I'm Guilty, My Beauty

Hugh saw a flower stand and bought a bunch of white roses and dreamily continued his journey to La Delicatesse.

As he arrived, Riley met him at the gate. "Bro, why didn"t you come soon? I thought you"re serious with Sheila."

"Of course, I"m serious but I can"t leave my patients when duty calls. I"ve been operating patients day and night. It"s rare for me to get a vacation. I"m here now. Please introduce me to her, or do I need to ask the students on where I can find her?"

Riley gave him a sad look. "She just left, back to the Philippines."

"What?"

"You heard me, she just left minutes ago. Go, you might be able to catch her."

"How long? I mean how many minutes ago?"

"Just thirty minutes ago. She will be taking the bus. Go!" Riley pushed him back to his car and closed the door for him.

Hugh had no time to thank Riley but started the car engine right away.

As Hugh"s car sped up the road, Riley silently spoke."I hope you"ll meet her this time."

Hugh made the car fly, rus.h.i.+ng to the bus stop but found it empty. He stomped on the gas pedal, pitching the car to speed up. "Man, she might be on that bus I pa.s.sed earlier."

He decided to go straight to the airport and along the road, he saw a bus ahead with signage "Charles de Gualle Aeroport". He went closer and honked the car horn to stop the bus. The bus driver saw on his side mirror a hand, from the honking car, waving for him to stop. The bus pulled at the side road. Hugh left his car and went up the bus to search for Sheila.

She was not on that bus.

"Sorry, I thought a friend of mine is on this bus." He went down and left the people on the bus wondering.

He went back to his car and let it dashed, the speedometer reached ninety kilometers per hour and arrived at the airport for less than twenty minutes.

. . . . .

When Sheila arrived at the airport, she decided to check in and enter the boarding area, of which Hugh couldn"t go in.

Hugh didn"t search for her everywhere. Instead, directly approached the airport concierge. "Mademoiselle, can you call a friend of mine through the PA system. I really need to talk to her before she leaves."

"What"s your friend"s name?" The friendly airport staff asked.

"Sheila Hernandez. Her name is Sheila Hernandez." He was restless, his hand fidgeted on the table as the PA system sounded Sheila"s name.

At this moment, Sheila was leaning on a chair, her eyes closed while earphones covered her ears, and cla.s.sical music played in the background. The music hindered her from hearing her name resounding from the airport paging system. Hugh waited and asked the concierge to call her name again. The lady did but no one came.

Hugh left the airport dismayed, while Sheila left France antic.i.p.ating her reconciliation with Clarence.

. . . . .

Sheila arrived in the Philippines. She sat at the back of their family"s Fortuner driven by her brother Bernard. As they reached Cebu City from the Lapu-Lapu International Airport, in the middle of the traffic, a car stopped at the opposite side of where they were heading. Clarence knocked at Bernard"s window.

"Bernard, busy?" greeted Clarence. Sheila was delighted to see him. She hurriedly combed her hair with her fingers and prepared her sweetest smile.

"Oh, hi. Just fetch someone from the airport. Guess who?" Bernard spoke after opening his own window.

"Huh? Who?"

"Look at the back."

Clarence followed Bernard"s instruction and peered at the Fortuner"s back seat and saw Sheila.

"Hi, Clarence. Long time no see?" Sheila"s smile was breathtaking. She became a pretty matured lady in his eyes. Somehow, Sheila saw a dull expression from Clarence"s face.

"Hi, heard you were away. Good to see you back." He casually greeted her. The das.h.i.+ng smile he had for her was now gone. Sheila felt distraught.

"Yeah, I"m back. Hope we can have some time together? Or how about dinner tonight to catch up with each other?" She was still trying to bring back the lost love.

"Sorry, not available. Well, glad to see you back. Bye!" Sheila felt crying, her eyes reddened.

The light turned green then Clarence"s car sped ahead without him looking back.

Tears started falling from Sheila"s eyes. She wanted to call him back. One of her reasons for coming home was to seek him, tell him she was sorry, and make him hers. Somehow, she already saw the cold welcome and the beautiful girl sitting at the front seat.

"Why cry? Regretting? You already shunned him away, so why wish for him now? Did you see that girl beside her? That"s his girl. Isn"t she pretty?" mocked Bernard.

"Enough, please just drive and don"t speak more," shouted Sheila. She was silently sobbing, full of regrets.

When they arrived home, she wanted to run straight to her room, but her father called out as she reached the foot of the stairs. "Sheila, won"t you greet us after arriving?"

Sheila stopped her ascent, tried to compose herself as she wiped her tears. She turned around, slowly walked to her parents, bent down, and pulled his father"s hand to touch her forehead. She did the same gesture of respect to her mother. "Good afternoon Pa and Ma."

Her mother pulled her to embrace her. "How are you? You looked more beautiful." The elder lady smiled and kissed her cheeks.

"I"m fine, Ma. The school took care of me well."

"That"s good to hear that. But why did you cry?" The mother felt the wet face.

"Huh? I"m not." Sheila tried to smile but projected a sad one.

"Your eyes are red, fresh from crying." The mother stared concernedly at her daughter.

Bernard replied for her, "We met Clarence and …"

Sheila interrupted, "shut up!" She suddenly pulled her bag from Bernard"s hand. "Sorry Ma, Pa, I"ll go up first. I"ll come back after unpacking. Pa, I"m hungry. I missed your noodles, can I have two servings?" She mustered her best smile at her parents and gave Bernard a "do-not-talk" look.

Bernard shrugged and walked to his own room. But before going in, he said, "don"t cry, sis, there are more men waiting for the famous Miss Sheila Jane Hernandez to come home."

She strode with heavy steps and slammed her bedroom door after hearing his remark. The mother and father looked at each other and sighed.

. . . . .

In France, Hugh felt devastated as he reached home after his tiring journey, which was one of the worse days in his life. He went to his painting room, took Sheila"s portrait, and brought it to his bedroom. The painting took a s.p.a.ce on the wall where he could directly see when he went in and out of his room, and on when he lay on the bed.

His hand caressed Sheila"s profile. "Ah, I totally miss meeting you again. What should I do to see you again? Why are you so elusive?" He placed his cheek on Sheila"s face. "I think I"m getting crazy, painting your face and running after you. Please, take away the spell you cast on me."