Maya

The 8-Shaded Rainbow - Part Ten

It was the last Monday of February of this year.  I went to the library for my regular Writer’s Club meet-up.  After about a couple of hours of hideous writing exercises, I am off to see and interview my subject for my article in a local newspaper where I am a columnist. 

Jeff was my subject.  But before we get to sit and talk about things concerning him, he told me another story which caught my attention rather solidly.   It’s about Maya. Oh yes, it is a just this little circle we go around here, so we know what  is going on with who and who is going out with who now.   (I hope you remember her.  Otherwise, you can scroll down right to the very beginning of this story, and there, you will find Maya.)

That’s right, Maya and Edward.  The couple who looks like characters in a romantic pocket book story; who were carefree and so in love with each other – only that Maya is married to another guy back home and a mom to a young girl.  Edward is a young dad himself.  

I still can remember how devastated Maya was when Edward get caught by the Immigration Officers here in Canada and was sent off back home to the Philippines abruptly.  Yes, it happened a few months after our trip to Banff although until now, it is still quite unclear to me what the reason of deportation really was.  Maya almost lost her mind then, or; wasn’t that the case already when she deliberately chose to have an affair behind her husband’s back?  (Oh right, who are we to judge; my apologies.)   She cried so much and never cared about her job anymore (she’s a caregiver too.)  She wanted to end her life, she doesn’t want to go on any further; she refused to look forward to the future even if it means doing it for her real family – her husband and her daughter.  She was madly in love with Edward.  They were.  For quite a while, I thought Maya might have actually found true love in Edward.  She might have thought she finally found what she was looking for, only that it is to be taken back too, right away.  She never stopped.  She spent so much calling Edward overseas for all the times she got every day.  She even directed her calls to Edward’s parents later to ask updates on Edward.  She did this on purpose so that Edward’s girlfriend wouldn’t know.  (Edward of course stayed with his girlfriend and their child when he reached home) Maya and Edward are still in hiding; though the feelings seem to be overpowering the will to conceal the truth.  She spent a good amount of money she could have spent to her daughter; she just lost it, I thought.

Now, only a couple of months later, Jeff told me, Maya is seeing a new guy.  Of course I gasped!  Geez! Whatever happened to Romeo and Juliet?! I was totally surprised.  All the while, I thought Maya wouldn’t be able to get over Edward at all.  I thought, she is still waiting for that day when Edward comes back and they will live their happily ever after once more.  But no, here comes Ethan.  Maya found Ethan.  And I simply don’t know what to say.  I am dumbstruck.

Maya once told us that she has some sexual disorders.  How it is she said is that, it hurts so much down there to have sex with somebody she’s not really in love with;  Some psychological problems, I would like to call it;  (Ooopsss...’not in the position to judge, right?) And her conviction why apart from her husband, she needed to have Edward is to prove if that disorder still exists.  For the longest time she said, whenever she makes love to her husband, she can’t contain the pain.  I don’t know if any of us girls, actually asked her if she was hurting during intercourse with Edward.  I don’t buy it however that’s why I didn’t bother to ask.  I don’t know, but I just don’t buy the alibi.  And how would you explain your almost losing yourself when Edward has to go and leave?  Then now, barely 2 months after, you are doing it yet again with another guy?

We went to Mac’s (Jeff’s brother) house later that night to have a little drink and true to Jeff’s words, Maya is there, upstairs in one of the three rooms – with Ethan (he rents a room in Mac’s house.)  While we are having that little drink, and while I keep the chit-chat going with Jeff, everyone else in the house are giggling and gossiping about what the couple upstairs could be doing all day and now, almost all night too, not even bothering to get out for food or drinks.  The biggest scoop however is that Ethan, is a married man too, with kids back home in the Philippines.  Oh, I won’t elaborate on that anymore because we don’t judge, remember?  I am just saying.

Anyway, Maya stays there every weekend now.  Not before long, I saw her there and she just smiled like everything is perfect 10!  I couldn’t say a word except for a brief “Hi.”  That night, we had a drink again.  I mean, they had a drink.  I had an upset stomach that time so I passed on alcohol.  I consoled myself by the corner and busied my mind observing these people’s body language.  Maya has an angelic face, I’m sure I’ve mentioned that early on.  And her eyes are simply beautiful.  That night however, her eyes betrayed her.  True to the saying: “The eyes are the windows of our soul” or something like that... I only saw sorrow and gloom in Maya’s eyes.  It’s as if tears are almost ready to stream down but Maya couldn’t afford to let them go because she has to stand still and show everyone that she made the right decision by showing poise over pressure just like a beauty pageant contestant.  I could be wrong here, but if I am right somehow, how I pity her.

A few days after I saw Maya in that rather miserable image, Noreen told me some breaking news.  Yes sir, hot and fiery news:  Edward is coming back early next month – April.  So I reckon; could it be that Edward’s coming back drew that distressed look in Maya’s eyes? 

We shall find out.