The week passed in blur since everyone were beyond busy. The hard hat team has totally demolished the main building and was now laying down new and sturdier foundation, good for twelve-storey-high hotel building.
Dylan had been a huge pain in the ass for Terrence the whole week, he was constantly bugging him about the petite biologist. He was asking everything about her, birthdate, favorites, hobbies and even her dating history. And all these signs made Terrence worry.
As a healthy male and a straight man, he knew that Dylan and Timothy has the same interest in Sabina. And honestly, he too, had been tempted countless times but he chose not to act on it since he knew that only Timothy owns Sabina's heart, up until this very moment.
After his phone conversation with his best friend, the two realized that Dylan was out to win Sabina but he was sure that it would greatly affect the man's will power and determination if he knew the couple's history.
Timothy was scheduled to arrive on Sunday night so he was beyond surprised when at dawn break on a Saturday morning, he found him standing in front of his bedroom door with tatay Leo.
"Man?! I thought you'll be here tomorrow night?" He asked while rubbing his eyes due to sleepiness.
"Good morning, tay Leo." He greeted the old man as soon as he noticed his presence.
The old man nodded his head and smiled kindly. "I'll leave you two now, breakfast will be served at the shoreline around seven. See you two there." He turned around and stalked back where they came from.
The two will be sharing a room so Timothy passed the still sleepy Terrence and began to unpack. On the other hand, the kind engineer stepped inside the bathroom and did his morning rituals.
"What time did you leave Manila?" Terrence asked as he got out of the minute room.
The young heir hanged the last of his clothes before he responded. "Around two AM, I think. Mang Tony took me to the pier in Batangas city so I could catch the first trip of the water jet." He replied as he sank down to his own bed.
Originally, Timothy was planning to sleep even a couple of hours but as soon as he arrived at the resort his pulse started firing up. Deep in his mind, she could already feel Sabina's presence and every fiber of himself was itching to see the feisty petite lady but his pride was strongly denying it.
"What time do you start your day here?" The young heir asked his best friend.
Terrence was now in his undershirt and a pair of khaki trousers, he raised his eyes and stared at the young heir. "By seven o'clock , you should be ready because that's the time for breakfast, we eat all together including Sab. It was her idea that it would be good if we eat together to start our day." He explained thoroughly.
"You mean, I get to see her right away? As in later at breakfast?" He asked in a sarcastic tone. "Freakin' great!"
The kind engineer chuckled. "Man, really?" He teased.
"She was scheduled to have a dive today with Nan and the boys and I really don't know if she will be there." He added in a much serious tone.
While nodding his head, Timothy stretched and lay flat on his bed. "I advised you take a half hour nap, man. I'll be right back and wake you up when it's time." The man with almond-shaped eyes suggested.
But Timothy couldn't bring himself to sleep. The moment he shut his eyes, images of very soaked Sabina in her tight wet suit invade his consciousness. He tried to think of other things but the it was no use.
After 10 minutes of trying hard, he gave up and instead of taking a well-needed nap, he entered the bathroom and took a nice warm shower. He then dressed up and decided to take a stroll around the perimeter. The sun just got out of the horizon and the air was still crisp and cool so the stroll turned out a very good decision.
Eagerly, the young man explore the vicinity, this is where he first met Sabina and this was really an unforgettable place for him until now. As he was nearing the long white sand shoreline, he noticed a small yacht docked at the deep part of the water.
Thinking that it was empty, he continued to walk until he heard familiar cheers and bickering. Hastily, he hid himself behind a hedge just across the small pier.
Slowly, the group of people disembarked the small water vehicle. Amongst them were Kenneth and Jerome, Nancy and tatay Leo, the boys and lastly, the young woman that his eyes have been longing to see, Sabina.
As he stared upon her, something in him shifted again. Now, it had fully sank in that she wasn't his now, that he couldn't never touch her nor speak to her again the way he used to. Everything has changed now, he has no right or power over her. To her, he was just a regular acquaintance or maybe even a stranger.
The funny thing was five months ago he was sure that he was her world but now he was just another face in the sea of drifters.
And with these realizations, he had found her more captivating and stunning than before. Everything the way Dylan had said were dull and inadequate compared to the image he was seeing.
In his eyes, Sabina managed to appear so sublime and polished every damn time. The wet suit clung to her divine body perfectly and her damp messy hair looks hot on her, not to mention her grace and ultra appealing femininity.
Suddenly, the young heir's eyes widened. He saw Nancy helping Sabina out of her swimsuit. He kept his eyes peeled for the next several minutes as the petite biologist continue to take off her wet suit.
Underneath, the young woman was wearing a one piece wine-colored swim suit, flaunting her toned legs, tiny waist and curvy hips for everyone to see. "What the hell, Sab!" He murmured to himself in protest. And then he remembered, he no longer have the right to react this way.
"Enjoying the view immensely, man?" It was his engineer best friend, speaking from behind him.
The young heir lurched. "Never do that again, TJ!" He scolded, a little disappointed that his Sabina-watching was interrupted and cut short.
Deliberately, the kind engineer ignored his best friend's words. "Come on, man. Enough of that, time for breakfast." He mumbled.
"I thought you're going to take a nap? I went back for you, what are you doing here anyway?" Terrence asked, purposely putting the architect at ease. He was aware that Timothy's untimely presence here will cause awkwardness so he's prepping him up.
"Nothing, just enjoying the cold morning breeze." He reasoned out.
The duo walked slowly towards the shoreline were a long table laden with food was situated. They found the hard hat team already starting. Most of them were seated around long tables but some opted to seat on the sand.
"Good Morning, boss!" Everyone chorused in unison except for Dylan Madrid, who was seated in a separated long table alone.
"Tim." He greeted him in an emotionless tone.
"Dylan." The young heir gave him a curt nod.
Feeling the tension between the two, Terrence spoke readily. "Hey man, ready for your report later?" He asked the young consultant.
"Sab wants to know every details but since Tim is here, I think it would be best if he revise your report first, too." He added.
The young consultant quirked his brows. "Do you think that's necessary?" He asked Terrence back.
But he was answered by Timothy himself. "Of course that's necessary. I'm your boss and I call the shots here." He declared darkly.
Dylan was about to let out a sharp retort when Sabina's voice cut him out. "Gentlemen, this is not he proper venue for that conversation. We are here to eat so sit down and enjoy the food." She announced in a controlled voice.
Carefully, the young woman schooled her features before facing the moody architect. "Good morning, Arch. Sebastian, welcome to the Sea and Sky." She greeted him formally.
Timothy turned to look at her and was grateful to see that she was wearing a denim shorts over the one piece swimsuit she was sporting earlier. Discreetly, he studied her face.
It was obvious that she was expecting him, there were no traces of shock and confusion visible on her lovely face. She knew! Timothy realized.
The petite biologist didn't wait for his response, she twisted away and joined Dylan on the long table.
Automatically, Timothy's blood boil and it took him everything not to mutilate Dylan's face as the latter smirked at him maliciously.
"Man, easy!" Terrence reminded him coolly.
Let's see who's the boss later, bastard. He fumed inside. In his mind he was smashing the young consultant's face repeatedly.
To lessen the awkwardness, Kenneth and Jerome immediately came to aid Terrence. "Hey man, long time no see." The duo greeted Timothy and shook his hands like old and close friends do. And the young heir was truly grateful for this.
"Come on, boys. Join us." Tatay Leon invited both Terrence and Timothy as he motioned the long table occupied by only two persons, Sabina and Dylan.
The old man's kind words touched Timothy. "Thank you, Tay Leo." He whispered. Then after a few seconds, he opened his mouth again. "And I'm really sorry."
Readily, the old man understood Timothy's apology. "Tell that to her and be brave. I know hard time is coming so be strong." The old man murmured lowly as he patted his back.
"Sabina told me everything and I'd be lying if I tell you that I didn't get angry at you because I did but I'm not here to judge. Now, if you really love her, then this is your chance to prove it. Strike while you have time and you're here with her." Tatay Leo advised soundly.
Timothy shook his head and drew a deep breath. "I really don't know if I can. It's a long shot, tay Leo." He admitted.
"Man up, son. Man up." The old man replied in whisper.
∞∞∞
After the awkward morning, the exes were able to survive the whole day with Nancy and Terrence's help and Dylan's irksome personality and unimaginable arrogance.
The presence of the three other people kept Timothy in balance, no extreme outburst and no begging to take him back, happened. As of Sabina, she had prepared herself for this so albeit the rioting emotions inside her, she remained cool and collected.
The buff young consultant was grilled due to errors in his reports and this completely relieved Timothy. He had shown the arrogant buff man that he's still the alpha male here.
"Really, Tim? Is that necessary?" Terrence asked after the young heir had trashed Dylan's paper works.
"Yes, it's trash TJ. You saw it. And we both know that the bastard deserved it. He's acting like his sister, like he owns us and the whole Sebastian Builders." Timothy rationalized although deep down, he knew that he had been a little too harsh to the newly hired consultant.
But he needed to teach him a lesson after all he's still a newbie and later on, Dylan will surely thank him for the tips and brotherly advices he had given him.
Terrence nodded his head. "I agree, Tim but we both know that it wasn't the report alone. There is more to that reaction so man, next time please be calm and patient. Just to remind you, he's a neophyte, man." For the nth time, the kind engineer became the voice of sound reasoning.
In response, Timothy just bobbed his head.
At five o'clock in the afternoon, everyone began to slow down and relax. They have survived the first week and everything went according to plan not until a shiny black Subaru entered the perimeter of the leisure park.
The dark vehicle parked adjacent to the big open pavilion. All the others went ahead since some wanted to rest and some have other plans for the weekend.
The last six occupants of the pavilion raised their head and fixed their gazes to the unfamiliar vehicle. They were all piqued who it was except for two, Dylan and Timothy.
Shit! Timothy cursed inwardly.
Slowly, the passenger door of the black SUV opened and two sets of feminine calves appeared. Darcy and Bianca Sebastian, emerged from the dark vehicle and their eyes both widened when they saw Sabina.
"Why is she here?" Bianca Sebastian readily asked Dylan.
It was obvious that it was him who invited the two woman. "Auntie?" The young consultant asked tentatively as he pecked the older woman's cheek.
"That woman." She pointed at Sabina's direction and returned her gaze to Dylan Madrid. "She is no longer connected with our company so she shouldn't be here." Her voice was loud and arrogant.
"No, aunt Bianca, she...." The young consultant's reply was lost.
"I'm the one that should be asking that question, Mrs. Sebastian. You two have no right to be here." The petite biologist annunciated every words with hostility.
Readily, Dylan raised his hand. "They just dropped by, I invited them. Are we not allowed to have guests? It's the weekend people, loosen up. And Sab, I want you to meet my sister." He stated, trying to neutralize the heavy tension between the females.
"I'm sorry Dylan but unfortunately, I know your sister quite well. Right, Miss Madrid?" She threw daggers at the square-faced woman while the latter blanched.
"Mama Bianca, I think this a bad idea. I think we should leave." The Madrid lass whispered to the Sebastian matriarch. She didn't want Bianca to know Sabina's true identity and status.
"I think not, Darcy. I should put this foul mouthed woman to her right place first, before we go." The older woman declared angrily.
Nancy Rankin and tatay Leo promptly moved to Sabina's side. While Terrence and Timothy moved in the middle and Dylan did, too. "Whoa, whoa chill auntie. You guys knew each other?" He asked in a perplexed tone, totally clueless of what's happening around him.
"Am I missing something here? Can someone enlighten me, please? This is supposedly a happy meetings." He added while looking at the faces of all the people present.
"What the hell, Dylan? This is work man, not some Hampton's weekend." Timothy yelled.
"Theo don't blame him, we're just here to check on you boys." Bianca readily came to Dylan's aid.
Timothy shook his head. "Ma, you should leave. You two shouldn't be here. This is not a vacation, this is work." He stated coldly.
Bianca Sebastian didn't budge, she was already used to this kind of treatment from his son. Since the young woman called off the engagement, Timothy had been nothing but cold and distant to her. And since they were leaving in a different house they drifted apart really quick.
"I will Theo but not until you make that woman leave first." She snapped.
"I don't think that's possible, Mrs. Sebastian. You see, I own this place. Everything that your eyes could see is mine." The petite biologist muttered dangerously. Including your son.
Suddenly, the Sebastian matriarch's mocking laughter rang throughout the twilight. "Don't make me laugh, Miss Dela Vega. A woman like you will never have something like this unless you've been whoring your way around for the last months."
"Ma! Don't say that. You have caused enough trouble. Leave now!" Timothy shouted, fuming and in rage. This is a total disgrace not only to him but to his father's name and company as a whole.
"Auntie! Sabina is telling the truth. She is the owner and the CEO of this whole leisure park." Dylan disclosed while Terrence was shaking his head.
Again, Bianca Sebastian laughed. "Is that what they told you, Dylan? This woman was Theo's ex fiancée and this is all orchestrated, a set up, to regain the big catch she lost."
Upon hearing this, the petite biologist rolled her eyes in disbelief. She couldn't fathom why the Sebastian matriarch continued to refuse and not to accept the glaring truth.
"Why are you really here, Miss Dela Vega? Begging my son to take you back? Whoring your way up, again?" The Sebastian matriarch's true color began to show through her vulgar and sharp tongue.
"Ma, that is enough. You should leave or I'll call security!" Darcy started to twist away but the matriarch held her in place.
Extremely pissed and furious, Timothy looked at his own mother viciously. "Guard!" He yelled, immediately 4 uniformed guards came running speedily.
But Sabina raised her hands signaling them to stop, she didn't want this to happen but she still needed to teach the mean women lessons. "Still in denial, Mrs. Sebastian? You saw me, right? That lovely afternoon at the Chanel boutique with my trusted bodyguards. I could still vividly remember, you were with your nosy friends who kept craning their necks and heads trying to take a glimpse of the lone shopper inside. But then, you were obviously all unsatisfied since you and your rich friends squeezed poor Cherry of all the juicy information about me and here you are, refusing to acknowledge what your ears have heard and what your eyes have seen. My God! You both need professional help, you and Darcy." She then panned her gaze towards the quiet woman.
"What? No name calling, Darcy? No sluts and no whores? No degrading tirades and cruel litanies? You're losing your brilliance Miss Madrid. By the way I enjoyed every bit of our time together at the health club. How's yoga sessions with Claudia? And oh, have your lawyer received the letter?" True to her words, Sabina sued her and just last week Darcy's lawyer have received the letter of summon.
The two women looked at each other. "You knew about this?" They asked each other simultaneously. But there's no need for replies, their faces said it all.
Bianca Sebastian went round like saucers and her color faded, blush and all. Little by little reality sank in to the older woman until her knees buckled and she dropped to the ground. Hastily, Darcy and Dylan aided the weakened matriarch since Timothy remain unmoved in his position as well as Terrence.
Both shaking, Darcy and Bianca faced the petite biologist. "So what if you're rich, we don't care." The Sebastian matriarch huffed while Darcy looked like she regained some of her nastiness because of Bianca's words.
"Yes, we don't care!" She reinforced the older woman's earlier words.
"Oh really now, so that's why you've been calling everyone you know just to asked questions about a Spanish and French speaking Dela Vega woman?" Sabina asked rhetorically.
The female Sebastian lost her color completely. "Yes, I know Mrs. Sebastian. Everything you've been doing for the last few weeks but my brothers knew first. And they knew how stalkers creep me out so they dealt with them their own way. Did you know that most of your friends were laughing at you behind your back? My brothers have already talked to them and they bribed each of them to keep their mouths closed. I bet you don't know that. That is why you couldn't get any information about me." The fierce woman added.
"What the hell, Ma!" Timothy bellowed, enraged with his mother's unacceptable behavior.
But his words were ignored. "My friends will never do that to me!" Bianca refused to believe the petite biologist.
"But they did, still in denial. All filthy rich people do that, especially your friends, your ambitious, pretentious and limelight-loving friends. Wait, I think, I remember their names, Bea and Shiela. The short and the plump." Sabina continued in a matter of fact tone.
The Sebastian matriarch fumed, it was cleared that she had been played with by her friends and her anger reached in saturation point when she heard the boy's next words.
"I'm really sorry about this, Miss Dela Vega. This will not happened again." Timothy apologized sincerely.
"Yes, me too. I'm so so sorry. I'll show them the way out." Dylan offered, beyond regretful of his audacious manners.
"Boys! What's happening to you? Theo?! Dylan?! Why are you apologizing to that cruel woman. I'll tell the whole board of trustees and the stakeholders that we will drop this cheap project. We don't need this? There are others more deserving of our expertise and service." Bianca Sebastian's declared arrogantly.
"Auntie, this is a multi-million project and the biggest of it's kind. Sebastian Builders needs this." Terrence who had been watching and listening the whole time replied quickly.
"I don't care, what is multi million peso project is my dignity is being..." But she wasn't able to finished her statement.
"Excuse me Mrs. Sebastian, it's a not multi-million pesos project, it's, MULTI. MILLION DOLLARS." Sabina annunciated every word firmly to help the arrogant woman understood what she was talking about.
"This leisure park alone is thrice the worth of Sebastian Builders. Now, if you still want to drop it then please, do. Go ahead. No one is stopping you." She added dryly.
"No!" Terrence, Dylan and Timothy, all shouted.
But for Timothy, the project up was just a second concerned his main interest was his chance and time to be with his feisty ex fiancée.
Eventually, realization dawned at the elitist woman, she averted her gaze to Darcy and turned to leave. "Come on, Darcy." But before they could go they heard Sabina's voice again.
"Guards make sure that these two will never set foot here again, okay?" She ordered the uniformed men as she walked passed the two nasty women. Quickly, tatay Leo and Nancy followed her.
"Yes, ma'am." They replied.
∞∞∞
"Don't you think that's a little too harsh, anak?" Tatay Leo spoke as soon as the two entered the sanctuary of Sabina's quarter. That's the only time the old man had spoken, he had been quiet all throughout the entire confrontation, just observing the whole time.
Nancy Rankin followed the duo and quietly closed the door behind her. Quietly, she listened at the two people conversing.
In shame, the young woman bowed her head. "I know tay Leo but they really make me angry. The mean and cruel words, they're just too much. Then the arrogance and the rudeness, that's why I lose myself. I'm so so sorry." She apologized as she took a seat on the couch at her receiving area. Truly, she was ashamed of her manners earlier. Nancy and the old man were there but Sabina needed to push back so she did.
"I'm extremely sorry. Truly." She repeated her earlier words again, truthfully regretting the harshness she had exhibited.
The old man nodded his head while he sat on the chair across the young woman. "I fully understand Sab even the kindest person will learn to fight back if abused repeatedly but this is not you, anak. Very far from being you. Once or twice is enough or acceptable because if you do it thrice or more then you're no difference from them. You'll be as low as them." He scolded kindly.
"So please, learn to control your anger and temper, they are not worth it. You understand?" The old man added in question.
"Yes, I do, Tay Leo." Sabina quipped timidly
In agreement, Nancy too, bobbed her head. "Tatay Leo is right, Sab. Don't be like them. You're too precious to stoop on their level." She looked at Sabina, still couldn't believe that it was her friend doing the talking earlier at the open pavilion.
"Yes, I understand and again, I'm really, really sorry. I'll do my best to not let that happen again." Sabina promised.
The old man stood up and moved closer to the young woman. He then, rubbed her back. "Things will fall into place anak, you have us and your own family now so no need to worry, okay?" The old man have his own way of consoling the petite biologist so after a moment, Sabina smiled.
"Yes tay Leo and thank you. And to you too, Nan. Thank you" She mumbled softly.
The half Brit smiled. "You're welcome, Sab. Come on, dinner is served."