Her doctor-boyfriend of five years has left her for an ex-flame. Just like that. No whys and wherefores. Just an empty closet where his clothes used to be in the lovenest that holds so many memories for her.
"He saw this ex-girlfriend of his in their school reunion three weeks ago and that was it. They got back into each other’s arms," Gladys says, dry-eyed.
Adding insult to injury, and repeating a story told and retold in many a broken heart’s tale of woe, Gladys was the last to know. Her cousins, who went to the reunion, broke the sad news to her.
"He brought her (the ex-girlfriend) home and didn’t even think of offering us a ride," they told Gladys.
So that’s why he’s been acting strange for the past two weeks, she concluded. It was too late when she found out "he has been communicating with his ex-girlfriend for a year already." Gladys didn’t waste any time. She sent the doctor a text and told him her mother already knows about his unfaithfulness.
And since silence means yes, Gladys took the doctor’s non-reply to her message as a sign that he’s guilty. Other erring boyfriends would have moved heaven and earth to woo the girl back. But not this one.
The doctor even pulled out as partner of Lugawan sa Timog, a restaurant he co-owns with Gladys and another person.
So Gladys decided there’s no use crying over spilled milk. It’s time to move on.
No longer does she have to turn down offers to do shows to spend more time with him. No longer must Gladys feel there’s a sword of Damocles hanging over her every time she goes on stage and performs those naughty acts with the likes of Janno Gibbs.
The doctor frowns on Gladys’ playful — okay, flirtatious antics – on stage.
Gladys would rather surround herself with work, work, work. Finally, she can be herself. And being herself means being free to do what she has always wanted to do.
On top of the list is a concert of her own. And so, tonight at Music Museum, she will stage Scandalous Gladys with Dennis Trillo, Gian Sotto, Oyo Boy Sotto and Keempee de Leon as guests.
Why the provocative title?
"I will be doing things I’ve never done before," explains Gladys. Even if she’s still into back therapy for scoliosis, Gladys will get on a harness and make a slow drop on the bed, the better to tease and provoke with her erotic number.
She will lapse into a mean erotic dance and a passionate Latin number. Gladys will show again that those early days in the sing-along joints have done her good when she delivers a Kelly Clarkson medley and her version of Bohemian Rhapsody.
What’s more, Gladys promises to stun the audience with her costume and rendition of the tune Uninvited.
Maybe it’s just as well. Gladys is so wrapped up in her concert she has no time to sulk around and mope over a lost love.
Friends are heaven-sent. And she surrounds herself with lots of them. One of them, stand-up comic Phillip Lazaro, writes and directs Scandalous Gladys.
Gladys also makes sure she’s so tired upon going home she won’t do anything but sleep when she turns the key to her room.
She plans to look for another place with no memories of her lost love. Then, she can finally start healing.
It may take days, months, even years. But Gladys will bounce back. Her passion for work will see to that.