Mysterious 07: State Of Shock

Drey Laxamana’s P.O.V.

Despite my beautiful face, it was quite ironic to say that my whole life was just a mess. A complete-package mess!

When I was a kid, I used to believe in fairy tales. I used to believe that ‘happily ever after’ endings do really exist. I wanted to get tangled with that kind of eccentric destiny with my one and only prince charming. I believed in magical spells, fantasies, and worst, I believed in mermaids.

Who would have ever believed that those creatures were real?

And not just believe… I was obsessed with them. Yes, I got totally obsessed with mermaids!

That was the reason why I got bullied way back my childhood years — because of my crazy obsession with mermaids. All of my things from head to toe must include mermaids. My bags and shoes were even customized with mermaids. I told my classmates that they were real, but they only cackled at me.

We used to have a vast infinity pool in the house before and I would always wear my gold costume to swim like a mermaid. To the point that I wanted to prove that they actually exist, I even used my own hands to paint one of them. From then on, I got myself fully engrossed with paintings. Creating murals had always been my favorite hobby, aside from swimming.

Everything even bloomed when I met Ivan during my vacation stay in Los Angeles. He was brought by his divorced mom to take a vacation there before she married her American boyfriend.

I was only sixteen way back then and we had met during my first international exhibit. Ivan was three years older than me and a collector of abstract paintings. He liked my classics and from then, he started courting me.

Who would say ‘no’ to a teen hottie who stood at around five feet and ten inches? Now he was standing at exactly six feet. From his small eyes which he inherited from his Chinese father whom he never met, perfectly-shaped nose and jaws, thin lips, and a muscular body built, I didn’t let him wait any longer. I said ‘yes’ immediately and from then on, we became officially together.

Everything was so natural. Ivan was my first love and my number one fan. He was my prince charming, my protector, and my knight in shining armor. I was at my happiest whenever I was with him that I already forgot to think about other people. He used to say that I was his world and that, he couldn’t bear living without me. But not until he met my college best friend, Louise.

That was three years ago when I introduced them to each other. At first, I was really happy that two of the most important persons in my life get along so well. But little did I know that they would just betray the trust that I gave them.

They both stabbed me in the back without giving me a chance to plan and execute my revenge!

Louise Gerona was a traitor as she could be — she was a snake! Although I didn’t know what suited her best: a python or a cobra? I guessed, either of the two as I didn’t care about her anymore. She later revealed that she envied me from the very start and her main goal was just to get everything that I have.

She only befriended me to use my social network and to experience the life that I was living in. She came from a poor family and almost all of her tuition fees from second-year college until we graduated from Mechanical Engineering were shouldered by my parents.

Her envy even more intensified when she failed, but I passed our licensure board examination. Little did I know that her spitefulness would take to a higher level when I accompanied her on a local model search audition. She never told me about her real feelings that she never wanted me to join her. I would be more sensitive if I had only known.

Then, I introduced her to Ivan and that was the hell start of the whole thing. She saw that as an opportunity to finally ruin me. But I couldn’t blame her alone. If Ivan truly loved me, he would never fall for Louise.

I couldn’t imagine what led him to waste our almost ten-year relationship. It was two years ago when they started having an affair, but Ivan only admitted their tryst to me last year.

And he already called that a fucking closure? My tears fell again on that thought.

I got devastated. I started to forget everything about all of my paintings at that time. It was because of those wonderful masterpieces that Ivan and I met, might as well leave everything behind.

I stopped myself from painting. I stopped myself from organizing exhibits. I deleted all my landscaped blogs, painting vlogs, and online graphics. I even threw and ruined my classic designs and sketches because all I wanted was to completely forget everything.

But my father saved one and that painting currently hangs at the Cresta-Laxamana International Airport. It was a canvas painting of a stunning mermaid that I created twelve years ago.

If Ivan hadn’t broken up with me, we would be celebrating our ten years of togetherness this year. But what now? Everything had been smashed into pieces. Dreaming a life with him together with our future kids had officially ended. It wouldn’t happen anymore no matter how hard I begged for him.

I was already tired, yet I had no other choice but to cry again. Ivan meant everything to me and I guessed, I didn’t know how to start living my life without him. I loved him so much… so much it hurts! So much that I left nothing for myself and everything about me had already been torn apart after he broke me up. How would I be able to fix myself now? How would I be able to get excited about what the future has to offer?

I barely survived for a year, but I didn’t want to live like this in the succeeding years.

I have always been this fragile. I have always been this weak!

I cried harder with my thoughts. I didn’t care if some paparazzi followed me to steal photos of my crying moments, then sold those to the magazines and newspapers. I was already expecting that I would be in the headlines tomorrow so that I wouldn’t be surprised at all.

I was busy searching for a tissue paper inside my bag when someone from my left side suddenly lent me a handkerchief. Thinking that Ivan came back, I immediately grabbed the white cloth, stood up, and affectionately hugged his waist without even looking at him.

“Ivan, you’re back—” I painted a beatific smile on my lips but I cut my own words when I soon realized that something was awfully wrong.

I knew I was hugging a guy who was taller than Ivan — since my face was only leveled at his chest. On the contrary, my face was already leveled at Ivan’s neck. I was clasping my arms on a guy whose scent was different from Ivan’s and whose body built, I hated to say this, was much better than Ivan’s. It was brawnier to the point that I could really feel his firm abs.

I felt his body slightly shivered from my touch. I removed my hands around him as I slowly looked above. After seeing his face, my eyes went wide open and my jaws just literally dropped. It left me completely dumbfounded burying me in a state of shock.