Jeyah’s POV
I woke up when my phone was ringing. I’m sure it was a call from messenger and probably coming from my group mates. I reached for my phone and when I noticed that it was a group call, I just ignored it and did not join them. An internal conflict between my mind and heart occurs and I don’t know what am I going to do. My mind says, that even I’ll not be around at Darren’s birthday party, still it’s okay for him. But my heart says if I will not attend, he will look for me and will become upset.
Suddenly, I heard a soft knock on the door so I stood up and opened it. My brother’s compelling aura caught my sight.
“Good morning, sweetie! How’s your sleep?”, Andre asked as he entered the room and sat on the couch near my bed.
“I’m fine, boo”, I responded softly.
“You seem uneasy, sweetie? Are you okay? Is there something wrong?”, he asked again.
“Nothing boo. I’m fine”, I replied casually.
“I know you’re not okay. What is it? You know I won’t stop, not until you will tell me the truth. C’mon tell me. Who is bothering in your mind?”, my brother insisted.
I looked at him. Well, he is really good at analyzing things and I could not hide anything from him no matter how much I wanted it to. He stared at me and I know he was waiting for me to open up.
“It’s Darren’s birthday today, boo, and he will be having a party later. My friends wanted me to be there. But—“, I paused and looked at him.
“But what sweetie? Hmm… You don’t want to attend? And why? Darren is your friend, right? Remember you’re already a member of “All for one”, so you should be there or else your group mates will be upset in you, especially Darren”, my brother said certainly, and then he stood up and sat beside me on the bed.
“I know, you want to attend, sweetie. I can feel it. So, let’s book our flight to the Philippines”, he spoke as he took his cellphone out from his pocket.
“Hmm. Done, sweetie, but there’s no other available time today, only at 2 o’clock later”, he said and put back his cellphone into his pants pocket.
I was stunned for a moment because I don’t understand how would I feel. I actually had mixed emotion. I have this feeling that I don’t want to be there, because I’m sure Bridgette will be around, and it only makes me hurt. On the other hand, I also wanted to be with Darren because I already missed him.
“Sweetie? Uhm, if you are just worried because of Hyungmin’s invitation about the tour, we still can go until noontime, right?”, he said and messed up my hair.
“C’mon, take a shower now, so we can have our breakfast. I’ll be waiting outside, sweetie”, Andre spoke and went out of my room.
I just nodded and smiled at him. Afterwards, I grabbed my towel and walked into the bathroom. Suddenly, Darren’s face flashed in my mind and I feel guilty that I was not able to join the group call earlier, and I was not able to greet him. My brother was right, he is my friend, and I am one of his group mates, so I need to be at his party.
After fifteen minutes of shower, I stepped out of the bathroom and went to the closet to get dressed. I was about to go out from my room when my phone rang. I hurriedly picked it up, hoping that it would Darren. But it was my stepbrother Hyungmin.
“Hi, Jeyah, good morning. Are you ready for our tour now?”, he asked.
“Uhm, yes, but I think it would be until twelve noon because we will be going back to the Philippines later at 2 o clock in the afternoon”, I replied casually.
“Oh, I see. I thought it will be tomorrow”.
“There’s something very important that my brother needs to do in the Philippines. You know he is a workaholic person”, I responded softly.
Again, I feel guilty because I know that, partly, it was a lie. It’s not about my brother, but it’s about Darren. But of course, I could not tell him that it’s because of a guy, that’s too embarrassing on my part.
After having a conversation with him, I went out of my room and headed my way to the dining table. I saw Andre and nanny sitting while they were brewing a cup of coffee.
“Good morning nanny!”, I smiled, and kissed her cheek.
“Good morning darling. Uhm, Andre already told me that we will having our flight later at two in the afternoon.”, she responded.
‘Ah, yes nanny. But we still have our tour this morning until twelve noon. Hyungmin will be here in thirty minutes.”, I said while sipping my coffee.
As we planned, we visit Namsan Outdoor Botanical Garden. With me, were Andre, Hyungmin and nanny. Of course, mom and Mr. Park were not around because they’re still having their honeymoon.
Since we wanted to catch our flight, we only have gone to the two botanical gardens, and I really loved the place. There’s still a lot more to visit in Seoul, but we need to go back to the apartment, to prepare everything for our flight.
I called mom about our plan, and I can feel the sadness in her voice. I know she still wanted us to stay with them for a little while, but she doesn’t have any other choice because, Andre insisted that we need to take our flight going back to the Philippines.
*******
Manila-Philippines
I looked at my watch, and it’s already six in the evening. We hurriedly took a taxi going to one of the beauty salons in Quezon. I already feel nervous because I know that the party will start at 7:30. But I still need to go to the salon for my light makeup over. Besides, I also want to get dressed in formal attire.
Gladly, there were only few customers in the salon, so I was immediately entertained. I kept on looking at my watch, feeling uneasy and nervous.
“Sweetie, relax”, Andre comforted me.
It was exactly seven in the evening when the makeup over was finally done. The beauty artist brought to me the wardrobe and let me choose what to wear. A powdered blue maxi dress caught my taste so I put it on.
“Wow, perfect sweetie! So beautiful!”, my brother complimented.
“Yes, darling, you’re gorgeous!”, nanny seconded.
After some time, we went out of the salon and took a taxi. “We will just drop you at Mifaña’s Place, sweetie okay?’, my brother spoke.
I just smiled at him but still feeling uneasy because it’s already 7:15 in the evening. Suddenly, he held my hands for me to be relaxed.