I'm Guilty, My Beauty

John sat on a couch near the bed. "I never suspected for you to become her informant," John said to Anna. Diane surmised the two were acquainted by the way he spoke.

"I was bored collecting paintings and chatting with your grandmother Julliane. Diane provided me the excitement back into my life, so I grabbed it," Anna said, her voice filled with enthusiasm and a pleased grin on her face.

John sat down on the vanity"s chair. "Diane does have a way of dispensing excitement to anyone"s life, including mine."

Diane gave John an oppressive glare. John gave her a courteous smile.

"I"m not here to have a chat but I just want to know what is your involvement with Diane, John?"

"I"m not directly involved in any way, for now, but I can a.s.sure you that I will involve myself if it means to keep her from taking risky sleuthing."

"That would be wonderful because I"ve been warning Diane and I don"t want to bring her on harm"s way as well."

"Then why did you send her to that room alone yesterday?"

Diane gripped the purse in her hand and gave John a frosty look. "Don"t blame her."

Anna waved a hand on Diane. "He is right. I totally regretted it. I was really scared to death when I saw Mr. Gallante end their meeting early in the conference room yesterday. I hurriedly sent my secretary to delay him by engaging him in a debate, to give you enough time to escape. "

"If I didn"t arrive on time, she could have been caught and …" John left the rest unsaid. "Please, don"t do this again."

"John," Diane intervened for Anna.

"You have my word," Anna said. Then she looked at Diane like a mother caring for her daughter. "Dear, don"t go. It"s my fault for not checking the immensity of the problem first. I only came to warn you and I hope you"ll listen." Anna stood and hugged Diane. "Listen to John. You got a good man here, a reliable one. Don"t let him go." She kissed Diane"s forehead and bade the two farewell then left.

Diane sat there silent. She saw the risk but her mind told her to take the chance.

"Please, tell me how in the world you became Julius Tapang?" said John.

She was silent and stared at John as if asking for understanding.

"Don"t worry, I won"t reprimand you. I just want to know the truth. You seemed to be shrouded with a fog of mystery that made me confused and anxious." John spread his hand wide.

Suddenly, Diane"s phone rang. She saw her aunt"s number and muted her phone. Then the phone lighted. Diane shut it off after she saw the caller.

"Was the call important?"

"It"s not that important," Diane said.

Receiving that call was causing the pain she had hidden to crawl out from its hiding place. She clasped her breast, her chest in pain. Then, she looked at him. "John, can I trust you?"

"This is the second time you asked. Yes, you can and I bet my life on it."

Diane breathed deeply and slowly began pouring her heart out. "After my father died, the editor of Cebu News had been contacting me concerning his death. Then, I"ve learned something more and..." She looked outside the window. "This had been boiling deep inside me and I have no one else to confide with. Not even Lydia knows this."

"I"m here to listen," said John.

"I believe my father"s death was not an accident. Someone murdered him. But I have no proof. I do believe you heard of a Diane Castillon died years ago."

John"s chest pounded but didn"t say a word. He"s been aching to know the story.

"After my father died, I found his phone under my closet. I don"t know why it was there. I read all of his messages. He had been receiving messages from a certain Lino. I"ve read one insisting that Papa cooperate but nothing was stated on what was it for. Then one day, my father didn"t come home and we only heard he died in a car accident. It was terrible."

She paused and clenched her fists. "Then weeks after, I tried to claim my father"s insurance but I was too late. The company told me that the check had been released and withdrawn by my mother. I argued but they said a mother and daughter went to claim with complete papers. I tried to trace the fake us but unsuccessful. Then later, someone from the police called me, asking if I"m related to a Diane Castillon who committed suicide. Someone informed them that we were sisters and the morgue was asking for the relatives to claim the body."

Her fist paled with her tight clasp. "I ventured to the morgue to see who was exactly this Diane Castillon. What I saw gave me gooseb.u.mps. She almost looked like me but only a bit different with our lips and the mole under the ear was missing. I denied any connection with the girl."

Diane continued. "People had been visiting to check if it was me but I didn"t go out in the open because something else happened while I was busy tracking the impersonators." She blinked to hold back tears. "My fiance and my cousin betrayed me," she said whisper-like.

She bit her lower lip. Tears began to fall. John went to her side and embraced her.

She leaned on his strong shoulders, giving her a sense of security."My mother was in shock for days, not only because of losing my father but for losing one of the lifelines he left to us. She hoped we could use the money for my studies and to improve the flower shop but it was gone. She was hospitalized later and diagnosed with depression and high blood pressure."

More tears fell, soaking John"s s.h.i.+rt. She sniffled. "John, no one understood my pain, nor my mother"s pain. I told my relatives about the insurance but they only said to accept the whole thing because there"s nothing we can do. The police couldn"t even find the perpetrators, so how can we? I broke the engagement and hid inside my room for days, but that didn"t make me hurt less."

"Cry." He embraced her tightly and she wailed aloud, pouring all the bottled pain for years.