Chapter 3

SAMANTHA

I was currently arranging my belongings from our two-leg flight when I suddenly thought of the person I saw yesterday as Simoun Montalvo, the owner of the airline I work for. I’m not in the habit of remembering men especially when they want to know me. I just simply nodded when they ask me, and that's it.

But when saw our boss, why does it seem like it was a beautiful dream that I will never forget. His looks and how he talks to his employee really sticks in my mind. He has a broad shoulder and masculine muscles that can break a thousand enemies, including his huge body, which added to his handsome image. I suddenly stopped thinking about those things. Did I feel attracted to him? I was shaken up quickly and I couldn’t accept that things like it were really happening to me. It's not me! His physical appearance continued to register in my mind, and I thought about him…again and again. His aura is perfectly suited to his work as the CEO of his own company. He has a face that is full of braveness that anyone can be afraid of. Serious, untouchable, and very strict, are the characteristics that I have noticed while I simply made a glimpse on his face. His eyes are quite narrow, his lips are small, and his skin is white. And his family? It’s obviously rich.

He hasn’t even smiled even once since he came to the inspection he did yesterday. Surprisingly, I don’t know why he doesn’t disappear from my mind.

I sighed out loud, there’s no one in the comfort room so I did that thing. I even pressed my palm behind my forehead to check if there was anything wrong with my body and why would I feel this way. But no, I feel fine, I'm perfectly fine except that the image of Simoun Montalvo always runs through my mind that in fact, I only met yesterday.

"Sam ..." I looked at the voice that called me, it was Jenny.

"Oh Jenny, why?" I immediately asked as I continued to sort the contents of my trolly bag.

"Are you going to do anything now? Let's go bar hopping." I was surprised by what he said, I know Jenny is a party girl but for the first time, she invited me to a bar.

"Ha? Why did you suddenly invite me to the bar?" can't believe I asked her.

"Nothing, is it bad to invite you to a bar? Sometimes you treat yourself, Sam, don't just work." She preached to me, I just smiled in response to it. Only now did she invites me so I gave in to him and for the sake that she will not say anything to me.

"By the way Sam, Sir Edward is with us for bar-hopping ah ..." We were about to board a taxi when she told me that, I was just shaken. That's why she suddenly thought of going to the bar, maybe Edward was an accomplice in his plans.

There's nothing wrong with Edward being friends with me, it's just that ... I didn't have time to entertain men from the very start. I don’t want to mess up my life, so I prefer to just live, peacefully away from the shadows of men. I can’t trust men when it comes to love.

Edward is kind. He is also responsible for many things, especially at work. He also likes models I see once in a magazine. His tall and fit body is also one of the requirements of a pilot. When he made jokes when we were just the two of us together, he never failed to say that he was really interested in me ... but eventually, I will just say NO to him, and he knows my reason. I once told him the reason why I haven't had a boyfriend ever since when he met me. He understood my reasons and said he was willing to wait as long as I could trust other people, especially men, and love.

Exactly when we arrived at the bar where we would meet with Jenny's boyfriend Patrick, Edward was also outside. He sat on the hood of his car while using a cellphone. He didn't see our arrival right away. Jenny said he wanted to pick up us at the airport so we could go to the bar at the same time, but Jenny didn't agree, and it was embarrassing and his house was too far from the airport to fetch up so we just took a taxi to the bar. He’s not the pilot we were with on the flight yesterday and he has a replacement. Edward immediately looked up at us as we approached its location.

"Sir Edward ..." Jenny called here. I, on the other hand, just kept looking around and then I met his eyes that were now staring at me.

"Hello ..." he greeted me after talking to Jenny.

"Hi sir ..." I simply answered him.

"If it's just us, maybe you can call me Edward?" He was looking at me while saying those things. Jenny even slapped our hips after seemingly overjoyed at what she heard from Edward.

"Jenny heck ..." I whispered here as she still didn't stop teasing me even though I widened my eyes.

"By the way, where is Patrick?" he asked Jenny's boyfriend.

"Ah sir ... he's already on his way, if you want, we can just wait for him inside." This was Jenny's suggestion to us.

"Okay, let's go?" he asked, then we nodded after.

Edward ordered food and drinks for us. We chose a table near the farthest part of the bar, it was peaceful there, Edward said.

"Do you want to order anything else?"

" Sir, your orders are okay. It's actually enough.” Jenny answered while I was just quietly watching around.

"How about you Samantha?" he asked me next, I was just shaken afterward.

"I'm fine sir." I also simply answered him. Even though we are with him at work, I still can’t help feeling nervous and annoyed sometimes when we’re together. We are still superior to him and there should be a border between us when we are together even when not at work.

"Oh, that's Patrick sir ..." Jenny suddenly interrupted our conversation with Edward.

"Love, I'm sorry and I'm late again ... there's so much work in the office that I can't just miss." He apologized to Jenny, "Hi Sam, bro ..." He shook hands with Edward then, Edward and Patrick would meet because they were schoolmates in college.

"It's okay love, it's still early." I heard Jenny answer her longtime boyfriend.

We have already started eating while drinking different wines and hard drinks which are part of what Edward ordered at that bar. There are times when Edward's mouth simply came close to my ear so I could hear what he was saying because it’s pretty noisy in the bar. The first thing he asked me was about work, so it was okay, but when he went to other conversations like flirting with me, I just smiled at him. Our night just continued in that scenario, I don't like to dance so only Jenny and Patrick went to the dance floor. I was left with Edward while we are still chatting.

"Sam ..."

"Hmmmmp?" I replied to Edward whose face was obviously red from the alcohol he had already drunk. I want to tweak Jenny when she leaves me with Edward and there is something important that she and Patrick are going to do.

"I'm sorry if I'm naughty ..." He confessed to me that it was true. He has asked me many times about what he wants to do, and that’s to flirt with me but I only answer him with a shake.

"It's okay sir ..."

"No, it’s not okay." He answered me quickly, he even meant to hold one of my hands resting on the table.

"I really like you, Sam. You're the only woman I want." I wasn't surprised by what he said but I was suddenly nervous, and this time and it seemed like he was very serious in what he was saying to me. Suddenly, I felt guilty. I don’t want to lie to myself, especially to him and how I really feel about it. I only consider him a friend, and that has never changed. I did not lie to him because from the beginning, I’m being honest when I told him I was not ready for any relationship, or better I have no intention of having a relationship with any other man.

"Sir ... you're drunk." He shook and poured the wine glass again.

"I know what I'm saying Sam ... and I hope you'll learn to love me as much as I feel for you." Her voice was mixed with pleading, I was suddenly sad and nervous.

SIMOUN

I went alone to the bar where my friends and I would meet. Marco only invites me once, so I didn't miss him. Anyways, I need a break from the long and tiring day that I spent working for my company. I haven't seen my college friends Marco for a long time, that's why I feel excited perhaps, and I suddenly thought of Bea. Has she returned to the Philippines? We might meet one of these days, but it doesn’t matter to me anymore. I just wanted to show her how I feel better after what she had done to me years ago.

I parked my car outside an exclusive bar in Makati. I immediately went inside knowing that they were waiting for me, especially Marco. I didn't make a mistake and I immediately saw the long table where my former classmates in college and some of my friends until now were sitting.

"Speaking of the bachelor, there he is ..." I heard a voice say from the table I was going to. I just smiled immediately.

"Simoun bro ..." Marco immediately shook my hand and stood up to greet my arrival. "We thought you weren't going. Fortunately, you inserted us into your busy schedule." He laughed at the same time and so did his companions at the table.

"You know me when I said I will come, expect me," I answered him directly which made our comrades laugh again.

"That's good, by the way ... I hope you still remember them bro and some of them are bit fat." It's an insult to our female colleagues who at the same time scold Marco.

"Who says that? And I will hit him," Mariz threatened her husband Marco. Marco's smile suddenly disappeared when he heard what his wife said.

"It's just a joke, a mere joke okay…sweety." He calmly answered Mariz who was laughed at by other ladies at our table.

"Simoun ... how are you now?" Jhonny asked me who was one of our classmates in the college and he also knew what happened to Bea and me because his girlfriend was Bea’s best friend.

"Still alive and kicking?" He laughed at my answer, and I was overwhelmed by the wine in the glass I was holding.

"You should be bro, that's really how life is ... anyways how are your businesses?" it changed the subject and that's where our conversation almost revolved because he's also a businessman so we kind of understood each other on that topic. I gulped again the wine from the glass I was holding when I saw the arrival of three people familiar to me. One of them is Edward. He is the pilot I talked to at the airport when I inspected my own airline yesterday. I know him because he has been working with me for quite some time and one of my business partners Mr. Nuevo really want him for his daughter.

Edward was with two women I also remember. They’re one of my flight attendants in my Airline Company. I saw them yesterday with Edward. I suddenly stay my eyes on the lady named Samantha. I clearly remember her name, Samantha Gomez ... by looking at her pin, I have never forgotten that name. Are the two have a relationship? Or, could it be that the other lady who accompanied them is Edward's girlfriend?

They didn't notice me, and at the far end of the bar, they sat away from our table. From time to time I watched their actions until two people re-entered the bar which changed my mood.

Bea! Although she was obviously surprised to see me with Marco, she looked at the man next to him for a moment and said something immediately. I don’t know what they were talking about, but he didn’t bother to go inside. Bea went straight to the table where we were sitting as if everything was normal. I smirked, what the fuck!

"Bea!" Mariz calls here. I, in turn, continued to sip the wine from the glass I was holding, I ignored the presence of the woman who once fooled and left me. Next, I looked at Marco with apologetic eyes, maybe he also didn't know that Bea was going to our get-together. I looked again at the side where Edward and Samantha were drinking. While another woman with them was lying next to a man who had just arrived. Because of that, I thought maybe Samantha was actually Edward's girlfriend. I feel pissed at that truth.

"Sit here Bea," Mariz pointed to an empty seat far away from me, obviously not comfortable either that we were both facing a table at that time. The same way I felt with her when I suddenly saw her. But somehow, it's better like this, that we can see each other, to prove that everything has changed now, as in there's nothing left but sad memories of our relationship. That's it.

I was distracted by Edward's behavior when I saw that it looked like he was drunk and that he and Samantha were the only two together at that table. The two other companions of them suddenly left. Suddenly I stood up and left my group.

"I will just go somewhere." I let them know that I could not wait for their answer. I walked over to their table but when I remembered I had no right to complain about what was happening to those two I was suddenly stunned, so I decided to go to the restroom. I simply glanced at Edward who was drunk now, and Samantha was trying to calm Edward as he said something that didn’t escape my hearing.

"I really like you, Sam, you're the only woman I want." He was still holding one of Samantha's hands. I had clearly heard those words from Edward, and once again I proved my first suspicion is correct, that he likes Samantha! I proceeded to enter the restroom while my mind is still occupied with what Edward had said to Samantha.

When I came out of the restroom, Edward and Samantha were still sitting side by side. Unlike before, Edward is quiet while Samantha is using the cellphone and texting. I was no longer restrained, and I approached their table.

"Need anything?"

I saw on her face that she really shocked when I suddenly intrude on their conversation.

"S-sirrr." Her voice was stuttering. Samantha's face is really fascinating when she’s so closer and I couldn't help but stare at it. I just managed to get it to speak again. I was happy and she remembered me as his boss at work. "I'm sorry sir and you even saw us here with Sir Edward." He apologized to me, she called him Sir Edward, probably because he was a pilot and her superior.

"It’s okay, you also need to unwind after work." Edward looked at me at once. He looks waisted.

"Did Edward drink too much?" I asked Samantha without taking my eyes off Edward.

"Yes sir ... he's been drinking a bit more." Samantha's awkward answer to me. I looked at the bar counter and automatic a crew approached us.

"Can you call someone, maybe a service driver so he can go home safely?" I asked the crew who nodded immediately.

"Okay sir, wait a minute and I'll just call the driver who can accompany him.” In just a few minutes, the service driver arrived to take Edward home. It's time for Samantha to say goodbye but I stop her and hold her arm. I don't know why I did that thing, but I'm happy to be next to her like what we’re now.

"Sir ..." Sam was surprised when I grabbed her arm and brought her body slightly closer to me.

"Stay here and join me for a while." It’s a command and not a request. Samantha didn't speak right away and just nodded at me. I shouldn't have done that, but if that's the only way to keep her by my side, I'll always order her to do so.

She would have sat back in the chair she had sat in earlier when I stopped her. "I have friends at that table." I look out at the table where my college friends are still busy talking to each other.

"Let's go." I nursed her and I went first, and she followed me. They were surprised when I returned to the table with a woman I was with. Bea and the rest of them immediately turned to Samantha.

"Bro, you're incredible! You were the only one to come here before. Then now ..." Marco joked with me and our companions laughed again, Bea didn't change her facial expression, sophisticated and untouchable.

"Samantha, they are my friends ... and she is Samantha, my girlfriend." I introduced Samantha as my girlfriend in front of them. I can’t explain what emotions I saw on Samantha’s face after I told my friends she was my girlfriend. It’s true I also don’t know why I thought of telling them that lie but I just wanted to get even with Bea at that time. To prove to her that I wasn’t alone in the years she left me.

I held Sam on her waist as she sighed but I immediately helped her to sit in the empty seat next to my chair. She’s totally blanked on what’s really happening between us at that time.

Everything was normal with us that night. And I was thankful that I wasn’t left by Samantha even if I know she’s against it. She just agreed with everything I said to my friends which I think is the start of everything between us.