CHAPTER 1
“DID you see how gorgeous he is? Rumors are true; Chef Jeff is a total hunk!”
Rochelle almost flinched upon hearing her best friend’s remarks for the restaurant’s Chef. “Is he?” she asked without trying to hide the sarcasm in her voice. “Is that your final answer?”
Tessa rolled her eyes heavenwards. “He even looked and smiled at you. Gosh! I’m jealous.”
“What the fuck?” Rochelle frowned and shot her a glance. “Didn’t you hear what the girl said to him? He’s a playboy. She slapped him in the face because he called her in a different name of a woman.”
Tessa’s face saddened. “Yeah, it must have hurt him. It looked like a punch. She shouldn’t do that to his perfect jaw,” she said with a sigh.
Rochelle couldn’t believe that she heard those words from her friend. She must be out of her mind for taking the side of the cheater instead of the victim. She honked her horn when a bicyclist overtook.
“And, he isn’t a playboy,” Tessa added suddenly. “It looks like he was just friendly with the woman. It’s just a misunderstanding.”
“So, you’re a profiler now?” Rochelle asked sarcastically, eyes still on the road. “Are you saying that the woman just assumed that that womanizer chef was her boyfriend?”
“She assumed that the feeling is mutual,” Tessa said to her with an eye roll again. “Chef Jeff was known for being overly friendly to women.”
“Overly friendly means flirting,” she said matter-of-factly. “Body language can say it all, you know?”
Tessa arched a brow and stared at her. “Oh, really? Coming from you? A woman who hasn’t have a relationship ever since the world began?”
Rochelle wanted to pull out those eyeballs and clean them with wipers. Her friend’s eyes were clouded with nonsense about that womanizer chef in the restaurant. “We’re not gonna eat in that restaurant again—”
“You know what, I read an article about Chef Jeff, and you won’t believe what was written there—”
“Then, don’t tell me—”
“He’s an NGSB! No-Girlfriend-Since-Birth!” Tessa almost shouted in front of her ear. “Could you believe that? He’s too handsome to be single for that long!”
Rochelle stopped the car and glared at her friend. “Do you wanna die?”
Tessa chuckled. “I just want to wake you up, Roch. I saw how that Chef looked at you.”
“I don’t care if he spends his life staring at me,” she said and drove her car again. “And, can we stop talking about him? It’s just a waste of time.”
“If he’s going to be my boyfriend, would you hate me?” Tessa asked, using her sweet and persuasive tone of voice.
Rochelle frowned, not taking her eyes off the road. “You know that I don’t have a say of whoever you wanted to be with,” she said. “But, like I always say to you, be careful. Don’t be stupid when it comes to love. Those men are monsters—”
Tessa laughed out loud. “Whatever, Roch. To love is to get hurt. If you’re not ready to get hurt, then you’re not ready to love.”
“Do we really have to get hurt to love and be loved?” she asked, sounded cynical. “Why can it just love and love instead of love and hurt?”
“To get hurt because of love is what makes us strong, Roch. You’ll never understand that because you never let yourself experience it.” Tessa was now beginning to be serious.
“Why would I put myself in danger?” Rochelle made a ‘tss’ sound. “I don’t wanna die because of stupidity.”
Rochelle Ocampo badly hates men who can keep themselves loyal to their girlfriends. She doesn’t understand why men can’t be content with their partners, and they keep seeking their lack of other women. For her, cheating is equal to committing a crime. Just thinking of other women instead of your partner was considered an offense for her.
For her, any emotional harassment resulting in hurting oneself is considered a crime. ‘A crime for the soul can lead to a crime for the flesh.’ That’s why a psychopath often commits a crime of passion, because of their too much love for the person. They tend to be possessive and compulsive, just to make sure that they won’t leave them.
“My point is, if they have a hard time being a loyal boyfriend, then they should keep their civil status single! Are they planning to get all the women in the world?” Rochelle said as she slowed down the road.
“People are different, Roch,” Tessa said, giving up. “It’s hard to make a debate about love with a cynical person like you.”
“You can’t blame me, Tessa. She doesn’t want to ruin her day just because of that Chef. You know what happened in my past,” she said in a neutral tone.
“Yeah. And, I also know that your Mom and Aunt experienced the kind of love that everybody dreamed of.” Tessa closed her eyes as if trying to reminisce a scene in a romantic movie. “Pure love—”
“That brought them to their grave,” Rochelle finished her friend’s sentence. “Can we change our topic? It’s annoying.”
“Why? You have an allergic reaction?” Tessa taunted. “Anyway, drop me on the second street. I don’t have plans on going to the morgue with you.”
Rochelle laughed. “Why don’t you pay my peaceful patients a quick visit?”
Tessa brushed her shoulders as if having goosebumps. “Hell no! I’d rather visit a psychiatric ward than to say hello’s to your decomposing patients!”
Rochelle stopped the car while laughing. “You wanna get killed by a psycho? Dead people are way harmless than living.”
“Whatever!” Tessa shouted as she got off the car. “I’ll see you when I see you!”
Rochelle waved back at her friend. “Don’t give me updates about that Chef, okay? Otherwise, I’ll block you.”
***