Chapter 3 The Start Of The Game.

Josephine sat on the sidewalk. Her head hangs low while Oscar stood beside her. Both of them still shook by what had happened in just a matter of an hour. Even as they sat quietly, everything was chaotic around them. They could hear people wailing, screaming in pain, calling out their loved ones, yelling for help. They could hear the ambulances rushing to get the injured. Oscar lowered to his knees beside her. Jo felt Oscar's hand on her back, "Hey, it is okay. You are okay." He mumbled as she shakes. She didn't look at her and kept on trembling.

He sat beside her and lowered himself to peek at her face. She had tears dripping off her eyes. She was traumatized. Why won't she? In the last hour, she lost her luggage, her boyfriend broke up with her and she survived an earthquake. "Jo, are you hurt?" Oscar asked her. He couldn't see any injuries on her, but he found it appropriate to ask anyway. Jo didn't answer him nor did she looked at him. Oscar didn't ask again because he knew no matter what he asks, she will never answer him. She was mad at him and knowing how stubborn she can be, he knows that trying to talk to her at the moment is the waste of time and energy.

They have had fights before. They threw things, broke things, called each other names, even left home for a few hours, but in the end, they always talk it through. It was usually Oscar, who would come back around because he truly loves Jo. Jo says she loves him back, but for the past few months, Oscar has been doubting it. She has been distant for the past few months. She doesn't talk about her problems to him – she never does, not did he ever forced her to. He knows that she had a difficult childhood and teenage years – for two years he has been waiting for her to open up to him about them, but she never did. Oscar has lost all hope in his love for her, he doesn't believe she loves him. She loves the life he provides her, but that was it.

With each passing minute, Jo calmed down while the uproar around them only increased. She had stopped shaking. She was still completely wet from the rain, which had slowed down, but never fully stopped. With her teary eyes, she looked around – it was mayhem. Her heart sunk when she saw some of the people taken to the ambulance, it could have been her if she wasn't standing under the sky when the wall came down with tremors. A woman dressed in a paramedic uniform rushed towards them, "Ma'am – sir, are you both injured?" She asked.

Jo only shook her head while Oscar replied to the woman, "No."

The woman nodded her head, "You need to evacuate to a safe place, the storm is on its way – do you have a place to go?" She asked.

Oscar quickly nodded his head, "Yes, we are staying in a hotel." He answered.

"Okay, then. Just in case, if you are unable to find a place to stay – the government has arranged an emergency shelter." The woman told them.

Oscar nodded his head, "Yes, I know about it. We will head there if we find a problem with staying in the hotel." He answered.

The woman nodded her head, "All right then," She said and with that, she was gone.

Oscar heaved a sigh and put his arm around Jo, who was quick to push his arm away from her. She looked at him – dead in the eyes. "Go back to your hotel, Oscar," Jo mumbled as she snuffled and wiped off her tears. She finally managed to get on her feet and walked to where the paramedic woman was.

Oscar, with his eyebrows drawn together, marched after her and held her by her forearm. "Where are you going?" He asked her.

She turned her head to look into his eyes, "To the shelters," She answered.

"What?" Oscar squinted his eyes. He quickly shook his head, "No, you can't go to the shelters." He replied. He might be breaking up with her, but he still deeply cares for her – he couldn't let her stay at the shelters when he can pay for her separate room.

Jo rolled her eyes at him. Oscar knows that she was angry with him, but it wasn't the first time it was happening. She often gets mad at him and he would always buy her gifts or take her out on dinner and it would always put her in a better mood. But this time Oscar didn't want to mend their relationship – he knows that it was time to end it, but the circumstances are not ideal for her to walk away from him now, especially when they are in a foreign land. "Listen, Jo – I am sorry. I really am. I shouldn't have said any of those things. I was annoyed and I didn't think twice before I said all that bullshit. Please, come back with me. Let's talk about this – okay? Let's talk about this like two adults." He tried to reason.

Jo could see the fret in his eyes. He seems worried for her. Jo knows that Oscar doesn't love her – or if he ever did, it was fading or has completely faded. She didn't want to fight anymore, she doesn't have the energy, so she tried to talk to him reasonably. She sighed. "I am hurt by the words you used. Yes. But I also know that they are true and you have every right to break up with me – just like I have every right to walk away from you." She paused. Oscar opened his mouth to protest, but she stopped him. "Let me talk, please." She softly added.

She looked down at her feet. "I never opened up to you. I never open up to anyone," She shook her head and inhaled, "But I am willing to give you a little piece of my past." She nodded her head. She licked her lips anxiously, "Growing up, I didn't have anyone to lean on to. Since I was very young, I had to take care of everything on my own, and with time I got tired. I got tired of taking care of everything. So, when I saw an opportunity to be depended on someone – I leaped to it and then I completely lost myself in the lust of luxury." She forced a laugh.

"I forgot that all I was only looking for was a little comfort. I am sorry. I am materialistic – that's true and my past can't be used as an excuse. I – am not good with words, so I will just say that – thank you for everything you ever did for me. From all the luxurious trips to the expensive gifts to all the money, you gave me, to the wonderful experience I had with you. I am truly thankful for those. But it is time for me to step away. I don't need the gifts you gave me – it will only be right if you will keep them. I will give you this phone back as well as soon we get back to New York." She paused and showed him the phone at which he only glanced.

"I will need my passport back, so I can leave. I will come and get it when the weather gets better, okay?" She asked. "Let's end this here. You should get back to the hotel, and I will seek refuge at the emergency shelter." She smiled softly.

All this time Oscar didn't say a word. He intently listened with his eyebrows drawn together. She waited for him to speak, but when he didn't – she only nodded her head and turned around and walked away from him. She decided to take all the information she could get about this shelter and the possibility for her to leave. She had made a very bold and somewhat stupid decision. She didn't think ahead of how she will be paying for her flight? She was supposed to return with Oscar in his client's private plane. She couldn't even ask him for money either. She might have to think of the alternative while she waits for the weather to ease down.

It suddenly felt like was back to her teenage years, where she frets about each coming minute. Being with Oscar was a sweet but short escape from reality for her and even when she only abused the love and care he gave her, she is thankful for what she had. Her mother was right, after all, shortcuts don't work. She learned it the hard way. She wrapped her arms around her and looked for the woman that told them about the shelters, but she was nowhere to be seen – she had vanished within the chaos. Jo saw some other firefighters and paramedics and decided to ask for their help. But before she could do it, Oscar walked to her again.

"We can end this like civil people, Jo. I can never sleep at night knowing you are alone somewhere – living in a shelter house. Please, let's talk about this later when we are dry and warm, okay? Please, let's not fight this." Oscar softly asked.

Jo smiled, "I can do pretty fine in a shelter house and it is not like I am living there forever – it will just for a night or two." She shrugged.

Oscar looked dead in her eyes, "They say it might take three to four days to clear out the weather, and then God knows how long will it take to operate flights. Believe me, you don't want to risk it." He tried to explain it to her. Jo scratched the nape of her neck. She heaved a sigh and decided not to put him in more misery than she already had. "Fine," she mumbled.

A smile broke on Oscar's face, "Oh, thank God." He replied and rubbed his forehead.

Jo curled her lips in a small smile, but soon her smile faded when her eyes fell behind Oscar. She squinted her eyes. She couldn't have seen whom she thinks she has seen. Her undivided attention at something behind him made Oscar turn around to see what she was looking at with such potency, but he didn't see anything out of the ordinary other than a few people standing, one of those was getting like hand bandage by a paramedic while he talks away. "Oh God," Jo whispered as she brought her hand to her mouth. It was him. She was not mistaken. It was the man she hasn't seen in the last ten years.

Maybe it was her fixating gaze on him, or maybe it was a random glance – but the man that made the blood flush off her face looked towards her. It was a random glance – which didn't last a second, before the man's eyes widened and he averted his eyes right back to Jo and squinted his eyes, "Jo," Oscar and Jo didn't hear him over all the loud sounds around, but it wasn't hard to read his lips when he said her name.

He might have been unrecognizable to many from his past, but those eyes weren't easy to forget for her. She vividly remembered them when they stared back into hers all those years ago. Jo had to look twice to make sure she wasn't mistaken, but when he met her eyes – those blue piercing eyes, there was no doubt in her mind that it was indeed the same guy. As if she wasn't having enough self-loathing – he had to be there to make her feel worse, didn't he? Maybe this was her karma.

Oscar. Breakup. Storm. Earthquake. Keith.

Oscar pulled his eyebrows together, "You know him?" He asked to which she only nodded her head – while her eyes never left his.

"Yes," She mumbled.

"Who is he?" He couldn't help but ask.

"Keith Clifford," She managed to speak.

With puzzled Oscar, livid Keith, and stunned Jo – it all was just a start to something very messy yet very prodigious. It was a start of perhaps a game – possibly a wicked game for three.