The CEO's Painted Skin

~Monday~

The lovers were back in the city the following night. They had a good time in the Hacienda, especially that the place was an oasis of nature. Everywhere they looked around them is color green, so refreshing, it makes them hesitant to return back to the city.

Catherine was especially thrilled that John had decided to rename the Hacienda after her name. Hacienda Catherine will be known far and wide as one of the leading vacation destinations in the country, soon, that was his energetic words he uses when he explained to her the grand project he planned for the Hacienda.

...

Catherine was smiling while currently taking a bath inside the toilet in her living quarters. She kept remembering all the mind-blowing erotic activities they have done inside John's old room in the ancestral house.

Then she finally made peace with her horrific past.

At first, Catherine was feeling sad the moment she remembered everything about that frightening night John pointed a gun on her temple and he claimed her body over and over again due to his insatiable craving sexual lust, it all comes back to her mind, so fresh! It nearly ruined their mood but thankfully John was able to restore their loving when John skillfully made her writhing in bed in pleasure after pleasure with their rapturous physical intimacy that lasted throughout the night.

It's always been a glorious lovemaking between them, they just don't get tired touching and arousing each other's body to a feverish peak of pleasure, she blushed suddenly remembering how loud her moaning was that night.

John has been so sweet and loving to her since the moment they were back on each other's arms, she falls in love with him a hundred times more. Her days become brighter waiting for his surprise visits any time of the day, sometimes he would bring her favorite flowers or her favorite chocolates. He never fails to send her sweet and loving text messages every day and then she would also do the same to him.

The first thing she does when she wakes up in the morning was to send him a good morning message and lots of ~I love you's~and then he would reply to her with his own love messages to her. Then she would giggle with happiness reading his sweet messages. Right now she was more than ready to become John's wife, no doubts and no hesitation this time.

She was now looking forward to spend the rest of her life with him.

<<<0>>>

~Infinity Jade Tower~

John entered his office feeling blissfully happy. Having back Catherine in his life is truly a blessing, he was now more energetic and inspired to live each day to the fullest. While he was perusing some documents inside his office...

Romeo suddenly barges into his office smiling.

"Wow, how's the vacation of the honeymooners in the hacienda?" asked Romeo.

"It's great and super fun, Catherine and I were having so much fun in there, we bonded more than ever. You should go with us next time," said John.

"Yes, I would love to, after the conversion of the Hacienda into a tourist destination I will surely visit there together with my wife," replied Romeo.

"What's up?" asked John he was sure his buddy isn't visiting his office for a chit chat.

"Just want to remind you about lady #5 tonight at 6:00 PM in the Serenity Cafe," Romeo reminded him about the blind date just in case John would forget about the lady since he was now very happy that Catherine was back in his life.

"Ah, the lady# 5, okay no problem, I will meet her tonight. Don't worry about it, I will be there," said John.

"Thank you, bro, for keeping up with your promise," said Romeo feeling grateful.

John just nods at him and focuses his attention back to his office work.

Romeo exited the room quietly. There was a glimmer of darkness on Romeo's eyes after he exited the office of his friend.

<<<0>>>

Catherine was doing her routine rounds in the shops, checking out who is absent and late among the workers in the shops, thankfully, today no one is late and no one is absent.

She went back upstairs to make some extensive cleaning in her room and includes the entire 2nd floor as well. She starts wiping the dust in the furniture, then cleaned the toilet and sweep the floor. Done cleaning the outside area, she entered her room and starts cleaning it as well, she replaced the bed sheet, pillows and blankets in her bed with fresh ones.

Fifteen minutes later...

Catherine was finally done with her cleaning. She lay down in her bed to rest, her tired arms reached for her mobile device in the bedside table. She began checking Johns messages and read them all, smiling, all the tiredness in her body due to cleaning had faded away the moment she starts reading all his sweet messages.

Done reading, she was about to put back her phone in the bedside table but she had an incoming message, she swipes open her phone and check who was texting her.

It's an unknown number!

When she opened the text and starts reading the message she was shocked! She re-reads it again.

'...You want to know what your beloved boyfriend is doing later at 6:00 PM tonight? He will be meeting a woman, just so you know, they will meet tonight at Serenity Cafe, Makati City. If you are interested reply to me, I will send you the complete address...'

Although her heart was beating wild in her rib cage, she tried to calm her nerves, maybe it was just a hoax message! She shouldn't believe it! She deleted the message without further thinking. It's impossible for John to meet another woman behind her back after they were happily back on each other's arms.

She dismissed the text message as nonsense, maybe it's just one of those wrong send message and not really intended for her.

She composed her rattled nerves and starts forgetting the text message. She went inside the toilet to take a bath and get rid of all the dirt in her body that she had accumulated after cleaning her living quarters. A few moments later she was already back downstairs in the shop performing her daily rounds.

Lunchtime comes...

Catherine went upstairs and began cooking her lunch in the electric stove. She opened a can of sardines and mixed it with egg, she chopped onions and garlic, then heated some oil in the pan and then starts cooking the dish.

She was really hungry due to exerting physical efforts on cleaning the entire second floor.

Done cooking...she started eating, fifteen minutes later all the foods in her plate was gone.

That was a nice meal!

She texted John to eat his lunch and enjoy his day as well.

Then another text message come in...same text from the unknown sender!

When she starts reading it she almost drops her phone on the table...she read it twice!

'...I see... you don't believe me, Miss? Your boyfriend is Mr. John Roxas, right? He is a businessman. He will be meeting another woman a few hours from now...would you like to see them together? If yes...reply to my message I will send you the complete address..."

The sender obviously knows John. It means this is no longer a wrong send, a prank or some kind of a joke! This is for real!

She felt a sudden unbearable pain slicing her heart into tiny pieces, she can't breathe, so John was seeing other women behind her back? Tears start falling from her eyes.

She has two choices right now, to forget everything and pretend she never received these messages or...find out the truth?

Just thinking about it made her heart bleed internally. She can't believe that her beloved John was getting interested in other women. She thought he will remain faithful to her forever. She believed everything he says to her. Why this is happening now? How long he'd been seeing other women behind her back? Is this the first time?

She received another message from the anonymous sender...

'...wear a Niqab to cover your eyes when you enter the cafe, John's bodyguard Ramon is guarding the entrance, you won't get past him...'

She knew about Niqab, it is a face covering usually worn by Muslim women in public to cover all parts of their face including the neck, except for the eyes, it's part of their tradition.

The further mentioned of Ramon's name validated the message, her tears fell down heavily they were now flooding her face. This sender is legit!

A tiny voice whispered in her mind not to believe everything...

But a much darker voice urged her to find out the truth!

Which is which?

She closed her eyes and rested for a while in her bed, weighing the pros and cons...and the aftermath of her actions and decision later.