Chapter 28
“Isn’t it so weird?” Bryan said. “What is?” Shane asked. “You! You’re weird!” Bryan said as he laughed out loud. Shane rolled his eyes. “No, seriously speaking, I was talking about Mark and Toni.” “What about them?” asked Sandra. “Oh geez! We keep forgetting to update you and Loraine here on this little love triangle of theirs.” Kian said. “So, why don’t you start updating us?” Loraine said. “Okay, this is what happened so far. Three days ago, we were at the radio station where Toni was working at and believe me, Mark did loads of stuff that Alessia should never hear about. The same day, Mark confesses to us that he’s still very much in love with Toni. He couldn’t bring himself to tell Alessia how sorry he was for umm… using her to forget Toni. Believe me, Mark does love Alessia but not the way he does with Toni. Otherwise, he wouldn’t care if Alessia got hurt.” Shane said. “Not only that, but the day after that, we found out that Toni still loves Mark.” Nicky said. “What?” Shane said loudly, causing everyone else in the room to look at them. “You don’t know? Well, maybe you and Sandra were too busy to know! Anyway, first she sort of confessed it to Nicky in the morning. Anyway, in the evening, Helen, Kian and I found out about it coz she told us as well after much interrogation from us that is.” Bryan said. “Don’t you think we could do something about it? I mean, Toni thinks she doesn’t have a chance to be with Mark anymore coz he’s with Alessia. Mark thinks he doesn’t have a chance because he thinks Toni wouldn’t take him back anymore after what he did.” Patricia said. “Patricia’s right. I mean, it’s plain to see they’re crazy about each other.” Helen said as she took a cookie and nibble on it. “Yeah, but what about Alessia? I know it’s dumb for me to bring this up with Nicky and Loraine being here but let’s face it. Alessia is our friend. We can’t just take her out of the picture just so that Mark and Toni could be with together. It would hurt her terribly. I think we should just leave things the way they are. No one can fix this up but Mark and Toni. Everything should be left up to them. It’s their own lives, their own problems. The only thing that we should do is be there for them whenever they need some advice and a shoulder to cry on.” Bryan said as he sipped his tea. “Bryan, sometimes you can be such a deutz but sometimes… you just never cease to amaze me man!” Kian said as Bryan just smiled at him.
Nicky made his way to the bar at the hotel. He was tired. They just finished filming that show that Toni was presenting. They’ve been practicing dance routines all day for their upcoming world tour, and all of them were dead tired. All the girls went for a night out, because it’s been a very long time since the five of them got together. They decided to drag Loraine and Alessia’s other band mates along as well. He was praying that everything would go well between Alessia and Loraine. He went over to the bar and ordered his drink. Nicky heard someone crying, and he turned to see who it was. There, at the very end of the bar was Alessia, and she was crying. He was contemplating on going over to her to ask what was wrong but things between them were quite unclear yet. She had been civil with him for the past few days and going over to her when she was crying wasn’t exactly civil at all. It was being personal. Alessia saw him, and she quickly wiped her tears away. She smiled at him, and Nicky took it as a sign to come over. “I didn’t want to ask if you’re okay, coz that would be pretty stupid, seeing that you’re crying and all. Why aren’t you with the other girls?” he asked. Alessia smiled. “Well, it would be really uncomfortable to hang out with my ex’s girlfriend wouldn’t it? Besides, everyone wouldn’t be enjoying themselves if there were two of us there, and Toni would be there as well. That’s why I decided not to come along. I needed time alone to think as well, so I decided to drown myself in my thoughts and some drinks.” she said softly. “So, I better leave you alone then since that’s what you came here for.” Nicky said, getting up. “No, please stay.” she said, holding Nicky’s hand so that he wouldn’t leave. She suddenly let go, embarrassed at her action. “Okay.” Nicky said, sitting down again. “Do you want to talk about your problem?” he asked cautiously. Alessia kept quiet. “We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” “No, I’m sorry. I mean, yes, I do want to talk about it. I do need to talk about it and I have absolutely no one to turn to but it would be so awkward to talk to you about it because…” she said, unable to speak anymore. “It’s because I’m your ex-boyfriend and your problem is about Mark who’s your boyfriend and my friend. Is that it?” he asked before knocking back his drink. Alessia nodded, playing with her glass. “Alessia, you know me. I’m not a narrow-minded person. What happened in the past… let’s just forget it. What’s in the past is in the past. Let’s keep it that way. Now, tell me what’s wrong.” Nicky said. Even if he knew it would hurt like hell, he had to be there for her. “That’s what I love about you Nicky, you really are such a nice person.” she said, smiling through her tears. “Hold on a minute! Did she say love? As in present tense?” Nicky thought, a glimmer of hope lighting his blue eyes. “So, what’s wrong in your little lover’s paradise?” he asked, making Alessia laugh. “God, she’s so beautiful.” he thought, hating himself for thinking that way. He already has a girlfriend for crying out loud! “Gosh… I really don’t want to talk to you about this. I just, don’t have anyone to turn to coz everyone doesn’t really like the idea of me going out with Mark after we…” she said, blushing. “Go on, don’t be shy.” Nicky said. “Well, I knew it was inappropriate. Both of us did. It’s just that, being with each other made us feel so right. Both of us were heartbroken and… well, you get the picture.” she said. Nicky kept silent, waiting for her to go on. “The problem is, I can’t take it anymore. Both of us can’t. Something else is on his mind whenever we’re together… and as ashamed as I am to admit it, it’s the same for me.” she said, looking at the floor. “Is it something or is it someone?” he asked, smiling cheekily. Alessia blushed. “Well, for Mark, I don’t know. In my case, it’s someone.” “Ahh… and who could that someone be?” he questioned, making her blush even more. “Well, that’s for me to know and for you to find out.” she said softly, looking at him. Now it was Nicky’s turn to blush. “So, what do you plan about it?” he asked, changing the topic. Alessia frowned. Sighing, she answered Nicky’s question.