The Devil's Sweetheart

''Where are you going, mom?'' Before Heather prepared to leave, Leena pulled her mother back into the chair. She can understand her mom's curiosity about Catalina and Francy, but did she forget her actions are plain to see? 

''I_I..'' Heather sought out a quick alibi. ''I mean...Francis doesn't know much about women. What if that so-called woman you mentioned is out for his fortune? I, as a close friend and family, should help him.''

''You are right! Why didn't it hit my muddy brain.'' Leena ululated a cry like a Greek expression of sorrow for the dead. She got up and whispered into Heather's ears. ''Let's go to Hotel Harrison and secretly watch her moves.''

Heather nodded. That's her main motto. Her daughter eventually entered the right tracks.

''Bye, meemaw.'' Leena playfully winked at her Meemaw, and they were off to hotel Harrison. Margaret glanced at Leena's departing figure and smiled mischievously. ''It seems she is hell-bent on bringing these two fools together this time.''

Leena pulled her mask up to her nose before getting down the car. She gave one to her mother, and Heather has to use this cover-up not to get exposed.

The second Heather set her foot into the hotel, her keen eyes scanned the fully crowded place, and at last, caught sight of a man's back, and undoubtedly, she knew it's Francis. But she couldn't believe the woman sitting opposite him was Catalina. 

''Aunt Cat is beautiful, isn't it, mom,'' Leena added fuel to the fire.

Aunt Cat? When did her daughter become close to that skeleton to call her nicknames? Never trust a woman whose name is a cat.

She resembled a skeleton during her twenties, but time and age have changed her completely. Her slender personality, the business attire she wore, and each move of hers, radiance exuded from her every fiber of her skin. No wonder Francis agreed to a date with her, Heather thought and looked down at her own appearance. She was starting to taste the bitterness of reality. In a rush, she didnot think of getting dressed up.

''Mom.'' A knock on her shoulder, Heather jolted and paid her attention back to the couple.

''You are zoning out. The seat behind Francy is empty,'' Leena said. ''Let's go, and sit there. I suppose it gives us access to their talks without much effort.''

''But it's reserved,'' Heather spoke after her daughter in a muted tone. ''It's not good, baby_''

Leena dragged her mother to the place, shutting her thoughts. Heather was skeptical about sitting at a reserved table, but her daughter pulled her to the seat like it's nothing. Hesitantly, Heather settled in the chair behind Francis with Leena next to her. The first thing she did was to remove the mask, which was suffocating her to death. 

As Heather leaned back on the chair, she caught a whiff of the perfume she gifted Francis, which she brought from Korea. A smile curled on her lips.

Leena ordered a juice for herself while Heather waited and waited, but not a word she gathered from either Francis or Catalina's mouth. Are they having a muted conversation? According to her daughter, Francis himself had initiated talking. But it's completely opposite to what's happening here to what's she heard at home.

''Are you sure they talked_''

''We have been sitting here for around three hours. Yet you haven't spoken a word, Francis.''

Heather stopped breathing her words. Finally, they broke the silence?

''I am sorry that I wasted your time.. but this...I am not prepared for this.'' Francis trailed off, his words ambivalent. He woke up to Leena's call in the morning, ordering him to come to hotel Harrison instantly. With extreme trepidation, he reached there only to know that Leena slated him thoroughly. She introduced a woman and gave a brief introduction about her, and slipped off the place. It was strange that Leena pulled him into this mess the day after learning about the truth. What is she planning? Is she in cahoots with Evelyn?

''I know, it's all sudden.'' Catalina chuckled, curling her hands around the juice glass. ''Do you remember my name? I went to the same university as you.'' Noticing Francis's dumb expression, Catalina knew he didnot pay attention to Leena when she introduced her. ''My name is Catalina.''

''Hi Catalina.'' Francis greeted, not to make her feel bad. ''But I don't remember seeing you in college.''

''If you had taken notice of me, you would have remembered.''

Francis felt like he was being mocked in the corner. Her sarcasm sure reached Everest.

''I used to sit in a parallel row to your desk according to the seating arrangement during our exams. Although I was not too fond of exams, the thought of sitting near you was the most exciting part of the two years of my college life. You might have forgotten, I proposed to you. Sadly, I got rejected'' Although a gossip of Francis in a relationship with his childhood friend circled the college, she dared the challenge and proposed to him.

'Did I wake up on the wrong side of the bed?' He should be enjoying his breakfast with Heather, not like a dead mummy, sitting here, thinking he should feel guilty for rejecting a decades ago proposal. The culprit Leena! If she was next to him, he would...Francis stopped, balling his fists.

''I know you are not married, Francis,'' Catalina stated. ''I don't know if it's our fate or stars, but they have led us to meet again knowing that we are destined to be together. I met Leena a month ago. She said I am the only woman qualified to become your wife. She wants us to get married_''

The word marriage triggered Heather's rage like the volcanoes of mount doom. She had listened a lot and had enough of this woman. Before Heather's thoughts formed into action, Francis's austere voice came at Catalina.

''I am sorry to interrupt, but that would never happen, not even in your dreams.'' Francis cut her off sharply. ''You might believe in destiny and fate, but I believe in my heart, and my heart has long decided who gets to stay in my life. If you have studied a lot about me, you should have also heard gossip that Francis Hayes has a childhood friend whom he loves unconditionally, and no one can ever replace her in his world.''

''Care to tell your childhood friend's name, Francis?'' Catalina acted like his words did not haze her.

''You are not qualified to know her name.'' His response was piercing.

''But someone here seems to know your childhood friend already.'' Catalina's eyes crossed past him.

Following her gaze, Francis slowly turned back. He stopped dead in the tracks. ''Heather!''

The next moment, Francis felt slender arms squeezing his solid frame in a bear hug, bursting into tears.. Her hug spoke worth more than a thousand words.

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