EVIDENCE

ROYCE

Although the meeting with Roxie was worse than expected, I was able to make myself clear. Looking at her reactions, she seemed to back down when I warned her for the last time. It was a relief.

I drove home more hopeful about meeting Nelly again. After I cleared my name I would be able to prove my innocence. The only thing left was to speak to Marica with regards to the evidence that my detective gathered.

I was eager to talk to my detective about a further investigation regarding the fake evidence. I sensed that there was more to it. To add it up is the way Roxie was so confident in threatening and warning me that there are people who want me in jail.

"Hello, how was the work I asked you?"

"Mr. Park, I haven"t done it yet but I already have some leads. I can confirm that there are people behind Roxie."

"Is Dennis involved as well?"

"Yes, he is one of them and more influential people are working behind this. I already think this has something to do with Cruz"s companies. It"s hard for me to talk about this without solid evidence. I will contact you in the next few days. Give me at least 4 to 7 days."

"Sure, I know you got this."

The next call was for Marica. The only woman who is capable of bridging me to Nelly.

"Hello, Royce, what is it?"

"Hey, thanks for answering. I was wondering if you have time to meet up tomorrow. There's something important I want to talk about."

"Sure, what time?"

"It"s up to you. I will adjust my schedule to fit your free time."

"Alright, I think this is so important that you are willing to compromise your company duties. Anyway, you"re the CEO. I"ll be free to meet you at 3 in the afternoon at the potion cafe."

"Agreed. By the way, have you talked to Nelly?"

"Yeah, I talk to her almost every day. Nelly is fine, getting some rest that she deserves. If there"s one thing that this breakup is doing to Nelly, it is the rest that she needed. She had been working hard and the last time she had a break was her birthday."

"Well, I can give it to her without a heartbreak, though."

"I know but she wouldn"t take a break, even if you force her. The only reason she agreed to the Palawan vacation was that it was my birthday gift to her."

I heaved a heavy sigh, remembering the first time I slept with Nelly. My ears warmed thinking about it. "We had a great time there. Thanks for being the best friend Nelly could ever have."

Marica laughed sarcastically. "You guys had a great time for sure. Care to share what happened in Palawan? Nelly didn"t even share a hint, I think it would be something interesting."

"You know I am faithful to Nelly and that includes some of our little secrets. So, I can"t say anything, I"m sorry."

Marica laughed again. "Alright, you passed the test. See you tomorrow."

After my dinner, I was tempted to send Nelly another text. It was almost the same as the first one I sent the other night. I was confident we will be together very soon. I made the most of the beautiful city lights on my balcony view before I went to take a shower. And as usual, I chose to sleep in Nelly's room.

I was ahead of time when I arrived at Potion Cafe to meet up with Marica. I waited a couple of minutes before Marica arrived looking like she just got out of her office. Marica was wearing a knee-length white dress paired with a dark blue suit.

"Hey, I"m sorry to keep you waiting," Marica said, kissing me on the cheek.

"No problem, I only waited a few minutes." I paused and pointed to the chair opposite me. "You look like you"re from your office."

"Yes, I had to talk to some of our organizers and of course, office work, you know."

"I"m sorry you had to cut your time from your work."

"Don"t be. I gave time for this talk. What are you having? It"s freaking hot outside, I need some drink too."

"Nothing fancy, just a lemony pineapple iced tea."

"I"ll have a coconut milkshake with Cacao Nibs." The waiter was happy to take Marica"s order. "So, what is it that you want to talk about? Does it concern Nelly?"

"I bet it wasn"t that hard to guess, right? For the past few days, I have been bothering you about Nelly."

"Nah, you"re not bothering me. Go on."

I retrieved the envelope from my suit"s pocket and handed it to Marica. "Here is some evidence showing I didn't have anything to do with the accident two years ago, including who was responsible for faking pieces of evidence. I also have it on USB if you want more info about it."

Marica started flipping the papers until her face showed astonishment. "Roxie? She was the one who faked the documents and evidence against you? I understand that she wants you back so she wanted Nelly to break up with you. But it wouldn"t be good for you to have a criminal case."

"I know, I also thought about it. I met Roxie yesterday and I got the answer I needed."

"You met her? Why?"

"Well, it was a stupid idea of convincing her to walk away and stay out of our life, probably migrate abroad. As expected, she refused at first but she seemed to back down when I warned to sue her for faking documents."

"Good for her. I never wanted to see her face again from the time she insulted and mistreated Nelina," Marica said as she took her Milkshake served by the waiter.

"We all have the same sentiment. And there"s one more thing Roxie mentioned. She was confident that she can protect me if I stay with her and leave Nelly because there are people who want me in jail."

Marica snorted. "Seriously?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I didn"t give too much thought about it but my detective told me that there are more people behind this so Roxie must be telling the truth."

Marica stopped sipping her Coconut Milk Shake. "My God, that bitch is evil. If this concerns Nelina, I better warn her now. We never know what these people want from you and Cruz's family."

"Absolutely. This has something to do with their company, my detective already gave me an insight."

"Thank you so much for the heads-up Royce."

"The only favor I asked is that you present all the evidence to Nelly because she listens to you. I am confident Nelina will change her mind if she sees all of the evidence. Can you do that for me?"

"I"ll do my best. You set the bar so high. After having Dennis, Nelly had several men tailing him but none of them succeeded. I was even amazed that Nelly said yes to riding your car the first time she met you. Nelly wasn"t the same after the trauma she experienced with Dennis. You changed her in a good way."

"Nelly changed me as well. She made me the best version of myself."