Sharlene and Lawrence are here now because he wants to help his childhood friend. However, he has a secret that he has always hidden from his friend in front of him.
He saw her hesitant face. He had to wait; he just let her speak to him first.
"Lawrence, I just want to ask you something." Sharlene started to say.
He just nodded; he is patiently waiting now.
"Do you know Leah Martinez?" she asked him.
His forehead furrowed when he heard the name of his close family member. Even though he was surprised by her question, he just nodded .
"She's my closest family of mine; why do you ask?" Lawrence addressed the woman standing before him.
This made Sharlene nod. "Ah, I just wanted to ask because my grandmother knew her in our hometown."
Her cousin was well-known for her kindness and beauty in their town; it was no secret that she lived there.
"A—Are you close to her?" Sharlene asked him.
"Ah," he only smiled when he remembered how kind her older sister had been to him. "She's like an older sister to me; when my mommy left me with them, she took care of me like a real brother." Lawrence just laughed.
"Is she still alive?" Sharlene asked him.
Suddenly, his feelings were stabbed; they abruptly disappeared like a bubble when he went to join her husband in the city.
"I don't know," Lawrence just shook his head at the person he was talking to. "The last thing I remember is that she was happily married to the one she loved. I was ten years old then. Then we lost contact with her. I just heard that her parents had passed away and the wealth they had left her had all gone to her," Lawrence told Sharlene, listening intently to him.
"Didn't you look for her?" Sharlene suddenly asked him.
Lawrence just laughed. "I tried to find her, partly because my mother couldn't handle what happened to that family, but I couldn't locate her." He only shook his head.
"Did you ask who she was married to?" Sharlene asked him.
"Yeah, but what she said was that she went with another man. I was eighteen years old then, like you, a college student who moved away from our town." Lawrence couldn't stop smiling at Sharlene.
"I don't believe that there was another man," he only laughed again. "Because even though I was young, I could feel the love my sister Leah gave to that man, so I didn't believe in going with another man."
Sharlene nodded at him.
"Hey, why did you keep asking me about her? Do you know anything about my cousin?" He could only ask and wonder.
"Ah, I was just saying hello because I heard that she was also a friend of Sheila's sister." Sharlene said to him.
"Sheila? Sheila Atienza?" he asked.
Sharlene just nodded at him. He refrained from commenting on the woman who had become Sharlene's best friend.
"By the way, where is your husband? I want to meet him." Lawrence just smiled while looking some places.
When Lawrence found out that her friend was married, he accepted to himself that he had to let go of his feelings for Sharlene; he secretly loved her, but he would rather not ruin their friendship because of love.
Due to his distance as a student, he was unaware that Sharlene had a boyfriend, and he was taken aback when he learned she had gotten married. He just wished that she would be pleased with her future life.
He's still single; he wants to give his love to a woman, but he has nothing to offer anyone. He can see in the woman's eyes that some women love his wealth as a Martinez.
It's like a curse on their family to be loved because of their wealth. He found a woman who didn't pursue and see him as a wealthy man; it was Sharlene.
Sharlene's eyes were sad; she even sighed before speaking.
Lawrence smiled at her; he could feel that she was carrying a problem that she had been carrying for a long time.
"We're done already. He's filing a divorce paper after what happened to our child." Her voice cracked, trying not to cry.
"He's cheating on me. Our relationship before was only because of my child. I was trying to build a family for my child until that accident happened." Sharlene explained it to him.
"I can bear it; I can." Sharlene said.
Lawrence felt sad when he heard it. "I—I'm so sorry. I—I didn't know how hard it must have been for you until today." He only said to the woman.
It made Sharlene laugh even more. "It's okay, and it's also my fault that fate happened to me— to marry that man." She said more while laughing.
Lawrence didn't know what to say to the person in front of him.
"I—if you need help, I will help you with anything, Sharlene." Lawrence wanted to help in any way he could; he just wanted to support her, even in small things.
"It's okay. I apologize for asking you earlier; I was just curious that your cousin suddenly disappeared. Do you want me to help you?" She laughed at him.
Lawrence just shook his head. "I know you, Sharlene. I know there's a deeper reason why you're asking me that; I won't force you to do whatever your reason is." He said.
She smiled at him. "Thank you, Lawrence; you still haven't changed. You're still the one who can read my mind quickly, ever since we were kids." Sharlene could only smile at him.
He just laughed and smiled at her. "Of course" was his only answer.
"Sharlene, anytime, I will help you, and also with Sister Leah, maybe I'll find the answer I've been looking for for a long time. But first, let me help you with your child." Lawrence stared at her.
Hesitation was evident on Sharlene's face because he would rather not be involved in whatever was bothering her right now.
"Sharlene," Lawrence called her.
He only just sighed at the woman in front of her. She just nodded, and he knew she was forced to, which is why he just laughed.
"I'm not going back to another country yet; I have three weeks to wander around here, and then I'll still find out what happened to my cousin. I won't give up on that." Lawrence explained to Sharlene.
Sharlene nodded at him. He also needed to leave.
"Best wishes for your baby girl, Sharlene. I know that child is brave because she inherited it from you."
"Thank you very much, Lawrence."
He nodded without uttering a single word. Lawrence looked at Sharlene; he was frustrated at her husband, and he also needed to find out the real story of what really happened to his cousin. He was going back to her uncle and aunt's house as well as that house.
He was already in the parking lot and about to drive away from the hospital. He was still thinking about what Leah had been going through when she went to college. He just sighed; he immediately drove his car.