The Last Embrace

The leaving was the hardest part, knowing he will also leave Jessy behind and their memories in the mansion to be deserted and forgotten. He doesn"t think he will entirely forget Jessy. He has no plan though because his heart refused to do so, but yeah, for the meantime he needs to plan for his future.

He believed that Jessy was already safe and well taken care of by his brother in the Facility. He has to stop himself from obsessively thinking and worrying about her. The more he thinks about her the more his heart bleeds.

He pushed Jess" thoughts at the back of his mind. He has to focus on what his life will be in the city.

When he arrived in the city, the first thing he did was to find a shelter for the night. He can"t find one since the surrounding room rentals were beyond his limited monetary budget.

He asked people he met in the street for cheap room rental, if they know anything. One elderly woman told him to walk a little further south of the city and he would find himself in a slum area where the room rental was much cheaper.

He indeed found one after nonstop walking for almost six hours.

He rented a small room for himself in the cheapest part of the city, the slum area. As the days pa.s.s by, he realized that living in the city was very expensive. Nana Aida was correct with her saying that if you don"t have money and regular work it will be hard to survive in the city. His money was deflating fast. The day came that he would only eat one or two times a day just to stretch his budget.

When his money was finally reduced to zero. He was not able to continue the rent of the room where he was staying. So, he vacated the rental room and he starts sleeping in the streets along with some homeless men, women, children and elderly individuals he saw every day and every night.

He goes through the pitiful stage of having to sleep in a cold dirty pavement, and during rainy nights he would find a place to sleep without getting himself wet by the heavy pouring of the rain.

He was a bit lucky with the food because the city has a coupon program that give foods to the homeless. You have to line up early in the morning to get your coupon so that you can have a cup of coffee and one piece of bread in the morning. During lunch time it will be rice, vegetables mixed with little tidbits of pork. The dinner usually consisted of rice, some fried fish or noodles sprinkled with some green leafy vegetables. The main food supply came from donations by the market vendors and other charitable private individuals and inst.i.tutions.

Adam was not satisfied with the way his life is going. He will have to find a way to uplift his means and ways of living.

There are some restaurants and establishment near the slum area where he was living. He plans to apply for a job, any job will do. Since he doesn"t have a college degree, he was not choosy with the job. As long he can carry on with the job well and would give him regular income every month he will be okay with it.

He applied in the Beauty Salon Shop and got accepted as a utility boy. Doing everything from sweeping the client"s hair, mopping the dirty floor, cleaning the gla.s.s windows, running errands for the owner.

One thing he found odd was the admiring glances of women clients in the beauty salon shop. They would gush on how handsome he is, he will just smile at them and they will go gaga over his magnetic smile. Even the gay beauticians would salivate over him, promising him money if he will go to bed with them. But he turned them all down.

He soon found out that his new look was a magnet for trouble.

While working in the salon shop he continues sleeping in the street during night time. He plans to save two months worth of salary to pay in advance for the rent of his previous landlord. So that he no longer have to sleep in the street.

During one night of sleeping in the street he met a new friend named Caden who"s age the same as him. He was an orphan and escapes from the orphanage he previously lives until the age of 15 years old. He practically became homeless after leaving the orphanage. He lives, sleep and grow up in the street.

He and Caden hit it off instantly.

Adam inspired and pushed Caden to apply for a job in the Barbershop in the next block. Caden was lucky because there was a vacancy and was accepted right away and start working the next day.

Adam and Caden were both hard workers and well-liked by their employers.

During weekends and their day off, they frequently visit the mall in the heart of the city. They were having so much fun playing in the arcade of the mall and they would play video games in the internet cafe if they got bored in the mall.

Adam has finally tasted the life of having the freedom to mingle with everyone and not hiding in the dark because of his previous hideous looks. For him, it"s already a sweet victory. Being human isn"t bad after all.

One humid night, Adam and Caden were preparing to sleep in the street. Their favorite place was outside the jewelry shop, they would spread their bed made up of cardboard boxes on the cold dirty pavement. The guard has been kind to them since day one and did not shove them away, as long they don"t trash the area he"s fine with their sleeping arrangement in the entrance of the jewelry shop.

"Tell me about your family?" asked Caden.

Adam shrugs his shoulder. "Nothing to tell." He dismissed his question quickly.

"Come on, man, tell me something about yourself," Caden nudges Adam in the elbow.

Adam finally relented, his face turns gloomy. "I made a big mistake in my life. Fell in love with the girl that was supposed to be my brother"s future wife. We got into a relationship, betrayed my brother and my family in the process. I f*cked up big time! So, yeah, am running away from everything..."

"Oh, that is sad mate. How about the girl? Where is she now? Did you just abandon her?"

Adam closes his eyes momentarily. Did he abandon Jessy? he asked himself. Sort of.

"I don"t think I can really abandon her. What am doing right now is correcting my mistakes. Am just letting things happen the way they were meant to be before I fall in love with her."

"Whoa, you"re deep man!" Caden grinned at his friend.

"So, basically she was staying in your bothers house? They finally got married?" he continues.

"No. They are not yet married I think."

Caden sighed feeling pity for his friend.

"How will you feel if you see your brother kissing and hugging the girl you love?" he added.

Adam"s face registered pain right away.

"Oh, man stop that! Of course, it will be painful seeing them doing those things together. That is one reason I need to get away from my family. Only by staying away from them I can retain my sanity and my heart from breaking into pieces."

Caden sighed again. "What a sad love story you had, buddy. That is why I will never fall in love because am afraid to get hurt."

Adam smiled at his friend. "Yes. Falling in love is not easy. One way or another you are bound to get hurt. But I never regretted loving my girl, she is everything to me."

Caden throws his face towel at Adam"s face, teasing him. "You"re a hopeless romantic bro! Don"t worry, there are many women on this planet. Sooner or later you will find a brand new love. You will soon forget your girl. With that face of your"s it won"t be hard for you to find another woman to fall in love with."

Adam shook his head. "I promised my girl she will be the only woman I will love in this lifetime, bro, so am staying single for the rest of my life."

Caden just smiled at his friend"s words. "Wait "till you see the other women lining up to you, let see if you will still remain devoted to your girl."

Adam shrugged his shoulders. "Let"s go to sleep, bro. We still have work tomorrow."

Adam closed his eyes to sleep while thinking how is Jessy doing on the other side. There are times he would like to visit her in the Facility just to get a glimpse of her new life there. But the thing that he feared the most is seeing Jessy in the arms of his brother. What if Jessy had forgotten him already since his brother is charming and handsome? Any woman would fall head over heels with his brother"s dashing look.

And the other important thing was that he already got a new look. What Jessy knew was that he already died. If he will appear in front of her, she would not believe he was Adam. She knew him as Ronnie the mute guy. It will be really confusing for her.

Things were getting more complicated for the two of them.

But he really wanted to see Jessy again. He could teleport himself into the Facility right now if he wanted to.

Instead, he forced himself to sleep.