Chapter 2 He’s late

Two

Asher s point of view

"You should at least give her a closure, bud," Andrew suggested when he returned from getting a few cans of beer in the kitchen. He handed it to our friends.

And since we rarely became complete because of our respective jobs, I told them what happened at the conference held at the hotel. I can t do anything if I just keep everything inside.

Even I also thought that after five years, I would have nothing else to feel for health, but here I am now, even if it is after a few hours since my hands were still shaking after the conference.

No matter how big Manila was, the two of us would still meet, but I thought I would expect nothing else from here when that happens.

The past five years and what I have gone through have been strange. It wasn t just an easy journey. It was the worst. I also couldn t quite imagine that I could get past those years.

I really want to reach out to her.

There were really a few times I wanted to show up and explain, but I also restrained myself even before it, out of fear. I was afraid that she could no longer believe and trust me after all those reasons.

She might never come back again.

Maybe, because I was young then, instead of facing the problem, I was alone. Until each day became a month, then a year.

"But Alessia... she seems to be happy."

We immediately turned to Gabriel for what he said. They definitely know Alessia, and they have met it a few times or have seen it elsewhere.

Being able to hear those, my heart was immediately attacked by the inexplicable feeling. It s like something is bumping. Something is stinging.

I saw Jayce slightly sneer at Gabriel, a sign that he didn t have to say that, especially in front of me, but I immediately said, "She is."

Jayce did nothing but sigh. Gab sipped his coffee. And it looks like he is getting alarmed.

"She s indeed happy," I continued.

Looking at her from afar, where I can clearly see her smiles and laughs along with the co-workers, I can t seem to agree more.

"Is five years really enough?" I expected it to come out of my mouth in a whisper, but my friends heard it right away.

Now, I am feeling those regrets. There were so many opportunities given to me during those five years that I missed with no hesitation.

Back then, I feel like I m back to the very beginning. All I can do is look at the woman from afar.

"What s with the heavy atmosphere?" Ethan said after entering the condo. "You guys only meet once, ya know."

Wearing indelible sunglasses daily, EthanAnd s mood was the opposite of my friends .

"Let s go."

We both stood up at Jayce s sudden speech after a few minutes of silence. "Where?"

He took his favorite hat sitting on the table there and then put it on, as well as the sunglasses he was holding. "We will end the problem."

"What are you talking about?" My voice became thick. I was thinking of the things and ways running through the friend s mind.

"I am the expert here, right? I am not an experienced lover boy for nothing, so I have an idea," Jayce replied.

I already know where it will probably go, so I m going to stick to what I knew right now.

"You should talk to her," Gabriel immediately agreed, as if he quickly got what Jayce meant. "Explain everything. Now, if she can accept your explanation and you ll be together afterward, that s fine. But if not, it won t be a bad thing. At least, she already knows what really happened, and she can finally be at peace. All you need to do is to talk to each other."

"If that were easy to do, Asher would have done it a long time ago."

I turned to Isaiah. I feel like he is the only one who understands what I am feeling right now.

"Do you know why you re like that until now, Ash?" Jayce said seriously, being this self-proclaimed love adviser again. "That s because you are low key, expecting for something. You think that maybe it s possible, that maybe there s a chance, but you don t dare to ask and talk to her. All the questions you have in mind, only Alessia can answer that."

"Look, after five years, the Man up there had given you a chance, an opportunity even though you wasted so much, and yet you ll just lose the opportunity again?" Jayce added.

We could do nothing but listen to each other s seats. "You should tell her you love her if you do. . ."

"That s from my recent movie 'Because I Love Her . Did you watch it?" Jayce pointed out before we slammed pillows into the man.

"I nearly cried. You jerk!" Isaiah laughed out loud. Gabriel kept looking at me seriously.

"Ash, you need to. It is not true that time heals all wounds because that can t heal unspoken wounds," Gabriel concluded, thoughtfully and completely worried about me.

I let out a few sighs as I looked straight at the door of the condo where Alessia was staying. I don t know how, but my friends eventually convinced me to go to the girl.

I can hardly remember what happened before, and it seems like I just regained consciousness when I got to the place.

"We got your back, bud. We will wait for you at the café. Make the most out of it," Gabriel implied when the situation became okay.

I tried to keep my cool, but when my friends left, I quickly became discouraged. I questioned myself. Should I still go back? Should I still explain?

"I. . . I just can t do this," I roared. My voice became really wheezy, wanting to let my friends know all the reasons to stop this thing.

"I don t want to be selfish. Both of us struggled to fix our life for those five years. I may have failed, but she succeeded. And I know she worked hard for that. I don t want to ruin everything again. I don t want to ruin her happiness. I don t want her to be hurt again."

My decision was complete, so I spun my legs away, but before I could do that, I violently collided with a man whose face was familiar to me. I think I ve seen him somewhere.

One of his hands was holding a cellphone in his ear. He bowed slightly as a sign of apology.

I did the same, then tried to walk away, towards my friends.

"Engineer, go out now so we don t get too late."

I was immediately stuck there. Moments later, my friend s eyes widened, facing Alessia s door. I stayed back from there, chest and fists clenched.

"Love! Please wait for me. There are some things I haven t fixed yet."

I went here to explain; a closure. But I would lie if I said I didn t expect Alessia to accept me back into her life. There was the hope that it might still be possible, but it was as if that hope had just fallen into the abyss — a hope that has only now been dashed because I got here late.