The Bad Girl: Chapter 29 - Apart

Ooh, ooh.
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, please..." Matt tried to calm his wife and pulled her away from Sherwin.

"Li?" Chrissie threatened. She was glaring at her husband.

Saved by the bell. Sherwin's phone rang and broke the tension.

"Yes?" Sherwin picked it up in its first ring.

"In what?!" he sounded surprised.

"Why?"

"I'm going there," then he hung up.

Sherwin turned to Chrissie, unmindful of her glare. "Chrissie, do you know if Reina has some business dealings in the Philippines?"

Chrissie crossed her arms. "Granting that I know, why on earth should I help you, Xu?"

"Honey, please?" Matt touched her arms.

Chrissie knew she had to somehow help Sherwin. After all, he's Matt's cousin. "Okay. But one wrong move, Xu, and I swear to God, I'll kill you."

"Honey..."Matt cautioned.

"She met two Filipinas at ABAC when I was in Geneva. They were like cousins or twins... I really don't remember. I don't exactly know where in the Philippines they are." Chrissie said thoughtfully.

"Cebu? My PI said she took a Taipei-Singapore-Cebu flight," Sherwin was eager to know.

Chrissie shook her head, "No... Not Cebu. It's sort of repetitive. I'm sorry but Reina didn't talk much about them probably because I got jealous at some point because she found some replacements for me..."

"Okay, I could work on that," Sherwin did not let her finish. "I'll look for a place that has a repetitive name."

"You can't be serious right?" Matt said in disbelief. "If I could remember my geography correctly that country has some seven thousand something islands!"

Chrissie smiled at Matt. "Honey? You're not helping."

"My PI's working on the passengers who came out Cebu by air or by ferry. I hope something comes up..." with that, Sherwin ran to his car.

========================================================

Traffic lights shining in my eyes
Through the pouring rain
We had a terrible fight tonight
And I can't stand the pain
I've been searching for hours and hours
Up and down these lonely streets
I feel scared and alone and so incomplete
I wouldn't be here if I didn't love you
I wouldn't be here if I didn't care
I wouldn't waste your time or my time in a love that's going nowhere

It's been building up for quite sometime
Something had to break
But to just end it all like this
Would be the worst mistake
I know I don't wanna live without you
I know exactly what you mean to me
And I believe that inside, we still hold the key

I wouldn't be here if I didn't love you
I wouldn't be here if I didn't care
I wouldn't waste your time or my time in a love that's going nowhere

I wouldn't be here if I didn't love you
Freezing cold in the pouring rain
All I wanna do is find you
Let me set you home again

Someday we gonna look back on this
Throw away the cross we had to bear
We'll have a laugh and we'll have a kiss
We'll say all is fair

I wouldn't be here if I didn't love you
I wouldn't be here if I didn't care
I wouldn't waste your life or my life in a love that's going nowhere

I wouldn't be here baby
(I wouldn't be here if I didn't love you)
I wouldn't be here baby
(I wouldn't be here if I didn't love you)

Sherwin turned the radio of his rented car off. He had at last reached the place with a repetitive name. He arrived barely an hour ago and immediately searched where Reina stayed after checking in a hotel.

He surveyed his surroundings. The people, the atmosphere, the scent...everything was so different from his home place, Taiwan. Nothing in this place is like Taiwan. It was a strange land and he did not like it.

He was standing outside the gate of the said house. He looked at the address again, to be sure. It was a little past 7 in the evening. He looked at the house. The living room light seemed to be on.

"What are the chances that Reina is inside?" he asked himself.

With uncertainty, he pushed the doorbell twice. He did not hear it. All sound was drowned by the deafening thump of his heartbeat and his quicSherwining breaths.

He waited for the door to open and he held his breath.

========================================================

Reina prepared a pitcher of juice for their dinner tonight. She felt that she's being a burden to her friends but she doesn't want to go back to Taiwan...not yet. She couldn't cook, and she felt bad for her friends. So she tried to be as useful around the house as possible, although there were not so many things to do, but enough to keep her mind occupied.

Looking at the pitcher, she was dragged back into the time when she tried to cook and what happened after that... making love with Sherwin but the sound of the doorbell brought her back to the present.

She was not in Taiwan; she was in Philippines, staying with her twin friends.

She checked the time, 7:18pm.

She frowned, "Huh? It's too early for Rie & Din to be home."

Shrugging her shoulders, she went to open the door anyway. Her eyes widened in surprise and horror when she saw who was behind the gate.

She walked backwards and hurriedly closed the door.

========================================================

Sherwin was shouting, bellowing, "Reina... No!!"

He kept ringing the doorbell, tears streaming down his face, "Reina, please... Let me in!"

His voice was hoarse from shouting and with too much emotion. He leaned on the gate and slowly slid down to the floor, crying convulsively.

========================================================

Reina closed the door behind her and leaned her back against it. She slipped to sit down on the floor, her back still on the door, drew her knees to her chest and hugged them and sobbed uncontrollably, hearing Sherwin shouting her name, pounding the gate, begging her to open.

Her heart was bleeding with every single second that she knows Sherwin was outside. She wanted to block the agony that threatened to overtake her body, but she couldn't. She wanted the torment to end.

All she did was pleaded, silently, "Please, go away."

========================================================

An hour had passed since Reina opened the door. She never answered the doorbell again. He sat on the path walk, waiting and hoping that Reina would come out.

He looked up at the sky. The night seemed clearer and brighter with all the stars. A falling star shot up in the sky. He closed his eyes and made a wish.

He opened his eyes and was blinded by the light coming from a car.

It was a Ford Expedition. It turned to the gate and honked.

Reina did not go out.

The driver honked again.

Geraldine got out from the passenger's seat and checked the gate.

Still no sign of Reina.

"Rie, I think Reina's asleep," she walked up to her sister.

"Din!" she scolded her sis and pointed to Sherwin's direction.

"Huh?" Din asked, confused, and she turned around.

"Oh! How may I help you?" she greeted Sherwin as he approached her.

"I'd like to speak to Reina, please," Sherwin almost begged.

Din's eyebrow shot up. "Sherwin Xu, right? She threw you out or were you locked out?"

"Locked out," Sherwin smiled wanly.

"Come in!" she replied and opened the gate.

"Din! What are you doing?" Rie screamed as she parked the car in the garage.

"The sooner they talk about this. The sooner they get on with their lives," she told her sis.

"She's going to kill us!" Rie protested, eyeing Sherwin from head to foot.

"Ha! You're enjoying this as much as I am, admit it," she teased Rie.

"Exactly!" Rie grinned sheepishly as she got out of the vehicle.

"Oh Reina!!!" she called in a singsong voice as she entered the house.

She turned to Sherwin and said, "I think she hid herself."

"Go find her. She's just in there somewhere," Geraldine looked up. She then asked Sherwin to have a seat. "So Mr. Xu can I offer you anything? Juice? Coffee? Vodka? Tequila?"

========================================================

Reina felt someone trying to get out of the window and onto the rooftop. "Is he gone?" she asked without turning around.

"Tough luck. He's downstairs," Rie sat beside her, feeling the cool wind against their skin.

Rie told her softly, "Rain, better get this over and done with."

Reina whispered, "I'm not ready."

This angered Rie. "You're cowering again!"

She grabbed Reina's shoulders and forced her to face her. "Just be true to yourself. Decide on what you really want to happen."

She then hugged her friend.

========================================================

"I commend your sources, Mr. Xu," Reina butted in while Din and Sherwin were engaged in a conversation.

Geraldine excused herself.

Sherwin stood up and waited for Reina to sit. She sat opposite him.

"What will you offer me this time? The whole Xu Group of Industries in exchange for a whole month of debauchery with S&M on the side?" She crossed her arms against her chest, an eyebrow was raised and her words were filled with sarcasm.

Sherwin spoke hesitatingly, "Reina, I'm sorry..."

But Reina was hard. "So am I. I'm giving you five minutes to explain and then leave."

Sherwin heaved a sigh. "After humiliating me on my graduation day, I vowed to have my revenge. I would take over Yang Group of Companies and to bring you down."

He stopped and glanced at Reina, waiting for her to show some emotion. Then he continued when he didn't see any.

"I had you in the palm of my hand. Everything was working the way I wanted it."

He paused.

"I tried... I tried so hard not to fall in love, but I did. Please, believe me Reina. I fell in love with you. I freaked out. I didn't know what to do." He stood up and walked back and forth.

"Then I had a plan. I gave back everything to you and would tell you how I felt. And when I was to tell you, I saw you and Daniel, damn it! You were kissing! I was... enraged... betrayed by my own feelings," he knelt before her.

"And you went home and kissed me. That's when I snapped. I thought you were toying with me again... Seeing you kiss Daniel and then kissing me," he was crying now.

"I'm so sorry, Reina. I didn't mean to do it. I love you. Please, I love you so damn much!"

All through this, Reina was expressionless. She swallowed hard before saying, "Are you through?"

"There's the door. You know your way out," she pointed to the door, stood up and left.

Sherwin rushed to stop her, hugging her from behind, not letting her go.

Reina struggled but he held on to her.

"Get your hands off me, Sherwin," she hissed, "Or are you going to force yourself on me again?"

Sherwin closed his eyes. He knew then that Reina would never be able to forgive him. He did her wrong over and over again.

It was too late.

Reina felt his arms loosening around her.

It was over.

========================================================

Reina didn't wait for Sherwin to leave the house. She went inside her room. Din and Rie were waiting for her.

As soon as she closed the door, her resolve melted and she broke down, allowing the tears to wash her.

"Are you sure that was what you really wanted?" Rie hugged her, stroking her back.

Reina never uttered a word. She continued to cry.

The nightmare had ended but her heart was broken

========================================================

Author's Notes:
*Insensitive by Jann Arden and I Wouldn't Be Here If I Didn't Love You by Belinda Carlisle were two of our fave songs that time. It still brings back memories until now.
**So you must've guessed by now where I (we) are from.
***The house is reminiscent of our old house. We used to just sit on the roof, talk, look at the stars and daydream.

The Bad Girl is about to end and I'm grateful to the ones who followed the series. Thank you for reading.