I suddenly felt the urge of ripping the pages and throwing them off to the air. Yeah, like the one you’d seen in movies where the lead girl angrily tore the pages and sent the pieces flying everywhere. But then I remembered that for the last few days, I was not acting like my usual self. My neighbors might doubt my sanity even more so I’d rather not make that kind of scene now.
And let them call a mental institution on my behalf.
Nevertheless, despite my muggy mood, I hurriedly scanned through everything. I clearly knew that Carter Ross was out of the picture anyway because we broke up during sophomore. Sophomore was like twelve years ago. In case the fortune-teller didn’t know math, that would be the only time I’d consider Carter Ross. And I’d rather not cultivate the budding hatred that I was feeling right now for him, yet again. If there was someone who should ask for forgiveness, it was him and not me. Not in a million bad luck would that fact ever change.
I turned on the pages some more. Then after a while, another name came along—John Brooks. I felt a click in my head as his name echoed in my mind.
John Brooks. Glasses. John Brooks. Nerdy glasses. John Brooks. Overalls. Eww.
Slowly, it came back to me—the memories of my old friend and confidant, John Emerson Brooks. It was too much of a coincidence that I also happened to use his name when I lied to my dad earlier. It must have had been second instinct. I mean, I did use his name a lot before whenever I was making up excuses. He was that kind of a good person that whenever my parents would hear his name, my actions would instantly be justified.
February 19, 1998
Dear Diary,
He’s annoying! I officially declare. He’s a nerd alright and that alone scares the heck out of me. His fashion sense is way down low. I mean come on, why is he wearing his grandpa’s trousers and not to mention the suspenders to school. And that bow tie almost killed me. My eyes widened in shock and my heart thumped fast. Oh, not because I like him but rather it’s because of the anger that flared inside of me for he was like the worst dressed person on earth. And he did what? Confessed to me or whatever you call it. Argh. How dare he? Who even gave him the right to like me? Hello... earth to Mr. John Brokes, I don’t even know if I got his name right, we’re not on the same page.
Here’s the annoyed,
Kayla
I laughed a little as I remembered how our first encounter had been. As resenting as that entry sounded, things got a lot better after that day. I was actually given the chance to know him more. And he turned out to be a good guy despite his repulsive appearance. I suddenly felt like reading some more about our good old days but then I felt a string being pulled in my heart as I recalled how things hadn’t gone that well after graduation. Some things had happened and it sort of put off the friendship that we once had.
I stood there for a moment in front of my apartment door and blinked twice before I realized who that fortune teller was talking about. The answer was right in front of me. I didn’t have to go through all the pages to know who that old lady was talking about.
It was him, definitely him.
I shook my head a little in realization that it was Mr. John E. Brooks all along. Of all people, he was the supposedly ‘sincere soul’ that I had offended. But then it couldn’t be. He was too good to even build up hatred towards me. I mean, he was the nicest person on earth. How could he hate me? His pure heart would never do that.
Did he take it too personally after I dumped him for Jonathan? Come on, he should have had realized that we were not supposed to be an item to begin with. Anyway, I must talk to him and ask his forgiveness. And maybe by then everything would be back to normal. I just needed to fix this whatever hatred that old lady was talking about.
So, after the epic realization of the mysterious person who put on me that curse thingy, it dawned to me that I actually had no idea where he was. Now it felt like my good old friend was suddenly a total stranger. Oh, I didn’t quite get that right. Maybe I needed to remind myself that we actually were, given the situation we had been before and the things that had happened afterwards.
I suddenly felt kind of apprehensive about the idea of me asking his forgiveness. Years ago, I thought that I could just needlessly disregard him since I knew that I wouldn’t be in need of him any longer. I already found the love of my life after that terrible heartbreak. And he was a friend. He was just a friend, or so I supposed. Friends were supposed to undertand. But really, I did nothing wrong.
I only fell in love. Just not with him.
Seriously, did I actually need to think about all this and constantly explain everything to myself? It was in itself a plausible argument. Nothing from what I’d done was irrational or beyond anyone’s comprehension.
And so here would be the plan. Okay, so this time around, I would just approach him with an all-business like attitude. I would just get what I needed then head off. And who knows? He might be happily married by now. I mean he might be a nerd but there were girls who liked that kind of guy. But then, if that was the case, shouldn’t he suppose to have forgiven me already by this time?
Oh my gosh! After all these years, was he still holding a grudge for such a petty thing like that?
I grabbed my phone from my bag and searched for his name. After going through all of my contacts, I realized that he wasn’t in the list. So I failed to recall, yet again, that we lost total communication after that eerie ‘event’. Maybe Sandy could help me out with this one. We all attended the same high school after all. Perhaps she knew where he was or what he was up to now. Probably, she ended up being his good old friend when I didn’t.
I dialed up Sandy’s number.
She picked up a moment later. “Hi Kayla, I’m sorry but I haven’t been able to do anything about it. I’m trying to...” Her voice broke off midway. Then she continued speaking after seconds of sobbing, “...contact them. But I can’t seem to find their location. I have reported it to the police and they said that they would do anything to help us out.”
Oh yeah, in case I forgot, I recently lost all my savings. Goodie, she reminded me again. With a sigh, I told her, “Enough with that for now. I really need some information about someone. It’s urgent. Remember John Brooks?”
“Who?”
“John Brooks,” I repeated, emphasizing every word. I wanted to add the word ‘nerd’, but I refrained from doing so. Maybe I should be much nicer to him, for like starting now.
“Oh, him,” she finally said. “I heard he’s working in a hotel. Why did you ask about him all of a sudden?”
“I need something from him. Do you happen to know his contact number so that I can give him a call?” I asked her.
“I’m sorry but I’m afraid I don’t have his number. Maybe you can search for his Facebook account if he happens to have one. Or google him? I heard that he was very famous now,” answered Sandy.
I was taken back for a moment when I heard the word ‘famous’. John Brooks was never equal to that word. In fact, he was the opposite of it.
Were we talking about the same person?
I wanted to ask her but then I sensed the exhaustion in her voice. Maybe I should give her a break from all the inquiries for now. Later, definitely. I seriously would like to know when the world, without warning, turned upside down.
“Maybe I’ll do that. And about our money, I’m sorry if I can’t be of any help in the moment. I’m quite busy with... uhmm... things. Sort of. Anyway, I’m in a hurry. Will give you a call later or maybe you can call me when you hear from that company,” I said as I searched for my keys.
“Okay, I’ll do what I can. You must be busy with your work right now so I won’t be much of a bother. We’ll get it back, Kaye. Don’t worry,” she replied.
“Uhmm… right. I’m busy with things... or work. But rest assured that you’ll be hearing some good news soon. Bye, Sandy,” I said before hanging up.
Just wait, Sandy. When I’d get my hands on John Brooks, everything would be solved by then. And a
fter I made up with him, I’d have my good fortune back and things would slowly return to normal.
I pushed the door of my apartment and hurriedly grabbed my laptop from the coffee table. I opened my Facebook account and searched for the name as I lazily lay on the sofa. John Brooks. I got up a little bit as I tried to find the most comfortable position. Then I focused my eyes at the screen and saw the long list of names that appeared. Did I need to go through all this? I didn’t have that much time. I needed to find him fast.
Nevertheless, I did try to scroll down the first two pages and gave up when I reached the third one. This could take forever, of which I couldn’t actually afford. Forever might mean another set of heartbreak, joblessness, lost savings, and car accidents on my part. I clearly knew that I can’t manage to go through all that again.
If that was even possible.
I looked at the time and saw that it was now a little after nine in the evening. If I could actually find his location, I still needed to wait for tomorrow. Or maybe I could just casually give him a call and ask for his forgiveness. But then I realized that it will not sound any sincere if I would do it that way that and that in the end he might just shove me off even more and my bad luck would surge up to the limit. I didn’t want this whole building collapsing on me just because I angered him some more. It was like a verdict. If I wanted my life back, I needed to ask Johnny’s forgiveness.
Actually, if things hadn’t gone wrong, we could still be friends by now. But somehow things did happen and we couldn’t actually change any of it. I sighed. Okay, so maybe I actually owed him an apology or at least a valid explanation. Perchance his high IQ hadn’t comprehended the gravity of the situation way back then. That could happen, somehow.
But it was plain simple. We couldn’t be a pair because I was one of the most popular girls in school and he was the least popular guy. So basically, for starters, we were not on the same page to begin with, just like I was telling myself all along. And of course, I was right. It was very easy to understand.
What was his problem anyway?
I kept on ranting him in my mind as I typed his name in Google. It was not like I really believed that he was now famous. Let’s just say that something unimaginable like that did happen. Miracles do happen every now and then after all. Heaven must have had smiled at him. And ola! he was now famous.
Then suddenly, I remembered that he once told me that he was the only grandson of an hotelier. It was actually possible that his grandpa died and passed the business to his father or to him. Okay, so maybe that was a possibility. I typed down his name and added the word hotel just in case my hunch was right.
A few John Brooks appeared but one article caught my attention.
John Brooks Named General Manager of Burchett Hotel.
I hurriedly opened it. The page was nice and it was a pretty descent hotel. I was surprised when I saw that it was a five-star hotel located in Creeksburg. And it was said that he was one of the youngest to be given such a position.
His grandfather died two years ago and handed over everything to him. Gosh, I should be a psychic. I was right. When did I ever go wrong anyway? But then why to him? I remembered that his father was still alive or maybe he also died. Whoa! That was tragic—two deaths in ten years. Anyway, that wasn’t my problem. I only needed to see him.
I jotted down his contact number in my planner. I thought that maybe I should call him now. I grabbed my phone and dialed the number. After a while, a female voice answered. So was I really expecting that he would be the one to answer the call? Hello? General Manager? Of course, there was a secretary that would answer the call for him. Five-star hotel thingy was never a small time business.
“Hello, good evening. This is Rachelle Moore speaking. How may I help you?” she politely said on the other line.
“Hi, this is Kayla Wilson. I was wondering if I could speak to Mr. John Brooks?” I asked.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but he’s out of the office right now,” she answered. Right, it was already pass nine in the evening. Office hours were way over eon of minutes ago.
“When will he be back?” I asked her again.
“He’ll be back after a week,” she said.
I paused. Nope, I wasn’t expecting that. I thought she would say that he’d be back tomorrow. Or later?
“A week?” I asked her again, just in case my perfect ears hadn’t got it right.
“Yes ma’am, he’s on a leave right now. But we’ll be happy to assist you in any way we can,” she offered.
“No thanks. I really need to talk to him. Where can I find him then?” I inquired. Even if I had to track him down to the ends of the earth, I would do so. I didn’t have that much time. Maybe I would be dead by next week if I wouldn’t see him right away.
“I’m sorry, Ma’am, but we’re not allowed to disclose any information,” she apologetically told me.
“Even just this once?”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Wilson.”
“Okay, guess you couldn’t help it if that is so. Well, thanks for answering my call,” I told her.
She said goodbye and I hung up afterwards. So maybe it was pointless to ask about his location this way. I had no clue where he lived, let alone what he was up to right now. He could be anywhere. Or worse, he was out of the country having a grand vacation while I was in the verge of almost losing my life every single second.
He could have had been a bit nicer to me.
I googled him some more but there was no detail that gave out his whereabouts. I looked on every recent article there was about him but I hadn’t been able to get anything. I gave up on searching and just opened up another horoscope site to find out some encouraging words or maybe some enlightenment to guide me through.
You reached a new milestone, and you should find that someone who’s holding the key to your much awaited life. It’s not time to stop and rest. You’ve got to keep pushing!
Oh gosh, that was right. The horoscope said it all. I was not that far from getting back my once perfect life. I just needed to devise something in order to find out where he was. If I would put my mind into anything, I would definitely be able to locate him.
I got up on my feet and walked back and forth the room. After needlessly going around my whole apartment, I finally saw the only way left on how to find him. I looked straight at my reflection in the mirror and saw an exquisitely made lady with perfect blond hair and undeniable lovely curves. Her lucent green eyes were subtly reflected in her confident smile. And every corner of her face showed utmost beauty.
And with that, I knew what I needed to do. I had to make use of this one. Just wait, John Brooks, I would find you first thing tomorrow morning.
Chapter 5
“Miss, you’re not allowed in here,” said a voice that came from behind. I didn’t look back so he started tapping me on my shoulders. For one, I wanted to tell him that I was on a secret mission around here and he had no right whatsoever to disrupt me.
But it was kind of annoying that he hadn’t refrained from doing so. After another second, I finally turned back to see who it was. I wasn’t quite expecting that it was him who was behind me. I thought I was finally out of his or their sight. Well, I did manage to get pass through everyone else using my utmost beauty. And here I was still caught red handed by a guard. Why did he even have to see me for like now? He could have had arrived a little later.
I looked back and ignored the nosy guard. Looking straight ahead, I continued staring at the office of the General Manager. I took another step forward but the guard from before blocked my way the next instant.
“Miss, I’m sorry but visitors are not allowed in this area,” he said in the most polite yet clearly annoyed way.
All business, eh?
“I just want to find out where John Brooks is,” I told him.
One of his eyebrows rose up in the inquiry of what I was up to. Great, he must be thinking that I was one crazy stalker of their General Manager. For crying out
loud, who would stalk a nerd? Or probably he might be speculating that I would kidnap the General Manager and ask for a huge ransom.
“You can inquire using the phone. And I’m sorry to say that this area is not for visitors. You cannot proceed inside unless you have an appointment,” he told me.
Then as he continued saying the whole policy book of the hotel, I saw the secretary got back to the office. Gosh, she was fast. Now my golden chance of peering through John Brooks’ whereabouts was gone.
I kind of thought that maybe while she was gone, I would fake an appointment and get pass the receptionists outside. And for that short span of moment, I could find out something about John Brooks. Just his address will do me so much good. Even if he was super rich, he couldn’t casually move his things around in a day or so. I would have at least several days to pester him until I attained his utter forgiveness.
“I’ll lead you outside,” the guard finally finished as he motioned the way out to me.
“I’m fine. I can manage to find the exit myself,” I muttered as I flipped my hair to the other side, feeling a little miffed.
Then I walked straight across the aisle towards the ‘exit’. He followed me nevertheless. Oh, he could continue on doing that and I might actually look like a VIP being personally guided by the hotel’s security.
But disapproving looks met me as I was walking down the lobby. I looked at my outfit. Nothing was wrong with it. What was with all of them? Then I followed their gaze as it passed through me and moved all the way to my back. As I turned around, I saw that the guard was still following me.
So maybe his way of ‘following’ wasn’t that much of like the ones you had seen when celebrities were being guided by securities. It was more of the way the cops followed their suspects. This was clearly a violation of my human rights.
“Excuse me, sir. If you don’t stop acting that way, I’ll file a complaint against you,” I warned him.
I clearly saw that he wanted to let out a shrug but he shunned from doing so. Instead, he forced a half smile to his lips and told me, “I’ll just make sure that you will be guided accordingly.”
My Kind of Perfect Page 5