(SHORT STORY – 2nd of 2 parts)

I insisted.
Softly at first.
Then just enough for her to give in.

“Can you lend me ten thousand?”

She did not meet my eyes when she said it.

“It’s for the house… we’re behind on the payments.”

For a moment, everything I had been told—
everything I had chosen to ignore—
surfaced.

Not clearly.
But enough.

Like something rising from beneath still water.

__________

Then I reached for my wallet.

I handed her my ATM card.
Told her to withdraw everything.

Eleven thousand.

I said I was closing the account anyway.

She smiled.

And just like that—
whatever had surfaced…
sank again.

__________

Trust does not always come from certainty.
Sometimes, it comes from need.

I went to work the next day, exhausted.

But strangely… light.

I moved through the day with an energy I could not explain.

As if giving something away
had made room for something else.

Gertrude did not come to the office.

I told myself she was attending to her problems.

I did not question it.

__________

The following day, she returned.

Wearing less than she usually did.

I noticed the way the men looked at her.

Not discreetly.
Not politely.

I had seen it before.

But that day—

it felt different.

Something in me tightened.

__________

She passed by my table.

Touched my cheek—
lightly, almost playfully.

Then walked straight into the boss’s office.

I watched the door close.

I told myself it was nothing.

That I had no right to feel what I was beginning to feel.

__________

I thought of speaking to her.

About the way she dressed.
About the way the others looked at her.

But she did not come out.

Not for a break.
Not for lunch.

__________

Time passed slowly.

Too slowly.

__________

Then I saw it.

A delivery boy.

Carrying a box of pizza.
Bottles of drinks.

The cashier took it.

And brought it inside the boss’s office.

__________

Something moved inside me again.

Not yet anger.
Not fully.
But… close.

Gertrude came out only minutes before closing time.

As she stepped out of the boss’s office,
I noticed something in her hand.

A cellphone.

She held it casually—familiar, practiced—
her thumb moving across the screen
as if it belonged there.

I watched her for a moment longer than I should have.

I remembered the night at my apartment.

“I don’t have one.”

I said nothing.

And like the other things—
I let it pass.

I asked if I could take her home.

She did not answer.

Instead, she handed me a note.

“Saturday. Your place.”

Then she left.

Quickly.

__________

She did not come to the office the next day.

Nor the day after.

I asked.

Casually.

As if it did not matter.

Someone said she had gone to Cebu.

With the Boss.

For a conference.

The word lingered longer than it should have.

Cebu.

__________

I tried not to think about it.

But thoughts have a way of returning
when they are not settled.

I imagined things.

Scenes I had no proof of—
but could not stop forming.

I dismissed them.
Called them foolish.
Told myself I was better than that.

Then, sometime in the middle of the day,
a message appeared on my computer.

No name.
No number.

Just a single line.

“You should get some rest. You look tired.”

I stared at the screen.

For a moment, it was there.

Then it wasn’t.

I leaned closer.

Nothing.

I sat back slowly.

Had there really been something there?
Or had I only imagined it?

Ah… I was a mess.

__________

Slowly, I looked up.

Across the room—
Gertrude was not there.

__________

Anyway… Saturday was coming.

That was enough.

I held on to that.

__________

And somewhere between doubt and anticipation…

I made a decision.

I would ask her to marry me.

Foolish?

Yes.

But by then, I was no longer trying to be right—
only certain.

I thought…
I could make her agree.

__________

Saturday came.

I bought a ring.

The diamond caught the light with quiet precision.

It did not flicker.
It did not hesitate.

It simply… remained what it was.

I thought that meant something.

At the cinema, I sat alone.

The movie played.

Unnoticed.

What drew my attention was the couple seated below.

Too close.
Too absorbed.
Too unaware of the world around them.

There was something excessive in the way they touched.

Something… familiar.

I looked away.

Then back.

I couldn’t help it.

When the lights came on, the man stood.

I recognized him immediately.

Our boss.

Something inside me shifted.

Not yet breaking.
Just… moving.

I leaned forward.

The woman turned.

And everything stopped.

It was Gertrude.

For a moment, I believed I was mistaken.

Memory can deceive.
Desire can distort.

So I called her name.

She looked at me.

__________

No surprise.
No denial.
Only recognition.

She even smiled.

Not warmly.
Not the way I remembered.

There was something in it—
something I could not place,
yet understood immediately.

And in that moment…

I realized

I had never really known her.

She said—

“See you tonight… darling.”

__________

That was when it happened.

Not loudly.
Not violently.
But completely.

Something inside me ended.

__________

I stood up.

Walked away.

Not because I was strong—
but because I knew that if I stayed,
I might become something else.

__________

The ring was still in my hand.

The diamond caught the light again.

Unchanged.
Certain.
Unaffected.

I closed my fingers around it.

Some things remain what they are.

Others only appear real…
until they are seen clearly.

Before going home, I bought several cans of beer.

Not to forget.
Not to escape.
Just…

to sit with what remained.