How do you cool your lips
After a summer’s kiss?
How do you rid the sweat
After the body bliss?
How do you turn your eyes
From the romantic glare?
How do you block the sound of a voice
You’d know anywhere?
Oh, I really should have known
By the time you drove me home,
By the vagueness in your eyes,
Your casual goodbyes,
By the chill in your embrace,
The expression on your face
That told me
Maybe you might have
Some advice to give
On how to be
Insensitive.
Insensitive.
Insensitive.
How do you numb your skin
After the warmest touch?
How do you slow your blood
After the body rush?
How do you free your soul
After you’ve found a friend?
How do you teach your heart, it’s a crime,
To fall in love again?
Oh, you probably won’t remember me.
It’s probably ancient history.
I’m one of the chosen few
That went ahead and fell for you.
I’m out of vogue. I’m out of touch.
I fell too fast. I feel too much.
I thought that you might have
Some advice to give
On how to be
Insensitive.
Ooh.
Oh, I really should have known
By the time you drove me home,
By the vagueness in your eyes,
Your casual goodbyes,
By the chill in your embrace,
The expression on your face
That told me
Maybe you might have
Some advice to give
On how to be
Insensitive.
How to be insensitive.
How to be insensitive.
How to be.
The voice of Jann Arden floated with her as she got out of the car and entered Yang Towers.
“Miss Yang!”
“It’s okay, Pat. I just need to do something,” Reina calmed the guard who was obviously surprised to see Reina come into the Yang Towers at around thirteen minutes past midnight.
She purposely strode towards the elevators and went up to her office.
It was dark except for a lone light bulb at the corner.
She made her way to her quarters and sat down by her desk. She looked around the room, as if memorizing even the smallest detail.
She turned her laptop on and began clicking the keyboard:
Mr. Drei Yang
Chief Executive Officer
Yang Conglomerate
Dear Sir:
I would like to inform you that I’d be taking an indefinite leave. Except for business trips inherent to my designation, I had come to realize that I have not taken some vacation since the year I had started working for this company. I need to take some time off, in view of the recent events, for fear that I might not be able to give this company the attention it deserves.
Rest assured I shall come back when I have invigorated myself. This company means so much to me.
I am endorsing my responsibilities to my assistant, Ruth Wang. She may not be in an executive position but I know that she will be able to execute my duties in my absence with her familiarity of my work ethics.
Hoping for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Reina Yang
President, Yang TV (a YC Subsidiary)
Reina walked around as she waited for the letter to be printed. After affixing her signature, she took a post-it pad and wrote:
Dad,
I know that this came on a short notice but please understand.
Reina
She then stuck the note on her letter.
She looked around her office just to check if there are any more things she needed to attend to before disappearing.
Finding none, she began writing:
Ruth,
I just decided to go away for a while. I know it’s all too sudden but then you know that things around here have not been easy for me. I have endorsed my responsibilities to you. I have full faith that you’ll be able to handle my office.
Thank you!
Reina
With that, she went out of Yang Towers and got in her car. She did not know what to do, so she roamed around and reached the park. It was not exactly quiet but at least she had peace. Besides, it would be the least place they would go to look for her.
“Now, who to call? Where to go?” Reina thought.
Chrissie’s name first popped up in her head. “Chrissie? No… It would be the first place he’d look, not to mention Matt.”
She couldn’t stay with her mom either. “Mom? Too predictable.”
“Anywhere in Taiwan? His investigators would find me in no time.” She clucked her tongue.
She thought harder and wondered, “Could I?”
She searched for her phone and dialed a number.
Rings.
The person on the other line answered, “Yeah?”
“Geraldine?” Reina asked tentatively.
Geraldine and Reina had been friends way back in University in ABAC. Geraldine has a fraternal twin named Marie. The girls were from the Philippines and only studied in Thailand. They had been Reina’s friends since Chrissie left for Geneva and all through these years, they had kept in touch.
“Reina? Is that you? What’s up?” a worried Geraldine asked.
“Can I crash at your place?” inquired Reina.
“Our place? You mean here?” Geraldine bolted up.
Reina apologized, “Yes. I know it’s kinda late and all too sudden but something came up.”
“I think I know. I hate to tell you this but Marie saw some footages a couple of nights ago,” came the reply.
“Yeah, that,” Reina said weakly.
“Wait… I’ll put you on a speaker phone… Hey, Rie, wake up. It’s Rain,” she roused her sister from her sleep.
“You don’t need to wake Marie up!” Now Reina felt ashamed.
“You kidding me? She’ll have my head when I’ll tell her you called and didn’t bother to wake her up.”
Turning on the speaker phone.
“Hey, Reina! What’s up, Bad Girl! You back to your old ways again?” Rie said teasingly, and got a slap from Din. “Oww!! That hurt,” she cried out.
Reina was amused at the twins. They were at it all the time. “You can say that again.”
“Good lord! That was some hunk you hooked up with!” Rie remarked, and again, another slap on her arm. “I swear, if you hit me again, I’m gonna whack your head.”
Geraldine ignored her and just asked Reina, “When are you planning to come over?”
“You’re coming here? Cool!!” Marie excitedly beamed. Geraldine was annoyed at her sister that she hit her again.
“Damn it, Geraldine Chantal! I told you I’d whack you in the head should you hit me again!” Rie proceeded to whack her sister’s head.
“Enough, Marie Christienne!” screamed Din, as she tried to cower away from her twin.
Reina kept on laughing at the twins but decided to butt in, “Guys, guys, GUYS!! I’m leaving for the airport in a sec.”
“You mean like now?” Rie stopped.
“She’s in a hurry, Rie,” she glared at her twin. “Rain, try taking a Taipei-Cebu flight. We’ll meet you there.”
======================================================
“Okay spill,” Geraldine sat beside Reina. The three of them were at the rooftop of the twins’ house.
“Don’t say you’re having jetlag. We’re on the same time zone, you know,” Marie added.
They were now in Iloilo, the twins’ hometown. Since there was no direct flight from Taiwan to Iloilo, they decided to meet up in Cebu, another Philippine island somewhere in the middle of the archipelago.
“Come on, Rain. You did not fly here to this godforsaken city because you missed us. What’s with you and this Sherwin guy?” Geraldine prodded.
“Wait… Did you say Sherwin? Is he the same…” Marie didn’t get to finish her sentence
“Yes,” Reina cut her off.
“Oooh… Interesting,” Rie exclaimed, now face Reina.
Reina shrugged. “It’s a long story.”
“Good! That will put YOU to sleep. We’re listening,” Din told her.
Reluctantly, Reina succumbed and narrated the whole arrangement.
“And you agreed?” Rie was incredulous.
“Yup. I somehow managed to convert myself into a very expensive prostitute,” Reina smiled bitterly.
“Hey! Don’t be too hard on yourself. You didn’t have much choice,” Rie wrapped an arm around Reina.
“But I could have fought him,” Reina whispered, tears starting to blur her vision.
“So you made a mistake. So what?” Din shrugged.
Reina looked up at her.
“We all make them. We all think that we’re doing the right thing and realize that in the end we were wrong. So fuck it!” Din explained. “What really matters is moving on from the whole nightmare.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do,” Reina exhaled loudly.
“You’re moving on by hiding? Ha!” Rie said sarcastically.
“Let’s just say I’m just stopping for gas…” Reina tried to defend herself but was cut off.
“Are you sure that it’s the whole I’m-a-whore tittle-tattle that you’re hiding from or is it a certain man?” Rie’s eyebrow rose.
“You got me there…” Reina whispered, helplessly admitting. “I just need time to heal. I’ve been violated enough.”
“You know? I never met a man so consumed by anger until I met the new Sherwin,” she hugged her knees. “You heard the stories about the ABAC shorty, right?”
The twins looked at each other and nodded.
“Tell me… Did I deserve what Sherwin did to me?” she wondered.
“Honestly?” Din asked, making sure that it was all right to tell the truth. “To a certain degree you had to be taught a lesson but I believe there are other ways than turning you into his courtesan.”
Rie faced her, “So you played the tart part, just look back at the experience as if it were an affair. You had a number of those, what makes this one different?”
“Reina? What really happened?” she searched Reina’s face for clues but Reina lowered her head.
“You fell in love,” Din answered for her.
Reina sighed helplessly, “It’s the same old story. Girl meets former lover. Guy hates her. Somehow managed to find themselves in bed together. Girl falls in love. Guy abhors her.”
“Just my luck,” Reina sadly said, biting her lip.
“How can you be so sure that he hates you?” Rie challengingly asked.
Reina could not control the tears that gathered in her eyes. She let them fall freely to drop on her lap. In an audible whisper, she said, “I was raped…”
The shocked look on the twins faces was expected, and so was when they both yelled, “He what?!”
Reina cried louder. She hid her face on her lap and continued crying.
“How did that happen?” Din found her voice first.
“I don’t know how and why,” Reina explained. “He was drunk. We was waiting for me at my place and was so mad and he just forced himself on me,” she stopped to catch her breath.
“I only waited for him to fall asleep and I left, that’s when I called you,” She cried again.
“Shh..it’s gonna be all right.” The twins hugged her.
========================================================
“Have you found her?” Matt asked his cousin, and handed him his vodka. They were at Matt’s house, in the bar. Matt was the next person he ran to after not finding Reina with her mom, nor with her relatives.
Sherwin downed his drink and asked for a refill before answering his question. “She’s not at Bliss nor is she with her maternal grandparents.”
“I’ve checked with their US affiliates if she’s been in town but she’s not there. I’ve called their Hong Kong and Singapore Offices. She’s not there.”
Matt tried to encourage his cousin. “Maybe she just wanted to take a vacation. Like you said, she had filed an indefinite leave.”
“Give her time,” and patted Sherwin on the shoulder.
Sherwin slapped away Matt’s hand. “Don’t you understand? I can’t afford time. I’ve done her wrong so many times…” He raked his fingers through his hair and squeezed his eyes shut in pain, looked up the ceiling and sighed. “I have to find her soon, Matt. Or it might be too late.”
Matt felt his cousin’s pain. Should that happen to him, he’d die too.
They haven’t noticed Chrissie enter the bar, a fierce scowl on her pretty face.
“What is he doing here?” Chrissie’s voice was filled with contempt and disgust, her eyes full of hatred at the man looking for her best friend. She knew what had happened to her friend and would never wonder why Reina left him.
Sherwin deserved it.
“Honey, pl…