Roy
____
I glared at mom, so angry at her. Since the last forty minutes, she hadn't given me the answer I wanted. All she did was to sip from her cup as if I wasn't seated here with her.
"Mom, I'm asking you the same thing again, did you tell Renee anything?" I ensured I sounded harsh, enough for her to know I wasn't joking around.
"And what if I did?" She looked up at the sky, so much uninterest beaming in her voice.
I snorted. "This isn't funny, you know? What'll dad—"
"Dad!" She interrupted me from speaking, turned to me. Those tears in her eyes ached my stomach, but what could I do? "Your dad is always everything. You so much care about what he thinks of you, to the point you're now doing terrible things."
I sighed. "I already told you he won't harm her. And, why do you even care about this? It's not like I'm the first guy to dupe a girl. I just—"
"Roy," she called out in a whisper. Tears poured down her face, and nothing but sadness was what I saw in her. "What's happening to you? Can't you stop this stupidity for my sake? That lady was adamant on not leaving you. How do you think she'll feel when she finds out about this? Why don't you leave her now, rather than let her find out."
I swallowed hard. "It won't take long. Also, she won't find out. When Dad gets what he wants, I'll just break up with her, and leave here forever. She'll only get hurt for a while. She'll move on eventually."
"And you think it's that easy?" She whimpered.
"I don't know."
After a while of silence, she took her purse from the bench we were seated on, wiped her tears. "I'll leave now," she announced. "But before I do, I want you to know…"
My heart skipped a beat. Was she about to say she had told Renee the truth? Was that the reason Renee didn't look me in the eye? Was that the reason—
"From this day…" mom cut me off my thoughts. The seriousness in her eyes worsened my fear, and I couldn't tell what she would say next. "You're no longer my son," she stated firmly.
Saying that, she stood up straight. Shocked and hurt, I stood up as well, my eyes widened.
"M-Mom?" I felt tears in my eyes. I hadn't expected her to say that. "Wh-What do you mean?"
She wore no expression on her face. All I could tell was that she was being serious. "You heard me, Roy. I'm not joking. My dream was never to raise a filthy man like you. And, if your decision is to keep defrauding an innocent woman, then I guess I should leave you to do what you want. You. Are. Disowned."
I gulped a morsel in my throat. I was speechless. Mom was disowning me? Because of this game? How much more was I going to lose by playing this dirty thing?
"Mom," I managed to say a word. But, she shunned me by raising her hand in the air.
"Enough now." She took a step backwards, inhaled hard. "And please, call me Karen or Mrs. Everett. You're done being my son, okay?"
About to speak again, she cut me off with a “Goodnight”, walked past me, leaving me speechless.
What? Mom just… disowned me? She just left me? What was going on?
Upset, I sat back on the bench, brushed my fingers through my hair, groaned at myself. Mom had left me now. Who was the next person that would leave me? Who else would I lose?
Bitter, I stood up. I would go to Renee right now. She was always a temporary medicine. Seeing her would relieve the stress I felt. Yes, she was the solution right now.
Not thinking further, I ambled to my car, heading to Renee's dorm.
***
It felt like I was going to encounter God.
To be sincere, being away from her for six weeks hadn't been so easy for me. I was so used to her, that not being with her made me feel empty. It made me realize how great I needed her. And, I hated that feeling. If I felt that way, what would happen when we got to separate? How would I survive in her absence?
After a while of debating with myself, I opened the door of the balcony, sauntered in. Only seeing her sitting on a couch in here, my heart felt pierced.
She smiled. Her smile was small, innocent, beautiful. I felt guilty. Guilty to the point my legs felt weak, my organs crumbled, my breath ceased. I was almost losing my stamina. To wrap it all, seeing her turned me weak.
I tried to smile back at her. I just had to be strong. Strong for dad; strong for this… tiring game.
Renee
______
I couldn't stop thinking about what Roy's mom had done to me. She ruined my mood so badly. And, to worsen it all, Roy hadn't come to me yet. Didn't he miss me at all? Was he really not going to care about my feelings?
On the couch I was seated on, I tugged my knee to my chest, wrapped my arms around my legs, leaned my jaw against my knees. Closing my eyes, inhaling the cool air, I shuddered when I heard the sound of the door.
Was that him?
Being hopeful, I turned around. And, when I spotted him, my heart melted. What a relief.
I smiled warmly at him, and he did the same. We stared, stared like confused goats. What the heck? Couldn't he come here, and kiss my neck, snuggle me, play with my hair, tell me how his work was going?
"Roy," I cut the silence between us.
Excited, I stood up, and hurried to him. Clinging my body against his, I hugged passionately, ensuring to enjoy the comfiness of his chest. I was close to tears, but I decided to make this moment happy. I missed him so much. I wasn't with my old friends anymore, so he was the only one who could bless me with those old memories.
"How're you?" He finally spoke. He dropped a kiss on my forehead, soothed my hair.
"I missed you so much," I pronounced. Pulling away, I slapped his chest, frowning playfully at him. "Why were you being naughty? You weren't answering my calls or texts. What happened?"
He kept smiling. I kind of noticed he wasn't being so cheerful to see me after a long time, but well, I decided to ignore my observation. The point was he was here. That was what I wanted.
I cupped his jaw in my hands. "I can't believe you're here again. It's been so, so long. What took you so long to visit me?"
He sighed. "I've been… so busy. I'm sorry."
Unable to keep my overwhelming joy to myself, I stood on my toes, brushed my lips against his, kissed with so much love. He returned my kiss as well, but for some reason, his body was kind of frozen. It was as if he was scared of what he was doing. What the heck? Had he forgotten I was his girlfriend? So silly.
When we pulled away from each other, I resumed smiling. I couldn't contain my joy. "I'm so happy," I said. "Things have been quite hard without you here. I really miss you."
His smile was faint, but did that matter? "I missed you too," he said.
Taking his hand, I intertwined our fingers in each other, irresistibly adoring those blue eyes; those innocent eyes. "Let's have a seat. We've got a lot to talk about."
"Sure." He winked. Gosh, I missed those winks, that smile, those eyes, everything. Just everything.
We walked to the couch. Again, It was time to be a hundred percent happy. My darling was back. What else could I want than always being with him?
***
I stared at Roy. He was probably deep in thoughts, so he only stared at the sky. I would admit, he was kind of different tonight. His smile wasn't wide, those eyes weren't beaming in happiness as usual, he looked so worn out.I took his hand, dropped it on my lap. When I did that, he turned to me. "Are you okay?" I asked him, quite worried."Yeah." Again, his smile was faint.I furrowed my eyes at him. "Are you sure you're Roy? I mean, you're being too weird. Did your cute smile get stolen? What's wrong?"He raised his other hand, tweaked my cheek. "You're a worrywart. I'm fine, trust me.""You've been gone for a long time, now that you're here, I feel like you aren't glad to be with me," I denoted.He chuckled. "False. I'm always glad to be with you. And, well, I'm thinking about what my mom did to you. It's kind of… upsetting.
Hot, Roy really was.I couldn't help but drool for him. Two ladies walked past him, muttered and giggled, and I shot them a glare even though they didn't see me. What the heck? How could they fall for my man? Silly!Roy turned around, smiled widely at me. I blinked to remain steady. I was intensely staring at him to the point I had forgotten we were in a shopping mall."Done." He said that as soon as he walked to me."O-Oh. Were they… expensive?" I asked, referring to the bunch of clothes and shoes he had just bought for me.He rolled his eyes, dropped his hands on his waist, sighed. "Renee, seriously? You still worry about the expenses?"I smiled. "Maybe."He shook his head, took the shopping bags from me, signaled we should get going. In a short while, we reached his car. He dropped the bags in the back se
"Where is he?" Dad's voice sounded dangerous, filled with so much wrath. His hands were rolled in a fist, tugged against the armrest of his chair. Hard, his teeth were gritted. He glared at the floor intently, breathing slowly and deeply.The young dude standing beside dad's chair bowed his head, obviously fearful. "I-I don't know. He said he'll be here soon.""Where is he?!" Dad hollered at the top of his voice. He didn't just holler, he kicked the stool which stood below his knee. Woah, woah, this anger was getting too hard."I-I don't know, sir. He'll get here soon." The young man trembled as he spoke.Irritated, I gestured that he should take his leave. Dad could easily hit a glass against the innocent dude's head. It was better to prevent that.I sighed. "Being angry won't do anything. I think you should rather be grateful you didn't go bankrupt."
I blinked after a long, crazy, uncomfortable stare. I was kind of shocked to know he knew my name. And, why did I feel like this guy was truly Roy's brother? This was the same way I had encountered Roy, about a year ago. He had come like a ghost, seeming as if he had already known me before that night."You're not just cute, you're funny too." Tyler chuckled at me.I smiled a little. I wasn't blushing, but I liked it when anyone called me cute. "Thanks. Anyways, what would you like to buy?""I want a drink." He winked, a sneer on his lips. Gosh! Winking like Roy? Was I sure this wasn't my guy in disguise? "A drink with you."I chuckled. "I work here. No drinks with the workers.""Really?" He propped his elbow on the counter, those attractive eyes glinting. "Well, you aren't prohibited from walking home with me, right?"I dropped my hands on my wai
I tried so hard to force a tear to elude my eye, but my effort was in vain. The pain I felt seemed to be exacerbating, so I needed to cry out this pain. But, nothing was working. The tears weren't willing to come out.My entire body shuddered, stiff in my tracks. I could die. The least thing anyone could play with were my emotions. I was emotional to the point a heart break could affect me for weeks. It could be dangerous to my health.Had he really cheated on me? So this was real? For goodness' sake, I had given him all of me. What would—"No, no," I rejected every negative thought in my head, being hopeful that what I had seen was false. Not wanting to believe it, I managed to take my phone, attempting to watch the video again. I was pretty sure that wasn't my man. Maybe he was being framed.But, that was the instant a text came in. Numb, I clicked on the text. It was
Roy____I squinted my eyes at my laptop screen, trying to read the content on the page I was browsing through. Frustrated, I groaned at myself, thinking of the best way to end this crazy work I was doing. It was about six in the evening, which meant it was time to go home. But how could I go home when this stupid work wasn't willing to be done?Exhausted, I sighed, threw my head back to lean my back against my seat. Taking my phone from the glass table in front of me, I turned it on, waited for a while, particularly waiting for a text from Renee. But, I got nothing. The phone screen was blank.This was weird. Since yesterday's afternoon, Renee hadn't attempted to give me a call or send a text. Fine, I wasn't replying to her texts and calls these days, but that didn't mean I didn't like to get them from her. Replying to her texts would only make me feel guilty, so that was t
I parked my car in front of Renee's dorm. Being hesitant to step out, I stared at the steering wheel, feeling the need to return back home. Return home because there was a really high probability Renee wouldn't forgive me. I mean, what excuse could I give her? How would she believe Kath and I didn't sleep with each other that night?"Roy, what happened?" Jason asked. He sounded worried, and that made me quite relieved. I needed someone to understand things from my perspective. My stupid perspective.I swallowed before turning to him. "I…" I sighed. "I don't even know how to say it. You see, Kath kind of came into my hotel room. She wanted me to sleep with her, but of course, I didn't. Yes, we kissed, but nothing else happened.""So…" he pursed his lips, raised his eyebrows. "Who took that video? How did it leak out? And, who would have sent it to Renee?"I narrowed my eyes.
Roy____Thanks to the traffic-free road. If the road wasn't traffic-free, I would have probably had a car accident by now, owing to the rate at which I was speeding. It was dangerous to speed this much, but I was totally enraged. I just needed to go to Kath, ask her for the damn reason she had to send that video to Renee. First, why would she film such a thing? And second, what would she gain from doing that?Taking a turn to the next street, which was the street of Kath's house, the thought of how shattered Renee had looked, worried me. She wasn't willing to listen to anything I had to say, she hit me hard, she expressed her pain.And, what bothered me even more was how she would feel when she got to know I was duping her. Only seeing that video, she was running crazy. How would she react when she found out this was a game? I didn't know she was this emotional.