Maria saw pain and anger in Euclid’s eyes when he let go of her shoulders. He stepped back and looked away from her, trying to hide the tears that were about to fall from his eyes.
“My mother sold me to a human trafficking syndicate. She chose money over me—her own daughter—to pay her debt. I was raped in that place, Euclid. They abused me repeatedly until they’re used to me, but when I found out that I was pregnant, I planned to escape.”
Maria blew her breath to prevent her tears from feeling. She promised herself that she won’t cry again for those monsters, but she can’t keep her promise, every time she remembered the worst nights while she was with those men, the hatred in her heart is coming back and the feeling to take revenge is eating her heart again.
“But, you know what happened when I came here to Manila?” Maria let out an empty laugh. “The driver of the bus that I used to escape that hell, he raped me inside his bus.”
Euclid looked at her and clenched his jaw. His tears are falling on his cheeks. “I’m sorry…” he said and caught his head as he turned his back at her.
“Why? You can’t look at me? You can’t digest everything that I told you?” Maria stepped forward. “Did it reach your senses that the girl you left in the Balesin Island is a filthy woman now?” she whispered from his back. “That’s why I chose to work in the club and be a prostitute because I know that I have nothing to lose now. I’m dirty like a whore—”
“You’re not,” Euclid faced her and looked in her eyes. “We’ll find all those people that did this to you, Maria—”
“Shut up, Euclid,” she whispered. “You can’t do anything now. All your chances to save me were gone seven years ago…”
Euclid looked straight into her eyes. “Am I really the only one that broke a promise?”
Maria pressed her lips into a fake smile. “Does it matter now?”
“But you’re still that Maria that I’ve met in the shore—”
“The nitwit girl that doesn’t know the kinds of clouds?” she laughed bitterly. “Well, she has died the moment her evil mother handed her to evil men.”
“Was that a fairy tale story?” Fred asked in a groggy voice. He sat up straight on the couch and rubbed his eyes. “I really need a good sleep.”
“Yeah, me too,” Euclid agree to what Fred said, but didn’t take his eyes off her. “I want to sleep and don’t wake up again.”
Maria raised an eyebrow. “You’re really good at running from your problem, Euclid…” she looked away from him. His eyes were like penetrating her soul. “We still have a few more hours, you can take a rest first. I’ll ask Wendy to buy breakfast for you—”
“We’re not yet done, Maria,” Euclid said and held his arm. “Not until you tell me who are those people that did these things to you, Maria—”
“That’s useless, Euclid,” she said in a low voice. “I’m a completely different person now. I dance to make money. I sell my body for a living. Nobody will believe me if I file a complaint that I was abused and raped—”
“Because you let them do this to you!” Euclid held her shoulders again. “I told you to wait for me on that island, right? I promised you that I will come and get you—”
Maria pushed him and slapped his face. “Liar…” she said in between her teeth. “You didn't come back for me. You betrayed me.”
“Hey, what’s happening?” Fred walked towards them. “What’s going on here?”
Euclid raked his fingers through his hair and shook his head. “Nothing…” he said and looked into her eyes. “Nothing.”
Maria felt her heart was about to explode with the way he looks at her. She can’t take to meet his gaze and see in his eyes the unbearable pain and anger. She looked away and turned her back at him.
She heard heavy footsteps towards the door. Maria readied herself when she heard the sound of the shutting the door. Her limbs got weakened and she felt all her muscles were collapsing. She held on the table for balance, but Fred helped her to stand.
“I’m fine,” she said. “It’s better if you’ll follow Euclid outside—”
“I can’t leave you alone—”
“Do you think I can escape with my daughter’s situation now?” she asked, brows furrowed.
“What’s your relationship with Euclid? He won’t act like this if you’re nothing to him.”
Maria hesitated to answer. She doesn’t know if she’s the one that should tell Euclid’s partner about their past. “We… We just knew each other in the past.”
“Euclid never disclosed anything about his past. Even we’ve been working for years in undercover missions like this, what I knew about his personal life is limited,” Fred told her with a sigh. “When his father died in a mission seven years ago, he became distant to everybody—”
“His father d-died?” Maria asked in surprise. “Uncle Joseph died s-seven years ago?”
Fred nodded. “It was our graduation at the Academy when Euclid received the bad news.”
Maria caught her chest tightening chest. Euclid didn’t come on the day that he promised to get her because his father died. And, here she was, carrying the hatred in her heart for years, thinking that the man she loved truly betrayed her…
Maria covered her hands in her face and wept in tears. Fred got panic and asked him what was wrong but she ignored him and continued to cry her heart out. All this time, she thought Euclid never loved her. She thought that Euclid just used her as a pastime in the island, and when he was tired of her, he left her for good.
Fred’s radio crackled and Euclid’s voice aired from the other line. “Fred, guard them. I saw somebody walking towards their house,” he said. “And, he looks in a hurry.”
***