FIVE YEARS LATER:

Charmaine walked into the café and immediately saw Selena sitting off to the side, her attention glued to the TV which hung on an adjacent wall.

“Hey,” Charmaine called out and bent to give her best friend a warm hug. “What are you watching that’s so captivating?”

Selena shrugged her shoulders and turned her attention to Charmaine, “There was an interview on some famous wealthy businessman. Apparently he’s from here but left years ago to the states and hasn’t been back since. Now that he’s back the media are all over him.”

Charmaine giggled as she looked reproachingly at Selena, “Since when have you been interested in the news and especially about business too?

Selina batted her eyes and smiled coyly at Charmaine, “Well this business man happens to be very handsome.”

“I see,” Charmaine said with a smile. “I should have known.”

Selena laughed, “Enough about it. So what do you want to do tonight? The usual? Dinner then a movie? There’s a love story that I really want to watch. It has great reviews. Let’s see that.”

Charmaine smiled at how easily Selena can change from one topic to another. She had been going out to dinner with Selena every Friday for as long as she can remember. She had known Selena since childhood and shared all of her inner secrets with her. Well almost all. Selena had been away during her short-lived marriage to Raymond. When she returned and found Charmaine heart broken and on the tether of a nervous breakdown, she stayed by her side. As days passed, Charmaine began to open up to her, even to the point of confessing her love to a man who obviously didn’t feel the same way. The only thing Charmaine kept from Selena was the name and identity of the man. Charmaine couldn’t bring herself to say his name. It brought too much pain. The days after her telephone call with Raymond, Charmaine had hoped that Raymond would change his mind and call to apologize. But those days turned to weeks and she heard nothing from him. After a few weeks, she came to the awful truth that Raymond really didn’t want to have anything more to do with her. Their divorce had already been finalized so there really wasn’t anything legally binding them together. Humiliated at her own foolishness and stupidity she got roaring drunk one night and ended up crying hysterically on Selena’s shoulder. She never realized how much in love she was with Raymond. All her sorrow, misery and anger came pouring out. Selena listened with understanding and afterwards helped Charmaine get back on her feet. Although Charmaine was now over Raymond she was wary of men. She went out on a couple of dates but that was it. She never committed herself to a relationship because she was afraid of getting hurt. The pain and heartache she went through with Raymond was something she didn’t want repeated.

“Charmaine? Do you want Italian for dinner?” Selena asked, interrupting her thoughts.

“Sure, you know I’m not finicky when it comes to food.”

“But you are when it comes to men,” Selena exclaimed. She looked at Charmaine, “I know that you had a very traumatic experience but there are so many good men out there. Don’t let one bad experience ruin what could be the true love of your life.”

Charmaine snickered and said, “True love? There’s no such thing. Love is for naïve people.”

“That’s because you haven’t met your true love yet,” Selena said softly.

Charmaine didn’t know why but hearing Selena say that made her think of Raymond. At one time, she thought he was her true love and that they were inseparable. True, he never said that he loved her, but she suspected that he did. The way he looked at her and the way his eyes light up whenever she looked at him, wasn’t that an indication of some sort. But the cold hard truth was that men were extremely good in deceiving women. She learned it the hard way and not to mention her father’s constant reminder.

“Come on, let’s go,” Selena said as she got up. “I’m starving.”

Charmaine followed her out the café. With her back to the TV, she didn’t see Raymond’s face appear on the screen.

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

“So Raymond, do you mind me calling you by your first name?” Sandra Ng asked as she sat across from Raymond, with the cameras rolling in front of them.

Raymond smiled, “Of course not.”

“Raymond, what brings you back after so many years of absence? From what we hear, your companies are doing well overseas.”

Raymond crossed his leg and lightly brushed a lint from his well tailored pants and said, “Well this is my hometown and this is the place where I will ultimately live. Being away for such a long period made me realize how much I miss it here.”

Sandra chuckled and teased, “Is that the only reason? It has nothing to do with the fact that you are dating a certain heiress whose father owns a chain of boutiques here?”

Raymond laughed and said wickedly, “She is only an acquaintance. Don’t believe everything you read in the papers. To answer your question, no, it has nothing to do with her.”

“What are your plans now that you’ve returned?”

Raymond sat back against the chair and smiled confidently, “For starters, I am looking into acquiring some smaller companies and then building them out. That way there’ll be more jobs and that benefits everyone.”

“The last three years you have acquired more than ten companies that were failing only to turn them into profits. Were these companies willing participants in the takeover?”

Raymond laughed lightly and said arrogantly, “Every one who I have dealt with were willing participants. I do not like to force or pressure people in my favor. And if you asked them they would tell you the same thing.”

Bored with the questions about business, Sandra decided to ask some personal ones. Ones that she was sure tons of single women would like the answer to, “Let’s talk about your love life? Do you have a steady girlfriend?”

“No,” Raymond said then teased, “Do you have any eligible woman to introduce me to?”

Sandra laughed at his jibe and said, “I’m sure you’ll have plenty of women flocking to your side if you just say the word. You have been reported to have dated many women during the past few years, has there been any woman that left a lasting impression?”

Raymond was irked by the question but he kept his face composed.

Sandra saw the hesitancy and thought he was confused by the question. She chuckled and said, “Have you ever been in love with any of the women that you dated? Or were any of them special in any way?”

Raymond’s face remained devoid of emotion as he firmly said, “No.” Then his face did a complete changeover as he smiled warmly at her, “Let’s go on to another topic, shall we?”