Investigation

"Ring!…"

"What did you find out?" With just one ring of her phone, Mrs. Da immediately answered the call.

"I found that Mr. Ivan recently met a woman named Vivian Wah. She's 21 years old and a professor at T.M. University. Single. Never date."

"And?"

"That's all I could find out."

"Useless brat."

"I tried my best. I couldn't find anything else. Not even where she lived."

"What about his proposal?"

"What proposal?" He asked in confusion.

"Did you find any video of Ivan proposing to Vivian?"

"What? He proposed?" He shouted in shock.

"JACK! Oh my lord. My ear hurt."

"Ah.. I apologize. I don't know anything about it. Do you by chance know the place where Ivan proposed?

"I heard it's in the mall."

"Date?"

"Wednesday."

"The time?"

"Late Evening."

Mrs. Da could hear the computer keyboard typing. She waited patiently hoping that Jack would find something out.

Something like, what she looks like.

"Well?" She spoke up after hearing there's no more sound of a computer keyboard typing on the other side.

"Nothing."

"Again?"

"Yes. Someone had already deleted the CCTV at that time."

"Then try to revive it."

"I already tried. The codes are ten times harder than I expected."

"How come? I thought you were the number hacker!"

"It looks like the person who hacked to remove the video was way too skillful than me."

"I see."

"How come you don't know anything about it when you're his friend?"

"I don't think he thinks of me as his friend." Me muttering between his lips.

"What did you say? Speak louder. I couldn't hear you." Mrs. Da didn't catch what Jack said.

"Nothing. I'm just shocked to find out that he's seeing someone."

"Same here Jack."

"I'll try to find out more. I'll let you know when I find something out."

"Alright. Good Job."

"Are you not going to fire me right?"

"Yes."

"Thank You so much. Good Night."

Mrs. Da was just playing when she said she's going to fire him. But he takes it seriously.

"What did he say? Why did you guys finish talking so fast?" Mr. Da asked while waiting nervously for his wife for the answer.

Shaking her head in disappointment "Nothing much. He could only find out her name, age, and her job. That's all."

"That's all?" Mr. Da asked in surprise.

"Yes." Nodding her head.

"So? What's her name?"

"Vivian Wah. She became a University professor at such a young age."

"So she's a university professor. Anyway, how old is she? You just said she's young. She can't be that young right?" Mr. Da asked his wife.

"She's 21 years old."

"What?" Mr. Da eyes widened in shock.

"Oh my goodness! Why did you guys love to shout? My poor ears. Go shout somewhere else."

"She's 14 years younger than our son!"

"Yea…. Is that why she broke up with him? Thinking that he's too old for him?" Mrs. Da asked.

She was lost in thought.

'So my son likes younger women.'

Shaking his head lightly. "I don't think so. If she cared about the age gaps, she wouldn't have accepted our son when he proposed. She returned the ring and broke up with him only after she saw the news."

"Sigh! It seems like the news that I had someone pread deeply hurts her. I shouldn't have done that. I should've found everything out from our son."

"Don't blame yourself honey." Mr. Da knew that his wife is a kind hearted person. She has to be a fierce person in public.

"It's getting late. Let's go to bed now. I'll go meet her tomorrow."

"Wait! Hold on one second darling. Did you just say you're going to go meet her tomorrow?"

"Yes. What's wrong with that?" Mrs. Da asked in confusion.

'What's wrong with him now? Why is he so worked up?'

"Everything honey. Everything you're thinking of doing is wrong."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Sigh! Just think about it honey. If you go meet her right after what happened between her and our son, do you think she'll want to meet you? Let's wait a little longer before you go meet her, okay?"

Mrs. Da felt sad after hearing her husband's words.

"But… I just want to meet my daughter in law. What's wrong with a mother in law going to meet with her daughter in law?"

Taking his wife's hands in his. "Nothing wrong with that. But, give them some time to cool their heads down. Don't you think it's better to go meet her after she calms down?"

"You right!"

Mr. Da sighed in relief.

"I'll just have to go meet her the day after tomorrow then. I'll go explain everything to her. I'm sure she'll come back to our son after hearing my explanations."

"Sigh!" Shaking his head lightly as he sighed.

"Let's just go to bed. Let's talk about it later."

"Ok…." Mrs. Da answered sadly.

"Even if I can't meet her today, I was thankful to her."

"Why is that?" Mr. Da asked in confusion.

"Just think about it honey, our son was like a human robot. He never let his emotions show. And because of her, his emotions were all over his face."

Nodding his head in agreement "that's true."

"You know what honey?"

"Mmm?"

"Before, I thought our son was gay. Most of his friends are guys only. And he never talks with women for more than five minutes."

"True."

"Thanks to Miss Vivian, my son showed different emotions in front of us."

"You're happy to see your son heartbroken?"

Mrs. Da glared at her husband. "You know that's not what I meant. I'm just happy that my son finally showed his emotions for the first time in his thirties. For a woman! Can you believe that?"

"No. I can't believe it. I feel like she's too young for our son."

"Who car? As long as they love each other, ages are just a number. Plus, my son still looks like he's in his twenties."

"Yes. What my wife said is right. I totally agree with you. Now, let's go to bed."

"Let's go. I can't wait to meet my future daughter in law."

They got up and headed to their room.

————

After Ivan went up to his room, he got a few bottles of wine.

He sits on the floor as he learns against the bed. Next to him was more than five bottles of wine.

He started drinking from the bottle one after another while mixed thoughts and emotions spread through his head and chest.

Tears started rolling down his cheeks.

For the first time in his life that he cries because of a woman.

Ivan felt like Vivian took his heart away when she left. That's why he feels so empty right now.

He wishes that Vivian would appear in front of him right now. So that he can get on his knees to apologize.

It doesn't take long for him to finish up all the bottles of the wine.

Every gulp of the wine is bitter just like how he feels right now.

The images of Vivian crying face and the hurtful words she had said made Ivan's heart ache.

He doesn't want to make her sad but he ends up making her cry because of him.

When Vivian left, she was still crying.

Ivan's heart ached so much that it made his eyes welled up with tears and in less than a second, tears started rolling down on his cheeks.

He didn't cry. But he doesn't know where the tears are coming from.

Staying in his quiet and dark bedroom while making himself keep drinking the whole night.

And As for Vivian, after she drove off, tears of sorrow couldn't stop rolling down on her cheeks.

For the first time in her life she cried her heart out. She doesn't understand why her chest keeps getting tighter.

Trying her best to drive as fast as she could so that she'll reach her place sooner.

When Vivian reached her place, she went into the shower and let the water wash away the tears that are rolling down on her cheeks.

She was the one who asked Ivan to be her boyfriend and she's also the one who broke up with him after being together for a short period of time.

Vivian would never have thought that breaking up with someone will hurt this much. She doesn't understand why she felt this way.

All they do is spend a few days together.

She never thought that they'll end up separating this soon. But when she thought Ivan was about to become someone else's husband, Vivian couldn't help but be heart-wrenching.

But when she thinks about how well Ivan had been treating her the last couple of days, Vivian can't help but cry even harder.

Vivian wishes that everything that happened between her and Ivan was a nightmare, so that she won't feel this unknown pain in her chest.