It is a warm Saturday morning. Around Isla Corale are vendors who sell sea foods, tourists who want to bask under the sun with their feet touching the brown sand, and neighbors who share chit-chats. Jake, Joanna’s cousin, went out of their house in an early morning. He inhaled the morning breeze. “Isla Corale is heaven!” he exhaled while stretching his arms.
Last night, the employees, together with Dior had a bonfire and some drinks to celebrate the accomplishment of their soon-to-be-finished hotel and restaurant business. Jake looked around, “Oh, we forgot to clean up last night,” he said. A worker, who just got in, replied “Last night was fun. Too bad, Sir DK went to bed early”.
Jake’s eyebrows raised, “He did? I thought he spent the night hanging out with us,” he said out of confusion. “Yes, I saw him going inside his place around ten” the worker expounded. Jake scratched his nape, “Maybe I drank too much. I can only remember pieces of what happened last night” he said. The worker just chuckled. Seeing the mess on the site, Jake gathered some of the workers to help him clean the place before they proceed with the construction.
They started cleaning the place when an item caught his eye. A leather wallet was left nearby. He picked it up and raised it, “Who dropped his wallet? Check your pockets” he announced. However, no one in the construction site owns the leather wallet. One suggested, “Jake, you can determine who owns that by seeing what’s inside”. Jake nodded; so he opened the leather wallet.
Aside from money, he saw few identification cards. He pulled it out, seeing it was DK’s cards. “No worries, this is Sir DK’s wallet” he informed everyone. He placed back the ID but a piece of film caught his attention. Out of disbelief, he pulled it out to see for himself.
His jaw dropped and his eyes widened in disbelief. He kept the picture to himself to avoid the workers seeing it. “This is some hot mess,” he said upon seeing DK and Joanna’s picture from when they were still in school. For a moment he didn’t know what to do; Aunt Marge would be disappointed if she knew. They all thought that Joanna was doing everything to finish school but little did they know that she was DK’s lover.
His fists clenched; he knows rumors about DK being a womanizer. He made his way to DK’s place and flashed a fake smile. He knocked and waited for DK to open the door. In a minute, DK opened the door to accommodate Jake. “What’s up, man?” he asked while drying his wet hair with a towel. “Can I go inside? I have something to discuss with you” Jake answered. DK just nodded and allowed Jake to enter his living room.
Jake pulled out DK’s wallet from his pocket. “First things first, I think you dropped this wallet last night, sir” he initiated. DK grabbed it, knowing that the wallet contained memories of him and Joanna. “Thanks. I didn’t notice it fell” he said. Jake’s hideous eyes observed DK’s behavior – he seemed so tense.
Jake clasped his hands and added, “One more thing…”. DK’s eyes widened when he saw DK and Joanna’s picture in Jake’s hand. “Can you please explain this to me?” he asked to clarify things. DK looked away, “Is that self-explanatory already?” he answered indirectly. “You had a relationship with Joanna? Or is she just one of the girls you played with?” Jake asked.
DK can feel anger inside. “I did not play with Joanna. I loved your cousin” he simply answered. Jake looked away and calmly replied, “Is that so? Then, let’s ask Joanna to come here and explain her side”. Jake pulled out his phone and called Joanna. DK felt both anger and nervousness. He knows that Joanna has her plans but he ruined it because of his clumsiness.
He pinched his nose’s temple and let things happen. He thinks that maybe it is the right thing to do. Jake dropped the call and faced DK, “Joanna will be here in a minute. Don’t make yourself clean, sir DK. If we know that you’ve hurt Joanna, we won’t go easy on you”.
The door opened, showing Joanna and Aunt Marge. “Will there be a business transaction? What do we have here?” Aunt Marge initiated. Joanna locked eyes with DK who seemed to be troubled by Jake. Both Aunt Marge and Joanna are clueless about what is happening. But what makes Joanna feel uncanny is the way Jake looks at her.
“I will not beat around the bush,” Jake said. He slammed the piece of film on the glass table. “Care to explain what I have found, Joana?” Jake said sarcastically. Aunt Marge cupped her mouth in shock. “My goodness…” Aunt Marge exclaimed. Joanna’s eyes circled. She glared at DK who looked at her in a blank look. “What did you do?” Joanna asked DK.
Jake replied, “I found it myself. You have to answer my question, Joanna”. She can feel tears building up in her eyes. Her long-kept secret is finally revealed. “DK and I had a relationship” she answered honestly. Jake asked more, “That’s it? Tell us more about what happened between the two of you”. Joanna’s tears started rolling down her cheeks. “That was when we were still in the university. We parted ways already” she expounded.
“You are not giving us any important information, Joanna! You know for sure that DK is a womanizer. You fell for his trap?” Jake’s voice suddenly raised. “No, it was just me and him, and we had…” Joanna didn’t have a chance to continue with what she was saying when DK interrupted.
“We have a child” DK uttered. Aunt Marge and Jake suddenly got silent from what they had heard. The noise that surrounds DK’s place is Joanna’s small sobs. DK went beside Joanna, holding her hand. “That’s the truth” he added.
Jake was about to attack DK when Aunt Marge stopped him. “Jake, it happened already. There’s no point in getting angry” she said. Joanna spoke for herself, “It has been almost a year since I gave birth to DK’s child. And I am scared that you’ll find out because I haven’t finished my studies yet. DK has been a good father. He sustains the child’s needs, but I prohibited him to see the kid”. Aunt Marge asked, “Why are you doing that?”. Joanna just cried; it was DK who broke the silence.  
“I cheated on her. I had other girls” he lied. Joanna looked at him, she saw the pain in his eyes. Jake exclaimed, “You bastard! You ruined Joanna’s reputation”. DK sighed, “I know. And I am getting the karma of what I did”.
DK did not cheat on Joanna. King, his friend and his rival with Joanna’s heart, intentionally made DK look like a cheater by hiring a prostitute to act as a f*ck buddy of DK, even before Joanna had given birth. Joanna explained what had happened carefully. Jake was in a rage, but Aunt Marge tried her best to understand their situation.
“Thankfully, I have friends who helped me go through this pain. I am using DK’s money to raise the child. Right now, I am staying in an apartment near a school where I got the scholarship for single mothers” she storied. DK crossed his arms; he admitted a wrongdoing he did not do. Thinking that his words wouldn’t alter anything regarding the situation, he chose to remain quiet.