C8 Pleading

3 years ago, when they bought a new house.

“Are you that excited?” Sam squealed at the passenger seat while Zach was driving along the neighborhood. Looking out the window of his car, she saw the trees flustering around. The sound of the wind calmed her down, knowing Zach was at her side again after a lonely night yesterday.

“Yes. It’s the first time I bought a house, and it has become special with you.” She made everything cheesy. Sam smiled, her cheeks reddening, and Zach grinned. Silence erupted inside the car, and Sam felt the fulfilling happiness inside her heart. It has been the first time it happened. Sam will never leave Zach’s side, she promised.

“Are you happy?” Zach couldn’t help but to ask it. He’s happy, too. So happy that he could live above the clouds without going down. Zach lips tilted up. His smile was such a genuine one. Sam turned her head to her lover, and beamed.

“I’m so, so happy.” Sam hitched her breath. There are still things in her life that will happen, but this time, she wanted to enjoy the present. She doesn’t care about tomorrow, as long as she’s with Zach.

“Let’s be rich together, Sam. Let’s live together for a long time.” His tone was sincere. Sam can feel how much she loves Zach, and how she doesn’t want to lose him. Zach pulled over the car on the side street, and Sam couldn’t help but to tap her feet impatiently. She quickly unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed down the car.

…

Present time, the moment they’re selling the house.

He couldn’t do it. His mother has ordered him to leave the house, and he obliged, like a kid who does nothing but grant their parent’s commands. Zach doesn’t have anything to do but to pack and leave the house. Of course, he should sell it, too, even if his heart was heavier than usual.

After zipping up everything and the appliances were still intact, Zach intentionally packed only his clothes and personal things. Rolling the luggage outside of the pavement, he stopped midway. Only nights ago, Sam broke up with him. It was such a scene that’s hard to deal with. He didn’t even know what’s going on until Sam showed up in the front door, her eyes screaming of utmost rage, and she didn’t even shout.

Zach couldn’t forget how her eyes looked.

“You are a liar, Zach. You are such a liar.”

He sighed, turning his heel around, and stared at the house’s interior. The tears brim his eyes again. Zach can still remember the first time they halted in the car. She jumped like a kid who just bought a candy on a nearby store. The joy in her eyes was priceless, and he could never forget the glow of her face.

“Let’s break up, alright?”

He thought no one would break up on the two of them. Zach had made a mistake kissing Stacy, and letting the affair go through. He should have stopped the moment it happened. Zach should have been faithful enough, but he broke his promise.

Oh, how he missed Sam’s scent on his body. He’s such a fool upon resisting the temptation.

His cell phone rang. Unfazed with the current situation, Zach couldn’t set his mind straight. Something in it ticked the bell, and his thought always fleeted away. Zach retrieved his phone while holding the luggage handle, and saw it’s his mom. An endless nagging will begin again, and he doesn’t know what to answer anymore.

Zach slide in the answer button.

“Hello, Mom.”

…

Running along the hanging bridge, Zach panted. Turning at the corners, he reached Sam’s office at the drama department. Her staff circled around, and there must be a commotion running at the center. Zach didn’t have anything in his hand but his phone.

“Are you such a filthy rich woman who has the right to dump your boyfriend of 10 years?!” Zach pushed at the spaces in the crowd, and reached the front. His mom was the one who shouted, and there was Sam, looking down, not even moving an inch. Zach inhaled a hefty amount of air, and yelled, “Mom!”

She was alone, and thank God, she’s alone. If her sister was there, she’d stop their mother right away. Zara sharply glanced at her son, and Zach met her furious eyes. Sam’s heart beat louder, and she knuckled her fists. Zach would never intrude to their argument if his mother didn’t cross the line.

“What are you doing here?! Don’t even think of tolerating her actions!”

“Mom! You have no right to humiliate Sam in front of many people!” What does he even care? This is not enough to cover up his mistake. Sam didn’t have Lyza behind her back, and she doesn’t know how to defend herself. She still has shame in her body, and Sam didn’t want to throw Zach off the bus.

What would reason shall she shout? It was a private thing. The public wouldn’t care about their lives unless it benefitted them. Zara turned to his son, and chuckled sarcastically. “You should be the one angry now, not me.”

“I have no right to be angry, mom. I’m the reason for our break-up,” Zach hushed. Sam cackled quietly, making sure no one can see her sarcastic smile. Zach was standing up for her? That’s new. Nothing will ever be the same again. Her teammates gathered behind her back, asking if she’s alright.

Sam turned her head halfway, and nodded.

“What? Why are you…”

“I have a mistress, Mom,” Zach revealed. The crowd circling behind his mother gasped. Not everyone heard it. Zara gritted her teeth, and couldn’t believe the words coming out of his lips. Zach’s face was stony.

“What…” Zach reached out for his mother’s wrist. Zara got forced to leave the scene, and follow her son. Sam raised her eyebrows, looking at Zach leaving with his mom on his grasp. Did he confess it?

…

“Stop it, Zach!” She finally wriggled out of her son’s grasp out of the studios. Zach hissed, turning to her with an enraged physique. He licked his bottom lip, and sighed. His hands placed in his hips, and his mother’s irises were blazing. The fire must have come out of her pupils.

“Mom, can you please don’t---“

“You have a mistress?” Zara couldn’t believe the words coming out of her son’s mouth. How can he bend the rules of being in a relationship for 10 years? Zara couldn’t think of a reason. Has he been tempted to cheat behind Sam’s back because of her behavior? It could be.

“I have, Mom. She got nothing to do with it. I was the one who was wrong. I was the reason of our break-up.”

“Who is the girl?” Zach knew from the start his mother didn’t like Sam. Their relationship has been bound with a lot of hurdles with his mother’s beg to break up the two of them. Zara wanted someone for him, but Zach didn’t know it was Stacy.

This might be the moment she’s waiting for.

“I wanted to be honest with you, Mom. It’s Stacy Lazaro, her former friend.” As fast as the lightning, her mother changed her mood. From crossing her arms earlier, she flailed it down. The name became ticklish inside her mind, and her good mood shifted.

“Stacy… is my mistress. She’s the one I’m in a relationship now.”

…

“Men are trash,” Lyza whispered as she poured a drink to Sam’s glass. Her hopes were still fluctuating every single day. Sam had done conveying what happened earlier at the office, and Lyza couldn’t help but to gape. Not with Zach’s cheating, but with his mom’s attitude towards her.

“I thought she changed after your 10th year, but she have gotten worst, Sam. You never have to settle with a kind of family like that. She’s such a waste of time to deal with.” Sam grasped the glass, tilted her head back, and drank all of it. It sounded bitter in the tip of her tongue, but it became sweet down her throat. Sam wanted more, and she’s afraid she couldn’t go tomorrow at work.

Sam should control herself.

“The thing is… Zach came.”

Lyza stopped from pouring the last alcohol. Raising her eyebrows, she scrutinized Sam’s face. “When he came… I thought he’s not going to drag his mother out the scene, but he did.”

Lyza listened, propping her elbows at the table’s edge. Sam stared at the empty bag of chips, and shook her head. “That’s very Zach. He always protected anyone who’s aggravated, and I do appreciate that Zach the most. But this time, Lyza, it hit different.”

“Like he’s just doing it because he had done a mistake?” She’s right. Zach was showing that sympathy and compassion because they broke up, and not because he wanted to protect her. Sam wanted to scream, she wanted to know what she meant for Zach. Everything was just… falling down in front of her eyes.

“That must be love, after all. You’ll get hurt, happy, sad, and laughing at the same time. You’ll be afraid to… that everything could change in just a blink.” Sam always took part on observing the change, and she knew it. She knew this would happen one day.