Remember That Day

Chapter 14

After a quite while, there was Jayda’s suspicious look at Damek while waiting for his answer. Her impatient voice almost scared him.

“I’m thinking about calling the police—”

“Wait! I’ll explain that part,” he interrupted. He quickly got his phone from his pants and browsed it, hands barely shaking.

“What now? I’m—”

“Here! I found it. Here!” Damek handed over his phone to Jayda. The screen was full of words which Jayda had come to know that his notes. “It was the plot for my new Webtoon story. What happened that night was...”

It was late in the evening of October 26th when Damek arrived to the hotel. He decided to move for his future events and business that would be near around the building. 

Still too lazy to unpack his things, Damek with his half-naked body was sitting in front of his computer. There was a drawing tablet on his right side and crumpled of inked papers on his left that almost scattered to the floor. A metal tumbler of iced tea was also on his desk.

He was busy with his new Webtoon story.

Harshly typing a dialogue on his keyboard, Damek uttered, “What should I do with you?”

Then his phone rang.

When the call was put through, he heard a man’s voice he had been familiar for so many years.

Damek positioned his phone in between his ear and shoulder to hold his phone and said, “Gon?”

“What’s up? Should I prepare a moving gift for you? You’re just minutes away from my workplace,” Gon said in his cheerful voice.

“Gift? Is that even necessary?” Damek answered, eyes still on his computer.

“You don’t want?”

“It not like that,” he replied as he applied colors to his illustrations. “I’m just busy right now. I can’t entertain you if you’ll drop here.”

“Why? Are you illustrating?”

“Yes. New story.”

“Nice.”

“I’m thinking if I should kill a character after the first few episodes.”

“Too early to hurt your readers,” he chuckled. “What’s the story all about anyway?”

Damek held his phone with his hand as he rested his head on his chair. He smiled, “Secret. I don’t need opinions anyway. I’m planning to kill her first as a process to obtain her power from darkness.”

“So your antagonist is a woman?”

“A woman who will choose to be evil. There will be a demon that will possessed her body and such...”

“Thanks for the spoiler!” Then they both chuckled.

Damek, staring at his brutal drawing, he said, “She should have just died. Suits her. It will be her great development in the story as the main antagonist.”

“I promise, it was just all about my story. It was nothing like a real thing. Just a... story.”

Jayda still seem unconvinced as how she looked seriously at him. Damek’s eyes wondered as Jayda started to tell him all the things she remembered that made her suspicious.

She said, “How can you explain to me your similarities to that guy? He smelled like alcohol and cigarette that moment...”

She was about to tilt her head skyward to watch the stars when a guy suddenly passed by in front of her. What caught her attention more was his appearance. She had this sudden feeling that he was a bum of some sort.

No, she didn’t see his face, but the guy was wearing a hood, smelled like cigarettes and alcohol. Jayda’s eyes squinted as she watched him headed to the hotel’s service door.

Jayda added, “And when we’re at the convenient store...”

“It’s better to drink this.”

Chocolate drink.

Jayda tilted her head to see who on Earth put a chocolate drink on her table and it was him again. Her eyes automatically squinted.

“You? Again? Ugh! Why are you bothering me?” Jayda snorted.

With his usual smile, the guy answered, “Just because.”

“What? Are you crazy?”

“Um. Let’s just say, I’m concern.” 

“You’re really crazy,” said Jayda. Just as she looked at his hand, she added, “Telling me to eat healthier than noodles yet you got a bunch of chips, a canned beer, and a box of cigarette? Just... just go!”

“He’s even on his hood that night like what you’re wearing right now!” Jayda exclaimed.

Damek brushed his hair with his fingers out of frustration. He mused, “I’m telling you, I never leave my room that night. I was busy in front of my computer and I was even too lazy to unpack my things, so I couldn’t be the guy who passed in front you! I wouldn’t waste my time just to take a walk around the pool area. And one thing, maybe yes... we perhaps both have similar vices, but swear to God! It wasn’t me, Jayda!”

Jayda stood up. She walked around the room to relax her mind. She wanted to believe Damek, but her confusions was still unanswered. 

“Jayda...”

Jayda stopped in the middle, Damek just looked at her. She was biting her fingernail as if she was into a deep thought.

“He was wearing a black jacket with hood that night when he walked just right in front of me, and I could barely remember his shoes... it was an Air Jordan, red and black...”

“I wear hoods, but not like black colors. I have red in my closet and gray like I’m wearing right now. God knows I don’t wear shoes like that as well. You can check my things and everything if you want.”

“If it was not really you, then who? When I tried to chase him, I had seen him at the elevator before it could completely closes. Then it stopped at floor seven. It had only been me and you at this floor for the past 4 weeks, so I really had no one to blame. I’m really going crazy!”

Damek suddenly felt sorry for Jayda. Worry was all over his face and he couldn’t think what was the best to do for her. He abruptly bolted up from bed.

“Jayda,” Damek inched towards her and held her arms, “I believe you. I wanted to help you, but it is not going to be easy. Securities won’t believe us if we don’t have any evidences.”

“Right,” Jayda said, nodding her head. “I only witnessed it by myself, I’m sure even you would think that I’m just seeking for attention.”

“No,” Damek shook his head. “I’m sure you’re not that kind of person who would do anything just for attention. I’m convinced that you’re just telling me what you saw. Even Gon, he saw how stressed you could be about your situation to collapsed and get a fever.”

They both sat back to bed and continued to discuss the same matter.

Heaving a long and deep breath, Jayda uttered, “That guy. I saw him again rummaging around the pool’s garden...”

The last thing Jayda knew, she was already at the hotel’s pool staring at a guy in a corner who seemed to be looking for something. Not just that, he was rummaging at the mini garden that was actually odd and suspicious.

Pounding heart and trembling knees were all Jayda felt as she remembered the murder incident.

A step backwards, she started to panic as she looked to her left and right, checking if there were people or securities around, but she saw no one aside from the familiar guy.

It was dim, so she barely saw him. But Jayda was sure that it was the guy she was chasing the last time in the elevator going to the 7th floor.

“But I tripped myself and lost him in sight. I tried to look over the garden, but I found nothing. I got confused, but when I went up here and stopped in front of your room, I heard you again on call...”

Without pressing her ear against the door, Jayda could already hear someone shouting inside the room.

Jayda uttered, “Is he on a phone call?”

“It doesn’t matter, Gon! Help me!”

“Fine. Calm down first—”

“How can I calm down?”

Jayda started to feel nervous as she tried to eavesdrop more of the conversation. His voice was booming inside and she could surely tell that he was terribly mad.

Assured as she was that the cameras weren’t still working on that floor and no one could see hear in front of his neighbor’s room, she stayed there for a few minutes only to jumped on her feet.

“You still have time, Bro.”

“I don’t have! What if someone see it? What if someone... I’m dead!”

What on Earth is he hiding? What is he afraid to see by anyone... is he really hiding the woman? The dead body? Jayda’s eyes grew bigger as she thought it to herself.

“Did someone see you?”

“No. I don’t think so.”

“Ah. That night was the first time we saw each other. It was at the convenient store,” Damek said.

“Yes. And you surely went back here that night earlier than I did. Wait, how did you know that it was the same night?”

“It’s me.”

Jayda’s eyes widened. “What?”

“It was me that night who was turning up at the pool’s garden because I accidentally lost my stylus there.”

“You... what?” Damek just scratched the back of his head and bashfully smiled at her.

“Do you remember the tissue that I gave you?” he asked.

“Tissue?” Jayda looked up a little as if there was an answer at the ceiling until a memory flashed inside her head.

“Finally, he’s gone!” she cheered as she watched him ran away. “How dare he mess with me? Tsk!”

Aside from the Cola she bought, she saw the chocolate drink that the guy left with her and a tissue on her table. There was a cute character munching a mouthful of noodles.

But no matter how cute it was, Jayda’s forehead creased.

“What’s this? Is it... is it me?” she gasped as she examined the drawing, confused as she looked like a hungry pig. Until she saw a word written at the corner below.

Damek.

“Oh... that. That little pig.” Damek chuckled, but he almost choke himself with his own lump when Jayda glared at him.

“A drawing pencil, my drawing tablet and my stylus was with me that night. I strolled around and among the sections near the hotel to think for a good reference for my illustrations. Then I bought some chips inside the convenient store and we met. I was little out of idea that time until I reached the hotel pool area when I decided to go back. I wasn’t aware actually. I thought it was just a stick I picked up from there and shoot! I threw it away just like that. I got frustrated since I have a deadline the next day and I couldn’t draw without it. But no matter how I look for it, I couldn’t see it. Then I ran inside the hotel, went up using the stairs, and called Gon...”

“Hello—”

“I have a deadline tommorow, 9 in the morning. Get me a stylus!”

“Hey, wait! Get you what?” Gon exclaimed.

“I accidentally threw away my stylus around the pool area... in the garden and I couldn’t find it!”

“Wow! What kind of stupidity is that Damek?”

“Get me a stylus right now! I have a deadline tommorow and I can’t draw anything without it!”

“It’s freaking past 10 in the evening already! Where do you want me to buy your stylus?”

“Come on! Suggest something, Gon!” Damek almost shouted. He was pacing back and forth inside his room as he was pulling his hair.

“Okay, calm down. Breath first!” his friend, Gon, chuckled on the other line as he heard Damek panicked. “You sounded like you ran over a hundred laps—”

“I left my phone in my room. I needed to call you right away, but the elevator was full.”

“You mean, you took the stairs?”

“It doesn’t matter, Gon! Help me!”

“Fine. Calm down first—”

“How can I calm down?”

“You still have time, Bro.”

“I don’t have! What if someone see it? What if someone... I’m dead!”

“Did someone see you?”

“No. I don’t think so.”

A lengthy words from Gon followed. He said, “It’s good that no one saw you. If not, you’ll be misunderstood as either a crazy bored human being or a criminal hiding something in the dark at a pool area. Don’t worry, you can ask the caretakers or the gardeners for your stylus tomorrow. I’m sure it’s still there. If not, I’ll buy you one. Just use your finger for the meantime.”

“What? My finger? Nevermind! I’ll just ask for extension, but be sure to buy me a new stylus. Bye!”

“You brat—”

“Luckily, the publishing gave me a one day extension for that,” Damek said to Jayda.

Jayda rolled her eyes by the fact that Damek almost answered her questions with detailed explanations. She knew it would not be easy to make all of those stories on the spot if he was lying.

“Fine,” Jayda said, almost a whisper. By hearing it, Damek slowly flashed a smile.

“Fine? You mean, I’m already out of the hook—”

“Not yet.” 

Damek pouted.

Just as Jayda marched to her table and got the piece of tissue from her pencil case, she waved it to Damek’s face then she stormed off, “How dare you drew me like a pig? Do pigs eat noodles?”

It was the tissue with a cute pig munching a mouthful of noodles that Damek gave to Jayda.

“I guess?” he answered, biting his lips and refraining himself from laughing.

As much as Damek wanted to laugh in front of her, he knew Jayda could kill him right away. But pouting Jayda due to his drawing made his heart flatter.