CHAPTER 30: Confession Of Truth

KATE’s P.O.V.

I burst out into tears as I read the whole letter. Elijah’s Dad, Mr. Elijioh Ramirez, is one of Dad’s closest colleagues when our company was just starting. The letter said that Dad fired him for causing trouble to the name of the company, leading Mr. Ramirez to suffered in bankruptcy before he finds out that he has a cancer.

He wrote this letter to inform Elijah of what happened and to make him take a revenge upon our family. And maybe, just maybe, he thought that I could be his way to get that revenge. I can’t help but to think that he just used me for his plan.

I dropped the letter on the floor, my hands are now trembling so bad. Elijah... Did he really waited for me after eight fucking years or he doesn’t even care about me at all? Did he just said that thing so that I will trust him? Why is fate so cruel to me?

“Kate? Are you alright?” I heard his voice from behind.

I slowly turned around, seeing his confused face. He looked at me with worried, before he tried to reach out for my hand. But I didn’t let him touch me. I backed away, my eyes fixed on the letter laying down on the floor. He followed my gaze, seeing the letter of his father. He look shocked, before nervousness suddenly replaced the worried expression in his eyes.

“Kate, let me explain...” he started.

“Explain what, Elijah?!” I shouted.

“This is not what it looks like... That letter... It was sent to me twelve years ago by my Dad.”

“So what, Elijah?! He send you that for what?! I read it right! I read it with my own eyes and I’m not an idiot not to understand that letter of your Dad!”

He picked up the letter, before he torn it into pieces.

“I don’t care about this stupid letter anymore! All I care about right now is you, Kate! Yes, my Dad did send me that fucking letter but I wasn’t planning to do what he requested... You know that, Kate! I should have burned that letter a long time ago...”

“Really? Then why didn’t you Elijah? Tell me...” My tears started to stream down on my cheeks. “Why, why did you talk to me when we were still in high school? Was it all part of your plan?” I asked.

“Kate...”

“Just answer me, Elijah! I’m fucking tired of being used by someone! Just tell me the truth!”

“Fine... At first, I’m not even a bit interested in that plan of my Dad. And yes, I did talk to you because of this stupid letter. But I only did that because I saw you in the same school as mine. I waited to get a perfect timing and a chance... And when I did, I didn’t know that I would fall in love with you... So I stopped doing it for my Dad... I started doing it for myself. Because I like you... I love you, Kate,” he lengthy explained.

“No, you don’t! Maybe you’re just saying that to make me look like a fool.”

I turned around, before walking away. I was about to opened his door when he hugged me from behind, causing me to be unable to move as he tightened his embrace.

“Listen to me... Please, Kate. Everything about us... It’s all true. I never lie to you... Everything that I said... It’s true, Kate... Please...” I heard him pleaded.

I wiped my tears away, taking a deep breath while my mind is debating whether to forgive him or not. The latter wins, maybe just for now but I wanted to have some space right at this moment.

“You know how hard for me to trust someone, Elijah. But you broke that trust I’ve given to you. I thought everything will going to be fine now... But I was wrong... So wrong.”

He buried his face on my shoulder, and I felt him sobbing, not bothering to let me go.

“Believe me, Kate... I love you, I love you so much.”

“I’m sorry, Elij... But I don’t think I could trust you again after all the things that we’ve been through. I don’t know... Maybe I wasn’t meant to be happy.”

I removed his hands around my waist before leaving his apartment.

“Fuck!” I heard him shouted inside.

I drove my car away while crying as I called someone working inside of our company. I badly wanted to know the truth, and who’s that Elijioh guy or should I say my lover’s Dad?

“Hello? Frias Incorporation. Who’s this?” The caller answered.

“Hello...” My voice nearly broke down. “I’m Kate Frias.”

“Ms. Frias! Oh, what do you want us to do?” The caller’s voice instantly hyped up.

“I want you to find some files of an employee or investor named Elijioh Ramirez. Please find it as soon as possible. I’m on my way the company.”

“Sure, Ms. Frias. Thank you for calling us, and have a nice day.”

I dropped the call. Pretty ironic. I’m not having a good day, that’s what I wanted to say but I couldn’t. As I promised, I went straight to our company instead of heading back home. There, I saw some staffs looking at me with their nervous eyes.

“What happened here?” I asked.

“We couldn’t find that file, Ms. Frias. Our company is renewing and deleting files and papers ten years ago. That’s the validity time of our papers.”

“What?! Don’t you have anything else connected to him? Please, just please. I need a copy of that file right now,” I almost pleaded in front of them. “This is so urgent. If you need to look at every papers in our storage room, please do it now. I’ll give a reward to whoever could find it for me...”

As I said those words, people began to look so busy while checking every papers inside of the office. Some even raced towards the storage room just to looked for that stupid file.

I waited for almost an hour for apparently nothing, maybe. My hopes were slowly fading away as no one still saw that file of Elijah’s Dad. I nearly felt asleep, not until one of them tap my shoulders to give me a piece of brown envelope.

“Is this...” I trailed off, looking at the brown envelope in my hand.

“Yes, Ms. Frias. That’s the file of Mr. Elijioh Ramirez.”

“Thanks. Who found it?” I get my bag to write on my paycheck.

The employees started to whisper with each other as one of them raised his hand. I gave him the check, containing one million pesos. The crowd gone wild, and I finally leave them without any more words.

I hopped into my car. I rested my back on the seat before taking a deep breath. I opened the envelope, only to be bombarded by Mr. Elijioh resumé. I looked thoroughly, but I found nothing suspicious. I wanted to call detective Suarez to investigate about this case but I remember what happened the last time I let my curiosity sink into my mind. And I’m not gonna let that thing to happen again.

I sighed, bothered by the fact that my Dad did something bad to this man causing him to be drowned in hatred while pushing his son to take a revenge. If it’s just about a simple suspension from work, then I’m sure that Elijah’s Dad wouldn’t be that mad to waste his time and efforts just to write that kind of letter to his son. I’m sure that there’s so much more behind that.

Taking another deep breath as a sign of defeat, I find my phone to dial Mom’s number. I badly wanted to talk about this to someone. And besides, maybe Mom knows about it too.

“Hey, sweetie!” I was bombarded by her high pitched voice. “How are you now? Are you okay?”

“I'm fine. Mom, is Dad right there with you?” I asked, wanting to make sure that Dad wouldn’t heard about this.

“Uhm, no. He’s downstairs, buying a cup of coffee for us. Why? Do you want me to call him for you? Wait–”

“No, Mom!” I refused too quickly. “I mean, let him be.”

“Oh, alright, alright. So, why did you call? Are you sure you’re fine? You sound... Bothered.”

“Mom...” I trailed off, hesitating to tell her the truth.

“What is it? Is something bothering you? Do you want us to go home?”

“No, Mom. Just stay right there and enjoy your honeymoon. I’m fine. I just... I wanted to know something. Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure, sweetie. Anything.”

I took a deep breath, feeling nervous.

“Do you know someone named Elijioh Ramirez?” There, I finally said it.

It was silence that reign in that moment. I wanted to repeat my question for maybe she didn’t heard it that clear but she eventually answered me with another question instead. She sound bothered, and shock.

“Where did you get that name?”

“Mom, just answer my question.”

“But...”

“So you know him...” I felt nervous, afraid to find out more about this man.

“Kate, listen to me. We are coming home right now. Is that man harassing you or something?”

“Mom, no! He’s... Gone. He’s dead right now. I mean, he got cancer.”

“What? Elijioh is dead?”

“Yeah... About that... What do you mean by harassing me?”

“Nothing sweetie,” she shortly replied, depriving me from getting any more information.

“Mom, just please, tell me everything about him. I need to know...”

“But Kate, you don’t need to worry now. If that man is dead as you’ve said, then we have nothing to talk about.”

“Mom...” My voice broke down while thinking about Elijah. “I need to, Mom. I need to know.”

“Are you crying?” she asked from the other line of the phone, worried.

“I’m not.” I tried to sound brave, wiping my tears away.

“Listen, sweetie. We’re coming home. Maybe tonight or tomorrow morning. I’m going to tell this to your Dad. Just wait right there and we will explain to you everything.”

I nodded, even if I was fully aware that she couldn’t see me.

“Kate? Are you still there? We’ll see you later, okay?”

“Yes, Mom. I’ll wait for you.”

“Bye, sweetie. I love you.”

“I love you too, Mom.”

I dropped the call, before I started to slap the driving wheel of my car. I cried, loud enough for everyone to hear. Thankfully, nobody is around.

Seems like Mom really knows something about it. And I still don’t know if I’m ready to find out the truth. After all of these had finally ended, will I be able to trust Elijah again, if ever? Well I guess I wouldn’t be able to answer that question as I need to keep asking that to myself for now.