One More Chance by Jaycelle Rodriguez

Chapter 171: | won't give up

"Sam, Luke is here,"

| held my breath as | stared at Jack for a few seconds. | was preparing my daughter's chocolate muffins when she

walked into the kitchen with mixed hesitation and worry in her voice. "Sam?"

It tooka few more seconds to speak as | don't know exactly what to feel at that moment. My heart screamed

inside in excitement, but then as soon as | remember what he did, anger instantly took over. "What is he doing

here?" | asked sternly and gripped the pot holder tightly.

"Maybe he found out you're not in the Philippines and maybe he heard what happened from Dana," she

shrugged.

"I don't want to talk to him nor do | want to see him!" | said turning around to face the oven.

"Sam, you still need to talk to him about what happened." she followedinside the kitchen counter.

"That was what your husband toldyesterday, but my answer is still no, | won't talk to him, Jack! I've had

enough of his lies and | can't take it anymore!" | hardly shook my head.

"Okay, fine, but what if all the photos that Lucy showed you in the Philippines were all edited and the newspaper

she handed you was fake?"

"It can't be because | saw the sarticle on the intethe next day after Lucy went to the cafe."

"What if everything was planned, Sam? Are you just going to let him go without knowing the truth?" "Jackeline, |

am your best friend and you should be on my side and not him!"

"Yes, you're my best friend, that's why I'm helping and telling you right now to make the right decision!"

I turned silent for a while.

"And what right decision are you referring to? Talking to him? Listening to him? What if right now | asked him the

truth and he toldthey were all true?"

"Yeah, what if you asked him right now and he told you they were all lies? What are you going to do?"

"Jack!" | exclaimed as she just askedback with the opposite question.

"He and your brother were now talking, so | ran over here to tell you to at least listen to what he was going to

say,"

| didn't say anything, well, | chose not to respond and close my mouth to end the conversation. And when | heard

the oven timer, | turned around to get the hot muffins.

| was about to let out a sigh of relief because I thought that since she had stopped talking, she already had left

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the kitchen, and yeah, maybe what | thought was right, but the next voice | heard was no longer hers and it

madestop and gasp in silence. "Sam," It was from Luke.

| was glued in my spot for I don't know how long, closing my eyes tightly, trying to calm my heart that was now

hammering inside my ribcage. Because even though | already felt the anger and dismay in my head, I still

couldn't get the excitement out of my heart. It seemed like the more | said that I'm mad at him, that | hate him,

the more | felt that I miss him and | missed him damn much.

"Sam,"

But it can't always be like that. | can't always be the submissive type who always gives in just because | missed

him.

"What are you doing here?" | asked without even bothering to glance at him.

"Sam, can we please talk?"

"I can't remember anything that we need to talk about," | continued to give him a cold shoulder, but then I heard

his footsteps in my direction.

"Sweetheart, please you need to listen to me---"

"Stay away from me!" my voice ca little louder as | turned to him.

"Sam, at least letexplain," he pleaded, the look in his eyes almost makinglose my sanity but | slapped

myself mentally.

"Explain? Do you hear yourself, Mr. Williams? I've been waiting for you for the past two months to hear your

damn explanation but you disappeared just like that!"

"That's why | need you to listen to me---"

"No!" | exclaimed, placing my hands in front of him which made him stop moving.

And when | heard muffled voices and steps going to the kitchen, | decided to open the door that connects the

kitchen to the swimming pool and immediately walked out of the house. | don't want them to overhear and

interfere with our conversation. "Sam, wait!"

I heard him callbut | continued my pace, completely ignoring him.

"I'm sorry if | haven't called or texted you in the past few weeks," he said followingoutside.

"Weeks? Are you sure it has only been weeks since you stopped callingsince you stopped thinking about

me?"

"That's not true! | never stopped thinking about you and Cali,"

"It's been months--- two months, Luke Marcuz Williams!" | screamed, ignoring what he said.

"I'm sorry, | didn't want you to feel that way, | never intended to lose contact with you, it's just that, something

happened at the site and we had to move there to supervise the ongoing construction. It was a remote area and

we couldn't get any signal, so | can't call you" "Well, | don't believe you! Because if it was true, can't you even

find a way to callor at least sendeven a short message?"

"Sam... | - I..." He stopped, he hadn't even started what he was going to say.

"Don't you know how worried | was those times?"

And at that moment, | don't know but my tears started to blur my vision, and a few seconds after, they were like

a river flowing continuously down my face. Well, maybe because of anger and relief | felt at the stime.

"Actually, | already knew the reason and you don't have to explain anymore," | said and didn't wait for him to

open his mouth as | turned around immediately.

"Samantha, wait for me!" He tried to grab my hand but I flinched and pushed him.

"Don't you dare touchagain! | don't want to be your mistress, Mr. Williams, and God--- | don't want to repeat

my stupid mistake of loving you even though | know you're already married!"

"Oh, my--- Samantha, those were all lies! Whoever spread that news, he or she just wanted to destroy our

relationship!"

"Lies--- then why were you in that article, huh? Why were your names all over the inteand for God's sake,

why were you pictured kissing that woman--- that model--- whoever that model was?"

"Honestly, | didn't even know that article, | didn't even know | was on the news. | was just informed when we got

back to the city and the first thing | did was to call you in the Philippines and when | couldn't reach you, | tried to

call Caleb and there, he toldeverything. Even though I really wanted to fix the issue first or to face that

f**cking news, | immediately flew to Los Angeles to explain everything to you."

| didn't say anything. | just remained staring at him as | wiped my tears. | don't know but | feel like something

was missing in his words... in his emotion as he was saying those lines. | also couldn't understand why my heart

seems to be tellingthere was something that he wasn't telling me.

"Don't you trust me?" he asked, his eyes pleading as he looked at me.

That question madeask myself too at that moment. And | looked straight into his eyes...

"I don't know," | shook my head. "I don't know if | can trust you anymore," | replied as | took a deep breath.

"Sweetheart, please---"

"And I'm not sure if | can continue to be in this relationship anymore,"

"Samantha, no, please don't say that! I love you and | promise | will fix this mess!"

"How will you fix this mess when I'm not even sure if you're telling the truth or not?"

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"But I'm telling you the truth---"

"You're not!" | shook my head.

"Sam... sweetheart..."

"I have known you for almost half of my life and | can tell whether or not you're lying! And now, | know there is

something you're not tellingabout!"

"If you're talking about those pictures that Lucy showed you at the cafe, | still could not explain right now how

she got them but | swear they were all photoshopped, edited! | never kissed Alisha Vangardia-—-"

"Oh, so her nis Alisha Vangardia, how nice! And speaking of that Lucy--- bitch, | thought she was no longer

working for you. | was just surprised to know when she said she's your PR manager, wow!" "Sam---"

"Oh, no, you don't have to explain that too, | understand!" And | turned around, thinking of going back to the

kitchen, but he grabbedby my elbow and turnedto face him.

"Sam, please, please stop thinking that | cheated on you because I didn't!"

| just remained silent but the next words he said madegulp in excitement.

"I missed you, | really missed you,"

| feel the same, but | won't give in unless | find out the truth.

"Don't touch me," | said and looked away from him instead of admitting how much | missed him too. Then |

slowly took his hands off me.

| looked at him when | didn't hear anything only to see the hurt that registered in his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he ran his hands through his hair in frustration as he looked atwith unshed tears in his eyes.

| don't know what was that sorry for... if it was for touchingor for everything that happened. But then he just

answered it a few seconds later.

"I'm sorry if | made you cry again. I'm sorry if | broke your trust again, but this time, Sam, | won't let you go even

if you wantto. This t| won't go away even if you push me... even if you don't want to seeanymore.

I'm sorry but | won't stop showing myself in front of you. Even if you get tired of me, | will be just next to you or

two steps behind you because | won't give up. And as for this issue, | hope you can givetto fix all this. |

promise to get to the bottom of this mess and make sure | make everyone involved pay for what they did!"

That's it. He didn't even wait forto speak as he already turned around and leftstanding near the

swimming pool.

"Luke..."

All | was left to do was to whisper his nwith tears streaming down again my face. Seeing his retreating back,

| wanted to scream 'l missed you too and | love you' but those words remained in my head until he walked into

the house and totally disappeared from my sight.