Chapter 3

Auri stared at the message on her phone, her vision blurring as the words burned into her mind.

We need to talk. Please. I love you. Let me explain.

Damian.

Of course it was Damian.

Her grip tightened around her phone until her knuckles turned white. She wanted to throw it across the room, smash it against the bar counter, anything to silence the buzzing reminder of the man who destroyed her life in a single night.

“You okay?” Ian’s voice cut through the noise, low and steady, like a warm hand on her back.

Auri blinked rapidly, forcing the tears back. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.”

“I didn’t ask for your opinion,” she snapped, then immediately regretted it. “Pasens'ya na. I’m really… not myself tonight.”

“Understandable,” he said, swirling the whiskey in his glass. “You just walked out of hell.”

Auri let out a shaky breath. “You have no idea.”

“Try me.”

She looked at him then—really looked. His eyes were dark, steady, and strangely comforting. Hindi siya mukhang manyak, hindi rin mukhang opportunista. He looked like someone who had seen storms and survived them.

“Fine,” she whispered. “But I need another drink first.” Kailangan niya munang uminom ng ilang shots pa para lumakas ang loob niyang magkwento.

Ian raised a brow. “You sure? You’re drinking fast.”

“I want to forget fast.”

He signaled the bartender. “One more for her. Water for me.”

Auri frowned. “Why water?”

“Someone has to stay sober,” he said simply. “Para may magbabantay sa’yo.”

Her chest tightened. No one had said that to her before. Not Damian. Not even her mother.

The new whiskey arrived. Auri took a long sip, the burn sliding down her throat like liquid courage. “My fiancé cheated on me,” she said quietly. Alam na 'yon ni Ian dahil walang paalam itong naki-tsismis kanina nang kausap niya sa telepono si Lira. “With my mother.”

That information was new.

But Ian didn’t flinch or gasp. He didn’t pity her. He just nodded slowly, as if the world had already shown him worse.

“That’s… heavy,” he murmured.

“You think?” Auri laughed bitterly. “I caught them. In bed. In my mother’s room. And they didn’t even look guilty.”

Ian’s jaw tightened. “Your mother sounds like a piece of work.”

“She is,” Auri whispered. “But Damian… I thought he was different. I thought he loved me.” Who was she kidding? She saw the signs and chose to ignore them. 

Ian leaned closer, elbows on the bar. “Love doesn’t cheat.”

Auri swallowed hard. “I know.”

“And your mother?” he added. “She doesn’t deserve to be called one.”

Auri’s breath hitched. “You don’t even know her.” Hindi s'ya dapat masaktan sa sinabi nito, pero sa kabila ng lahat, ina pa rin niya si Selene. 

“I don’t have to,” he said. “A mother protects her child. She doesn’t destroy her.”

Her eyes stung. She looked away, blinking fast. “Stop saying things that make sense. I’m trying to be angry.”

“Be angry,” he said softly. “Just don’t break in silence.”

Auri let out a shaky laugh. “You’re surprisingly… comforting.”

“I’m surprisingly a lot of things,” he said with a small smirk. 

She rolled her eyes, but her lips twitched. “You’re flirting with me.”

“Am I?” he asked innocently. “I thought I was just talking. Magaling lang talaga akong makinig."

“Liar.”

He chuckled. “Fine. Maybe a little.”

Auri took another sip, feeling the warmth spread through her chest. “You said your girlfriend cheated too?”

“My fiancée,” he corrected. “Caught her with someone else. In my own condo.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah. But unlike you, I didn’t walk in on them mid‑action. So you win. Besides, it happened a few months ago. Yours is brand new.”

Auri groaned. “Don’t say it like it’s a competition.”

“Everything is a competition,” he said lightly. “But tonight? We’re on the same team.”

She stared at him, unsure whether to laugh or cry. “Why are you being nice to me?”

“Because you look like you’re one wrong word away from falling apart,” he said. “And I don’t like watching people fall.”

Auri’s throat tightened. “I’m not falling.”

“You are,” he said gently. “Pero nandito ako."

The words hit her harder than the whiskey.

She didn’t know this man. She didn’t even know if Ian was his real name. But right now, he was the only person who wasn’t lying to her, betraying her, or asking her to be okay.

Her phone buzzed again.

Please, Auri. I’m still at your house. Talk to me.

She slammed the phone face‑down on the counter.

Ian raised a brow. “Persistent.”

"He's pathetic and he doesn't deserve a second chance."

Ian nodded approvingly. “Good thinking.”

Auri exhaled shakily. “I don’t want to think about him anymore.”

“Then don’t.”

“I want to forget.”

“Okay, then forget him."

She looked at him, eyes glassy. “How?”

Ian didn’t touch her. He didn’t move closer. He just held her gaze, steady and unyielding.

“Let someone else take up space in your mind,” he said quietly.

Her breath caught.

“That sounds like a line,” she whispered.

“It’s not,” he murmured. “It’s an offer.”

Auri’s pulse raced. “You don’t even know me.”

“I know enough,” he said. “You’re hurting. You’re angry. You’re trying to hold yourself together when you should be allowed to fall apart.”

Her lips trembled. “And you?”

“I’m someone who understands what it feels like to lose everything in one night.”

Silence settled between them, heavy and electric.

Auri looked down at her hands. “I don’t want to be alone tonight.”

Ian inhaled sharply. “Auri…”

“I’m not asking for anything complicated,” she said, voice barely above a whisper. “I just… I don’t want to feel this pain alone.”

He studied her, eyes dark and unreadable. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not doing this to hurt him?”

“No.”

“You won’t regret this tomorrow?”

“I already regret everything else,” she whispered. “Just… not this.”

Ian’s jaw clenched, as if fighting something inside him. Then he stood slowly, offering his hand.

“Come with me.”

Auri stared at his hand, her heart pounding so loudly she could barely hear the music around them. She hesitated for a single breath—one last moment where she could still turn back.

Then she placed her hand in his.

Warm. Steady. Certain.

Ian pulled her gently to her feet. “Let’s get you out of here.”

They walked toward the exit, fingers intertwined, the air between them charged with something dangerous and inevitable.

But just as they reached the door, Auri’s phone buzzed again.

This time, the message wasn’t from Damian.

It was from an unknown number.

I know where you are.

Auri froze.

Ian turned to her, eyes narrowing. “What’s wrong?”

She showed him the screen.

His expression darkened instantly.

“Who sent that?” he asked, voice low.

“I… I don’t know. Baka wrong sent lang.”

Ian stepped closer, his hand tightening around hers.

“Wrong sent or not, you’re definitely not going home alone tonight.”

The door swung open behind them, cold night air rushing in.

Auri swallowed hard, her heart racing for a completely different reason now. And with Ian’s hand still wrapped around hers, she stepped into the night— unaware that this was the moment her entire future shifted.