Mayne City, Esmea

Evan's nose flared and his eyes were flinty when the man who answered Angela's phone just a second ago hung up on him. Lowering his phone from his ears, he stared at the screen as though he was trying to make sense as to what just happened. With his brows knitted, the statement that Nina told him recently resurfaced: "You should stop, Evan. Angela is already getting married."

So, she wasn't lying? He could not believe that Angela really did find someone. He scoffed, his body tensing when he remembered what the asshole told him just now: "You can't afford to know my name."

Evan abruptly got on his feet and flipped the coffee table, glass shattered everywhere on the floor. "Who the fûck does he think he is?!" he spat. The more that he thought about it, the more enraged he got.

…

August 29 — Wednesday

The sun was up bright and early in the sky today, and the balcony was almost dry as it hadn't rained since two in the morning. The gentle breeze and the sound of chirping birds was such a delight in Hillberry Isle—it was as though they were finally at the end of the tunnel.

Angela Su slept like a baby—even the heat from the sun that penetrated through the windows and hit her arm didn't wake her up. It wasn't until there was a ringing sound nearby that she fluttered her eyes open. She was still disoriented and trying to make out where she was when the blaring sound caught her attention.

Groaning, she sat up on the bed and rubbed her temple, a massive headache hammering her skull. She couldn't see Gael anywhere in the room when she looked from left to right, then her eyes landed on the phone that was on the nightstand. Angela gingerly grabbed it and took a peek only to see "Honey" on the screen. She almost instantly tossed the phone back to its place, realizing that it was not her phone.

Her hand flew to cover her mouth when a memory from a few days ago pushed its way through to the front of her mind—it was when she was grabbing her dress from the balcony and she overheard Gael talking to someone on the phone saying, "...I love you, Honey. I'll see you soon…"

She gasped. Her heart sank just as images from last night came rushing back to her and haunting her. "Oh, my god… I just kissed another woman's man." She darted her eyes back to the screen and she gulped. But no matter how many times she swallowed hard, the heavy lump in her throat didn't want to go away. Angela could feel her heart throb, unsure of how she was currently feeling.

Did she feel bad? Yes.

However, did she regret kissing him? Honestly, No.

Maybe that caller was a family member? She didn't know what to think anymore. Although she was feeling so awful, she just couldn't deny that whatever it was last night… felt so right. Even if it was wrong. She would probably make the same decisions if she were to relive it.

Was she making sense? Maybe? Maybe not.

Maybe this was how mistresses think?

Oh, god. She was a side-chick! Feeling so anxious, she started biting the nail on her thumb. This wasn't supposed to happen!

Angela needed to think. Not even bothering to check where Gael was, she got out of bed real quick, grabbed her stuff, left the room, and went to her suite. She had to take a long bath to drown out the guilt she had that was eating her away. After taking a bath, she put on a pair of short denim shorts and a white tank top, ate breakfast, and popped medicine to cure her headache.

She spent the whole morning just trying to calm herself down and put the bad thoughts to the back of her head. Not wanting to linger on the negative feelings that she had in the pit of her stomach, Angela didn't do anything else in the morning other than watch a few episodes of a Korean variety show. Watching the shows and laughing her ass off seemed to have done its job.

However, it only lasted until she heard the doorbell rang. It was eleven in the morning and she had just ordered room service. Thinking that it was her food, she casually got to the door only to find Gael standing outside wearing a pair of tattered denim shorts, a light blue unbuttoned long-sleeves that he rolled up to his elbows, and an inner white tee. She didn't expect to see him this soon.

"Hi… Can I come in?" he asked, his expression was unreadable as he looked at her and thought that she was handling herself pretty well after having drunk the night before.

She cleared her throat and snapped out of her trance. Stepping aside, Angela gestured for him to enter her suite and then closed the door behind him. He glanced at the show on the T.V. as he walked deeper into the room, probably wondering what she was watching before he arrived.

He stood in the middle of the room, his hands digging into his jeans pockets as he wondered if she learned about the phone call last night. "You left this morning. I went outside for a while and when I came back, you were gone."

'Ah… So he goes to talk about it straight away,' she thought. She could tell him what she was thinking the moment she woke up that morning, but her coward self... well, was too cowardly.

Angela ignored the slight prick in her heart. Pulling the corners of her mouth into a smile, she shrugged as she grabbed two bottles of water from the mini-fridge, gave one to him, and took a sip from hers. "I had to take a bath. I wanted to change out of the clothes I wore yesterday."

Gael nodded and did not read much into her answer, guessing she must have not discovered that he answered a call on her behalf. At first, he thought he would regret doing that, but now that he was sober, he believed that he would have probably still done the same—drunk or not drunk. The room fell silent for a few beats before he spoke again. "Listen… I don't want this to be awkward between us…"

"Don't worry about it." Angela waved a hand in the air nonchalantly as she walked towards the balcony with him following close behind. "I understand… We were just… having fun, weren't we?" She smiled without looking at him. "Look, the sun finally showed up. You think the flights are back now?"

'Having fun…' the words comically echoed in his head as if it was mocking him. He couldn't stand that she was avoiding meeting his eyes, but he also couldn't dare to call her out on it. He knew that she was trying to lighten up the mood and brush off what could have been an awkward conversation.

Before coming to see her today, Gael hoped that they could get past what happened and be civil with each other. However, seeing her so nonchalant about it actually sucked. Did she want to forget about last night so badly?