Confess or lie

Kristine was starting to calm herself and hurry towards solving the problem at hand. She just figured crying wouldn't solve the issue with her family, but the tears wouldn't cease, her lips were now quivering as she wipe her face with her hand, like a kid after throwing tantrums.

If not for the seriousness of the situation, Eric knew he would be dying of extreme humour out of the cuteness she was displaying before him, and her pouty red nose from all her crying was freaking tempting.

To Eric's admiration, he forgot the important issue at hand and continued to look on with lingering humour around his lips as Kristine was busily sniffing to stop the tears.

Finally, she stretched her hand on the table for a tissue box to wipe her tears.

When Eric concluded she was beginning to calm down, he sat next to her on the couch, hoping to comfort her due to his guilty conscience.

He was now ready to deal with the consequences his lies caused.

The humour a while ago had completely vanished from his face.

However, this was the first time he had ever encountered a crying girl, so he didn't know how to begin. He wondered if he should hug her first, pat her on her shoulders, Or maybe, a glass of water might do the work.

At that thought, Eric got up like his butt was on fire and headed towards the kitchen for a glass of water for her, a way to minimize the blow of her rage after his confession.

Eric menacingly came down the stairs and met Mandy busily working in the kitchen so he went towards the fridge to get the water himself.

He was about to leave when he suddenly paused in his tracks to ask Mandy a strange unexpected question.

It was strange because, he never intended to ask her since he thought he could handle it himself.

Mandy's interference could make matters worse for him.

In any case, Kristine's sobs must have rendered his nerves on edge and totally blacked out his mind from thinking straight.

"How does one handle... I mean, approach a crying girl?" Eric asked Mandy suddenly.

Mandy stared accusingly at Eric then her mind suddenly thought of the poor girl in his room.

Her first guess was that she was the one Eric was asking about. But why would she cry?

Instead of answering Eric's questions, Mandy asked to follow behind her as she moved toward Eric's room to check on the girl. She was thinking the girl would be more open to her than a clueless Eric.

Yet, Eric didn't know if he should be glad or worried about how things turned out.

But better still, he led the way towards his room with Mandy tailing behind him, as if walking with a troublesome teenager to school to have him scolded by his teacher.

Eric was beginning to feel guilty about involving Mandy when he was the one who messed up in the first place.

All he needed to do to solve matters was to simply tell the truth, yet, it seemed difficult as time passed by.

Regardless, when Eric reached his room, he paused for a second and turned to Mandy.

He turned so abruptly that Mandy was nearly startled.

"Mandy, could you give me a few minutes to sort something out before you come in?" The moment this request came out of Eric's mouth, Mandy stared at him accusingly.

She just figured he was the cause behind that girl's tears but she cooperated and paused by the door to grant his request.

He needed to tell Kristine the truth now or else, once she learns the truth from Mandy his situation might go from worse to worst.

And Kristine wouldn't forgive him, not that he cared though. After all, it's the right thing to do.

Eric entered his room reluctantly and met Kristine still wiping her tears with the tissue in her hand.

"Kristine...actually! " Eric stammered.

Kristine was stunned out of her wits at the sound of her name.

She turned abruptly to attention.

The overflowing tears from her eyes froze in place and her expressions were plagued with doubts.

How did he know who she was? This was supposed to be their first time meeting each other. Or was she missing something here?

"How did you know my name? I don't remember telling you....Or did you already figure out who I was? But how?" Kristine confronted him. She preferred to hear his excuse or what his choice of words would be for his explanation.

Maybe, he might unknowingly spill something about her or Rhea then she would finally confirm his involvement with the matters of Jason and Rhea.

This was not the time to assume things and end up ruining her only chance at getting revenge for her sister. She need not panic.

Yet, it's as if her brain had a mind on its own.

She had formally planned to approach Eric without him knowing she was Rhea's sister, this way, she could find out anything she needed to know, gather pieces of evidence and plot her revenge within close range.

Kristine began to wonder if her plots to trap all her sister's culprits were already blown to ashes. Since Eric seemed to figure out her connection to Rhea by knowing her name, which might come from Sam telling him perhaps.

"Oh no!" Kristine hissed within her breaths.

She thought luck was on her side when it coincidentally brought her this close to Eric. The real brain, or maybe, the main culprit behind Rhea's mishaps so far.

Since he made it his aim to buck up every crime Jason does and help him go scout free.

Superstars shouldn't always be trusted! Most of them deceive the public with a perfectly nice image. But privately, they were dubious and two-timing.

They commit bad stuff underneath their perfect public personalities. Awful actions that were swept under the carpet by manipulating the media.

Kristine finally turned to Eric for an answer...She has to find out how much he knew of her identity, or maybe, confront him right here for what he did to Rhea.

"How did you know my name?" Kristine asked again when she noticed his speechlessness, even though she was fighting internally at what Eric's reply might be.

On the other hand, Eric's mind was plagued with self-criticism as he bit his tongue in regret at this sudden mistake.

"Why did I have to call her by her name? Am I trying to spell out that I had her investigated, or worse, make her aware of our past?

No! This wasn't how he planned to go about his scenario when he began the investigations. Kristine can't know who he was or their past connection with each other.

He can't risk how matters get reported in a different scenario to their Nanny than the real message he wanted to send across when the right time comes.

He has to come up with something fast to avoid this situation.

His plans can't be ruined before it gets started. No! not possible.

But what should he do? He had to think of a way out of this mess somehow!

And that was when an idea struck him. Eric feigned ignorance at Kristine's claims and reasoned plainly to divert her mind away from her suspicious thoughts.

"You don't remember? You woke up earlier screaming and searching for someone named Caleb. You even talked about him in your sleep. You also kept saying stuff like_ Kristine... calm down, let it go!_ many times. So I figured that might be your name." Eric had her attention now.

Well, it wasn't like all what he said were complete lies, even though he added a bit to spice it up.

Eric stared as Kristine's expression changed from doubt into a form of relief, he might be mistaken but she seems to be coming to terms with his excuse.

However, he was expecting a shocked expression instead.

Does that mean she had memories of what happened earlier?

"I doubt that!

In any case, he proceeded to firmly reason with her until she completely believed him.

"So, from your reaction right now, I believe I was right...Kristine is indeed your name right?" Eric urged.

Kristine didn't realize she has been holding unto her breath until she had to desperately exhale to save herself from suffocation.

The thought that Eric wasn't aware of who she was yet, made her relieved.

Her cover shouldn't be blown, at least, not before she uncovered all the skeletons hidden in this Superstar's closet.

By the time Eric would come to terms with who she was, she would be long gone after she accomplish a part of her mission by instigating the downfall of his career.

His days of hell are about to start ticking.

But wait a minute...

What did he mean by I woke up earlier and asked for Caleb? Seriously?

Doesn't that seem like a worse problem now?

'What else did I say in my sleep?" Kristine asked curiously.

She figured she needed to know everything she said or confessed to about herself so she could weigh her chances. And know whether she has to change her tactics in her approaches.

Nonetheless, Eric was relieved he escaped her suspicions. Even though he learned a good lesson and needed to be extra careful about his words since Kristine seemed like an inquisitive girl who wouldn't let things go.

"That was all I could remember. The rest were barely audible and I wasn't curious enough to hear it." Eric answered briefly to avoid further questions.

Kristine, on the other hand, nodded in understanding. Well, more like gratitude.

How could she still not be over Caleb Donnells and turn to drop his traces in every direction in her life? Why can't she just let him go?

That shouldn't be the problem now, her family has waited long enough. They were her priority right now.

Therefore, Kristine reached for the tissue box again to wipe her messed up face from all her crying, and got up.

She looked at herself and noticed the strange clothing she was wearing and wondered how or who changed her. After all, she wouldn't be wearing the same dress after months in coma right?

"Who changed me?" She asked looking at her loose clothes.

"My maid ofcourse...You don't think I did it right? I am not a pervert you know." Eric was suddenly on edge.

Her question reminded him of how she called him a pervert, during her insane moments when she first woke up.

It was actually Sofia who changed her but he didn't want to involve Sofa in this accident, more than she needed to be a part of. Or cause her any trouble.

He would handle everything on his own...the damages, and any other after-effects the accident resulted into.

"No offense...I didn't say you were! It's just an innocent question, or are you guilty about something? Did someone claim you were a pervert?" Kristine teased in amusement at the reactions on his face. He looked like a mouse caught in a trap.

Eric inaudibly..."Yes! You!"

From their conversation, Kristine seemed to not remember her insane moments or anything about running around the house, so he didn't know how to ask her how she knew her way around his Mansion. When this was her first time here.

This nagging feeling wouldn't leave him. He had to find out!

"Let's leave the topic for now until she remembers. Afterall, she can't answer if she can't remember right?" Eric subdued his temptation to ask.

"I have to leave..I have already stayed long enough....Thanks for everything, I guess". Kristine blabbered non-stop.

She began to prepare herself to leave and quickly dashed into Eric's closet to change into her dress.

The last time she intruded into Eric's closet and caught him unaware whilst he was changing, her eyes glanced at her dress hunged inside his closet.

Kristine came out minutes later in her lovely dress, looking pretty and smart and in an extreme hurry to leave.

That was when Eric finally remembered what he was about to confess to a while ago before the whole episode about Kristine's questions about her name came forth. He took slow breaths to finally come clean about his lies.

He also left Mandy waiting outside, all in this same quest to confess. So he needed to do it right away.

"Actually..I am sorry, I lied. You were only here just last night, so it's barely less than twenty-four hours since you stayed here." And finally, the long-awaited confession.

Kristine paused in her tracks as she got ready to leave and turned towards Eric in shock.

Her face stared like a calmness before a storm, then slowly transformed into surprise, then relief, and then the anger began to build up, from all the emotional trauma she went through when she thought about her family's distress.

All the pain and regrets she felt were all based on a lie?

Suddenly, Kristine became so furious at that realization, she didn't know when or how she retraced her steps towards where Eric was standing and ended up resulting into violence until she felt a pain in her hand from the hot slap she gave Eric on his cheek.

Tears filled her eyes as she stare deeply into his eyes.

"How could you joke about something like that...Oh God! You are so petty!" Kristine roamed the room for her stuff, this time around in anger since she couldn't stand being in the same space with Eric a minute more.

Men were all the same and they just never change. They were like onions that brought tears to the eyes, the more you handle them. They only know how to hurt, betray and cause pain.

"I hate Men! And I wish you all get cleared from existence." Kristine hissed angrily, as she collapsed into the couch to gain control of herself.

Her strength had suddenly left her!

She later gathered a little strength and wiped her tears then opened the door to leave, but found Mandy standing by the door staring at the both of them.

"Leave us, Eric...I would like a word with her." Mandy interfered.

Mandy went inside the room dragging Kristine along with her.

Eric unhappily left both women and came downstairs to find something to eat...He was still surprised by Kristine's slap.

"Did I hurt her that much, just from a simple joke? What exactly could have happened to her, for her to have this extreme hatred for men? What did that Caleb do to her?

This was the second time she spoke about this hatred towards men. It seemed to fuel an immense pain and disgust in her anytime she mentioned it.

Eric suddenly felt inferior, even though he didn't have anything to do with what previously happened to her but he blamed himself for proving her right all along!