Time and Again

[62] Isabel's Closing Speech

Isabel went up the stage. She wanted to laugh on Samantha’s face for her failure in attempting to shame her. She knew what type of dirty game she wanted to play on her. She cleared her throat and smiled to the audience.

“A pleasant afternoon to each and every one. I never thought that you are as talented as your teachers. I was truly amaze by your great talents. I know that three months is such a very short time for us to get to know more of each other. Congratulations for making it this far. I hope this farewell is more of a ‘see you later’. Regardless of what your endeavors may be, the future is yours to take advantage of, to make a difference and to understand what great opportunities are there for the taking. Always remember that the best is yet to come. Don’t be afraid to learn new things. Explore and be productive in your future endeavors. God bless you all. Thank you.”

“Thank you so much for your participation and congratulations. Once again this is teacher Samantha and you have a wonderful day.”

The function hall was once again filled with thank you, goodbye, tears, smiles, kisses, and hugs from teachers and students.

Isabel wanted to say goodbye to her students especially to Ken. Her day turned sour because of Samantha. She reached for the door surreptitiously to avoid her students. She’s definitely not in the mood for goodbyes. 

When she opened the door outside the function hall, she met Marissa who was also about to get inside.

“Hi Teacher Isabel.” Marissa greeted Isabel with open arms.

“Congratulations Marissa. I’m so proud of you.”

Isabel hugged Marissa back.

“Thank you for bringing out the best in me. I wouldn’t be able to make it without your words of encouragement. I really appreciate your patience in teaching me despite of my slow learning ability.”

“No, Marissa. I already saw your potential from the day you step inside my cubicle. You only lack confidence. And my task is to boost your confidence and awaken the giant within you. You are already near to your goal. You just need a little push. And there you are.”

“I will never forget you Teacher Isabel. I’ve learned a very valuable lesson from you which is never taught in our culture. I’ve learned that age doesn’t matter in learning.”

“I am looking forward for your success in the future.”

“Thank you so much.”

Ken had been looking for Isabel among the crowd. He saw Isabel at the door talking with Marissa. He walked fast to catch up with her. He was pissed when Samantha grabbed his arm. 

“Congratulations, Ken.”

“Thank you.”

Ken did not look at Samantha. He tried to pull his arm away from her but her grip was strong.

“Wait! Why are you in a hurry? Are you going somewhere?”

“I wanted to talk to Teacher Isabel before she will go.”

“If I were you, I’d get to know her first before I’ll talk to her.”

Samantha handed the USB to Ken.

“What’s this for?”

“Watch and learn for your own sake.”

Ken ignored Samantha. He put the USB device inside his pocket and tried to catch up with Isabel before she got lost out of his sight.

“Isabel.” Ken called.

Isabel turned her head to Ken. She wanted to avoid him but there was no way out.

“Hi.” Isabel greeted timidly.

“Thank you for everything.”

Ken hugged Isabel.

Isabel wanted to avoid Ken. How could she do it when she’s deeply in love with him?

“So this is it?”

Isabel hugged Ken back.

“What do you mean?”

Ken was confused.

“Is this your way of parting from me?”

“I already told you that I will come back for you. Don’t you trust me?”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you. I am just afraid to lost you.”

“Since when did I fail to fulfill my promise to you?”

Isabel couldn’t remember a time when Emile failed to fulfill his promise. He’s always true to his word no matter what.

“I know you are always true to your words. I trust you.”

“Thank you.”

Ken and Isabel parted ways. 

“Don’t forget to watch the video on the USB I gave you.” Samantha approached Ken.

“What’s this for? Why do I need to watch this video?”

Ken asked who was already a little bit annoyed with Samantha.

“Just watch that video. Who knows it will change your life forever.”

Samantha pinched Ken’s arm and went away.

Ken didn’t want to watch the video. He could sense that Samantha only wanted to break his relationship with Isabel. No matter how many times he tried to dodge the urge to watch the video, it seemed like there was an invisible force that pushes him to insert the USB into his computer and watch the video.

Ken couldn’t take it anymore. He pulled his laptop inside his bag. He opened his laptop and inserted the USB. He was annoyed when he saw the same video played earlier with Isabel running at the back of the house, crouching, with a blinding light covering the screen, and pop, there went an old woman. He was very annoyed with the video. He couldn’t comprehend what Samantha wanted him to discover. He watched the video five times to make sure that he wouldn’t miss any significant details. On the sixth time that he watched the video, he noticed that the video came from a CCTV footage. He wondered what the blinding light was for. Was Samantha playing a nasty trick on him and Isabel? How did she get Isabel in that video on a CCTV footage? A lot of questions had been boggling on his mind. He shut his laptop off.

Ken wanted to confront Isabel whether what he saw on the video was true or not. But that was too impossible to be true. The last thing he wanted to think of for the moment was that Isabel was hiding a dark secret from him.