His Girl Friday 2

Chapter 1: Same But Different

Chapter 1: Same But Different

Everly: YOU'RE WHAT?!

Leila: IS THIS A PRANK???

Everly: Sahara. Please tell us this is just a terrible joke.

Ara: Why would I joke about this?

Everly: Are you really here?

Everly: IN HERMOSA???

Ara: Yup.

Leila: Are you ok?

Leila: What's going on?

Ara: Dash and I are getting an annulment.

Ara: He's having an affair.

***

"You've got to be kidding me."

From what I can smell, I think I just burned my clutch. Sa lahat naman nang pwedeng mangyari ngayong pabalik ako ng Hermosa, ngayon pa ako masisiraan ng kotse at clutch ko pa talaga ang nasira! If that's not a bad omen, I don't know what is.

This is exactly what happened when we came here the first time. My mother, our assigned driver, and I were stuck on this exact road the day we moved here to Hermosa.

I stepped out of my car to cool down and breathe some fresh provincial air. What should I do now? As a wife to a really caring man (before the cheating), I never had to turn my brain on when it came to car problems. I always call Dash for help and he would swoop in to save the day. He would always save the day. For years, he managed to keep his promise that he would always save me...

Until he didn't.

Should I check on the internet for the nearest talyer in the area? Should I walk back towards the guard house I passed through coming here at Hacienda Arcangel? Hindi pa naman ako masyadong nakakalayo. From where I am right now, I think I was closer there than at Casa Arcangel.

After grabbing my bag inside my car, I immediately clicked the keyfob to lock its doors. Mahirap na at baka wala akong mabalikang gamit, or worse, baka wala akong mabalikang kotse. With my pepper spray on my right hand and my phone on my left, I was about to walk towards the direction of the guard house when I heard a really familiar, yet forgotten sound.

I stopped and turned around to find where the noise was coming from. I felt my body froze and my stomach fell out of my ass at the scene before me. It was like a deja vu, a snippet from one of my chaotic dreams, a scene from one of the old telenovelas I watched as a kid.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," I whispered to myself.

From a distance, I can see a shirtless rider on the back of a black horse galloping in my direction at a breakneck speed. Zeus... I already know who the rider was even from a distance.

He was probably called by the guards at the new front gate of the hacienda. I wasn't even sure why I came here, I could've chosen to go to Manila when I learned there was no vacant room in Everly's bed and breakfast. I couldn't even stay at Leila's home since they couldn't be back until next month.

Why couldn't I just wait somewhere else before coming here? Now, we're doing this. We're facing my ex-boyfriend who ripped my heart apart five years ago. THE ex-boyfriend.