't even the mother of his first born. Could I really forgive him? What he just told me hurt me deeply than I ever thought it would. And when he brought me home, I buried myself under the sheets and cried myself to sleep.