Two days have passed since Timothy flew to Paris and for Sabina those two days seemed like eternity. The young biologist spent the last 48 hours working hard, all her pending paper works were almost finished and she was praying hard that loads of work would come. The busyness will help her silence her mind.
Timothy called a hundred times but the petite woman had no intention of answering it. What the young heir did was still unacceptable. She was deeply hurt with his actions, he should have told her.
Sabina was a broad-minded young lady so she would have understood if Timothy had just been honest with her from the very start. This whole fiasco made her realized how Timothy thought of her.
Does he really think so poorly of me? That I'll react like a violent jealous girlfriend? She often asked this questions to herself nowadays.
A loud alarm chimed so Sabina looked up at the clock mounted on the glass room wall, it says 7:00 o'clock. She started to clear her table and stretched, suddenly she felt ravenous and remembered that yet again, she had skipped lunch.
Timothy would be mad if he finds out, she thought awry. A painful twinge pulsed in waves inside her chest so she shook her head to brush off the thought.
Due to exhaustion she had no more energy to cook so she decided to eat dinner outside before going home. She closed the glass door behind her and walked out of the long ago deserted office.
At the elevator she met Timothy's best buddy, Terrence. "Hey, Sab." The young engineer greeted her warmly. He pressed the open button until Sabina was safely inside.
"Hi." Sabina replied briefly, she looked at her watch thinking if it wasn't too late to call Patricia and James for a late dinner.
"It's already 7:00 o'clock, why are you still here?" The man asked while glancing at his own wrist watch.
"I needed to finish something." She responded briefly.
Terrence noticed the woman's sad and tired demeanor and instantly, he thought of his best friend. She's missing him, he realized.
An idea flew into his head. "You looked exhausted. How are you, Sab?" He began.
The lady gave him a timid smile. "Starving, actually." She replied without thinking.
"I know a place, a couple of blocks from here, they serve the best tacos and burritos in town. Want to have dinner with me? I'm kind of hungry, too!" The engineer suggested subtly, giving the woman the option.
Sabina was having second thoughts about the man's invitation but then Terrence was a friend and a very good one, in fact he was almost like an older brother to her. The young woman knew that there was nothing wrong if she had dinner with his boyfriend's best friend so she nodded in agreement.
"Game! Let's go!" She said, trying to sound more cheerful to hide her grim mood.
Terrence grinned widely. "We can walk from here to avoid the heavy traffic, what do you think?" He asked while looking at her signature black stiletto.
"Can those manage?" He added while pointing at her feet using his puckered lips.
Sabina smiled and gave the man another nod. "Oh don't worry, I just put this on. I wore my office slipper the whole day so I guess, I'm okay."
The duo walked from the office to the Mexican joint that Terrence what talking about. Upon entering the place they immediately ordered their food and found a corner table for two.
They were chatting in a subdue manner, when Terrence mobile phone rang. The engineer hurriedly answered the call, seeing that it was from his best friend.
"Hey man, how's the trip?" He frowned upon hearing Timothy's somewhat sad tone.
"Hello TJ, where are you dude?" Came Timothy's low voice.
The young man looked at the woman sitting in front of him before responding. "I'm at the Mexicali, eating dinner with Sab. I was about to call..." He declared while still staring at his best friend's girlfriend.
"Who's that?" The woman mouthed soundlessly, perplexed why she heard her name popped up in the phone conversation.
Terrence was cut but Timothy's urgent request. "Thank God! Give the phone to her dude, now! As in now!" Timothy demanded, not caring that he sounded too clingy or too ardent.
"Whoa! Easy man, easy. Wait, she's here." The young man handed the phone to Sabina without answering her question.
Although confused, the young woman took the phone. "Hello, this is Sabina. Who's this please?" She mumbled but in a snap, Sabina realized that it was Timothy but it was too late to return the phone to Terrence and it would be extremely rude if she cancelled the call.
"Sab! It's me, Tim." The voice from the other line replied eagerly but when he heard nothing, he spoke again.
"Please talk to me Sab, I'm really sorry okay? Talk to me. Please, say something." Timothy pleaded.
"I think this is not the right time and place to talk, Tim. I'll just call you when I'm ready." She responded in a well-controlled voice. She handed back the phone to Terrence and continued eating.
Terrence was baffled with Sabina's behavior but he didn't dare ask. He knew the lady and he didn't want to be at the wrong side of her temper. "Hello man, are you still there?" He queried tentatively.
A deep sigh sounded from the other line. "Yes, how was she? And why are you with her?" A hint of jealousy was evident on his best friend's question.
Defensively, Terrence replied in a very low tone. He partly covered his mouth while speaking so Sabina wouldn't hear their conversation. "She looked exhausted man and don't get your temper in a twist, we just decided to eat together since we both finish late and we're both starving." He aired what truly happened to appease his jealous best friend.
Another deep sigh was heard from Timothy's line. "I'm sorry dude, just make sure she eats well, okay? I'll just call later. We need to discuss the Dubois and Blanc deal. Bye." The line went dead, Timothy didn't even wait for Terrence's turn to say goodbye.
The engineer just shrugged his shoulder and continued eating. He chanced a glance at Sabina and found her deep in thought. She was chewing her food really slow while staring at nothing.
Timothy told him what happened so he decided that it was best if he would cheer Sabina a bit. "How do you find the food, Sab?" He asked a little louder to pull the woman out of the trance she was in.
A little startled, Sabina trained her eyes towards the man across her. "You're right, this is the best taco I've ever tasted." She smiled timidly and went back to her deep musing.
After the dinner, the two decided to grab some coffee. They sat outside the coffee shop, enjoying the cool December breeze. Christmas was upon them and out of nowhere a strong feeling of Christmas cheers invaded Sabina's whole being. A small smile emerged from her lips.
The young woman always celebrates the holidays alone or sometimes she celebrates it with her best friends so she doesn't bother to put up a tree or decorate her place.
"But this year would be different." She whispered to herself.
Sitting across the quiet woman, Terrence noticed the demure smile that tugged Sabina's lips and this made him smile too. A Christmas carol sounded from somewhere and a festive feeling suddenly filled the place. "Where will you spend your Christmas?" The man questioned without any forewords.
The petite lady darted her gaze towards Terrence. "At home. This year I will spend Christmas at home." She uttered the words without thinking then the gears in her head started turning.
"Where is home, Sabina?" A small voice sounded from inside.
Vigan? Or Naga? Or McKinley hills? Or Timothy Sebastian. Then she remembered something that she read a long time ago.
"A home doesn't always have walls and doors
Sometimes it has two eyes and a heart."
"We should have a Christmas get together, you, Tim, Maggie, me and your friends, just like when you announced that you and Tim were officially a couple. What do you think?" Terrence suggested out of nowhere.
Sabina welcomed the idea in fact it made her excited. Still doubtful that the Sebastian siblings would be here by Christmas, she decided that she rather spend the holiday season with her dear friends.
"Terrific idea! That would be fun. We could do it at my place, it would be more private and intimate instead of going to some fancy place." She offered her place immediately, thinking that it would give her more reasons to put up a tree and fix up some Christmas adornments.
"Although I'm not sure if Tim and Maggie could make it, Mrs. Sebastian had planned a month long vacation." She wasn't able to hide the sadness in her voice.
But Terrence ignored the young woman's tone. "They will be here, I assure you. For now let's start planning it. What do we need?" His voice came out a little too enthusiastic. It was obvious that the man was going all out just to cheer up his best friend's gorgeous girlfriend.
Sabina took out her iPhone, there were messages from Timothy but she paid them no heed and tapped the notes icon. She proceeded on listing the things they needed.
"For a start we need food, of course. Then the drinks. Let's have the usual potluck. That would be a lot easier for everyone. But for a first we have to set the date." She looked up from her phone and waited for Terrence suggestion.
The man readily snagged his own phone from the table and consulted the calendar. "25th is a Sunday so it would be best if we do it Friday night, 23rd. Is that okay with you?" He asked.
"That would be perfect so that everyone could have a chance to be with their families on Christmas day." She felt a sharp pain on her chest when she mentioned the word family but deliberately ignored it.
She counted the remaining days with her fingers. "We roughly have 2 weeks, 13 days to be exact, to prepare and I think, that's long enough." She stated while the man in front of her nodded.
"I'll inform everyone!" She smiled but it didn't reach her eyes.
"This get together idea is really nice, TJ. Thank you." Sabina commented, truly grateful because for the very first time in almost a decade, she was looking forward for Christmas.
The engineer raised his hand in dismissal. "Don't mention it, anything for my best friend's future w...." Luckily, he was able to stop himself.
"You're always welcome, Sab!" He said instead, thankful that the biologist didn't hear his last words.
He stood up and offered his arms. "Let's go, it's getting late. You should be home by this time. Tim will bite my head off if we stayed out too late." He chuckled.
Sabina grabbed his arm and stood up but immediately let go when she was out of her seat. "Thanks for tonight, brad." She smiled and smacked his upper arm lightly. This very-Sabina gesture earned a loud chuckle from the man beside her.
The two walked back in the office, both happier and feeling a little less exhausted. It was really good to spent time with good friends.
∞∞∞
It was almost weekend when Terrence got another call from his best friend. He was at his office, working when he received Timothy's call so he stood up and closed the door for some privacy.
"What's up man?" He began.
"TJ have you seen, Sabina? She's still not answering my emails, even the work related ones." Came in Timothy's agitated voice.
Terrence immediately felt empathy towards his best bud, his voice clearly showed that he was worried and the longing was too distinct to be ignored.
He immediately knew that his next words would worry his boss more but he needed to be honest with him. "She called in sick this morning but don't worry she endorsed everything to my assistant. All the files you'll need for the contract signing with the Dubois and Blanc people are with her. Shall I tell her to send it to you?" He readily diverted the topic to avoid alarming his already worried best friend.
He had spoken to Sabina this morning. After she called the HR department, the woman called to inform him of her absence and to tell him about the papers that Timothy might need.
A feminine voice was heard on the background while Timothy hissed back to the woman. "TJ, is she okay? Did you see her yesterday? Is she eating on time?" The architect voice sounded desperate.
"I didn't see her since Wednesday. I have been really busy due to all the work here although we exchange a few emails yesterday. But don't worry, I have spoken to her this morning and she sounded okay, maybe she's just exhausted. This week had been hell for all of us, with all the government bidding happening all at the same time." Terrence stated in a matter of fact tone.
What more for her, Timothy on the other side, thought.
When Terrence didn't hear any more inquiries, he pressed on. "Listen man. About the Dela Vega clan of the North, the DEC people have reported more leads." He opened his desk drawer and extracted a long Manila envelope. He took out a few sheets of paper from it and began to browse them.
"Go on." This was Timothy's only reply.
"The report says that the Dela Vega boys were both married and they chose to raise their families in Spain, their wives and kids are all there. The men just visit them twice a year. They stayed here together with their father because of the family businesses and because of the request of the clan's matriarch. The old lady chose to stay here in the country and nobody knew why." He stated lengthily.
The man continued to read the papers in his hand. "The report also stated that the men didn't want their children on the lime light and their lives to be scrutinized, these are the reasons why their families are in Spain. It looked like that they are trying to hide something." He flipped the pages and found what he was looking for.
"And about the daughter, the only thing written here is that she was homeschooled from pre-school until her early years in high school. It was said that the girl was rarely seen with her family but the DEC people had a chance to talk to one of their former household helper and according to the woman, the young girl grew up closer to her grandmother than her parents. The young girl was so timid and meek and that she doesn't have any friends. She also said that the young lady was technically kept hidden the whole time. Maybe she has some deformities or mental disorder." Terrence speculated.
"But we will found out soon since she promised to look for a photo of the Dela Vega daughter. Maybe by their next report they will have the girl's photo." He finished.
Unknown to the young engineer, there was a blurred picture of the Dela Vega twins on the last page of the report but he wasn't able to see it. He returned the papers inside the envelope, intending to give the full report to his best friend when he gets back.
The man on the other end of the phone was still silent. "Hello Tim, are you still there, man?" Terrence Jade Leonardo asked.
"Hello?"
"I'm still here, TJ. We'll talk about that when I get back. I have a favor to ask dude." Timothy paused waiting for his best friend's response.
The man with almond-shaped eyes already knew what this favor was about but still he asked. "What is it, man?"
"Could you check on Sabina, please? I need to know if she's alright? She's still not talking to me. She ignores all my calls, messages and my personal emails, what I only get were work related emails." Timothy whined.
Terrence smiled, the young couple may be having a misunderstanding right now but the engineer could still see clearly how true their feelings were for each other. Sabina looked sad and exhausted the whole week and even he couldn't see his best friend he could guess that Timothy was, too.
As much as he would love to help his friend, he had to refuse. He believed that it would be some sort of invasion of privacy on Sabina's part. The woman maybe loud but he knew that she treasures her privacy pretty much.
"Man, I don't think Sab will appreciate that, you know your girlfriend, she's too independent." He refused politely, not wanting to be in the middle of the couple's conflict.
Inwardly, the man on the other line agreed with Terrence theory, the idea might make Sabina angrier. And envisioning Terrence alone with Sabina inside the penthouse made him scrapped the idea too. "Forget I said that, dude. Just send me all the papers for the Dubois and Blanc contract. I'll work on it immediately so I could go home soon." Timothy stated dryly.
Upon hearing this, the engineer remembered the Christmas get-together that Sabina and him planned. "And man before I forget, Sabina and I planned a Christmas get together on the 23rd. Hope you and Maggie are back home by then so you two could join us." Terrence said.
Hearing the phrase "Sabina and I" from Terrence didn't sit well with Timothy, suddenly jealousy struck him. He cursed silently. He hated the situation they were in right now. He couldn't help the annoyance he felt for his own mother and the fury he felt for Darcy.
Timothy ignored his friend's invitation. "Just send me the papers, okay?" He tried to control his voice but still it came out cold and hard.
Terrence was about to launch the whole story on how they plan it when he recognized his friend's sudden change of mood so he stopped. "Okay man, I'll have my assistant send them right away to you." He heard Timothy muttered a brief goodbye so he did the same and ended the call.
"Jealous git!" He exclaimed goodheartedly while chuckling.
Terrence smiled, he was sure that his best friend had found the one. Sabina is the one.
Tim is one lucky bastard, he thought.
∞∞∞
It was Sabina's time of the month again. Severe cramps crippled her the whole morning so she was forced to call in sick. Good thing, she had everything in her laptop so she was able to forward everything that Timothy needed, to Terrence.
The woman also made a call to the engineer to inform him about her absence. Technically, he was her boss right now since Timothy made him the officer-in-charge while he was away.
At around 11:00 o'clock in the morning Sabina's situation improved, she was bored to death so she decided to go out and do some Christmas shopping.
She hailed a cab and went straight to the nearby mall. Bringing her Prado wasn't a good idea since the traffic jams these days were so bad due to the Christmas rush plus she didn't think she could drive considering her on-and-off-red-days cramps.
After eating lunch alone, the woman roamed around the mall and bought a 10-footer Christmas tree. She also bought led lights for the tree and loads of Christmas ornaments. She found a resin-made 3-footer nutcracker and fell in love with it, she ended buying two of them.
Her severe cramps came back in the late afternoon so she had no choice but to go home. As soon as the cab driver unload all her things, Bart, the younger doorman came to her aid. The young man carried all the shopping bags and boxes for her.
"Thanks for your help Bart!" She said gratefully the moment they reached her penthouse. "And don't bother to get anything for dinner, your dinner is on me. Alright?" She added.
Bart smiled shyly. "But ma'am, it's my job." He tried to refuse politely.
"Quit it brad, I'll have some food delivered later. I'll call the lobby officer so they will know it's yours. Thanks again!" She waved the man goodbye as she closed the door.
She went straight to the bedroom, took some pain reliever and lay down a bit. The quietness of the room eventually lulled her to sleep.
It was already dark when she opened her eyes. She looked at her nightstand and saw that it was almost 7:00 o'clock in the evening.
Remembering her promise to her kind doorman, she quickly got up and hurried to call for food delivery.
After making the call, she disappeared in the bathroom and took a scalding shower. She was drying her hair with a towel when she heard the doorbell sounded.
∞∞∞
James and Patricia were impatiently waiting outside Sabina's doorstep at the very same moment. The designer received a call late this morning from Timothy, begging them to go and check on his sick girlfriend. This was the second call they received this week from Paris, the first one was from Margaret and then from Timothy.
Patricia was about to press the doorbell again when the door opened. "Hey guys!" The biologist greeted her friends warmly, thinking hard if she had missed a dinner meeting or something.
"Come in, come in." She invited them in as she hugged both of them. "This isn't a big deal but why are you guys here?" She asked, totally baffled with the couple's sudden visit.
The photographer replied. "Why? Aren't we allowed to visit our best friend?" She used her fake scolding tone.
They were already planning to spend the weekend with their best friend due to Margaret's call but when they got the urgent call from the male Sebastian they readily adjusted their schedule to be with her tonight.
"Tricia, you know what I mean!" Sabina countered quickly. "I know you guys have a cake tasting appointment today with your caterer, right?"
"Yeah, we do but we finished early so we decided to have dinner with you." James lied.
They have to adjust their schedule for the day so they could check on Sabina. The call from Timothy made the couple worry, knowing that the two had a misunderstanding before the architect left.
Sabina shot James a piercing look and after a few moment the man raised his hands in surrender. "Alright, we adjust our schedule so we could visit you. A worried bloke called me mid morning today begging us to check on his sick girlfriend. Are you guys still not talking?" The man asked, truly concerned.
Sabina frowned but deep inside, she was deeply moved by Timothy's loving gesture. To hide her crumbling wall of anger she opened her mouth again. "Oh as of now, he's doing all the talking but I still have no intention of talking to him anytime soon. He must realized that what he did was super duper wrong." She stated faking an angry tone.
As a man, James came in Timothy's aid immediately. "Sab, the dude sounded miserable on the phone, I could sense that he's remorseful with everything he had done. Try to understand, we men sometimes do things like that. It's really difficult to face a furious girlfriend or wife. You know what I mean? So we usually find ways to soften the blow. Do you get my point?" James wasn't good at expressing his thoughts but this one hit the target quite remarkably.
The biologist anger started to ebbed away due to her best friend's words, she was still hurt by Timothy's way of softening the blow, which by the way made the blow even harder but James was right, maybe six days were enough for her boyfriend to realized his fault.
"That's enough Jamie but thank you, you made me realized something." She offered a small smile to her friend and stood up.
"Is that dinner?" The petite woman asked Patricia while pointing at food container in her hand.
Patricia nodded. "Yes, we brought chicken pesto spaghetti and some garlic bread. Do you have some wine? These will go perfectly with some sparkling ones." She added.
The doorbell sounded again and Sabina hurriedly crossed the living room to open the door. "That must be the pizza. An impromptu pasta and pizza night, perfect!" She yelled.
James de Leon started for the kitchen and opened the pantry. He found some bottles of sparkling wine and they made him smile.
The trio set the table and started eating. With her mouth half full, Sabina spoke. "This is so good." Pertaining to the pasta her friends brought.
"You should make some of this for our get together on the 23rd."
The couple already knew the planned get together so Patricia nodded her head. "Talking about the get together, could Jamie and I bring a friend?" She asked.
"Sure! The more the merrier, right?" She replied without even asking who it was.
James stood up and approached the fridge. He took a carafe of water and went back to his seat. "Will the Sebastian siblings be home in time for our get together?" He asked thoughtlessly.
Patricia kicked his fiancé's shin from under the table and pursed her lips. "Ouch! What was that for?" The man whined as he bent and massaged his bruised leg.
"Really, James?" Patricia rolled her eyes and shot Sabina an apologetic look.
The biologist just smiled. "It's alright Tricia. And Jamie..." She waited until the man's eyes were trained on her. "You should ask him yourself, you two seemed to be closer these days." She said.
The man suddenly realized his insensitivity. "Sorry." He muttered while still massaging his aching shin. The women giggled.
Men will always be men. They thought.
The engaged couple stayed until the two girls were both wasted because of too much wine. James also drank a few glasses but was careful not to get drunk.
He had predicted that Sabina and Patricia will end up both intoxicated and it was his duty to take care of them just like how they take care of him when he gets wasted.
When he had finished clearing the kitchen, he caught the girls both giggling like mad in the living area.
"I need to brush my teeth." Sabina slurred in between giggles.
"Come on, Jamie dear, brush her teeth." Patricia ordered her fiancé drunkenly, so the man had no choice but to drag the petite woman towards her bathroom. He prepared her toothbrush and gave it to her.
He anchored Sabina's other hand to the sink to prevent her from toppling over. "I'll be right back, okay? Brush your teeth properly." He spoke as if talking to a 5-year-old girl. It was really funny but definitely endearing to see two grown up people like this.
James hastily went back to the living area and checked on his fiancée, he put on her shoes and started to fix her hair. When he heard the sound of the water flowing, he ran towards Sabina's bedroom again. He found her gargling loudly, already finished brushing her teeth.
He wiped her mouth with a towel and ushered the woman towards her bed. "Off to bed Sab. I'll lock the door so no need to get up. I'll send you a message when we reach home. Ring us in the morning, okay? " He saw Sabina nodded her head, she yawned and then closed her eyes.
After some time, the woman lying on the bed heard the door of her penthouse opened and closed then everything else was muted. The whole place was bathe in silence and darkness in no time.
The petite woman felt really disoriented and disturbed albeit the quietness, she couldn't sleep. She blindly frisked her nightstand for her iPhone and found it. She saw 12 missed calls from Timothy, this put a smile in her drunk angelic face.
She looked at the time it's already 12:00 o'clock midnight, in her drunken state she counted the hours in her fingers. "It's 6PM in Paris." She whispered. The lady started to type something in her phone.
[I missed you, mahal. I wish I could spend the holidays with you, after all, this is our first Christmas together but Paris is too far away and I can't spend another minute with that witch friend of yours. Another thing is, I don't have the heart to ruin your mother's Christmas so just hurry home, please. I'll just celebrate Christmas when you get back. I love you!]
Suddenly she felt very sleepy, she put down her phone but not until her message was send. "Good night, mahal." She whispered and in a second, oblivion took her.
∞∞∞
The night before, Sabina dreamt of her abuelo. It was so vivid that one could think that it was really happening. Her grandfather died when she was five but she could still recognized the old man in her dreams from her grandmother's collection of photos.
"Basta mahal mo then I will support you. If you truly love him then I love him too." Don Samuel De la Vega stated in a kind tone.
These were the only words of her grandfather in her dreams. The old man doesn't speak Tagalog well so Sabina was surprised with his words and the word "mahal" made a deep mark in her.
The following morning while in bed with cramps, the word "mahal" kept on playing in her mind in loop and the most striking of all was that, her abuelo didn't speak of any name but she could bet her life that the old man was referring to Timothy.