Chapter 3

“I HEARD from a tenant downstairs that there are bars and clubs near here,” Cristy said while cooking her noodles in an indoor grill she borrowed from their landlady. “Let’s get a few drinks while listening to an acoustic band.”

Leslie nodded her head slowly. “Okay.”

Cristy stopped on what she’s doing and looked at her. She snapped her fingers in front of her face. “Leslie!”

Leslie blinked her eyes and scowl at her friend. “What’s your problem?!”

“You’re staring at nowhere,” she said and shook her head. “You’re strangely silent since we went to the convenience store. What occupies your mind?”

Leslie hesitated to tell what was on her mind but decided to spill it anyway. “Remember the guy we saw—”

“I knew it,” Cristy cut her off with a smirk. “Leslie, we’re here to relax and detoxify our hearts and souls from our stressful life—especially yours. We are not here to find your next victim.”

“Don’t make it sound like as if I’m a criminal,” Leslie protested with a shrill. “I did not kill anybody.”

“Oh, really?” Cristy muttered. “Yes, you didn’t kill them literally, but you killed their heart that did nothing but to love you—”

Leslie dismissed her with a wave of her hand. “I thought we’re here to unwind and forget our stressful life?” She took some rice cakes and tried it. Ah, she was starving.

They left Manila at six a.m and arrived in Clark at ten a.m. They prepared their things at four a.m because after work yesterday, they went straight to the salon to get their nails and hair done for the trip. Cristy was her best friend since college. They were block mates in the B.S. Nursing class at Manila University. But, in her third year, Leslie dropped all her units because of a family problem. It was the hard days of her life. She was just nineteen, young, wild, and free… literally.

Three years passed, Cristy called to recruit her in the Real Estate Company she was working. By that time, Leslie was a fresh graduate from a different school and was currently in a job hunt also. Because it was Cristy, her best friend, she accepted the job, and the rest is history.

“That’s why I’m asking you to watch the live band tonight,” Cristy said and glanced at her wristwatch. “We can get some sAhnp before we go out, the bar will open at eight p.m.”

Leslie didn’t answer. Her mind drifted back again to the man she saw at the convenience store. He really looks familiar to her. She thinks she has seen him before, she just couldn’t remember when or where.

_________

GERALD opened the text message he received from his college friend, Mateo. He was asking him if he could meet him at the Rotten Roses Grill at ten p.m. He wondered how he knew that they were here at Pampanga. He was about to type his response when his phone rang, and his friend’s name flashed on the screen.

“Come on, Benj. Let’s have some beer and catch up. It’s been years since our last bonding together,” he said from the other line. Gerald can hear the noise of people talking in his background. “There are a lot of hot girls—”

“Mat, I’m with my daughters, and we are here to watch the balloon festival tomorrow,” Gerald replied, he glanced at his two daughters busy on their gadgets in the lounge. “And I can’t leave them alone at night.”

He heard Mateo sighed. “Okay, but in case you changed your mind, you can find me at Rotten Roses Grill.”

When he lowered his phone, his daughter Madison approached him. “Dad, you can go out to meet your friend.”

Gerald knotted his forehead. He caressed her daughter’s shiny black hair. “I can’t leave the two of you here.”

“Dad, we’ll be fine,” Marilyn said blandly. “You won’t party all night and get drunk, right?”

Madison narrowed her eyes to him. “You should be home before midnight, Dad.”

Gerald laughed and scratched the back of his head. “Who will look at you when I’m away?”

“Aunt Chris will be here. She texted me a while ago that she’ll visit us,” Madison said and smiled sheepishly. When the lines of his forehead deepened, she continues, “…I posted a photo of me and Marilyn in Korean Town on my social media account, that’s where she found out that we’re here.”

“You shouldn’t be posting everything in social media, Madison,” Gerald said. But he was also about to contact her cousin Chris to let her know that they’re here. She’s living in Angeles City.

“She also posted it on your I.G. account, Dad,” Marilyn added with a smirk. “Maybe that’s the reason also why your friend invited you to go bar-hopping tonight. He saw in your post that you’re in Pampanga.”

“I have an account on social media?” Gerald asked, surprised by what his daughter told him. “How? Who made that account?”

Madison propped her hand on her waist. “It’s the Demitasse Café IG account. It’s for marketing purposes—”

“But we aren’t here for business, Madison,” Marilyn cut her off with a frown. “I told you not to post anything there that isn’t related to Demitasse—”

“That’s enough, Marilyn and Madison.” Gerald sighed. He looked at his twin daughters. “See? That’s why I don’t want to leave the two of you. You keep on arguing—”

“Daddy, don’t make excuses. You need a break. Marilyn and I knew that you’ve been so stressed these past few days,” Madison’s voice cracked, and tears started to peek on the corner of her eyes. “And, we know that catching up with your friend could lessen your stress.”

Gerald smiled at his twins. He touched Madison’s cheek. “Don’t cry, baby. Daddy’s fine,” he said and stood up. “Okay, since your Aunt Chris will be here, I don’t have reason to refuse my friend’s invitation.”

Chris arrived at dinner. Gerald cooked first the food that they’ll bring in Balloon Festival tomorrow before he left them. He arrived at Rotten Roses Grill before the clock hits ten p.m.

“Gerald!” Mateo waved at him from the corner of the bar. He hesitated when he saw several women on his table. “Come on!”

Gerald shook his head. Mateo didn’t change. He still likes to be surrounded by women on skimpy clothes. He walked towards them, careful to not bump with some people laughing while dancing. The bar is filled with smoke, bright lights, and soft music. Rotten Roses Grill wasn’t the kind of bar that aired noisy music. If he remembered it right, the song in the background was The Carpenters’ piece.

“Come on, let’s go home.” Gerald heard a soft female voice from his side. “You’re drunk.”

He turned to its direction and found the two women struggling to stand up from their seats. Gerald can tell based on the careless movements that they were drunk. The woman who looked a little sober than the other tried to pull her friend’s arm that has fallen asAhnp on their table. When she did not succeed, she looked around to ask for help. But the people around them were busy minding their own business. Gerald was about to walk past them when she heard the woman’s voice again.

“Excuse me! Yes, you, sir.” She waved in his direction. “Don’t look back, I’m talking to you.”

Gerald knotted his forehead as he tried to see the woman’s face clearly in the dark. When the woman tried to walk towards him, she bumped with the table next to them. Empty bottles of beers fell down onto the floor, nearly hitting the woman. Gerald hesitated to help her because he heard Mateo called him again, but when he saw her right hand bAhnding, he went to her quickly to check her hand.

“You cut your hand, Miss,” Gerald told the woman who seems oblivious to her wound. “Miss?”

“Uhm… yeah,” she said and looked at her hand. “But it doesn’t hurt,” she giggled.

Gerald took out his handkerchief and pressed it to the woman’s palm. “You have to clean it.” He looked for a waiter, but he can’t find any. When he turned back to the woman, she was already crying. “Hey, Miss. Are you okay?”

She looked up to him, her eyes sparkle in the dim lights cast on her face. “It’s bAhnding…” she murmured. “It will hurt badly tomorrow.”

Gerald noted the woman’s consciousness despite being drunk. “Do you want me to book a cab for you and your friend?” Gerald asked the woman, he helped her to stand up. By doing so, her body pressed against him. Gerald can feel the warmth that her body emits.

“No… I can drive,” she said with a hiccup. “Just help me take my friend to the car.”

Gerald shook his head, he asked again why he got himself into this. “You can’t drive, Miss—”

“Leslie…” the woman whispered and clutched to his sAhnve. “Call me ‘Leslie’.”

***