"He is actually in charge of searching wife for Sir Axl." Khalil told his friend.
"Then he can just find that lover in his high school days. The one that Sir Mike told before." Iris replied. I know Mike. He is Axl's bodyguard since high school but we never talked that much yet.
"He has a boyfriend back in high school?" That's new to me. I will know it if he had, because Axl is popular. It would be a famous couple for sure.
"Almost." Mike entered. "Why are you here?"
"I am almost done with my lunch," I answered.
I saw Mike whispering something to Iris, the Elite that Khalil introduced to me.
"You can just admit it. Why did you have to lie?" Iris asked me. He then went inside the room. He looked so annoyed. What would I admit?
What the hell was that?
I returned to the mansion to finish my work. This is making me sleepy. We have lots of applicants, but now I need to listen to their voices because Axl may leave the date again because of that.
I stalk their social media accounts to check their posts too. I saw a handsome one named Eric Huang. He is not Thai, but living here for three years already. I searched for his account which he provided in his details too. He owns a clothing line based in Singapore. His posts are cryptic though. I think I need to skip this one because he just broke up with his two years live-in partner.
"It's never right to use me to forget your past." Wow, what a dramatic post!
Damn!
I shouldn't have browsed more. I could have spared myself from this pain. I remembered the feeling again when I saw a photo Eric posted a month ago.
Caption : I will always choose you, MTR.
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He only posted an eye, but I can never be wrong. This is Love. This is Michael Trent Rivera.
Water! I think I can't breathe.
Two years with him? During that two years, I was stuck on the hope that we can still be together. Two fucking years! I was so stupid. I kept telling myself that he will return once he fixed his problem.
For two years he didn't give me an explanation why he did that. I just found the answer today.
I think there is something stuck in my throat. It is so hard to breathe.
Should I remove this Eric from the list? He seems a good guy with excellent background. I am sorry, Eric. If Michael stayed with you for two years, then he must have a good reason to do that. Maybe he loves you. You can still fix it with Trent.
The door opened, and Axl entered angrily. "The chef said you didn't eat your lunch."
"I did. I brought my own food. It would be a waste not to eat them." I wiped my tears.
"Is your job that hard, why are you crying?" Axl asked.
"No, I just remembered a sad scene from a movie. I already have four on the list. Do you want to check?"
"No. You can rest now. I'll ask my driver to send you home." He paused. "Move on. If he left you without reason, then he is an asshole." He tossed a hanky to me. "You are annoying."
I cried a lot last night. Maybe, it's the closure that I needed. He replaced me with Eric. I can't blame him. Eric Huang seems perfect.
I am now in the office trying to act normal. It is better that I finally found the reason. I am done with the crying. Time to move forward. I just have to find a wife for Axl and move to another department in which I can prove my capability. I am not going to grow with this kind of job. I just accepted it because it pays a lot.
I opened my wallet. I just want to look at Trent's picture one last time. I pulled it out from my wallet's photo slot. Along with his picture, 2 hearts and a folded bookmark fell. I forgot about these. These are supposed to be my gift to Axl. I just hid it before and I didn't know that I am still keeping it till now. I looked closely at the heart he gave me before. I think there is something handwritten on it. "Axl's". I don't think I noticed this detail before.
I panicked when he put something on my desk. "Oh shit shit shit."
"Shit?" He asked. "What is that?"
I tried to push them to hide from him, but it is too late.
He picked up the crumpled photo of Trent. "Michael Trent." He knows him. "Hearts? Cheesy! Hahaha. I have so many memories involving heart stickers."
He moved his face closer to the old sticker heart that he picked up. His face expression changed. I think he had read it. I don't understand. He is not talking.
He spoke finally. "Why are you keeping this?"
"Huh, I just found it randomly. I am just keeping all the heart stickers during high school because I don't get them all the time."
"Then where are the others? Where are your friends' hearts? I know this because I am the one who wrote this. I remembered the date and time and where did I write this." Axl said.
"Hmm. I have no idea."
"LICAH!!! FUCK!!! ANSWER!!! Why are you keeping this?"
His authoritative voice filled the whole floor. Ria and the guard were shocked too.
"Because...because..."
He grabbed my wrist.
"Because? Fuck, LJ!" His veins are about to burst.
I handed him the bookmark that I'd been keeping for so long. I remembered the time that he tossed it away.
"Read."
He covered his mouth when he flipped the bookmark. He is reading it with a serious face.
"LJ." He uttered. This time his voice is calmer.
On the back of the bookmark says, 'too shy to ask, I don't know if I am just assuming things, do you like me? If yes, meet me in the Arts room at 5. I have something to tell you. If not, just throw this and forget about it. -Licah'
"I got the answer that I expected that day. There is no harm in trying, right?" I smiled weakly.
