Chapter 4

It was just like a movie. Uno, the dashing heroine from the story, was bravely holding on to the chandelier when its cords snapped. I could do nothing but watch as her laughter turned to screaming. Like all movies, however, the protagonist couldn't die. The fans would get mad. The audience would get sad. Such was the faith of Uno as she fell on the oversized cream sofa instead of the floor.

"Owww." She groaned. The chandelier was on top of her. I dashed to her side and assessed the damages. Some of the crystals were broken, but didn't pierce her skin. She was lucky she didn't die. She was lucky that I was used to giving Carter piggy back rides in high school. Don't ask. We were weird that way. But those piggy back rides made me stronger, though I was on the skinny side.

"We need to get this off you," I said. She listened to me whilst pinned underneath. She had no choice. "I'll try to lift while you wiggle your way out. That good?" She nodded. "One, two. Unggh!" Uno rolled off the sofa as I hoisted one side of the chandelier. My muscles screamed due to the heavy weight. I let it drop on the sofa when I was sure that she was safe.

I turned to my companion wearily. "That was absolutely awesome!" she yelled. Really?! That was her reaction to almost dying? She waved her hands in the air, unintentionally dusting the smaller pieces of broken glass from her. The nicks and cuts on her arms called my attention. I couldn't care less if she told me earlier that I should mind my own business. I grabbed her hand without a second thought and dragged her to the kitchen.

"What were you doing?" I said, opening the faucet. Water ran down her arms. She was silent as I squeezed soap from the dispenser and gently lathered her skin with it. "You could have died. If mom was here, she'd seriously get pissed." I washed the soap away. She didn't flinch though it must have stung.

"Thank you Riri."

"So you're back to calling me by my name again, huh?" I took some tissue next to the sink and patted her arm dry. A little harder than I should. "Thought I was Strawberries from now on." I let go of her, crossing my arms in front of my chest to prove a point.

"Was I rude to you?" she asked with a frown.

"You were a jerk."

"I didn't mean to," she murmured. "It wasn't my fault." She planted a quick kiss on my cheek before I could move away. For a split-second, I forgot that I was mad at her.

I couldn't sleep a wink that night. I tossed and turned, only to give up sometime at dawn. Why did Uno act that way? Why would she go from hot to cold, to hot again? I jumped out of the bed. It was still dark outside as I stared out my room's glass wall. There was a sliding door on the side. Probably not a good idea to use at the moment since I wasn't familiar with the grounds yet. I sighed. Something was nagging me more than Uno's hot and cold treatment, keeping me awake. I touched my cheek. Oh boy. What was wrong with me?

By six o'clock the next morning, I was already making my way to the kitchen. Uno said the breakfast had to be served at seven. Sleep deprived as I was, my determination to show her that being my guardian wasn't a mistake took higher priority. Do your best in everything Riri, my mom's voice echoed in my mind. She'd tell me that every chance she got, as if to prove her ancestors right for passing the surname to her.

Well if I was to stay in this house for a while and live with Ms. Lukewarm, a great nickname by the way for being hot and cold, might as well do a good job at it. And so I went to the kitchen with the purpose of whipping up the best breakfast she ever tasted. The pantry, which was accessed via another door inside the kitchen, was bigger than I thought. It was the size of a mini convenience store. Who did all the shopping for her before I got here? Mom maybe.

Uno was on time. At seven on the dot, she sat on the bar stool by the kitchen island. "Here you go," I said with a small smile as I placed a plateful of waffles, bread, bacon, and egg in front of her. Not very original. I saw the nicks and cuts on her arms when she took a fork. She looked strangely refreshed though. Her hair was wet and she was relaxed for someone who slept at midnight. Lucky her. "Coffee or milk?" I asked.

"I never drink milk," she stated.

"You know what's funny?" I poured her a cup of steaming coffee. "The fridge is half-filled with it."

She chewed her waffle, looking uninterested. "With what?"

"With milk." I joined her on the table and pushed the coffee in front of her. "If you don't drink milk then why do you have so much of it?"

Her eyebrows twitched. It was the second time I've seen her do that. She was getting irritated again. "None of your business. If you don't pay for it, you have no right to question it," she said. Oh ho-ho. So now we were back to the cold treatment. She really was Ms. Lukewarm.

"Speaking of payments." I dig in with my breakfast. "You don't have to worry about my tuition fee for college. Mom arranged the funds a long time ago, so I only have to pay for my food and stay here." I chewed thoughtfully. "Maybe I'll work as a store keeper."

"No," she disagreed. I waited for her to finish sipping her coffee. "You will only work for one person, me. I told you this before."

"Oh yeah?" I said, poking my bacon. "What kind of work are we talking about here?"

"You're going to be my manager."

My eyes widened as her words dawned on me. "Your what? Do you know how old I am?"

"Seventeen. Irrelevant question." She poured maple syrup on her waffle. "You're old enough to think. You can walk and talk. Sounds perfect to me."

"I don't have any experience on that field. Do you want your career to end?" Was she crazy? She couldn't just let me handle her career. I didn't know the first thing about it though mom was her manager. "And college is a few weeks away. Assuming I was really your manager, though that's impossible of course," I said before she had any ideas. "How am I suppose to balance both?"

"Your problem not mine." She pointed her fork to me in a non-threatening way. "School can't be that hard. I took my masters degree when I was around your age."

"With what, how to annoy people?" I said sarcastically. It was unexpected of her though. Insider scoop never revealed that. Guess those magazines and interviews were not as exclusive as they said.

"You don't have to know." She resumed eating her breakfast.

"Why do you do this to me?" I blurted. "Why do you turn from a kindhearted person to the biggest jerk ever? Are you bipolar by some chance?"

People my age would use the term quite loosely. Whenever a girl would get her period and she wasn't in the mood, a friend would say, "You're bipolar." But I knew that it ran more serious than having periods and not being in the mood. Our next-door neighbor was diagnosed with it and she really was having problems controlling her mood. If Uno was suffering from it, at least I'd know and prevent myself from holding anything against her.

She snorted. "If only." A dark look crossed her face. "I'm not crazy, Strawberries."

"Who says you are?"

"You implied it." Her voice got harder.

I shrugged. "Okay, let's pretend I did. It's nothing to be ashamed of. And from the way you were swinging and singing on the chandelier last night, you'd have to at least admit that you're weird."

She lowered her fork slowly. "That never happened." Denial was all over her tone.

"Uhh, yeah it did." I gestured to her arms. "How do you think those cuts appeared? It didn't just get there by magic. Accio arm wounds bitches." I rolled my eyes. We've known each other for days, yet she has managed to unnerve me. I couldn't allow anyone to continue doing that. Not by her. Not by anyone.

She glanced at her cuts like she was noticing it for the first time. Uno covered it with her black long sleeves. Her chair scraped the floor when she stood. "I've cut myself accidentally. You don't have to concern yourself with it," she said.

I left my own seat to follow her as she walked briskly on the hallway. "You haven't finished your breakfast yet, and we

have to talk about the whole manager thing," I said.

She entered a room, slamming the door on my face. Great! She blocked me. The more I talked to her, the higher her weirdness factor went. It was like I didn't know her at all. The dinner. The hug. I touched my cheek. It was a side of her that I couldn't understand. And now she wanted me to be her manager. A seventeen year old. Me, Riri Chance. She has officially lost it.

I didn't have much of an appetite after that. Still, I went to the kitchen to clean the mess we've left. Tsk! It was a waste of food. I glanced at her half-filled plate. She has barely eaten. Going back to my room presented a new problem altogether. I've forgotten that I didn't have any clothes with me. There were toiletries in the bathroom but aside from my faded jeans, cuffed boots, and top, I had nothing to use.

I debated whether to ask Uno for permission to go out or not. Remembering about the facial recognition system, I dragged myself in front of the room she entered and knocked hesitantly. "Uno?" I called loudly. "I need to talk to you." My knocking got harder when she didn't open the door. "Hey, sorry to bother you, but this is important." I waited patiently for her. Sigh. She didn't want to talk to me. "Listen, I need to go out for a while and I was wondering what to do with the gate."

The door swung open. I was ready to talk to her but she snapped a picture of me on her phone before I could say anything, and slammed the door again. "Your face is in the system now," came her muffled voice from inside. "Stop harassing me."

"Harassing?!" I said indignantly. I thought better about it and said, “Fine."

The van was parked in front of the house when I went out. It was in the same position that we've left it yesterday. The key was still in the ignition. She wouldn't mind if I took the sad looking vehicle, would she? It seemed like it would fall apart any minute. Where was the Hummer anyway?

I chewed on my lips when the van reached the gate. As I rolled the window down, I kept thinking that the facial recognition system wouldn't work. What would happen to me then? Would laser beams appear and shoot me? Was there a trap somewhere? Beep! Okay, stop being paranoid. The gate opened. I shook my head as I drove out of there. My usually composed self was taking a beating lately. I could hardly pull myself together.

Carter jumped from the sofa when he saw me enter the front door of his house. "Where have you been?" he said. "My mom has been worried about you. She was threatening to file kidnapping charges against Mr. Meyer when you didn't go home last night."

I slid on the sofa and exhaled. Damn, so many things have happened in just weeks. "My phone died on me yesterday," I said. "That's why I wasn't able to call you." And I didn't see a phone in Uno's house.

"Okay. What happened with the will reading?"

I covered my face with a pillow. If only I could stop this. "It sucks. Mom gave everything away to charity."

He sat quietly beside me and pondered on it. "That's hardcore, even for her. Mrs. Chance didn't look like the type to leave you alone with nothing. She loved you a lot, and me saying that is an understatement."

"You think?" I removed the pillow so I could look at him properly. "What's worse is Uno is now my guardian."

He cocked an eyebrow, stunned by the news. "Uno? Your Uno?"

"She's not my Uno." The kiss crept on my brain like a deadly virus. Stop thinking about it already. Why did it keep repeating in my head? "If you're talking about that famous multi-millionaire celebrity who happened to be mom's talent, then yes that Uno. Mom appointed her as my guardian, so I have to leave this house and stay with her." I gave him an apologetic look. "Really want to talk to your mom about that and thank her."

"Too late. She and pops just left to meet a client. I don't know where the others are." By others, he meant his sisters. They were a big family and though some were married, they still lived together. In a way they were my family too. Being a single child wasn't as hard when your best friend had lots of sisters. He pointed his thumb to the kitchen. "They left food for you. Do you have to leave now?"

"Not for a little while at least."

Carter and I lounged on the sofa until it was time to pack the van with my stuff. Since I've been staying with them anyway, all I had to do was dump my bags on the seat. "Need anything else?" he asked.

"There's one thing. Can you help me get to my house? I don't have the keys anymore. The attorney took it."

Carter smiled mischievously at my request. If there was one thing he was good at aside from getting along well with females, it was opening locks. He was an expert. In tenth grade he stumbled upon a video online on how to pick locks. Since then, he'd try to master how to open anything. I made him promise that he wouldn't do it for criminal activities someday. "Leave it to me," he said.

My house looked the same as I left it, tidy and medium sized. Not as grandiose as Uno's property. But I loved everything about it, from the yellow walls on the living room, to the blue paint on mine. There was a pinch on my chest when I realized that mom's floral perfume still lingered in the air. It was as if she was still alive. "Wait here," I said to Carter.

My room was messy when I entered. I was dying inside when I was here last, packing my things hastily to stay at Carter's. Still dying, I corrected, though the pain of losing mom has been replaced by confusion. I debated what I would take with me to Uno's. Everything was significant.

Carter poked his head in my room just when I was closing the drawer. "You good?" he asked.

"Yup." I pointed to a mannequin torso that stood in the middle of my room. "Grab that for me please."

He opened the door wider so he could step inside. Carter studied the torso. "It looks creepy," he said with a shudder. It was weird to display an undressed mannequin, but I kept it for one reason. I've always wanted to use it to showcase a dress I've made with my own hands. I just haven't made it yet. "Anything else we should get?" Carter said as he carried the torso. "Why don't you buy a hand or head next time? Just for kicks. Oh, and I suggest putting blood on it and placing it somewhere people would see. They'll freak."

"Shush. I don't say anything about your lock picking addiction, so don't comment on mine."

"Just saying."

I stopped in front of mom's office. "But I'd surely love it if you open her safe."

His eyes grew larger. "The righteous Ms. Chance, asking me for a nasty favor?" He whistled. "The world has changed."

"It surely did."

It was almost sunset when I bid Carter goodbye. His parents were still not home, but I promised to call them as soon as I had my phone charged. And besides, it wasn't as if we wouldn't run into each other. Carter was a brother. He was also taking the same course for college. I'd see his parents one way or another.

Uno's house was quiet as usual when I returned. I placed a bag on the table. I stopped on a store before coming here so we could have something to eat. If she wasn't in the kitchen or living room, maybe she was still locked up in her own bedroom. I went there and knocked loudly like earlier. "I'm back," I called. "Are you hungry? There's food." I made my voice a little friendlier so she'd be encouraged to come out.

"Hello?" I tried the knob. It moved. "I'm coming in," I said. "You might be dead." Okay, not a good joke. I mentally kicked myself. Uno's room was a mirror image of mine. The stark difference was it didn't use a glass wall, but a solid stone on the other end. She wasn't inside, though I could smell her all over the place. It had a calming effect on me.

"Are you in the bathroom?" I said loudly. Still quiet as a tomb, I thought as I stared around. She was neater than most people. Her room was spotless. No clothes hanging on the chair. No cluttered books on the table. No mismatched socks in the corner. On second thought, it felt like she has never used the room before.

A huge painting on the wall grabbed my attention. It was an ordinary painting of a beautiful town somewhere in Germany. I looked not because of the design, but because I recognized the painting.

"No way," I murmured as I walked to it. We had one just like that. An exact copy. When I was younger, I used to draw on its back when I was bored. A very silly game that would make my mom angry if she knew. But that large painting suddenly disappeared. When I asked mom about it, she said that she sold it to someone else. Could it be? I decided to check the back. If it was the same painting, maybe there would be signs of my tampering with it.

Determined to see if it was the same art we had, I carefully pried it from the wall to check. I gasped. The painting was quickly forgotten. What I was focused on was the hidden door on the other side, equipped with a blinking locking mechanism. I replaced the painting and stepped back. It wasn't my intention to see that at all. But now that I knew it was there, a single thought repeated in my head. What was Uno keeping?