Secrets and Second Chances

“How dare you! Why did you do this to me?” Crying, Shaina strike her fist over Rex’s chest.

“I’m sorry, babe, but she fulfill my needs that you can’t provide for me as my girlfriend.”

Staring at Rex, Shaina’s mouth was open in disbelief. She wanted to slap him, but her hand seem frozen, and paralyzed, as well as her wounded heart. She didn’t allow her boyfriend to touch her, is this why he had to find another woman to hop into his bed? But, why with her rival cousin? Besides, Rex knew she wanted marriage first before sex. 

“How long have you been cheating on me?” Her tone was calm, yet she stare furiously at him.

Rex abruptly diverted his attention and looked away, only to avoid Shaina’s gaze. He felt guilty, but he can’t escape from Lovely.  He couldn't even realize that Shaina will notice his secret relationship with her cousin as early as he could have imagined. Right at the moment, his heart was split in two.

“C'mon, Rex, tell her the truth, so she can leave. So annoying with her drama.”

Shaina stared angrily at her cousin. She charged towards the woman with the intent of defacing her. To her dismay, Rex stood up on her way, covering and protecting Lovely from her attack. That act alone from Rex is enough to cause her a crashing grief. That was not meant to shock her, but it did. Because she really thought this guy was different... it seems, he is just like the other guys she liked. Lovely would seduce them and they easily gave in to her temptation.

Her anger towards Lovely almost pushed her to the breaking point but remembering Rex's desire to have a higher position in her company made her smile bitterly.

“You’re doing this because Lovely’s family has the biggest share to the company, aren’t you?”

While holding the towel that only covers her naked body, Lovely suddenly moved towards Shaina. However, Shaina avoided her hand as if she was ready from her intention. She get insulted and she wouldn’t accept it just like that.

“How dare you! Rex is in love with me. Whether you accept it or not, he’s mine. You can’t give him the happiness he wanted the way I did.”

She laugh sarcastically and look at her cousin with pity. “Let’s not fool ourselves, Lovely. Money— that’s all that you have and if you don't have that, Rex will never be with you.” 

“Shaina, that’s enough!”

When Rex attempt to hold her arm, she shake his hand off her. “It’s true, isn’t it? You're eager to become a CEO in a huge company and you thought marrying her is the only answer to your ambition.”

Half of Shaina’s revelation was true and Rex left in shock. But he hates how Shaina insulted him. Worse, she belittled him.

“I'm not like what you think, you know that, Shaina!” Rex's defense in anger.

“I told you, honey. You’re not important to her. See? She’s putting you down. You're nothing to this woman. She couldn’t even give you what you wanted.”

The allegation brought sadness onto Rex’s face, so Shaina started to calm herself. But there’s no way she can withdraw what she had said even if she wanted to because Rex turned his back. 

“It’s good this happened to us, otherwise, I will never know you’re belittling my capability.”

Shaina felt the coldness in his voice, that confused her. Sounds like Rex is blaming her to their broken relationship, why on earth this guy is acting like a victim now? Then, Lovely smiled at her. This time, the anger in her heart appears again. 

“I’m sorry if I fell into temptations. I was weak. But believe me, I loved you and I never wish to hurt you that’s why I hide these all from you for five months.”

After hearing it, Shaina’s tears started falling. She’s in so much pain. Yes, Rex loved her, but little did she know, he is cheating on her this long. Five months. Wow. Surprisingly, it turns out Rex is also trying to hide it from her until their marriage. Thanks to her greedy cousin, who have planned it all for her, so she could discover Rex’s betrayal without his awareness. Both of them have been fooled. Lovely intend to break them apart, and succeed. Now, her cousin snatched her boyfriend completely. 

She left his pad, sobbing. It feels like her heart is now crashed in million pieces. Also, she lost her dignity being a woman infront of her hypocrite cousin. Men can never be sensible, she thought. And Rex is as like as his father who couldn’t settle in just one woman. A playboy. This is why his father's numerous affair with different women brought them in a miserable life. Especially when the CEO position turned over to his sibling, instead of him.

 “Lucky you. You could probably inherit your father's womanizing behaviour if you became a boy.”

 

She remember her friend’s opinion, and laughed at the thought. She’s maybe a girl, but because of her father’s background, she couldn’t get out of the fact that she’s a womanizer’s daughter. For this, others judged her, that she is a playgirl, too. Besides, how many boyfriends has she had and didn’t last? Everyone is thinking that she is the type of a girl who hurts every man around her. Only Rex lasted longer, that's why she was in too much pain right now.

After entering the car, she dialled her friend's contact number. Everytime she encounter problems, she came to him for help. Although he’s gay, he’s the only person understands her. Just like now. She needed him badly.

Despite of many customers in his salon, Daisy left the job to his helper after hearing Shaina’s hoarse voice. He could sense the misery. So, if Shaina will invite him for a drink, then he must be right.

Being far from their meeting place, it's already dark when Daisy arrived at the luxurious hotel in town where he meet Shaina there. There’s social gathering at the second floor. He wonder why his friend chose the place and didn't regret spending money. The people went to this kind of place are almost VIPs. And a drink could possibly cost them a thousand peso, for god’s sake.

“Where is she?” He looked around, searching for Shaina. The thought that maybe his friend was drunk worry him.

"Beshy..."

"Darn, I knew it!" he whisper when he heard Shaina’s voice right at his back. He suddenly approached her. And widened his eyes seeing the amount of empty bottles on the table. 

"Finally, you're here!" She look at him with a swollen eyes, then smiled.

"You spent money for this? Gurl, what's wrong with you?” He snatched the wine glass from her hand. 

Shaina stared at her friend for awhile. And even asking herself what was she doing in this luxurious place? Eventually, she burst in tears while tapping her chest gently.

With sympathy, Daisy sit next to her and embrace her tight. Upon listening to her story, Daisy can’t control himself not to cry. Same time, both anger and pity prevailed in his chest against Rex.

“Better you should waste all the money in your account so he can’t spend any single penny for that woman.” Instead of teaching her the right thing to do, he supported what Shaina have started.

Somehow, Shaina feels better now. She grinned and raised the wine glass. They toast. Right, she will spend all the money they have saved in their joint account that they prepare for their supposed wedding. She will never allow Lovely to benefit of Rex’s earned money. Before Rex realizes to close the account, she will make sure it’s already gone and wasted.

“Should we really need to surrender ourselves first so the person we love will stay?”

Daisy sighed, watching his friend without any word.

“Is it my fault why Lovely successfully seduced him?”

Daisy let his friend blow her resentment. He understand her sorrows, but on the other hand, he knew that Shaina is obviously drunk.

“But why Lovely? I don’t think I can let him go, besh.”

“Gurl, that’s enough. We’re catching everyone’s attention. Look!” he scold her when she started sobbing. As if she was a kid, and someone grabbed her lollipop.

“Help me, besh. I-I need to get Rex back to me.”

Annoyed, Daisy grab the glass wine again from Shaina's hand and emptied it. “Don’t be stupid, besh. Too many guys out there queuing for your beauty. Let your dumb ex-boyfriend be with that bitch. They look good together— both flirt and cheater.”

Shaina hiccup and shake her head. “I hate men. All of them are foolish. They are just like my father, they all aftering for sex.”

“Correct! So, stop wasting your tears for Rex.” He held his friend so tight.

Truth is, Shaina had been through a lot of distress in life. At a very young age, she lost her mother from heart attack. Wayback, she witnessed her father’s flings. This is why he understand his friend's pain.

“I will show him I can completely give myself to a random guy out there.”

Shock of what he heard from Shaina, Daisy accidentally throw out his drink. He suddenly felt worried for his friend’s insane idea. Afraid that maybe Shaina lost herself, he drink all the alcohol that left.