Romance of the Four Juans

Track 23

“They’re lovers who’d been apart for months. Let’s not get in the way. And my daughter would be delighted to lend her room for the pretty lady. Bivi wants to get to know Ame. Let’s not deny them the opportunity.”

An-An chuckles. He can read the hidden agenda behind Jigo’s statement. “What about your wife, kuya? She’s a shy thing who doesn’t take kindly to strangers. Will she stay cooped up in your room forever, locked away?”

Jigo ignores the youngest. He stands, already heading for the door. “A week, papa. A week should be enough. Then, Kuya Kiko would have to make a choice.”

Jigo spent the entire afternoon at George’s place where they touched up on the issue of establishing a formal business for this growing agency. George has been complaining about handing out business cards in the name of his own photography studio and is threatening to stop managing them if he doesn’t get new business cards with a proper agency name. He went on and on about making the business formal, so that they could register it in Singapore. George even extended his generosity, saying he’d allow him to use his studio as the initial business address.

“Can’t you do it, kuya? I’ll be your investor.”

“No, thank you. I’ll just receive a formal salary. I don’t want the stress of owning this kind of business and dealing with the taxes and employees. It’s your s**t. If you don’t want it under your name, then maybe we can ask your mother to lend hers. You need to see her anyway, Jigo.”

Jigo agreed to sleep on it. He then, directed his attention to the scripts they received. George received numerous calls to confirm his return to the screen when his face became more frequent in local magazines. Though he hasn’t explicitly stated his future plans, where he wants his career to go, people just kept sending offers which he can no longer ignore. The pressure is piling. He’s taking on too many projects at once and it’s affecting his mood. Huan even pointed it to him yesterday, pinching his cheeks in the most painful way possible. “What’s happening to you? I haven’t been seeing those dimples as of late, ha? Whatever you’re going through, talk it out. Don’t go punching people.” Jigo could only nod.

It became easy to filter the scripts he received. He just picked the projects that were set for streaming platforms and so it came down to two, the same two that Lucille has. Since Jigo promised Kiko that he’d take care of Lucille and watch over her career, Jigo takes Lucille with him to some projects, print ads, magazine shoots, packaging both of them as a bundle, a one plus one.

“Ei, the clothing brand you modeled for in the last magazine shoot, asked me if Lucille would consider runway,” George mentions.

Jigo closes the script. He nudges Lucille, who’s giggling at something on her phone again. “Do you want to walk?”

“Walk what?”

“Runway. People are asking.”

The girl sits straighter and looks down on her body, cupping her breasts to the discomfort of the two men. “Is it because I don’t have boobs?”

George answers. “Nah. It’s because you’re bony and rectangular.”

“They must’ve seen the freckles on my shoulders too, right kuya? It’s one of my most seductive points.”

Jigo chuckles. They might be joking about it now, but they know it’s because Lucille is eye-catching. She’s still growing at age twenty, almost as tall as Jigo now, with an attractive, structured face, a well put-together fashion sense and a confident walk. Most importantly, she’s very capable of making heads turn.

Jigo has always treated Lucille like a sister since they acted as siblings in one drama. As a child, Lucille was naughty and hyperactive, as opposed to the well-behaved Jigo. Despite the differences, they bonded so well during those times, in part because they were both in the care of grandparents then. It felt as if they were on the same boat growing up. More than that, Lucille’s loyalty is unlike any other, something that Jigo appreciates. Even when he drew far away from friends because of his activities as an idol, Lucille’s presence was felt in messages. She didn’t mind that he couldn’t always reply to her messages of encouragement and support, she just kept sending them, and telling him stories of her life that Jigo felt as if they were never really apart. This is the main reason why Jigo will always have Lucille’s best interest in mind. Her, being Kiko’s half-sister, only came second.

“If you want to do it, it’s fine. We have Kuya George. He’s worked for too many brands and photographed too many models. His connections are enough to get you anywhere you want in the modeling industry.”

“Will you do it with me?”

“They only asked for you. And do you really want a babysitter all the time?”

“I’ll do it then. But you said even if we’re not famous, we can still be selective, so you’ll still help me choose who to walk for, right?”

Jigo nods, ruffling her hair. She laughs, to which Jigo responds by moving farther from her. He knows Lucille well enough to know that her boisterous laughter comes whenever she intends to make mischief. It’s one of her tells. So, the men braced themselves for whatever she had just thought of. “How was your trip to the police station last night, kuya? Was it fun?”

“You were at the police station? Whatever for?” George demanded.

“You don’t need to know, kuya. It’s fine, nothing serious.” Jigo turns to the girl. “How did you know?”

“I have a spy.” The girl proudly declares. “An-An.”

“Since when were you and An-An close?”

“Since we got Bivi into your house. We have exchanged numbers and gossiped since then.”

Jigo’s palm lands on the crown of Lucille’s head again. “If there comes a time when you have to choose between An-An and me, you’ll choose me, right? Friends should still come first before potential lovers. If the status of your relationship with a man changes to more than friends, discard me then. Only then, do you understand?”

Lucille pouts, swearing that it will never happen and diverts the conversation.

By sheer luck, at the end of their meeting, Lucille invites Jigo into HB’s unit again. Their dwelling has now been organized into a more conducive living space, unlike his first visit. The living room that was full of clutter before is now adorned with bookcases filled with a collection of books, categorized into contemporary, modern, classic and fantasy, the fantasy group taking more space than the other genres. He was attracted to this one title and takes it off of the shelf, tries to read it while he waits for Lucille to finish packing, and finds it heavily annotated. Words are underlined, pages are tagged, and sometimes thoughts and feelings are spilled onto the edges of a page, words he couldn’t understand for they were written in Italian. Sometimes the writings were in an entirely different writing system altogether; Japanese text, he recognized.

Jigo flips to the title page where a stamp indicates the name of the owner, HB, and the date she first read it. Now he wonders just how much percentage of Japanese blood HB has in her blood stream. He knows so little about the girl. At most, they only met at least once a month and their interactions are to a bare minimum. Maybe, as he’s idling away in this room, HB has slipped away again. The thought made his heart squeeze into a ball inward, and he felt this urgency to get home.

The door to one of the rooms opens. Instead of Lucille, another character comes out.

Julian, she introduces herself.

Jigo regains his composure. He grins and shakes her hand. He'd heard of Julian from Kiko before and noted that she is HB’s number one pick for Kiko. It’s nice to finally put a face to the name. But knowing information like that, Jigo can’t help but compare her to the girl who is currently stressing his father at home.

Julian is beautiful in her own right. She might even bear good fortune for having that wide and clear forehead. She has high cheekbones and full, pink lips. Her nose might be the only facial feature that is a little inferior to Ame’s tall one. Unlike Ame, Julian is rather flat on the chest area, but she has child-bearing hips while Ame does not. Julian may not be as fair, but Jigo has a good feeling that Dante would much prefer her because she could pass as a dalagang Filipina.

Jigo watches her pack container after container of the food she prepared. A girl who cooks. In Jigo’s heart, she had already won. s**t. He was never a person who indulges or even overthinks the complexities of romantic relationships, its timing, be it coincidence or not. But meeting Julian, Jigo can’t help but wonder if it was a mere coincidence that she’s here at the same time as Ame or if it’s God’s perfect timing at work. One thing is certain, Kiko will be tested in the days to come.

He went home carrying more bags than he could, but he didn’t pause for anyone and headed straight into the comforts of his room where he found HB and Bivi dancing together to some foreign music, Hindi music, he recognized. Jigo grins at the sight of them, jumping up and down, twirling round and round, dancing without a care for the world outside those four walls. He dropped everything in his hand and marveled, in awe at how they so easily infected his heart. As he removed his jean jacket, his head bobbed along. It didn’t take long for him to start swaying to the beat and join them at the center of the room. He half expected them to stop at his intrusion, but the girls giggled the same way, like they’re real mother and daughter, and welcomed him into their dance scene.

Never in his life did Jigo think that he’d be holding hands with a child and a young girl at heart, forming a circle with both and twirling them around. If they had been in a garden, maybe he’d even have flowers in his hair. His heart was light, and in its lightness, he took hold of his niece and twirled her round and round until her feet lifted on the floor. When it stopped, though dizzy, the girl chuckled and exclaimed, “Mama too!”

“Mama too?” Jigo looked at HB, the girl was already backing away from them. Uncle and niece chased her around the spacious room, even knocking a few items on the bedside table. Bivi squeals in delight when Jigo finally got hold of HB by the waist. But the song comes to an abrupt end and whatever spell that was there has been broken. He allows HB to take a step back as Bivi exclaims. “Again!”