Time vs. Effort

Chapter 8

“I don’t know you anymore, every bit of you just changed, you know that? You are such a heartless, bitch! Ano ba problema mo?! I guess you never meant what you told me, how could you do this to me? To all of us? To Chicsers? To Phiexies? Why?!” Dara shouted at her.

“Mahal ko si Abra,” she sniffed.

Beth was going to lose her bestfriend, the one who understood her, been through everything with her, through thick and thin.

Dara didn’t want to know anything more so she walked away.

She loved Abra with all her heart and she was willing to risk it all for him.

The next thing she was expecting a call from Ully that she was out of their gang and that she was kicked out of Phiexies.

Right at that moment she really did get a call and it was Ullyses.

“I’m sorry, Ully, but I’m going to leave the group before you even tell me that you guys are kicking me out,”

Ullyses sighed, she felt it, he was mad at her.

“No, actually, I’m here to ask you if you’re coming back? You see, job and relationships are two different things, though that’s where things are going, so I guess you’re not,”

She sighed too, a deep one and tells him, “I’m really really sorry, but yes, I’m not coming back anymore, I’m going to the States with Abra,”

He keeps silent and then starts talking again, “I understand, goodluck with everything, I’m still your friend, Beth, and I’m always going to be here to help you,”

She didn’t need their friendship anymore, she knew it, as long as Dara was gone, the rest of them would fade away with her.

“Thanks, Ully, but it’s best as well that we don’t speak anymore,” she says.

Ullyses sighs even more, “Okay, I just hope you know what you’re doing, we’ll miss you, and God bless,” and he hungs up the phone.

“Bakit mo ginagawa yan sa sarili mo?” she turned around to face him, “para sayo, dahil gusto ko na makasama ka habang buhay,” she smiled with tears.

“Ano ka ba? Mawawala rin ako, dahil mamatay ako, tapos saglit lang tayo nagkatime na nagenjoy, nung nawala lang yung boyfriend mo,” he says, stooping his head low.

She corrects him, and smiles, wiping away her tears, “You mean ex boyfriend ko, and I don’t care if we didn’t spend so much time together, It’s like Time vs. Effort, Clarence and I spent so much time together but he never made up any effort to me and only realized it when I met someone even better and that’s you”

She gave his lips a peck, and continued on talking, “meron pa naman tayo time para gumawa ng mga memories as long as you want to, at kaya mo, wag mo lang sabihin na mamatay ka, hindi ko hahayaan yan, dahil hindi ko kakayanin, magpapagamot ka naman,”

He let her lay beside him on his bed, he kissed her on the cheek, “I see, I love you,” he whispered in her ears.

She replies, “Alam mo kapag sinabi mo na I love you, parang sinabi mo rin lang na hindi ka makahinga? I can’t breathe, babe…”

He smirks and whispers again, “a line from She’s Dating The Gangster yan, nakalimutan ko lang which chapter”

She actually brought the book and grabbed it from the bag beside the side table.

“Babasahin ko para sayo, hanggang makalabas ka dito,” she said, reading the book to him.

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“Mommy, babalik na ako ng Singapore, please?” he said, crying on the phone.

His mother knew about what had happened to his son and despised Beth eversince.

“Okay, you leave first thing tomorrow morning, I’ll ready your ticket since you’re too lazy and drunk to do so, and then I want you to meet someone here in Singapore,” his mother said.

“Yes, mom, I’ll be expecting it,” he hung up.

His entire condominium was in a mess. He looked through the mess that he had done, the paintings on the walls were off the walls, the vases were all broken and the bed was left unmade. He saw the little bear he was planning to give her. The things he gave her were also scattered on the floor.

It was all his fault, he was too late to make things change, she had fallen for the better man that he was being warned about, he didn’t tell her the truth and now he had to accept the painful fact, he lost her.

“Why should I live? Nawalan na ako ng dahilan para mabuhay pa, no other woman can make me happier than she does, at ayaw ko pa makilala kung sino pa man yung sinasabi ni Mama,” he looked at a shard of glass from the broken glass vase that broke.

He closed his eyes, strikes the shard across his wrist, and slowly, the world around him faded. “Goodbye, cruel, cruel world,”