Selena waved when she saw Bosco enter the restaurant and waited for him to come over. She had traveled to London for a few days to go over the new fashion line and was just back today. The moment she got off the plane, she called Bosco asking him to come meet her. She had missed him but there was something more important that she wanted to know. When he was seated she wasted no time in asking her question, “Did you find out anything from Raymond? I haven’t been able to reach Charmaine these last few days and she’s not returning any of my calls.”

Bosco looked at her curiously then asked with amazement, “You haven’t heard?”

“Heard what?” Selena asked anxiously, “Did something happen to her?”

Bosco gave her the full details about Mr. Seh going to Raymond’s office and then stabbing himself to frame Raymond. After he was done he appeared more confused than ever, “I don’t get it. Why would Mr. Seh do something like that?”

Selena thought over what Bosco had just told her. Why did Mr. Seh do that? She knew it wasn’t over business because she’s sure they had no relationship in that area. If it wasn’t business then it must be personal but what could have happen for Mr. Seh to retaliate in such a despicable way. Then she thought about Charmaine and how Mr. Seh’s life revolved around her. Suddenly everything seemed to make sense. The more she thought about it the more positive she became of her conclusion. She looked meaningfully at Bosco and said, “I think I know why.”

Bosco looked at her baffled, “You do?”

“Yes,” Selena answered then said, “It’s because of Charmaine.”

Bosco shook his head, puzzled by where it was leading to, “Charmaine? Why would you think that?”

Selena knew she shouldn’t but she didn’t want to keep Bosco in the dark. More important was that she didn’t want Bosco to associate with a jerk like Raymond. So she told Bosco everything that had happened to Charmaine five years ago, from her meeting with the mysterious man to her speedy marriage and then the miscarriage. After she was done, she looked at Bosco with a grave expression and asked, “Well? Do you still want Raymond as a friend?”

Bosco looked at her with a dumbfound expression, “And you suspect this guy to be Raymond?”

Selena looked him in the eye and firmly said, “Not suspect, know. I’m positive it’s him.”

Bosco shook his head and said, “You can’t be sure unless Charmaine admits it’s him.”

Selena took out her phone and dialed Charmaine’s number. She was silent for a minute while she held the phone to her ear, then she replaced the phone back into her bag. “It keeps going to voicemail.”

Bosco took out his own phone and pressed some numbers, “Since we can’t locate Charmaine, we’ll ask Raymond instead.” Selena opened to argue but Bosco held up a hand to silence her, “Hi Raymond, it’s me. Are you busy?”

On the other end, Raymond was at home packing his suitcase. He sat down on his bed and said, “Not really.”

“Can you come out for a drink now?” Bosco asked despite the frown on Selena’s face.

Raymond looked at the pile of clothes on the bed that needed to be packed and answered, “Not today. How about tomorrow?”

Bosco smiled at Selena as he said, “Tomorrow is fine. We’ll meet at our usual bar at around 6:00pm. Bye.” After he hung up, he said to Selena, “We’ll have all the answers tomorrow.”

Raymond dropped his phone on the bed and continued his packing when a knock sounded on his door. The maid opened the door and popped her head in, “Charmaine Seh just called again. I told her that you left but she didn’t believe it. She told me to tell you that she had something very important to tell you about the past and for you to meet her tomorrow at the Autumn Café at 6:00 pm. She also said that if you don’t show up then she has gotten her answer and would never bother you again.”

Raymond took a deep breath debating on what to do. On one hand he wanted to see her again and hear what she had to say, on the other hand, he knew if he didn’t cut her off immediately and completely, he will never get over her. He chose the latter because he could not survive another encounter with her without shattering his heart and pride any further. He instructed the maid, “If and when she calls again, tell her that we have nothing more to say to each other and that I have already left whether she believed it or not.”

The maid nodded dutifully and quietly closed the door.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Charmine dropped the phone onto her desk and bowed her head in frustration. She knew Raymond was purposely avoiding her and she didn’t blame him one bit. That day when she went to his office she had intended to tell him the truth of what her father had done. But when she arrived and saw her father, weak and bleeding, she had allowed her father’s lies to cloud her judgment once again. She had immediately accused Raymond and did not for one second thought that her father could do something that drastic to himself just to frame Raymond. That night, their family attorney had called her and informed her that the police were going to formally file charges against her father for false incrimination. He had told her of the video the police had confiscated in Raymond’s office. It revealed how deep her father would go to get at Raymond. She was sickened by it. When the call ended, she shuddered thinking how cold and cruel her father was and for her stupidity for not ever seeing it. All these years she made herself believe that what her father did was all out of love for her. It was all lies. Her father was an obsessive and dominating man. He wanted her to live her life under his dictation and anything out of that was wrong to him.

When she first met Raymond, she had been instantly attracted to him and she found in him something that she never gotten from her father. That was the freedom to be herself. It may sound silly, even to herself, but she was already in love with him by the time they were married. She had never told him how she really felt but she always assumed that he knew. And now, he doesn’t even want to have anything more to do with her. She had messed up in believing her father and not trusting her own judgment of Raymond. She hopes Raymond would come and meet her tomorrow. She knew he was still in town. She had called his office under an anonymous name and his secretary told her that he took off a few days. Tomorrow, she will take a gamble on her future. If he did show up that would mean he still had feelings for her and there’s a chance they could be together again. If he didn’t, then the truth would be that he really wanted nothing more to do with her. Defeated by the possibility of the second, Charmaine closed her eyes and cried softly.