As Yet Untitled

I. Finally

"Althea is missing?" She heard David asked.

"Yes, several days now. She received a call from Tommy about Miggy being sick..." Wila explained.

"Hang on, Tommy has Miggy?"

"Yes, he took her after your evil of a father in law paid him to do so. That's why Althea broke up with Jade, Oscar was using Miggy as a bargaining tool to force Althea to leave his daughter alone. Tommy came to threaten us in the hospital, he basically admitted Mr. Tanchingco's role in all of it. Come on, David, I'm sure you know this already."

"No I didn't," David countered.

"Oh please, you are probably happy this all happened, you can have Jade all to yourself while your father-in-law do the dirty work for you."

"I am not a bad person, Wila."

"Yeah sure," Wila retorted sarcastically.

"I swear I did not know he also did something to Miggy."

"Also did something to Miggy? So... you knew what he did to Althea then?"

"By accident, okay!" At this point, Jade heard David's voice becoming agitated while she is fuming with anger listening to them. "I only overheard him on the phone, I tried Wila, we tried to tell Jade but we just couldn't."

"We? Who is this 'we' you are talking about?" Wila continued to interrogate David. As much as Jade is annoyed with Wila, she had to give her credit for being fierce and unrelenting.

David hesitated, "Um Mama knew. She was angry and she confronted Dada already but then Angkong died so we had to set aside all this to take care of the funeral."

"And in the meantime, my friend is probably being beaten to death while you contemplate what to do with this information. Yeah, not a bad person alright."

"Wila, I only want what's best for Jade, we all do," David reasoned.

"You mean you only want what's best for you!"

"Oh please don't act all high and almighty there Wila, you helped me ruin their relationship, remember? Besides, you could have reported this to the police, why didn't you?"

"Because Tommy has both Althea and Miggy and the Tanchingco's have connections. We tried it before and nothing happened. You rich people always get away with everything."

At the other side of the booth, Jade was trembling with anger, and disappointment. She could not believe the lies that her father weaved to control her, all of them. She wanted to confront them but stopped herself. She needs to be smart and get as much information as she can before making her move.

Once again, the two started arguing.

"I do not know where she is, Wila, I swear."

"Then find it out David, please, there is a child involved. And do you think Jade will ever forgive you if she knew that you kept her in the dark regarding all these?"

"What do you expect me to do? Dada is very powerful, he has many connections. We can hardly breathe as it is."

Jade heard Wila respond with a humorless laugh, "Of course, like the spineless idiot you are. Whatever David, go back to your perfect family and have fun making a marriage work with a lesbian." Wila then stood up and Jade heard her leave. A few seconds later, David also stood up and left.

Jade sat there for a few more minutes, trying to get herself together. She waved away one of the servers who was about to hand her a menu. Instead, she left some bills to pay for the house tea served to her. She waited a few more minutes to ensure that both David and Wila has left before leaving the restaurant and entering her car.