What Do I Call You?

Chapter Nine

“Kevin said you’re staying at some town in Preston.”

I grimaced at my mother’s added words. What a way to start a serious conversation. I turned and give her a sheepish smile and took a peek at my father who was still eating his lunch in silence. His expression remained blank and unreadable.

“Are you really going to stay there?” Mom asked me, frowning down at my face.

“Yes… But I will still continue taking care of the business and projects while I’m away from the city. You don’t have to worry.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about.” Father grimly commented, speaking up all of a sudden. I was startled for a second because it was such a rare thing to happen. And as I glanced at his voided stance, I felt uneasy.

“Steve.” My mother warned beside me and she shot a stern look towards my father’s direction. But father just ignored it and didn’t even bother to acknowledge her remark. He just glanced my way without even blinking.

“Avian Hills?” he said with a serious face. I hesitantly nodded at him, nervous to even say another word.

“Why?”

I gulped and tried to organize a better way to explain things to him. We had never been too openly conversational with each other. The only things we had ever really talked about in mutual interest were only and would always be about the business and company. I felt quite trapped as he stared at me with such intrepid intimidation. I could even imagine him flipping out if I really told him the whole truth…

“I’m thinking of starting up a business there.” I lied instead.

“All of a sudden?”

“I just thought since it’s within the borders of Preston… We could take advantage of it. The whole town’s kind of mysterious and hidden but it has its own appeal. It might be in the suburbs but if we provide them a good offer we could make it a tourist pote—”

“Leave the town alone.” My father strictly imposed, a heavy warning sounding from his loud intonation as he abruptly cut my words off.

I frowned back, suddenly puzzled and feeling a bit annoyed. “Why?”

“It’s not a suitable place to expand our business. I know that town. It’s not that significant to be invested in. It would just be best to leave it the way it is,” he vaguely answered, not even missing a beat, “Just drop the whole thing about it and get back to work inside your office instead.”

I took a deep breath, controlling the growing frustration that I was starting to feel inside. I needed to get a grip. I closed my eyes and exhaled audibly. All logic set aside, I went with the impulse even when I already knew it won’t do me any good… I guess, doing what my parents have always wanted me to do would still do me no good anyway.

“No,” I harrumphed. My mother tensed beside me while my father glowered at my word, looking quite surprised as he tried to process what I just said.

“I’ll stay at the village,” I told them in a firm resolution. I was no longer capable of being stopped from what I was about to do. “I’m just letting you know, father. But I will still be as active as I am with the business. I just have things I needed to do for now. So, I hope you can reconsider.”

My father just stared back with cold reservation, our eyes deeply connected as we continued to hold each other’s gaze with an intensity that only men of stubbornness could understand. It might be the very first time we have really looked at each other’s eyes and got engaged in a silent battle of who was going to back away first. And as the moments continued to pass on, his eyes slowly retreated on their own and he was the first one to look away, unexpectedly. I felt kind of guilty as I heard him heavily sighing. He quickly reached for his glass filled with scotch to take a sip, looking quite bothered yet still eerily calm at the same time.

“If that’s what you want,” he finally said, his eyes casting down towards the almost empty glass in his hand. “I have already given you my warning. If somehow, it worked for you, just give my regards to the mayor. But I still have one condition.”

“Okay,” I accepted too quickly, “What’s the condition?”

My father slowly tilted his head up and turned his eyes back at me. His gaze pierced right through me, letting me know that what he was about to say was one thing I should be completely serious about.

“Never interfere with any of the town’s business. Leave their matters alone,” he said in an ominous voice, the threat was very evident and I gulped nervously, “Forget the whole business bluff you’ve just blurted out on a whim. I don’t really think that’s the reason, anyway. Just do what you need to do and leave the place as soon as you can. Understand?”

Speechless, I only nodded at him. Yet his words continued to strain inside my head. What does he mean by that? Why am I being strongly warned to leave the town right away?

Why is it so strange?

Just what is there in that town that everyone keeps telling me to leave?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was almost fading out into evening when I came back to Avian Hills that day.

The sky has been filled with dazzling shades of purple and orange, scattered in a melancholic stream with showers of blue and fading whites over it. The colors marvelously blended with the faint darkness that was already starting to show up from the farthest view of the skyline as I drove past the brown signboard of the town. I was feeling a little bit light-headed as I let reality sink in. Not that I was really drunk, I was actually more than sober. But the entire two-hour drive from the city and all the traffic had me craving to finally lay my body down on a soft bed.

The clock on the dashboard showed me that it was already past five. I reduced the speed just as I have finally seen the curve heading directly to the empty driveway of the motel. It looked kind of different now that I was seeing the whole place under the daylight. Compared to how I had found it last night, the motel looked just normal in the afternoon. It was not as spooky as I had first seen it.

Anyway.

I parked on the driveway with ease. After turning the engine off, I got out of the car immediately and went to the back trunk to get the luggage I had brought with me from the city. I had packed enough clothes to last me for a week, at least. Now, I just have to resettle things with the pending business reports that I still needed to review for the next days to come.

I was about to walk my way towards the entrance of the motel when a middle-aged man in a loose purple shirt and a ball cap in his hand suddenly appeared on a sidewalk nearby. We somehow ended up staring at each other as we caught each other’s sight. He quickly gave me a mean sneer from the distance. And even when I tried to give him a smile, he only glared harder and flipped a finger towards me. I blanched, feeling slightly threatened, as the man just strutted away without even bothering to explain what his sudden offensive gesture was all about. I did not even know what I did wrong for him to treat me the way he just did and it was obviously directed to me since there was no one else standing on the empty scene around us but just him and me. I felt quite bothered about it, deeply frowning, until I had finally reached the glass doors of the motel.

Henry was reading a thick paperback when I entered the place. He only gave me a quick glance underneath those glasses before returning back to what he was doing again without even a greeting or any word. I then approached the counter and casually put down a sandwich packed in a small bag in front of him and sighed. It somehow caught his attention and he finally set the book aside.

He took note of the food and glanced up at me with a raised brow.

“That is for you,” I said, answering his silent question. He still didn’t show any signs of human reaction. He just continued to blankly regard me with an unfazed look.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” he immediately asked.

“That’s for being the first and only person who was considerably nice to me so far,” I said to him, explaining the sandwich but still refusing to answer his question, “I’m starting to like your stoic attitude now, better than the offensive glare I’ve just received outside.”

“Hmn.”

It was all he uttered back. Not much of a word, it was, but I still took the noncommittal response as a sign of his friendly sympathy. I bowed my head down on the cold wooden top of the counter between us and sighed again.

“I didn’t know that I was actually signing myself up for an extreme animosity. And all because I just decided to stay for a while in this town.”

“Hmn.” Henry just hummed again, and I already assumed that the mere sound he kept making was his own way of saying, ‘I told you so’. I winced back, feeling even more discouraged.

“So do you know where Nari lives?” I asked instead. I pulled my head up again and expectantly stared at him.

Henry just gazed back at me with a poker face, his eyes not merely moving an inch. I soon found myself getting distracted by the whole bravado. It was kind of amazing how his unwavering voided expression remained intact since the very first minute I had met him last night. It was impressive, I have to admit. I bet he could even play any gambling game without totally giving away anything and just easily win straight sets while still keeping up with that calm façade.

It was kind of funny yet still amazing at the same time. But I don’t even know why I was suddenly thinking to myself about the entire thing at all. Maybe the ridiculousness of the things that have been happening to me recently was really affecting me way harder than I had expected.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------