A/N: Omg guys pumasok yung story natin sa top 1000 romance novels ng wattpad! #856 today! Please share and promote our story! Super thank you!! *hugs for everyone*
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"Osige na, bababa ko na 'yung phone. I love you po." Leni gushed over the phone. "Osige, mamimiss kita agad." Bongbong replied. "Hmm!" She blushed. "Sige na, you might be tired already. Good night, mahal. I love you." He bid before they hang up.
Bongbong felt so ecstatic upon realizing how much in love he was with Leni and how much she loves him back. He never expected that after all these years, someone would come and make him feel what love is. He valued her, treasured her, she was everything to him.
"Alam mo, Leni, until now, I don't like that Bongbong for you. Wala parin akong tiwala diyan sa lalakeng yan." Leila expressed. "Ate naman, 'wag mo na pagdudahan si Bongbong." Leni requested politely. "Nag-aalala lang naman ako sayo e, nagdududa lang ako na matapos ka niyang sira sirain noon, bigla ka niyang mahal na ngayon? Come on. Baka pinaglololoko ka lang niyan." She speculated. "Hindi naman, tsaka sampung buwan na yata or one year na ang nakakalipas since the election. Magmove on na tayo. Besides, I've been with him for a year already, alam kong sincere siya, nararamdaman ko." She defended him.
"Hay nako. Wala naman akong bearing sa desisyon mo diyan kay Bongbong since feelings mo naman ang involved diyan pero sana lang maging weary ka. Baka kase invest ka ng invest ng emosyon para sa maling tao." She refuted.
"Ate, okay lang ako. Don't worry, he's the one. I know it. I feel it. Hayaan mo na lang kami." Leni assured politely.
"Oo nga girl. Sobrang in love na in love ka na yata kay Bongbong, mag-iwan ka rin sa sarili mo ha." Risa supported. "Ikaw pa naman ang baby girl namin dito. Mapapaaway talaga kami kapag sinaktan ka niyan." She followed.
Leni smiled. "Salamat. Salamat sainyo, the best talaga kayo." She replied and hugged them.
—
Leni woke up early the next day, she went to the living room and opened the television to watch some flicks. She plugged the Beatles concert DVD and watched it with the thought of Bongbong at the back of her mind — he is such a huge fan of Beatles and their favorite song together was Love Me Do. In the midst of watching, her eyes passed by the photo booth photos of her and Bongbong magnetized on her refrigerator, it brought smile to her lips, she sort of missed him.
She continued watching the concert with a bowl of Cheetos on her hands, as it ended, she switched into a certain channel.
A news flash appeared reporting about her. She was stunned for a moment and listened carefully to the news.
"...kampo ng Liberal Party at ni Leni Robredo na di umanoy, nandaya sa nakaraang election..."
The news made her feel extremely bothered again. It has been a long time since that news faded out and the media left her at peace but then here it is again.
"...at ito ay napatunayan through a voice recording na mismong si Leni Robredo ang nagsasalita..."
The voice recording played over the television. She was stoned for a moment, she was guilty of being the one talking over the recording, she knew it was her voice despite the slightly low quality of the audio as she always crack that statement when she jokes about her cheating to Bongbong. She didn't notice that her hand was covering her mouth again in astonishment of the sudden news outbreak. She wasn't holding her phone but she knew people might have been messaging and calling her already about it but then, it wasn't the thing that bothered her, it's the fact that she said those words on the recorded audio while she was with Bongbong, she was quite sure of it.
...dinaya kita sa VP race with the help of Liberal Party....
Despite that the voice recording was real, it was trimmed causing it to sound really bad and crucial when it was actually uttered as a joke. She tried to think positively about him thinking that he could be clueless of this outbreak news even if it seemed impossible. Following the sudden news, the speaker of the Marcos' team had himself interviewed.
"Ito pong audio recording na ito ay galing mismo kay senator Bongbong..."
It shattered Leni right into her chest upon hearing about it. Tears started to drench her cheeks as she continued listening to the news that slowly destroyed her integrity and image not just as a politician but as a person.
"... And right away niya po itong ipinaalam saaming team and napgpasyahan po namin na i-out ito sa media sapagkat gusto naming maging aware ang sambayanan sa kaganapang ito..."
"So ano na po ba yung status nila senator Marcos and VP Leni Robredo ngayon?"
"Ah, they're no longer communicating. They're no longer together. Bongbong decided to cut off whatever they have since he discovered about her cheating. Sino ba namang gugustuhin na maging close sa partidong nandaya 'di ba?" The speaker continued speaking for their party, however, Bongbong was absolutely unaware that they would pursue the plan after he told them to not continue anymore as he knew his relationship with Leni is going serious as he expected and he wanted to keep her, he wasn't also informed that the narration shared by their speaker to the media would go that way like as if he shut her down and left her hanging when he discovered about the cheating.
It was all wrong, all the news that came out; came out by surprise but then while both of them were clueless of the real story behind he sudden outbreak, it already broke Leni into pieces with the thought that the man she loved only used her, deceived her to be able to get a strong ace against her. Nothing was real, he never loved her back, it was all part of his plan and it breaks her, it breaks her a lot.
—
It was kinda late when Bongbong woke up as he stayed a bit late that night playing the Beatles' Love Me Do on his piano as the song has been very special to them; jamming and singing together at the car with that song playing. After a couple of minutes, he took his breakfast and finally decided to check on his phone to call Leni as he seemed to miss her voice already but just right after he opened his phone, he saw the stack of unread messages.
He wondered and opened them one by one only realizing that most of it asks him to watch the news. He rushed to the living room and opened the television, upon hearing the reports, he felt aggravated with his team for breaking out the news and speaking out for him without his permission and approval. He also felt badly confused of how they were able to get that recording but then he suddenly recalled the auto recording device that Ralph installed on his phone. He panicked and worried about Leni, it also frightened him that it may come out wrong to her considering how his speaker talked for his side.
He didn't shut her off, he wasn't the one who gave the recording, everything was fabricated.
He immediately rushed to Leni's house to talk to her and explain things but she didn't appear to be very welcoming anymore. Her younger sister, Lourdes went out to tell him to just leave as Leni didn't want to talk to him.
"Anong ginagawa mo dito?" Lourdes sounded displeased seeing him. "Please, gusto ko lang makausap si Leni. Please." He begged. "Ayaw ka niyang makausap. Vulnerable si ate ngayon kaya mabuti pa umuwi ka na at wag ka nang manggulo." She suggested and turned around. "Gusto ko lang makausap si Leni, please!" He tried to stop him despite that their closed gate hindered him from coming closer. He peeked at the top of the gate.
"Leni! Kausapin mo naman ako please! Give me a chance to explain!" He shouted. Lourdes panicked with the scene he was making, she tried to stop him but he really wanted to talk to Leni. In irk of hearing his tantrums outside, Leni stomped outside.
"Anong ginagawa mo dito?" She asked him. Bongbong felt relieved upon seeing her. "Leni, please let me explain. Kausapin mo naman ako." He quavered in eagerness to talk to her.
"Bakit? Alam ko na lahat. Hindi ko na kailangan makinig sa mga sasabihin mo." She rejected. "Leni, it's not like that, I swear. Wala akong kinalaman dito. Hindi ko alam kung pano nangyari yon, di ko alam na gagaw-"
"Hindi mo alam? Ano? Lahat hindi mo alam? Bong, pwede ba? Wag mo na ako lokohin. Huling huli ka na eh." She refuted.
"Leni, I know it's complicated pero I want you to understand, Leni, mahal kita." He didn't know how to convince her to believe him.
She scoffed upon hearing him. "Bong, pwede ba umalis ka na?" She requested. "Leni, please naman-"
"Umalis ka na!" She yelled at him but he just wanted to explain himself. "Leni, I'm begging you. Makinig ka lang sa-"
"Sabi ko, umalis ka na!" She interrupted him. "Lourdes, halika na sa loob." They walked inside their house and shut the door closed.
Bongbong knew he couldn't convince her to listen. He kicked the stone lying next to his feet in regret, he hated how untimely things went.
Leni immediately broke down as soon as she sat on their couch. Lourdes comforted her, after witnessing her remarkable and sincere relationship with Bongbong, she knew how much it hurts her. "Ang sakit..." She cried. "Ang sakit sakit, Des." She broke down, Lourdes made her rest her head on her shoulder as she stroked her back. The more that it breaks Leni to hear his pleas outside but fight the temptation of forgiving and further listening to him. "He deceived me. Niloko niya ako..." She bawled. "It's okay, ate. Ang mahalaga we know the truth now. I'm here for you." She comforted her.
Bongbong kept pleading Leni to talk but he knew it was hopeless. He also realized that his sin was quite heavy that it won't be that easy to forgive. He decided to go home to give her some space and time to heal, instead he focused on thinking of ideas to redeem her from the bad news and accusations.
—
"Bong, nasaan na ang talino mo?!" His party leader yelled at her. "You know how pathetic it would make us look like when we withdraw the accusations we threw? Anong sasabihin natin about the audio-"
"Let's say na it wasn't real. It's not Leni-"
"It's not real?! Are you out of your mind. 'Di ba sinabi natin na sayo mismo nanggaling yung audio and you immediately shut her down after you had that recording?!" He countered.
"Hindi naman kase dapat ganito, mahal ko siya e..." He uttered in a weak voice.
"Sige! Simple lang naman 'yan e. Image ni Leni ang masisira o image mo, pumili ka." He interrogated him but it made him feel so torn, he didn't know what to respond.
"See? Hindi ka makasagot. Just accept it, Bong. Hayaan mo nang masira si Leni. Hindi naman makakatulong yang pagrereklamo mo, and walang magagawa yang mahal mahal na yan na sinasabi mo. Nandiyan na yan e, wala na tayong magagawa." He rebutted. "Osiya, I'll be going. Kausapin niyo siya, enlighten him to do the right things to do!" He directed them and left the office.
Martin (Romualdez), Bongbong's cousin, knew how much he loved Leni and he knew he as true about her despite that it was just suppose to be just a part of the plan. He has never seen Bongbong value a woman as much as he valued Leni but he knew that it was kind of hopeless to fix the mess that just began or to even fix his damaged relationship with her.
"Bong, ano na?" He asked and sat beside him. He chuckle weakly, "'Di ko rin alam e. 'Di ko na alam kung anong uunahin ko, hindi narin ako makapag-isip ng maayos." He confided.
"Si Leni? Anong plano mo?" He asked specifically, Bongbong didn't know how to respond correctly as she has been the main reason why he couldn't keep himself together. "'Di ko alam... Ayaw niya naman akong kausapin, she blocked my number on her phone and she's not answering my calls, she's avoiding me. Hindi ko na alam kung paano magreach out sakanya." He shared with a sigh.
"Well, frankly speaking, I think medyo malabo na na maayos yung sainyo ni Leni lalo na't mainit pa yung issue. I suggest na you focus on resolving this issue muna, make a way para mag lie low yung issue para hindi na tirahin ng tirahin ng media si Leni and ikaw. Make a way para magfade out yung issue and if it fades out completely and if God allows, maybe that's the time na you go after Leni to win her back." Martin advised, Bongbong knew he had a point. Despite that he was so eager to redeem himself to Leni, he focused on resolving the current issue and avoided interviews that may worsen the case.
With Bongbong's sudden silence, Leni thought that he really wasn't into winning her back, she finally convinced himself that it was all for the show and for his own good despite the fact that he was actually keeping his silence and by every time new issues come out and he counters it with silence and no comment responses, the credibility of the accusations that their party fades out bit by bit without causing much harm to his team and to Leni's team; he has been working silently to kill the heat of the media over her and the issues thrown to her, however, she missed to see that.
The case and accusations did reach the judge of the supreme court, but upon months of studying the case, it was just trashed down as the audio evidence wasn't enough to prove Leni and her team guilty of the accusation.
The voice behind the audio may be just someone who sounded like her, it may be manipulated or misunderstood that's why the case was trashed down immediately instead of heading it up to a series of hearings.
The social media people and countrymen panicked and became a bit loud upon the news of the trashing of Leni's case, some of them complained about it thinking that her party might have paid the higher courts or bribed them out, however, without releasing any statements from both parties, the talk of the people about them faded out by its own — the expected plot of Bongbong's plan to end the issue about her.
Even if his plans to resolve the issue went smoothly, it still hurts him to think that he already lost Leni. He stopped nagging and trying to reach out to her for over several months, he thought that she probably gave up on him too thinking that he gave her up first and deceived her at the first place after not pursuing her for so long as he placed all his focus to ending the issues and stopping the media from further attacking her.
Life's unfair. I struggled to give her time and space for healing but now, I can't win her back anymore.
To be continued...