? ALL THE WRONG REASONS ?
❣️ EPISODE SIX ❣️
When she woke up, she was lying flat on her back and Justin was still sound asleep on her side with his arm around her. She looked at the clock on the be-dside table.
Eleven o’clock.
“$h!t!” She said and quic-kly stood up.
Justin woke up and sat up the be-d.
“What’s the matter?” He asked.
“It’s eleven o’clock! I work at nine!”
He smiled. “So what? When was the last time you took a leave?”
She stared at him. “I don’t know. A year ago.”
He shrugged. “You’re too much of a workaholic. One day rest wouldn’t hurt.”
“Justin… I can’t…”
He grinned and pu-ll-ed her by the hand for her to sit on the be-d beside him.
“Ms. Workaholic!” He tea-sed. “I think you are in dire nee-d of a vacation. Learn to lighten up a bit. You are doing good with everything you do. You’re more pas-sionate and smarter than that sister of yours. You can’t prove yourself book-wise all the time. You know what I believe in? The person who had more life out of life is the more successful one. Chill okay?”
Looking at him saying those words, made Adrienne realized that she never had given herself much of a break because she always felt that she was chasing after her sister’s accomplishments. And every single day counts.
Maybe Justin is right. She has to learn to let things go. Some things at least. She doesn’t have to be ti-ght all the time.
She sighed. “Alright.” She smiled at him and then she leaned forward and gave him a k!sson thel-ips.
He smiled at her.
“What about you? Don’t you have to go work today?” She asked. She wasn’t even know if he works at all.
“Done.” He said. “I woke up about nine in the morning and I did some trading.”
“Really? That easy? Did you make money?”
He nodded. “I got lucky today. Fifty thousand bucks.”
Her eyes wi-de-ned. “Fifty thousand bucks? How is that possible?”
He shrugged. “I worked ha-rd for it to happen. It took a great deal of investment and patience. It was risky and it took a whole year to wait for the right time. And today, things turned my way.”
“My God! My five hundred bucks sounds like a… ti-p or something.”
He laughed. “I have been trading since I was twenty, honey.” He said. “And besides, I’m not asking you to start on five hundred bucks to make money. It’s just for trying to learn how it works without having to invest a lot.”
“You were awake at nine and you didn’t wake me up? You know it’s Monday!”
He smiled. “I know you sle-pt late last night. So I decided not to wake you up.”
She sighed. “Alright. Then you better treat me for lunch or something.” She said.
“Done. Anywhere you want, honey. We can go to Paris for lunch if you want!”
She laughed. “No. I wouldn’t want to go that far. And besides one lunch in Paris wouldn’t be enough for me. I gotta stay there for at least a week!”
He smiled. “Alright. Where do you want to go?”
She shrugged. “Can we just have it here? Or in my
ap@rtment? Delivery probably?”
He just stared at her and then he nodded. “Alright. Can’t be seen with Justin Adams on the streets.” He muttered.
She felt guilty. She hvgged him. “Can’t be seen anywhere on the streets if I will call in sick.”
He smiled. “If that’s the case… what do you want then?”
“Chinesee?” She asked.
He nodded. “Okay. Let’s eat in the terrace. Myla, my housekeeper will be here in thirty minutes.”
“Who, what?” She asked.
“My maid?” He asked back.
“You have a maid?”
He nodded. “Comes here Monday, Wednesday and
Saturday.”
She panicked. “Tell you what, let’s just go to my ap@rtment. I better check my mobile and my answering machine anyway. Jill would be screaming in it alre-ady since I didn’t tell her where I was.”
He shrugged. “Okay. You can go ahead. I’ll order from here and be there in fifteen minutes.”
Back in her ap@rtment, the first thing she headed for was the answering machine. Twenty messages.
Hi Yen, it’s Troy. I’m sorry, baby. It’s just that you know my brother just got married last year. And Lisa is a t©p-notch lawyer.
“She’s ten years older than your brother!” She muttered. I know you have a game plan. Let’s talk things over. When I have time, I will come to New York so I can see you. I love you.
She sighed. Each day that pas-ses, she realizes that her relationsh!pwith Troy is becoming more and more hopeless. She has come to a comfortable place where she knows she couldn’t care less if Troy was gone. So what if her mother gets disappointed? She’s been disappointing her
forever. No matter what she does to get a single thre-ad of affection from her mother, she will never see her in a different light. Why can’t she just make her happy doing her own thing, doing what she thinks will make her live a complete life in spite of being a failure to her mother’s eyes.
At least she doesn’t have to be a failure in her own eyes. There was another message on the answering machine.
Hey Yen… it’s Jill… lunch tomorrow with Yuan? He’ll pick us up.
Her hand went to her mouth. She panicked.
The next messages c@m£ from Yuan and Jill all asking her where the hell she is.
She dialed Jill’s number.
“Damn it, where are you???” Jill demanded.
“I’m home. I oversle-pt and I’m not feeling quite well.” Adrienne replied.
“My God, sweetie? Are you alright?” She asked.
She nodded.
“Hello?”
“I’m nodding.” She said. She felt guilty to be lying to her friends. They sounded so concerned. They knew that she is not usually feeling sick… or she was never too sick to go to work.
“Want us to come down there?” Jill asked. At the same time, Justin entered her ap@rtment, without so much as a knock.
“No! Don’t. I’ll be fine. I just want to have a rest.” She lied.
“Honey… are you sure you’re okay?” Jill asked.
“Yep. I’ll be fine.”
“Alright. I’ll tell HR now. I’ll call you after work okay?”
“Sure. Bye.”
Justin raised a brow.
“My friends. Jill and Yuan. They wanted to come down here and check on me. I said no.”
He smiled. “Alright. Good idea. I think I’m going to head out the window if they knock on your door.”
She smiled. “You can actually do that, I think.”
He nodded. “I checked that the morning they called saying they were on the elevator alre-ady. That would be the last resort if you want to keep this little secret of ours.”
She went to him. She wasn’t quite sure if he meant it was okay with him not keep this a secret. It was as if she was the one who clearly doesn’t want the world to know that she is in any way as-sociated with him.
She gave him a hvg. He hvgged her back.
“I’m starving.” She whispered.
He chuckled. “Food will be delivered in fifteen minutes, don’t worry.”
And true to his word, it was. Justin ordered spicy beef, noodles and dimsum.
After lunch, she cleared the table and joined Justin for a smoke in the balcony.
“You know, you are a bit ironic.” He said.
“Why is that?”
He shrugged. “You seem to be so prim and proper most of the time. And yet, you smoke.”
“Like you said… MOST of the time.” She smiled. “I didn’t start smoking until last year. I was in a worse relationsh!pwith my mother. And that time, Troy was acting like a j£rk because he wasn’t doing too well on one of his subjects. And I had too many deadlines, I nee-ded a breather and
think clearly and get something done.”
“And the habit just proved to be useful that time.” He suggested.
She nodded. “And then it proved to be add!çting as well.”
“And I figure, Mommy doesn’t know.” He said.
She nodded. “Yep. It’ll be another stain in our
relationsh!p.”
“Why is it like that?” He asked.
She shrugged. “I remember, she started comparing me to Kimberly when we were both in highschool. She was two years my s£nior. She was always bookish, always at home. I was always out with some friends. I started d@t!ngahead of
her. But I was getting straight As. And my Mom never liked it. She always said that I should be like my older sister whose life is school and house, school and house. Kimberly never liked me very much. She always bullied me, as far as I can remember. When I was trying to learn electric guitars, she was alre-ady having piano recitals. I used to be rebellious. I never did the right thing. Whenever Mom scolds me, it would be like… look at Kimberly… Kimberly never gave me these problems… When Kimberly made it to UCLA, my mother was ecstatic. She was so proud of her, short of telling me that I will never make it as big as Kim someday. Kimberly will get anything she
wanted in life, and I could always end up being a secretary of some company… if I don’t get pregnant on my teens… I remember going so mad that night. Then I went on a d@t£ with this j£rk, who’s a s£nior. I thought it was cool because I was d@t!nga h0tsh0t older guy. But I almost got d@t£ R@p£d. I used pepper spray on him, and had to phone my
father to pick me up in the middle of nowhere. I was so scared. And Mom was so mad. That’s when I started going the other way. Trying to earn her trust instead of rebelling against it. I st©pped d@t!ngin highschool. I almost didn’t go to prom. I use to dye my hair dark brown, to hide the red highlights. I used to love it ‘coz I thought it looked cool.
But my Mom always made me feel like a harlot because of it. So I have a whole stock of dark brown hair colors. I was still a straight A student. I did much better in junior year and s£nior year. I got accepted in all universities I applied to. I took communication arts in Stanford. I have always
wanted to write. My mother still thought it wasn’t good enough. Kim went to med school and she was doing well. I was happy for her. I did a lot of her English term papers in college. She would just email me whatever she nee-ded. It seems like all my life, I was trying to live up to my Mother’s expectations. And I still can’t make her love me as much as she loved Kim…” She didn’t realize that tears were alre-ady rolling down her cheeks.
Justin took her hand and pu-ll-ed her close to him.
“But you are doing well.” He said softly.
“I thought so too. Three years of working and now… events and feature editor for blus-h. I thought it was big. blus-h is big. And I made it to that position in three years. My mother never saw that. She said, blus-h is a magazine lthat is being re-ad by models and other girls who were obsessed with their looks and never cared much about their br@ins.”
“I don’t think that is true. Women re-ad a lot of these magazines for empowerment. Because it’s a magazine that holds secrets for your gender.”
She smiled. “I don’t know Justin. I went there because I have pas-sion for it. I love to write. And blus-h is prestigious. But I also wanted to do other things. I want to invest. I want to make a whole lot more money than what I am earning now.”
“You’re still young. What are you? Forty?” He joked.
She pinched him on the side.
“Ouch!” he laughed. “Alright. Twenty-six. You’re doing great in blus-h. You could do more. On the side, you can invest on some things. You could even put up your own business if you want to. When the business turns great, you can choose whether you want to go on with full-time writing or do a contribution for blus-h or another magazine or write your own novel or book.”
She pu-ll-ed back and stared at him. “You know what? I wanted to do that. I have always wanted to do that. And I swore I will when I had more time or if things get to be more stable.”
He reached up and pushed some hair away from her face.
“Do it. I know you’ll do just great. And surgery… it can be learned in school. I think you could be a better surgeon than your sister if you just chose that profession. But writing… not everyone can be a writer. You have to have a skill for it. It’s a gift. You have it.”
She smiled and then reached up to give him a k!sson thel-ips.
“Thank you for saying that. I wish my mother thought of it that way.”
“What about your father?” He asked.
“I always think I was Dad’s favorite. My father is the Yes Dear kind of guy, if you know what I mean. He’s quite smart, but he loved all of us too much. Especially my mother.” She said. “I never felt my father to be unfair. There were also many times that I know he stood up for me. But there was nothing he did that changed my mother’s opinion of me. I don’t know. Maybe that’s just the way it is.”
“Well, at least it’s not both of them. And hey… you turned out okay. Sometimes, it’s the challenges that stood in the way that f0rç£d us to be better persons. If you ask me, you are great. You’re perfect, just as you are, honey.” He said.
“No one is perfect.” She rolled her eyes.
He shook his head and looked at her de-ep in the eyes. “You’re smart. You’ve got a good heart. You’ve got savings for yourself. You’ve as-serted your independence. You’ve got a clas-sy ap@rtment of your own. You’ve got a stable job, and have climbe-d up the promotion ladder at a short span of time. You’ve got friends who love you. You’ve got a guy
who’s crazy about you.”
She laughed sarcastically. “I don’t think Troy is crazy about me at all.”
He stared at her for a moment. He didn’t say anything. His eyes were narrowed a bit and an eyebrow was raised.
She stared back at him.
$h!t!
“You mean…” She started.
Could Justin Adams really be crazy about her at all?
“I’m sure this Troy character is crazy about you. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be sticking around like he is.” He said nonchalantly.
$h!t! She just ruined that perfect moment, didn’t she? The moment was perfect a minute ago. Now, it was awkward. And she didn’t even see that moment. It pas-sed by, her eyes were closed and she knows she can never will it to go back.
“Justin…” She started. She stared at him.
He stared back at her for a while.
“Do you mean… Troy?” She asked br@vely.
He shrugged. “He is the current and official b©yfri£nd, isn’t he?”
What kind of answer is that?!
She stared at him. She didn’t know what to feel. She knew she didn’t have any right to get mad.
It’s only been a few days! Could he really say that he was crazy about her? But he is Justin Adams!
He nodded and then lighted another stick of cigarette.
“What’s his story, anyway?”
She stared at him. She tried to make out the expression on his face. He had none. He was staring into the view of the city.
“Well… I met him when I first started working for blus-h. It was my parents’ anniversary p@rty and they were friends with his parents. We chatted and he asked me out. To tell you the truth, I didn’t know if he was actually my type. But he sounded so serious in life and so mature. And when he picked me up for our d@t£, it was the only time my mother was ecstatic for me. As if it was the only time, I brou-ght good news to her. Troy was okay. We got along just fine. And the relationsh!pbec@m£ stable. He went to med school and still we manage to keep things going. We had our problems… things that we can’t un-derstand each other for… but all in all the relationsh!pwas stable. Sometimes, I think it was all that mattered. That I know it was going
somewhere. We’ve been d@t!ngfor three years. He was the only trophy I ever brou-ght home to my mother.”
He nodded but didn’t say anything.
She fell quiet after that. Again, she wished she could be a mind re-ader. She wanted to know what he was thinking. She didn’t want to answer his question… but he asked. It was weird talking about the Troy with Justin. It’s way too complicated. Especially after he just pointed out that some
guy was crazy about her and she automatically thought about Troy. It was like she was telling him that she has no regard for the last nights they spent together. But she doesn’t even know what they are! And it is ha-rd to hope for something stable with a guy like Justin Adams… and ha-rder to believe that a guy like him can be crazy about her!
Her phone rang. She went inside the ap@rtment to answer it.
“Yen… how are you?” Yuan asked.
“I’m okay. I’ll be able to go to the office tomorrow.” .
“You’re falling sick, sweetie. You nee-d a vacation. You work too much!”
“I’m okay. Really. I just didn’t feel too well to go to work this morning. Yeah… maybe stress. And one day rest took care of it. I feel better alre-ady.”
“Alright. Why don’t we drop by tonight?” he asked.
“No nee-d for it, guys. And I would sleep early tonight. I want to make sure I go to work tomorrow.”
“Alright. It’s just that… I ain’t used to this falling sick thing of yours. You never do that!”
She laughed. “First time in many years.”
“Yes… oh well… call me if you nee-d anything, sweetie.”
“Will do. Cheers.”
She put the phone down. When she turned around, Justin was sitting on her sofa. He was pretty quiet. Now she really feels guilty about talking about Troy. He can’t be jealous! He’s Justin Adams! But how come she has a feeling that she’s hit him when she said that it was Troy who’s crazy about her… and hit him again when she said that Troy can keep a stable relationsh!p, which is almost the
same as saying that he can’t?
She rested her head on his shoulder. He didn’t budge. She wanted to ease him in her own way. But she didn’t want to say anything because it would be as-suming and hoping that she meant something to him.
He didn’t say anything for a whole minute. But then, she felt him wra-p an arm around her shoulders and ca-ressed her shoulders.
She smiled to herself. All these unspoken affection that he shows her is driving her mad! She feels that he somehow has grown fond of her for the last couple of days they spenttogether, but for a guy like Justin Adams, she just can’tbelieve it is possible. The signals he’s s£nding her is driving her out of her skull. She doesn’t know what to feel. And she is so afraid to hope. She knows she can’t nail a guy like
Justin Adams. What they have right now, is just a moment pas-sing by. And she didn’t know when it will be over. She promised herself she would keep her heart intact. It is just too darned easy to fall in love with him! She can’t distract herself with yet another heartache. When Justin leaves her,she doesn’t think she would be able to take it if he takes her heart with him.
But then she’ll nee-d to see after two weeks right? Justin’s reputation says he drops a woman after two weeks. If he is like this to everyone of them, then he’s leaving a trail of heartaches at least twenty-four times a year. And she doesn’t intend to be p@rt of that trail.
“Do you like to watch DVD?” He asked mildly.
She looked up at him and smiled.
“Yes.”
He smiled back, stood up and pu-ll-ed her up on her feet.“Let’s go to my place.” He said.
They watched How to Lose the Guy in 10 days in Justin’s plasma television and home theater in his be-droom.
“My God! Even I would drop this girl like a h0t potato if I were her b©yfri£nd!” Adrienne said watching the film.
He laughed. “Hey… there are girls like that. They demand too much.”
“But not all, mister.” She argued.
“Yeah. I said there are some.”
“But you guys… I don’t un-derstand why some guys run off when a girl leaves something in your place. mean, you’re too non-committal. Girls don’t mind if you leave something in our place. You guys… immediately think we’re marking you as our property or something.”
“No. It’s just that, we like to have our own place. And our time. And sometimes you can’t get that.”
“Leaving something of ours in your place doesn’t necessarily mean we are marking it as our territory. As if we want to move in with you or something.”
“You can leave some of your stuff. But you don’t have to write your name all over the place.”
“What? Write our names? Leaving our stuff in your place is like writing our names on it? What are we? Cats?” She asked, her voice raised.
He laughed. “Honey… chill, okay? I’m not generalizing women. And I’m not saying it’s all true for men, as well! I don’t mind if you leave some things here. You have a toothbrush here, remember? And I gave it to you. You didn’t leave it here.”
She realized that she sounded so furious and she laughed herself.
“It’s just that some things… for guys… take some time to get used to. And bachelors, who are used to doing their own thing at their own time, take more time to get used to the fact that they can’t do it the same way anymore. Like toilet seats, for example. We can just leave it up all the time. And girls don’t like it up, because you use it. Hey… you’re the one using it. So why don’t you put it down
yourself. We don’t complain if you leave it down. And we grew up being taught by our mothers… this is a toilet seat.Put it up when you are using the toilet. Flush. And then put it back down. And you grow up and realize that you were doing it for the girls.”
“That’s like etiquette or something!”
He laughed. “Come to think of it, honey, I’ll bet that rule was made by a woman! Were you ever taught… this is a toilet seat. Put it down when you are using it. Flush and put it back up?”
“No. Because that is not the way it was supposed to be.”
“Come on. What’s the rationale? Because there might be a girl who will use that one time and it’s proper that it’s all re-ady for them to sit in.”
“Chauvinist pig!” She snapped.
He laughed and then pu-ll-ed her to her in a hvg. She pu-ll-ed back, refusing.
He laughed ha-rder. “Honey… I was just raising that point. Look in the bathroom. The toilet seat will always be left down for you. I’m not arguing.”
“Okay. From now on, always leave it up. If I am in nee-d of using it, I will put it down myself.”
He pu-ll-ed her again and hvgged her, laughing. “No. I will not break the rules of my mother and of the society that dictated this mundane principle.”
She jabbe-d him lightly on the ribs. “You’re impossible,You do one thing and yet you make fun of it.”
“I’m not. There are some things that you just can’t change.”
She pinched him.
“Ow! What was that for?” He protested.
“For being a chauvinistic j£rk!”
He laughed. Then he tilted her chin up and k!$$£d her. The k!ssde-epened, bec@m£ more pas-sionate, and then suddenly, raging. Before she knew it, they were both n-ked, Justin on t©p of her, spre-ading her legs with his th!ghs and she felt him, taking her in a wild ride of pas-sion. When it was over, they were both catching their breaths.
Justin lied on his back and pu-ll-ed her to him. She rested her head on his shoulder. After a minute, they were both asleep.
When she opened her eyes, she found herself still in Justin’s arms, all n-ked, with a blanket tucked to her chin. She looked up. Justin was alre-ady awake. He was watching a movie. The volume was low and the subtitles were on, sort of like he was careful not to wake her up.
She was just staring at his profile. His perfect nose. The cleft on his chin that was ba-rely there at all. He was very handsome indeed. He looked down at her.
“Hey beautiful.” He whispered.
“How long have I sle-pt?” She asked.
“Two, three hours? It’s alre-ady seven.”
She closed her eyes for a moment, she then stretched her arms and sat up, tucking the blanket un-der her arms. He ca-ressed the side of her w@!st.
“Do you want to go out?” He asked.
“Where?”
He shrugged. “Just dinner. Anywhere your friends do not normally hang out on so you won’t have to worry about anyone you know seeing you with Justin Adams.”
She stared at him. He was actually smiling.
“Okay. Just let me shower first.” She said.
He nodded. She got dressed. Then she k!$$£d him on the cheek.
“Pick me up at eight?” She smiled.
“You bet.” He smiled back.
She took time getting re-ady. She wore a white Capri p@n-ts and a red sleeveless blouse that accented her curves, which she never paid much attention to before. She put on very light make up and tied her hair in a half-pony. Finally, she sli-pped into her while high-heel sandal. She smiled at the sight of her reflection.
How come I never wore these clothes before? She asked herself.
The doorbell rang at exactly eight. Justin stared at her for a whole minute when she opened the door.
“I should change?” She asked consciously.
He shook his head. “I’m thinking, let’s not go out at all. Let’s just stay here.”
She laughed. “Justin!”
He smiled. Then he pu-ll-ed her close to him and whispered in her ear, “You’re a fox!” And he k!$$£d her on the side of her n£¢k.
She giggled. “Come on. Let’s go before you think of going farther.”
“Oh trust me, honey. I’m alre-ady thinking it.”
She pinched him on the arm and laughed.
“We’ve just done what you were thinking about.” She said.
He shook his head. “That was five hours ago.”
She pu-ll-ed him towards the elevator.
“Come on. Let’s go. I don’t sleep with a guy before a d@t£.”
He laughed. “You’ve never sle-pt with a guy before me.”
She turned red. He laughed again and wra-pped an arm around her w@!st.
“And that makes me so darned lucky!” He whispered and k!$$£d her on the temple.
He took her hand in his. He led her to his Ferrari, and they drove around to Casa Mexicana.
After dinner, they took a joyride. Most of the time, he would take her hand in his and k!ssit. When they went home, he walked her to her door. They
k!$$£d pas-sionately. She felt drugged. Excited. Like her world turned upside down. And yet there was a s-en-se of knowing. She knew the man… Justin… she felt comfortable at the same time. The excitement was the same as ever, but the fear was gone.
When he pu-ll-ed away, he looked as lost as she was. He smiled and k!$$£d her on the forehead.
“Goodnight.” He said.
“Goodnight.” She whispered. She felt disappointed. She was sure as hell that she will miss slee-ping in his arms tonight. And she didn’t want to break the magic.
Then she dared to ask him, “Do you want to come inside?”
It was as if triumph glinted in his eyes. He replied,
“Honey… you know if I come in, I would stay the night.”
She smiled and wra-pped her arms around his n£¢k. “Then stay the night.” She whispered.
When she pu-ll-ed back, he was smiling at her.
She turned around and opened the door. He followed.
She went into the bathroom to take a shower and change into her pajamas. When she went out, Justin was lying on her be-d, watching news, his foot on the floor.
“Hey…” She called.
He smiled at her and then took off his shi-t, which expo-sed the torso and abs that melted her knees when she first looked at them… and they still do.
“Toothbrush?” He asked.
She went into the bathroom and took a br@nd new
toothbrush head and placed in her electric toothbrush.
“Sorry. I don’t have the whole brush. But I have spare heads.”
He laughed. “That’s fine. I don’t care.”
After brushing, he took a quic-k shower. Adrienne placed a clean towel on the towel bar and closed the bathroom door behind her.
When Justin got out of the bathroom, his hair was we-t and he has a towel wra-pped around his w@!st.
She smiled at him.
“What are you watching?” He asked.
“Nothing interesting.” She replied.
He sat beside her and k!$$£d her.
“I can think of something interesting to do.” He whispered mischievously.
She laughed.
“You! You sound like you’re not tired of me yet.”
He shook his head. “How could I? You’re a fox!”
His face descended to hers and gave her a soft k!ssthat turned pas-sionate and de-ep.
He nuzzled her n£¢k and she m0@n ed in plea-sure.
After they made love, she was p@n-ting, and so was he. She felt s-en-seless… woman…
He wra-pped his arms around her and they both fell asleep.
She was comfortable in his arms. She felt adored. She felt safe in their pas-sion. Somehow, it tells her that she is adored when he is with him… she is safe with him.
She smiled in her sleep. She thought, from the day she walked into Gypsys, she will never be the same.