Chapter 65: I Still Love You
JADE:
Noontime came by quicker that I thought. I only became aware of its coming as I felt someone’s hand against my forehead.
As I had expected, it was Liam.
“Have you eaten,” he asked in his tender voice as he roamed a bit in my kitchen.
“Yes,” I lied.
“The food I left for breakfast is still untouched,” he said, looking at me with a worried look.
“Sorry… I wasn’t hungry,” I mumbled. After what had happened this morning, was it even possible to develop an appetite?
“What happened, Jade? Is something wrong?... You’re fever seemed to have lowered,” Liam said, coming back to my side.
“Liam… Why are you still here,” I exclaimed almost absentmindedly.
“Because I want to be here. I’m your boyfriend, remember?”
I buried my face into the blanket, afraid to see Liam’s kind, brown eyes once more.
“How can you causally say that?... I’m the worst girlfriend,” I mumbled beneath the sheets.
“You’re not. You had your worst moments, but you aren’t the worst person in the world. If you are worst, then I must be doubly worst based on your background.”
I started to sniffle. How can he be any more worse than I was?
“Are you crying again, Jade? Don’t cry…”
“I’m really sorry,” I blurted. I really didn’t deserve this boy…
“Hey, if you’re really sorry towards me, why don’t you eat some of this porridge? I brought this from the canteen.”
I sat up from the bed. Liam wiped my tears away with a handkerchief.
Even though I didn’t want to take a mouthful of anything, I forced myself to indulge Liam in his request. How can I even say no to his requests when he was being this nice?
“Aren’t you… going to really break up with me,” I asked after he had finished feeding me the whole bowl of porridge.
“Nope. I don’t want to. I’m not planning to until the next one hundred years.”
“It’s not that you want it… You have to…”
“Says who?” He was in the kitchen washing the spoon. He went shortly back again and sat closer to me on the bed. “I’m not going anywhere, Jade. I know you still love me…”
He brushed some of the stray hair away from my face. “You still love me, right?”
Do I still love him? Do I still love Liam?...
I told him the truth. “Yes. I still love you.”
I still love Kix, and I still love Liam… I was really the worst person on earth…
“Then keep me by your side, Jade. Keep me here until you could completely forget him and until you can forgive yourself.”
He reached towards my face with his loving hands, and I closed my eyes as he kissed me.
**********************
The next day, I was able to come back to school. I didn’t have any doctor’s certificate to show my professors, but they advised me that a doctor’s certificate has already been forwarded to them on my behalf and also on Kix’s behalf.
Unfortunately though, Mr. Kix Sarmiento could not go on with his study for the rest of the semester. He developed a rare, debilitating disease that needed to be treated outside of the country.
Thus, Kix’s short-lived life as a college student at the Philippine Premiere University had finally ended…
It has been weeks now since that happened. I would sometimes find myself absentmindedly gazing at Kix’s empty chair next to me, remembering his goofy face and his rowdy comments in class…
Even though I would sometimes miss him, I think everything was for the better. He and I were never meant for each other anyway.
My parents would never have approved of Kix. They hated him to the core. I know would always be hated by his kind because I wasn’t like them, just like what had happened back in high school…
I’m sure things would have fallen apart even if we had tried…
Surprisingly, I’m still with Liam. We have decided to try putting that incident behind us. I shall try harder to be a much better girlfriend to him from now on.
I also abided by the promise I made to him. I stopped pursuing Marian’s case.
“Miss Sy?... Miss Sy.”
I almost jumped. How long has Professor Armond been calling me?
“Yes, sir?”
“Come and read this in front of the class. This will help you refrain from spacing out,” he said with a thick layer of sarcasm in his voice.
I can’t blame him for getting irritated. Almost half of the class kept falling asleep because of his boring lectures and reports.
I stood by the podium and proceeded to read the designated part aloud. I had already read for about fifteen minutes when I decided to look up for a few seconds to take a quick pause from the dizzying texts.
My eyes fell on my own empty seat. My gaze only brushed there for a few seconds, and then I went back to the paragraph I was reading.
Rats… What did I just see?...
I looked back up again. My seat was empty.
For a second, I thought I saw someone with disarrayed, wavy locks of hair wearing red.
I relaxed once more… I must have been just sleepy enough to hallucinate…
My eyes wander from the text towards Liam’s seat. I thought that if I see him, I’d have more energy to continue reading…
I gasped. I was more than energized; I was scared out of my wits!
Just behind Liam, I saw the same wavy-haired girl in red, her face obscured from my view. She was hovering behind Liam’s shoulder.
Suddenly, she raised an arm on Liam’s head. I screamed.
“Miss Sy,” Professor Armond exclaimed, alarmed by how I just behaved.
I staggered backwards until I fell back, my butt hurting immensely from the fall.
Several of my classmates came to help me up, including Liam, who was the first one to extend a hand at me.
“Jade, are you alright?”
“Y-Yes,” I said as I clung to his outstretched arm.
As I did, I saw the woman with wavy black hair standing just closely from behind him.
That was all I remembered. Everything else faded as I blacked out…
