The Ponmo Debacle Episode 6

THE PONMO DEBACLE
PART 6

I felt like the breath in my body had taken a vacation. Probably to Santorini, Greece. My most favorite and bucket list place to visit. I know that I will definitely go there at least once before I leave this Earth. I fell in love with it after I saw it on a Philippine telenovela.

How could Magnus move on so fast while I was here hoping that the next ring of my phone was a call from him? Men and their fickleness I thought as the piece of meat in my mouth tasted like dust and I couldn’t even lift the glass of my favorite wine to my l-ips.

How is it so easy to move on from someone you claim to love just two weeks after a misunderstanding? It wasn’t even as if I was caught cheating, lying or stealing. None of the major deal breakers in a relationsh¡p. What if I had mistakenly cheated and asked for forgiveness, Magnus would have forgiven me if he could behave this way after this misunderstanding.

“Babe, meet Duke. Duke is my colleague at work” Juliet’s voice had me tearing my eyes away from that accursed table and focusing my pain filled eyes on Juliet and the hunk of a man that stood silently behind her watching me intently.

“Duke, meet my girl for life, Leticia. She is my ride or die and very very cute. You guys will definitely hit it off I am sure” Juliet’s eyes had focused on mine and was trying to find out what upset me in the one place that we usually came to have fun and spend a happy evening.

I shrugged off the pain and the sadness. What was I thinking? If Magnus wanted to move on, who was I to drag him back? I focused my attention on the handsome man who still waited silently behind Juliet.

“It’s an honor to meet you Duke” I murmured a greeting finally rising to my feet to give him a pseudo hug and make way for them to sit down.

Duke turned out to be a very friendly person regaling us with anecdotes and stories of his travels and had us in stitches in no time. I even forgot that Magnus was in the same restaurant sometimes while I bridled with laughter.

I also noticed that Juliet was trying so hærd to match make Duke and I, God bless her soul. She was the only person that knew how much this issue with Magnus affected me and how hærd I was trying to let him go. She must have thought moving on to the next man was going to help me along.

However, I noticed that the more she tried to get Duke to notice that we had the same interests and that it would really be great for us to hit it off, the more the pain in Duke’s eyes increased because Juliet was not seeing him the way he wanted her to see him. She had friend zoned the young man from her to Krypton it seemed.
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She was comfortable around him, touching his hand now and then and sometimes finishing his sentences as he did hers. This is interesting I said to myself. Juliet in a bid to take care of everyone and make sure that everyone was okay, was not seeing this young man apparently pining for her. I smiled to myself.

There was nothing I liked more than a love story with a happy ending and if all goes as I was already planning in my head, Juliet was going to have a happy ending. It was going to be my gift to her for all those times she selflessly put herself out there as a sounding board while I went through my problems with men. It was time for me to put all my issues behind and help this beautiful woman and this hunk of a man who was definitely crazy about her to find love. I love happy endings I sighed to myself as I watched them fondly.

“So Duke, are you in the same department as Juliet?” I asked sweetly watching as he glanced at her first before speaking. Yep, definitely in love I thought to myself.

“Not really, I am an IT person. I head Enterprise software and help Juliet’s department with their IT needs” he sipped his drink while Juliet watched him fondly without knowing the look on her face.

“IT? That makes you a very brainy young man. Now I know why you are friends with Juliet. She can’t stand fools. I love your friendsh¡p and I hope to have one like it one day. So what do you guys normally do together?” Juliet’s eyes had narrowed at my questions and she was beginning to get why I was asking the questions.

She opened her eyes wide as something clicked in her head. She shook her head once and looked at Duke who was busy explaining that Juliet’s humor and kindness towards other staff members always made him happy, her way of smiling, of being herself and telling things as they were always made him feel comfortable.

Oh this is love I said to myself as I listened attentively to him and agreed with him when he raised good points about Juliet. If only Anna was here to witness this but she had called earlier to reschedule due to work pressure.

“I need to use the restroom” Juliet announced standing up suddenly, the panic in her eyes almost comical. “Ticia, please stay and keep Duke company. I won’t be long” she smiled at Duke softly and then giving me a knowing look, she almost power walked out of the restaurant towards the rest room area. I knew what that look meant. I was to find out all I could about how Duke felt for Juliet. We had done it several times just that she had been the one quizzing the men about how they felt about me.

“You know, for someone who is just a friend, you sound awfully like you are in love with Juliet” I began as soon as Juliet walked away.

Duke sipped his drink and stared balefully at his wine goblet and used a finger to trace the gold trim at the base.

“you do like her!” I exclaimed when he did not say a word. He nodded his head and sipped his drink again.

“She has never seen me that way and I stopped trying to get her to look at me the way I do look at her. I settled for being her friend and watching from the sidelines. How did you know so easily?” he raised his eyes to look at me. I smiled brilliantly. I was correct in my assumptions and I was eager to get to work on planning their wedding and honeymoon.

I leaned closer to him to tell him how he could woo her and what she really liked. He lapped up all the information so eagerly, it was almost comical.

“I didn’t know you had moved on so fast Leticia….I must really commend your ability to move from one man to another so fast” the words had the two of us turning towards the speaker who stood over us rigid and visibly angry.

Magnus was angry and there was pain lurking in his eyes. Behind him stood the fair-skinned lady quietly observing.