Fornications
After the interview, I gave a sigh of relief that it's over. Though we have his permission to tell the world everything he told us, I can still feel a pang of guilt that it is still an invasion of his privacy. Maybe, I was wrong earlier. It is not privacy invasion if he gave permission for it to be told. True privacy invasion would occur if I made a story that I saw him at a hospital without letting him know that I would make a story about him.
"Rose, are you alright?" Mateo asks as he notices that I am worried.
"No, it's alright," I say. "I was just thinking things over. Maybe it was not all bad."
"If you worry that we invaded his privacy, don't," he says. "We have his permission. I think the boss would be pleased that we acquired this story before anyone else did. This story would sell for the paper."
"I know that," I say.
There is still this odd feeling that whoever that secret lover is, Emma is determined on hiding it! By God, I do not understand her! What is up with that man? She could not even trust me with the identity of her hidden lover. She could have told me. I would tell no one.
"Come on," he says cheerfully. "You need to cheer up. I'm taking you out."
"On what?" I ask.
"A coffee date," he says. "You need to lighten up your burdens and clear your mind."
"You do not actually want to date me, are you?" I ask.
"It's just a friend date," he says. "Don't get way ahead of yourself. We are co-workers. We deserve a little rest and possibly, bonding, right?"
His smile is convincing, but I won't be a fool for him like Emma was. I shan't prove myself another fool in the three of us. I do not want us to be called us "Three Sisters, Three Fools". It is enough that I have two fools for a sister. I don't want to be one just like them.
"Yes," I say. "Yes, indeed."
We went to the same coffee shop near my alma mater. Somehow, this became his favorite coffee shop when Emma introduced this to him. I remember working here as a barista to pay for my daily expenses. I need not worry about my tuition since I am a scholar. All I have to worry about is the money I need to buy some food and textbooks, of course.
He bought me a simple caramel cappuccino. I have no taste for frappes or blended drinks. I find it excessively cold and sugary for my taste. He also bought a slice of red velvet cake. He is being a gentleman to me. Of course, he is acting like one. He is trying his best not to provoke my anger that seeks to kill him for what he did to Emma. Also, I think I should thank him, maybe. He gave me a stepping-stone for my career. If he hadn't taken that risk, I would have remained desk bound. Now that I finally gave a new and exclusive story for the paper of Lucia City Times, this would put me way above the clouds.
"I should thank you," I say as a slice a piece of the cake. I took the piece into my mouth and let myself indulge in the sweetness of the cake.
"For what?" he asks.
"For the risk that you took," I say simply after I chewed the cake. "It was against my will that you inform the boss about it. I wanted them to have some privacy, but since it is alright with the heir, I suppose there was no risk. It was just an opportunity. So, I thank you."
"Rose, sometimes, you'll have to take a little risk in this world," he says. "You, of all people, should know that. You need to be a self-made woman. You don't have any prospects before you. I meant no offense, but to get ahead of this world, you need to take a little risk. Once the story is published, you shall no longer be a desk-bound editor. You will finally get to be on the field."
"Yet you know that more than I," I admit. "You have your prospects, your grants, and your fortune all your life. You would have made a great husband for Emma had you not betrayed her."
"And because of my betrayal, I was disgraced from my family," he says. "They denied me of my inheritance to learn my lesson. I had to be a self-made man too, you know."
Wow. . . I thought that he was just an evil conniving cheating son a gun. It turns out that karma got the best of him. He lost his inheritance all because of his youthful acts. I feel so sorry for him. I thought terrible things about him, and now I found myself odd about it.
Suddenly, I saw a man came in the coffee shop. He was not just any man. He was the man that I used to love. He sat on a chair behind me not knowing that I am there. The coffee shop is not that full, but Mateo and I chose a seat by the window. What is he doing here? I kept eating and drinking in order to stop Mateo from starting a conversation. What is he doing here? Sure, he is a professor at a next-door university, but I know that he did not come here for the coffee. He is meeting someone, but who?
Moments later, a lady joined him. It was not just any lady. It was Emma's adopted sister. What the hell is going on?
"Nice to see you again, Dave," the lady says after taking a seat.
"Actually, you called me here," my former professor says flatly. "I would not come here if you had not called me."
"Well, I'm glad I did," the lady says.
I still do not know that lady's name. I knew that wretched fool kept many secrets from me. She did not even tell me that she has this adopted sister.
"What do you want with me?" Professor Diwa asks.
"Nothing really," the lady says.
I am eavesdropping on them, I must admit, but what is going on. Who knew that Emma has a sister who is friends with my former professor? Wow. . . This is eerily odd.
"What are you doing?" Mateo asks after he noticed that I am eavesdropping.
"Shut it," I say to him.
"How can I shut it if you are eavesdropping on some conversation?" he asks.
"Shut it!" I say firmly. "I'll tell you later. Just work with me and shut up."
He spoke no more words and I allowed myself to listen to their conversation. What is going on? What kind of friendship does my professor have with this lady?
"It has been a long time old friend," she says. "What has changed, except for your apparent looks and all?"
"Friend?" Professor Diwa asks. "I thought you had ended our friendship years ago."
"I know," she says. "But I like to remind myself every day of what happened back then."
"What do you need?" Professor Diwa says through his teeth in annoyance. "Hurry up. I have a class in an hour."
"An hour is a long time," she says. "Don't be in such a rush with everything."
"I haven't got time for this, Chloe," Professor Diwa says impatiently. "I am a busy man. As a former professor of Ferrydell University, you should know that."
"Alright, well I'll rush things then," the lady says slyly. "Some say that you have been a bit of an adulterer during these past few years."
"Madam, I am no adulterer," he says flatly. "I have no wife nor am I promised to someone else. Wherever you acquired that information only proves to be false."
"Then what it is then?" she says. "I think fornication. You damned fornicator! Don't you think you would have gotten away with it?"
"I don't know what you are talking about," he says steadily with no rise in his voice.
"Oh, I'm sure you do," the lady says. "You liar! I know what you did. First, you conceived a child with a woman. I don't know how old, but four months into the pregnancy, the child was miscarried. I do not know if it is merely a cover-up for 'aborted' or something. Next, another child was conceived from another woman. It was prematurely born, but it died early. You did not acknowledge the child as yours. You are a son of a gun. Shall I go on?"
"How do you know?" he asks.
"I have my ways, Dave," the lady says. "You should have known that by now. This information would destroy you, you know."
"What do you want?" he asks nervously.
"I came to haunt you," she says. "I came to haunt you with your past. Though some say you have changed and became a pastor in all but name, the past will always haunt you. Fool, do you think you would have gotten away with it?"
"So, you come here to waste my time by haunting me about my past?" he asks. "What is it that you really want? Hurry up."
"I told you," she says. "I want nothing. I only came to haunt you. Alas, I must go now. I only wanted you to know that your secrets are not safe. Good day, professor Diwa. May God be with you."
I did not understand a thing that just happened. Also, he is a fornicator? How dare he? He dared conceive a child and he did not acknowledge it! What a despicable man! I can feel my hands trembling with anger. So, that man is a liar and a fornicator! No wonder he doesn't have a stable relationship!
He left a few moments later. I knew that what Emma sister said has haunted him. The question is how does she know all of those? What is her reason for haunting him?
"Do you mind explaining what just happened?" Mateo asks suddenly. "Who is that fornicator?"
I forgot that he is with me. Apparently, this is none of my business. This is his private life. I only have to mind two things: my job and Emma's wish. I should let that slide. What I heard is nothing.
"He was my former professor," I say. "It turns out that he is a fornicator and a liar."
"Why did you eavesdrop on them?" he asks. "You are a hypocrite! You said that you care about other people's privacy, yet you eavesdropped on a private man's conversation!"
"I found this too odd," I say honestly. "That lady is Emma's sister and that man was my former professor. What is this? Mateo, you would not understand."
"Oh, I understand," he says. "You are a hypocrite. Rose, it is their private lives. This is the difference between journalism and invasion of privacy. What we did earlier is journalism. What you did recently is an invasion of privacy. You disappoint me, Rose."
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