A
    DIAMOND
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               HEART

Episode 21

~Playlist for this chapter is '~ Meant to be - Ber' 🎶🎶 do enjoy

Fernando's POV cont'd

I was staring blankly at Antonio, words were failing me this minute. I don't know what answer to give him, to be honest, I can't explain what I felt during and after the kiss. When Micaela kissed me, I went numb that moment, nothing more than numbness took control of me. Numbness and...I think I felt something else but I can't tell what that is.

"I'm waiting for your answer buddy" Antonio's voice rattles me out of my thoughts.

"What?" I pretended to ask like I had no clue what he was saying.

"Oh, don't play dumb with me Fernando, just give me an honest answer. Did you like the kiss or not?"

I opened my mouth to give him an answer but then his phone rang. "One minute please," he said and picked up the call. "Hey babe, how are you?" he continues on the phone while I distracted myself from paying attention to his conversation with a sip of my drink and sliding through my phone.

"Just calm down babe, don't get frightened, I'll be home soon" I heard him say and hung up.

I glance up at him and shrugged. "What's up?".

"My son is running a high temperature, I need to hurry home and find out if he needs to be rushed to the hospital," he said and stood up.

"Oh, okay" I replied with relief deep down my heart, body, and soul that this conversation was over with. But I kept it in check not to let my physical countenance betray me in front of my best friend.

"Don't get overly excited over this abrupt intrusion of our conversation, be rest assured we'll have this conversation again some other day" he announced as if he has just read my mind.

"Don't be so dramatic, I wasn't feeling excited. I was just feeling sad that you're leaving so soon" I argued even though he was saying the truth.

"You can't deceive me, buddy, I know you too well. I beg to take my leave, see you tomorrow" he said smiling and we shook hands.

"Send my greetings to your family and please give me a call as soon as you get home. And if you need my help do not hesitate to call me".

"Thanks, buddy" he replied and turns around to leave but then he halted. "I'm not leaving here without my gift" he grins cockily at me and I shook my head in amusement.

We both walked out of my bar and took the elevator downstairs. We arrived at the parking garage and I opened my car trunk and handed the small box containing his clothes to him.

"Thanks, buddy, you are so kind" he gave me a brief hug and patted my back.

"Oh, is nothing, you are more than a best friend to me, you are my brother" I answered back.

"Thanks, man. I have to go now, we'll talk later" he rushed to his car.

"Drive safely".

"Yes boss" he chuckles and I snorted. I watched him hop into his car and drove off.

I let out a long breath that I've been holding since Antonio asked about that lady. I'm relieved that an emergency came up and he had to leave, I wonder what I would have said if he had kept pressuring me for an answer. I went back inside and rounded up with my hotel manager before leaving.

I thought if I get back home I'll go straight to bed and relax my head but instead, I found myself awake doing something I haven't done before. I was thinking of a lady, envisioning her, and flashbacks of every damn moment I'd spent with her back in that city were all I could think of. I kept tossing around on my bed not able to find sleep neither did sleep find me.

"What is going on with me?" I mumble and sat up. I glance at my wristwatch on the table and I frowned at the time. "3 am? How did it get to 3 am suddenly?"

I stood up and walk to my wine shelf that was located in one of the rooms that was built like a basement and I grabbed a bottle of Isabella Islay whisky and walked out of the room to my rooftop. I gulped down the liquor straight from the bottle without a glass cup. I twitched my jawline and shut my eyes closed for a moment. "Jeez! This whisky is so harsh!" I groaned at the taste of it.

This was my first time having a taste of this brand and I think it might be the last time because it was too harsh for me. Regardless of the taste, I drank more of it, if this was the only way for me to forget her and go to sleep then I will drink myself to sleep.

*****~~~~****

Micaela's POV

I woke up with a pounding headache and faint voices of people. I held my head and sat up on my bed. Why is my head hurting this badly? While I was yet trying to figure out my present condition, I gagged and that got me up on my feet and I ran to my bathroom to throw up.

While I was puking, my room door squeaked open. "Micaela?" Sabrina's voice rang in my ears but I was too weak to respond to my name. "Babe?" She half-yells.

"Ye..ah" I answered in a groggy tone of voice that must have got her wondering why I was sounding that way.

"Are you okay?" she asks her voice sounding closer to my bathroom.

"Mmm-mhmm" came my response and I puked more. That got her running to my bathroom and she saw me kneeling with my head bowed to the toilet.

"Jeez! Micaela, are you okay? What the hell happened to you?!" She yells causing my headache to intensify.

I slowly raised my head and place my finger on my lips, "Shhhh! Lower your voice, my head is about to explode" My voice was almost in a whisper when I said that.

"Oh girlfriend, you must have drank too much last night, this is the after-effect of it, you are having a hangover!" She shrill and I held my head.

"I told you to lower your voice, Sabrina" I half-whisper and she rolled her eyes at me.

"How on Earth did you drink this much? I didn't know you to be such a drunk, this your new boyfriend is influencing you, something I couldn't do after all these years" she blabs.

"Sabrina can you stop? I need your help right now, my head is hurting me badly. Not all these things you are saying right now could even help".

"Oh, sorry honey. Here, hold my hands" She extended her hands for me to hold onto and I sluggishly did and she helped me up to my feet. "Come here, let me wash up your face first then I'll get you aspirin". I nodded and walked to the bathroom sink and she turn on the tap and washed my face with water.

She handed me my towel and I mopped my face. "How do you feel now?" she asks and I shrugged in response. "Let me walk you to your bed. I'll go downstairs and ask Ji-hye if there's any aspirin at home for you to take".

All I did was nod to all she said while she led me to my bed. She left my room and in a few minutes, she came back with a cup of water and a pack of painkillers I guess. "Luckily there are some painkillers at home" she announced smiling and I sigh in relief.

She handed me two tablets of the painkillers and I gulped them down and drank some water. "Thank you, Sabrina," I said weakly.

"It's nothing babe. I told Ji-hye to prepare something for you, so just relax while she prepares it".

"Thanks," I muttered again and relaxed my back on the headboard.

"Tell me, something babe, how did you end up drinking too much? Were you with that arrogant boyfriend of yours?" she started again with her interrogation.

"Sabrina, I wasn't with Fernando, he is not in Seoul, he has gone back to where he came from".

"Hell, I suppose" she scoffed with an eye roll.

"It's not funny, girl" I rolled my eyes back at her.

"Sorry, but I was just saying the truth. That's by the way, when did he leave?".

"Yesterday evening".

"Why did he leave and where did he leave to?".

"He doesn't belong here, something brought him here and I guess he was done with whatever brought him here that's why he left. He lives in Madrid, that's where he returned to".

"How would you cope with such a long-distance relationship?" she asks and I raised a brow at her.

"Sabrina we are not in any relationship, Fernando is-was just a friend" I corrected myself. All these questions and explanations make me want to cry when I remember everything that transpired between Fernando and me.

"Why do you say he was a friend instead of he is your friend? Did you two fight? I mean I wouldn't be surprised if you did because of his arrogance".

"I need to relax my head so that this painkiller you gave to me can work faster, I have some things to do today and I need to be physically balanced to do them," I said dodging her question.

"What about your emotional balance, isn't that important too, Micaela?" She threw the question at me and that caught me off guard. Sabrina is way too smart to try to outsmart her. I on my part made a mistake to mention my physical balance.

"Also, my emotional balance" I replied quietly and glance down at my fingers and began fiddling with them. She left her standing position and came to sit next to me and took my hands.

"Micaela, I understand you must have trust issues in the past with people you've met, but please, don't see me like them. I love you and I value you so much that's why I'm always bothered when anything happens to you. I know you are not emotionally balanced for you to have gotten drunk last night and you still aren't balanced-" she gazes into my eyes.

"Behind this beautiful face and amazing smile is sadness and...and things I don't know about. And I don't want you to keep living your life this way, you have to learn to trust at least one person in your life that you can always find comfort in troubled times like this. If you don't trust me enough, then trust Kim or even your maid since you two are close as well. All I want is for you not to feel lonely when you have us to count on".

Her words pierced into my heart and I didn't know tears were rolling off my cheeks already. Here I am thinking I'm all alone without true friends not knowing I have friends that value me.  All I had was bullies, and finding out Fernando's friends were part of the reason he fell victim to rape was a big deal for me, it made me have trust issues, and never valued
friendship.

But that's a long time now, Sabrina and Kim including my housemate have been so kind and caring towards me, they were the friends I never had while growing up. I shouldn't keep punishing them for other people's hate towards me in my past.

"I'm sorry Sabrina, I'm sorry I made you feel so bad. I was just too selfish to even care about your feelings" I sobbed and she pulls me into a hug.

"Shhhh, it's okay, I understand you must have a reason why you didn't trust Kim and me. But is never too late to accept us fully into your life" she whispers to the crook of my neck. I think this was an opportunity to tell her why I got drunk last night.

"I did the oblivious Sabrina that's why I'm feeling so bad I had to get drunk last night to see if I could forget everything and sleep it off but, here I am awake again and everything is flooding through my head and mind".

She released me from the embrace and held my hand. "What did you do girl? Please don't tell me you slept with some random guy?" she gave a sad frown.

"Of course not! I forbid that! You should just kill me already if I ever did that" I said in disgust.

"What a relief! But wait....did you accidentally kill someone?" she asks with wide eyes.
"Of course not!" Flashback to when I almost hit a guy on the road when I had lost focus came to mind. "I almost did kill someone accidentally but thank God I didn't" I sigh.

"That's another huge relief. So, what then did you do? Why did you drink too much last night? And where did you go that made you not call us to join you?".

"I did all my drinking here at home on my rooftop. Ji-hye helped put me to bed last night after I got so drunk".

"That's much better since you didn't go out, who knows what must have happened if you did" she heaves a sigh. "So, what or who got you drunk?".

"Fernando Perez. I kissed that guy" I broke the news to her.

I observed her reaction to the news expecting her to be surprised or something but to my detriment she wasn't surprised. I furrowed my brows at her in confusion. "So how did that get your emotions to destabilize?" she asks with an un-bothered shrug.

"You're not surprised I kissed him?" Came my reply.

"Nope. Why should I be surprised when I know you both like each other?".

"You are guessing wrong, Sabrina" I shook my head and adjusted my sitting position.

"How am I guessing wrong? You can kid yourself for all I know but you can't fool me, babe. Do you want me to analyze how you stare at him with those sexy eyes of yours?" she giggles and wiggles her brows and my cheeks flushed and I glanced away.

"There's no special way I stare at him, you are just imagining things" I defended myself and tug the strands of hair on my face behind my ear.

She giggles louder and said, "You are so innocent and sweet when you lie about something like this. Look at your cheeks, there are turning crimson. You should go look at yourself in the mirror" She blabs and I blushed more. I used my palms to cover my face in embarrassment and she chuckles harder.

"Just stop already. Fine! I admit I like him but it's impossible for him to like me back" I replied.

"And why is that? Because he is a jerk?" she frowns.

"Not that. I'm not his type of girl" I answered and she snickered.

"Really? What makes you think you are not? Is he better than you? Richer? Smarter? Handsomely beautiful? President's son? Top world billionaires? And....."

"Stop, stop, stop. It's none of that Sabrina" I cut her short from rambling.

"Then what?" she shrugs with folded arms placed on her chest.

"He doesn't like women" I announced and she gasps.

"What!" She exclaims and I nod at her. "Doesn't he have a mother or sister?".

"He does have a mother and that's the only woman in his life that he values, while the rest of the women in the world means nothing to him but that doesn't mean he does not respect women, he respects them a whole lot".

"So, he is gay then" she blurted and I gasp in disbelief.

"He is not gay, Sabrina! You don't have to jump to conclusions just because I explained things to you, I'm sure he has a reason behind his cold shoulders to the female gender". The last part of my sentence got me guilty but then now is not the time to feel guilty.

"I don't believe that he's not gay. Tell me something, when you kissed him, did he feel anything? I mean did he kiss you back?".

Sabrina's question got me into a flashback of my kiss with Fernando. Did he feel any tingling inside of him like I did? That thought lingers in my mind and I glanced up at her.

Is true though, now that I thought of it throughout that one minute or more of me kissing him, he never did kiss me back. Could Sabrina be right that he is truly gay? Did Ferd become gay because of what happened in the past?