Hate The Game (COMPLETED)

Chapter 38

Tumingin siya sa akin—at sa tingin niyang iyon, ramdam na ramdam ko na na ako nga talaga ang sinisisi niya.

"Shanelle, anak, does this really have to come this far?" sabi niya habang nakatingin kay Shanelle.

"Ma—" sabi ni Samuel, pero natigilan siya nang tignan siya ng nanay niya. Isang tingin lang ay agad siyang natigilan. I saw Yago looking at me. He shook his head like he was telling me that he's sorry for the situation that I was in.

"Samuel has made mistakes, but as his wife, you should give him a chance... Ganyan kapag magasawa na," sabi niya.

I pressed my lips together. I even bit my tongue back dahil baka kung ano ang masabi ko at mas lalo lang akong mapasama sa mga mata niya. I had heard that line—iba-iba pa nga ang bersyon. But they all meant the same thing—that once you're married, you should stay in the marriage. You should give unlimited forgiveness. Like it was some prison that you're not allowed to escape from.

"Mrs. Fortalejo," pagtawag ni Yago. "We should go. Pretrial will start."

Binigyan niya muna ako ng matalim na tingin bago nagsimulang maglakad paalis. Kinailangan pa siyang hawakan ni Samuel at marahang hilahin para lang maglakad na sila.

"Oh, my god," sabi ko nang makaalis sila.

"Yeah... I'm sorry," sabi ni Yago sa akin.

Napapikit ako at napahugot ng malalim na hininga. "Aattend ba siya sa lahat?"

Yago shrugged. "Kapag sumigaw, malay mo ma-cite in contempt ni Judge?" he replied humorously.

I frowned at Yago dahil kahit ganito ang nangyayari, nagagawa pa ring magjoke. Wala ako sa mood tumawa kasi stress lang ang dumadaloy sa katawan ko ngayon.

"Bad joke," sabi niya.

"Sorry. Wala lang ako sa mood," I replied.

"Yeah... who would be, right?"

I gave him a small smile bago kami naglakad. Nauna akong pumasok sa loob. Doon ako naupo sa tabi ni Shanelle. A little later, dumating na rin iyong psychologist namin.

"I'm nervous," sabi ni Shanelle.

Tumingin ako sa kanya. I'd always seen her as someone who's confident—she's always looked sure about herself. But now, she looked... shaken. For some reason.

"Don't be," sabi ko sa kanya. "You'll just have to be honest—it's mostly the truth, anyway."

Truth be told, nung unang i-propose sa akin ni Yago iyong ground na psychological incapacity, my immediate response was no dahil alam ko kung gaano kahirap patunayan 'yan sa korte. The government values family and it will do everything to preserve family—nasa Constitution 'yan. A small whiff of collusion at madidismiss agad ang petition namin.

But... the guy's got some convincing powers.

He told me that annulment is a tedious process, and yes, it is... And unless master manipulator at degree holder sa pagsisinungaling iyong dalawa, we'd have a hard time to make our case dahil mahahalata na nagsisinungaling sila. In my experience sa mga kaso na nahawakan ko, karamihan na nagiging problema ay inconsistent sa mga detalye. I mean, it makes sense... kasi kung totoong nangyari naman, bakit nagiiba-iba iyong detalye?

It's tricky... but I believed in his plan.

"Hinga lang," sabi ko kay Shanelle nung marinig ko iyong pagbukas ng pinto dahil alam ko na nandito na iyong Judge. Inabot ko iyong ballpen ko at saka hinawakan iyon. It's the pretrial. Magiging puro tanong lang dito. Naipasa na namin lahat. Shanelle just needed to be consistent with her answers.