22.4.09

Chapter 24

I rushed back to the room and searched for my clothes. As I put it on, Tom came in and put on his T-shirt.

“Baby, I dunno how she managed to track me down. I dunno what she wants with me”

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

“That woman with the big LV bag from the store, the one you just let in”

“You mean Anita?”

“Anita?”

“My friend from the orphanage. She is here, two days earlier”

I sat down on the edge of the bed reality sank in. Tom’s friend is the bitch from the store.

“Come on. I’ll introduce you to her”

“She was mean to me in the store. I told you” I insisted.

“Honey, I think you got the wrong person. Anita is not like that”he frowned.

I frowned. Why does he made me sound like I’m a liar? Tom turned and headed to the bathroom.

“Lis, let’s go meet her k. You will see she is not like that. It was just a misunderstanding”

I gave in, giving Anita the benefit of the doubt. Also because I don’t want Tom to think I’m so childish and sulky. Still, I applied some eyeliner and the cherry gloss that I knew Tom liked. Then I followed him down the stairs to meet Anita, who was sitting on the couch with her shades placed above her head.

“Anita, this is Lisa, my girlfriend”

Well, at least he mentioned that fact. Anita smiled and extended her hand to shake mine.

“You seem familiar” she raised her eyebrow.

“Yes, I think I seen you too” I tried to drop her a hint.

She seemed to pause for a while and after a few seconds, she snapped her finger.

“Oh, I met you in the store about two weeks ago”

I looked at Tom with the I-told-you-so glance. He shrugged.

“I’m gonna go make some tea” Tom smiled.

“No, I’ll do it” I smiled and left the room.

I will show Tom I meant to be pleasant, just in case she decided to turn nasty again. When I carried the tray back to the living room, my ring from my fourth finger dropped. It was my promise ring, given by Tom on our first anniversary. Tom picked up my ring and slipped it back into my finger.

“Has it ever drop before?” he asked.

“No, this is the first time” I smiled weakly.

“You two look so sweet together. How did you meet?” Anita leaned forward.

“Accidentally” Tom chuckled and poured tea into three cups.

They sat down and talked, updating each other about their life. I noticed Tom didn’t mention he worked with Jay. Jay’s house has a few sections in his house. There is a door leading to the hallway where Jay’s room and studio is, perhaps that's how Jay keeps himself private.

Tom excused himself to the bathroom as Anita and I sat there, smiling at each other politely.

“So Lisa, Tom mentioned he took you to our old orphanage house for a look”

“Yes, I did. The kids there were very adorable”

“Time passed so fast. It was like yesterday the two of us were running around the playground”

“When did you leave the orphanage?” I asked, trying to be interested.

“About a year after Tom did. It was horrible without him. There was no one there who Listens to me or pays attention to me like Tom did”

“You guys were quite close” I nodded.

“Oh, very close. The aunties there thought we might even be a great couple when we’re all grown up” she smiled fondly at the memory.

I started to get uncomfortable with the situation. Luckily Tom came back and within 10 minutes later, I excused myself to go home and feed my dog.

Tonight I’m going out with Tom. Although we are just going to the seafood restaurant, I can imagine both of us exchanging food. I like crab and Tom prefers squid so we always end up exchanging food. As I hummed my way to the bathroom, my phone rang.

“How bout I order an extra plate of squid tonight?” I grinned.

Tom chuckled “I love you”

“I’ll see you in a while, right?”

“Oh baby, I dunno how to tell you this but my friend asked me for dinner tonight. He sounded really depressed”

“Is your friend gonna be okay?” I asked as I sat on the bed.

Then only the reality sinks into my head. If Tom had to go for dinner with his friend, then we won't have dinner together.

“I think so. I’m really sorry baby. I will take you to the restaurant tomorrow night k?”

“I know you are and if your friend needs you, go okay? I love you” I gave in.

“I love you too. Believe me Lis, I have been missing you for the past two days. Maybe tonight I will come over with some supper?”

I smiled “Go along now”

Tom sent me a kiss over the phone. Even though I am disappointed but I can see him tomorrow. I am not angry with him; its great Tom’s life is not revolved around me. I headed to the kitchen and grabbed my instant noodle cup.

My eyes scanned around the club. Since I’m not going out with Tom tonight, I have been invited for drinks with the girls from the office. I’m not usually a club person but tonight I’m gonna put the boyfriend aside and party with the girls. Usually I turned down their offer on Friday night but suddenly tonight my schedule opened.

“Look who is here! Where is the hunky boyfriend?” Barbara shrieked.

“The boyfriend has a life so I let him out for a night with the boys”

The other girls made way for me at the booth. We gossiped about the guys in the office when suddenly Jane dropped her voice to a whisper.

“I think a guy is checking one of us out” she pointed with her eye direction.

Instantly I turned to look at the guy when the other girls hissed at me.

“Lisa, don’t look” they whispered.

“Oops, sorry” I cringed.

I left the booth and excused myself to get a glass of coke. I don’t feel like getting tipsy tonight, just in case Tom decided to come over later.

“Hello, I’m Jim” when I turned I saw the guy from the other booth just now.

“Hello Jim. I saw you checking out one of my friends there” I pointed towards their direction.

He laughed “So I’m Jim and you are ..?”

I flashed him my ring for a second “Committed”

Jim smiled “Your other half must be quite secure, letting you out with the girls”

I looked at Jim. He was good looking. I would definitely flirt with him if I was single. I looked over the booth where the other girls were, wondering are they jealous that the handsome guy was talking to me, then I saw him. I saw my other half sitting on a high stool with a beautiful woman. I could hear her giggled all the way here. Anita. I ignored Jim and walked towards Tom’s direction. I stood where he could see me and I kept staring. He saw me and when our eyes met, I couldn’t help it. My eyes welled up with tears. Tom got up and when I saw him heading my direction, I ran. I ran in my heels.

How stupid was I to trust him, to misjudge and thought his friend was a male and Anita never even crossed my mind. I heard his footsteps catching up with me as I quickened my pace. I didn’t realize where I was heading until something caught my heel and I stumbled forward. In the dimly lighted car park, I caught a glimpse of shiny red blood on my knee. Before I could get up, Tom was all over me.

“Baby, you okay?”

I pushed his hands away and helped myself up. Without a word, I limped towards my car.

“It’s not what it seems”

“You lied to me Tom. You told me you were with a friend who had a problem and you have to cancel our dinner plan. You didn’t tell me it was Anita”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you but I didn’t want you to misunderstand”

“Then now what? How can I trust you?”

It pained me that he didn’t tell me it was Anita. It felt like he was hiding something from me.

“She really had a problem. She and her boyfriend just had a huge fight”

“I guess she was more important than our dinner” I smiled sarcastically.

“At the last minute, she showed at my doorstep in tears. How do you expect me to throw her aside?”

I sighed and took a deep breath “I would have understood the situation but I don’t understand why you feel the need to hide the truth from me. Do you really think I’m really that insecure?”

“Aren’t you being insecure now? I just had a drink with Anita and talked to her about her problem. I did not cheat on you”

“You might as well have since you felt it was not necessary to tell me” I gritted my teeth.

Why?? Why didn’t Tom tell me he was going out with Anita? Why couldn’t he tell me the truth?

“I’m sorry. I was scared that I might upset you. I really didn’t want to”

I sat down on the ground and bawled my eyes out. Tom held me in his arms and I sobbed loudly, letting my tears wet his shirt. He didn’t tell me to keep it down, he didn’t pick me up. Instead, he just let me cry to my heart content, cradling me like a baby.

“I don’t want to lose you” I hiccupped.

“What makes you think that? Damn baby, I didn’t know you would get this upset” he talked to me softly.

“I’m not blind. Anita is gorgeous. You will be attracted to her” I looked at him.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about tonight. I promise I will tell you everything from now on. I didn’t know how much it will upset you and you cried your eyes out. I feel awful”

“Don’t ever lie to me again. I can’t take it” I sobbed as fresh tears threatened to spill down my face.

“I swear. Come on, I’ll take you home” Tom took my handbag.

“What about Anita?” I looked back at the club.

“Screw her” Tom scorned.

“Don’t you dare?” I pointed a finger at him, trying to lighten the mood.

He chuckled and helped me back on my feet.

I looked at Tom as he carefully cleaned my wound. How I love him so.

“I never meant to make you cry Lis, you must know that” he dabbed on some antiseptic.

“I felt threatened. She was a part of your life that I never was. She grew up with you”

“Doesn’t mean I would like her. She is a friend but you Lis, you are the present and my future”

“I mean, if I have a guy friend from the past who is super hot and both of us go out for dinner together, will you be okay with it?”

Tom seemed to ponder a while before looking up at me.

“Point taken” he smiled and his dimple deepened.

“Well, I would just like it when you are totally honest with me. Of course I might be uncomfortable with it but at least we are honest to each other”

“I promise, I totally promise. I will tell you the whole truth next time when I’m out with any girl”

“In turn, I will tell you who I go out with. In fact, right before I saw you in the club, a guy tried to flirt with me”

I could feel Tom’s body tensed. He cleared his throat and looked at me.

“What did you tell him?”

“I told him I have a boyfriend”

Tom smiled and gave me a kiss on my forehead.

“Tomorrow I’m going to see Jay for a while” I snuggled against him. Honesty starts now.

“You know what Lis? It’s tiring to be both actor and director of the movie”

“It’s Saturday. Why are you shooting today?” I asked.

“I want to get the movie done. I’m just having a quick lunch but between you and me, my back is killing me” he groaned.

I put down my sandwich “Is your back ok? Quit shooting for the day if your back is giving you problem”

“I can’t quit all of a sudden. The papz are outside there, taking photos and I need to finish shooting for the day. I don’t want them to know about my back right now”

“Come on Jay, your health is more important than those dogs around the area”

“I just have another 3 hours left. I just need to take my medicine” he reached out for his medicine.

I watched him swallowed two pills and I noticed how tired and exhausted he was. He even winced a little and I suspected he was suppressing his pain.

“Jay, come on. You should take a nap or something”

“No Lis, I need to finish this scene with the lead” he patted my arm and headed back to the set.

I sighed and took out my scribble pad. What to get for Jay? No 1 ..

I hate the newspaper. Today there was a small section where Tom was photographed with Anita entering the club that night. From the looks of it, they looked quite cosy with her hand on his arm. Even worse, I hate the content. The stupid media were speculating whether Tom and I are over and this ‘beautiful model’ is his new companion.

My hands were shaking. I don’t care what the media say about us. I really don’t .. but why am I so effected by it? The doorbell rang, interrupting my thoughts. Gail is asleep and I don’t want to disturb her so I rushed to the door. It’s so hard for her to get a good sleep now that the baby kept kicking. Anyways, when I opened the door, Jay was there in his cap and black jacket.

“Lis, I saw it in the papers. Is it true about what happened between you and Tom?”

I shrugged “No, but it does looks like it, doesn’t it?”

“Don’t worry. I’m sure it’s just some stupid rumour. Do you know the girl in the photo?”

We sat down and I told him about Anita, even the other day encounter when I met her outside the house gate.

“Oh, here to see Tom?” Anita smiled.

I nodded politely with a smile.

“We just had little chat just now. He’s still the same old great guy he used to be”

“Yeah , he is” I agreed.

“You’re lucky you got him. I would have snap him up if he’s single and out there”

“Oh well, I do consider myself lucky. He’s a keeper” I joked.

“Well, you cannot be too careful with a guy. No matter how great he is, he is still a guy”

“Tom and I trust each other a lot” I defended us.

“Of course, of course. Just watching out for us girls” she winked.

I smiled and excused myself. When I was about 5 feet away from the spot we were standing, she called out to me again.

“On second thought, Tom did have a crush on me back then. I wonder if he still does”

I swear I could see the smirk on her face as she walked away.

“She said that?” Jay asked.

I nodded and then shook my head.

“I’m being silly. I don’t know why I got all upset and clingy” I laughed a little.

“Hey, it’s normal. You must know something Lis, you are a beautiful woman yourself, don’t feel threatened by her. I know it, Tom knows it” Jay smiled.

It’s times like this that I am grateful to have friends like Jay. I don’t see him as a celebrity; he’s just my second brother. By the way, I did not tell Dylan any of these insecurities. No way am I going to give a bad impression of Tom to Dylan.

“I missed you so much!” Tom took me in his arms and swung me around.

I nodded. It’s been three days and I was away in another city, getting some work done, requested by the boss. I did miss Tom so much. Well, before I see Tom, I had been home to greet my brother, my girlfriends and my dog. Snooky is growing up to be a handsome dog.

“You know what I’m going to do to you?” he growled.

“Tian Zhi, its 3 in the afternoon” I laughed.

“So? It’s been almost two weeks since we made love” Tom grinned and pulled me to him.

We kissed for a few eminutes before we pulled the blinds shut. I climbed off the bed and headed to the bathroom. That’s when I saw it. A red bra. I picked up it with trembling fingers and walked back to the room. Tom was arranging the pillows on the bed.

“Tom, how come there’s this in the bathroom?”

He looked confused “Baby, that’s yours”

“No, it’s not mine. Why do you have a bra in your bathroom?”

“If it’s not yours, then whose is it?”

“I dunno, it’s a bra in your bathroom” I threw the bra at him.

I knew he brought Anita to the room for a tour the other day. He was on the phone telling me about it because he wanted to keep his promise to me.

“I dunno how that gets that. I seriously don’t” he shrugged.

“Weren’t Anita in your room the other day?” I asked.

“Gosh, Lisa .. nothing happened ok? I dunno how the bra got there. Can we just forget about it and come to bed?”

I was shocked “No! I’m not going to sleep with you, not now with the unknown red bra hanging in your bathroom”

“Look Lis, Anita did come up here, I called you remember? We went downstairs within ten minutes”

I was agitated. How come there’s a red bra in the bathroom then? It’s definitely not mine. It's not my size.

“Did you buy this or something?” I changed direction. Maybe Tom is a cross dresser.

Tom looked at me like I was insane or something.

“Lis, why are you being so difficult?” he groaned.

“You know I am this difficult, I just want to know how the red bra got here” I sulked.

“I don’t even know how it got there. I did not buy it and I did not have any woman up here in bed. Why are you being so insecure?”

“Hey, the other day you said you love me despite my insecurity” I snapped.

“Then maybe I shouldn’t love you after all” he threw his hands up in the air.

That was a slap in the face. I took a sharp breath and picked up my handbag, rushed out of the door. I passed Jay but I kept running.

“No, no .. Lis .. I didn’t mean it” I could hear Tom screaming.

This time I didn’t stop. I kept running and with every beat of my heart, I know I will never forgive Tom. I hate him!

4 comments:

BuySellGames said...

wow~

lisa hates tom~

Anonymous said...

loving it...:D

silzpong said...

I really enjoy your fanfic..
Would you continue on the next chapter please? I'm really curious about what will happen between Lisa and Tom...

Anonymous said...

Please continue this! IT's really good and I really wanna see what happens :3