The Intertwined Fate (Serendipity Series #1) COMPLETED

42 - Coward

May 2021

I held back my confusion and went to the Elite Club to meet him. He is not the type of person to ask someone to meet with him. Worse, he is not the type to tell someone that he will be waiting. It's just... not so him.

It was after I bid goodbye to Samantha. As I drive away, I start to feel the exhaustion from the rollercoaster of emotions I experienced today. I wanted to just call Aristotle to ask what is it about but I can't shrug off his odd actions.

"Aristotle?" I asked in the empty club. A waiter welcomed and I smiled at him. "Hi, have you seen your uhm, boss? Aristotle?"

He nodded. "He is upstairs," he pointed the place and I saw Aristotle. "May I know your name, Ma'am?"

"No need. Let her in," Aristotle said from upstairs.

The waiter nodded and let me pass. But before he could turn his back on me, I answered. "I'm Cian, a friend of his and your boss, Luke."

"Nah, she's not just a friend of Luke's," Aristotle argued again. I pursed my lips when I heard a slight tone of drunkenness in his voice. Definitely not the Aristotle I was expecting to have a conversation with.

"Well, uhm, be on your way then. And thank you!" I said before making my way to the drunktard upstairs.

He was smiling goofily at me when I reached him and I have the urge to smack him to wake his senses up. "What is wrong with you?" I hissed. "You're drunk in the middle of the day and you asked to meet me through Samantha."

"Oh yeah, nearly forgot about that," he said. Then he chuckled. "Yes, I asked her... to tell you to meet me."

"And what for?"

He didn't answer and remained staring at me. "You know if you have nothing to say, I will gladly leave this premise and have a rest."

I counted to ten and nodded when he didn't really say anything. I concluded that he is not in his right mind at this moment and talking to him is useless.

"Then I'll take my leave now," I said and turned my back.

"You done talking with Luke?" He asked, making me stop my movements.

I looked back at him and frowned. What is the matter with him? No, why am I even wasting my time on him? But with a contorted look, I still answered him. "Yes, earlier."

"Are you back together?"

"Not really — but we're getting there," I answered and sighed. "Alright, we haven't really completed our talk but we did talk."

"And he didn't say anything?" He asked.

"Say what?"

Aristotle chuckled. "Of course he won't — Luke won't."

"I don't understand you, Aristotle. Or maybe, I shouldn't be talking to a drunk person," I said and turned my back on him.

"Drunk, you say?" He chuckled. "My, I haven't been in that state for quite some time now and today's the first in three years."

My brows furrowed. "Three years?" I nervously asked. I felt like I was pulled back to the past. "You are sober for that long?" I clarified and remembered what happened in this exact bar that year. This is where everything started.

"I am," he answered coldly. "Who knows how worse I could be if I get drunk again? No. It wasn't just me who was sober for that long. You too, right, Cian? Because you are afraid to make the same mistake again." His voice... his seething voice... makes me nervous for a reason.

What... I tried understanding his words and realized something. Then my breathing hitched as the pieces in my head came together. "You were here..." I concluded and unconsciously took a step back. "That night. Right, Aris? You were here..."

He didn't say anything but his eyes did the talking. It turned into slits before speaking coldly. "December 2017," he said and turned his back on me to look at the empty club below us. "You were dancing with Luke - lewdly in that spot."

Contrary to his eyes, mine widen in surprise. No. It wasn't merely a surprise. It was more than that. I couldn't name but there was fear alongside with shock.

When he faced me again, his face is free from any emotion. He was giving me a blank stare and I couldn't read what was in his mind. Why is he telling me these? Aris saw me with Luke - no problem with that. But why am I feeling like this?

"Aris -"

"You were coming out of the powder room after that obscene dance. You somehow look sober to me but your action after seeing me told me otherwise. But I was just as drunk as you are, Celestine," he said in a monotone. "And what happens when two drunk individual meet in a uncontrollable circumstance?"

He leaned in to me and whispered. "In bed."

Mabilis na dumapo ang kamay ko sa pisngi niya. My heart is beating fast and I felt like I was being chased by someone. My breathing ragged as I look at him recovering from my slap.

It wasn't Luke I slept with. It was Aristotle. He was the one I am with that night. He... was with me that night. But not in the morning.

I gasped as I remembered how my family tracked down Luke because it was him who was caught in camera. When the truth is...

"How could you? How could you, Aristotle?!"

His eyes darted to me. "How could I, Ciandra Celestine? You are drunk and willingly opened your legs for me!"

"Aristotle!" I angrily spat before wiping away the tears that fell from my eyes. "I don't blame you for having sex with me that night. I acknowledged the fact that I was drunk as you are and can barely remember anything."

My lips tremble as pointed him. "But how could you do that to Luke? He was your friend! How could you hide behind his back like a spineless coward? How could you let him take the blame for what you did? How could you ruin his life like that, Aristotle?!"

"Did you know how much he suffered just by being with me? Did you know the pain he was carrying just because he was entangled with me? Did you know the burden on his shoulder because of me?"

Umiling ako sa kaniya. The pain is suffocating me. "Aristotle, he suffered for you! It wasn't the life that he should have. You could have just suffered with me, you useless coward. Not Luke! He was a victim of all of these. He became responsible for something he didn't do. He took your place as man, Aristotle."

Because of the fate that we have, his life became miserable and complicated. His first love got married to another man to save me from scandal. He got married to me and become the father of Lucian. Then he was forced to save their company because they got bankrupt which is again because of me.

It was... all... because of me.

I was the reason for Luke's endless misery. Aris and I did that to Luke. We made him suffer. We ruined his life. We tore the life he should be living into pieces.

"Remember when I said, fate loves playing with our lives? I was wrong. You played with our fate, Aristotle. I hope you had your fun," I said and turned to leave.

I wiped away my tears and turned my back on him. My stomach churned for some reason and my eyesight blurred. The last thing I remember was holding on the metal rod of the stairs before completely blacking out.