Until The Very End

CHAPTER 18: The Change of Plans

            Weekend came.

            Miami Beach was coming.

            It was late morning when Matt came out of his room dressed accordingly to the place they were going to. Short shorts, summer sleeves with open collar neck, sunglasses, shoes, and a small backpack. Their time to hit the road using a four-tired vehicle would take them almost a day on the road so, Matt requested a reservation for three seats on the local airline. The tickets were all paid without Hailey and Rodolfo bringing out their money, and, again, lied to Hailey. Matt told her that he got all of that money without asking for it from his crazy-rich parents. Hailey was still dubious.

            As usual routine every morning, Matt drank his warm milk. Whilst leaning himself on the counter, checking the flight hours that he booked last night, his eyes pointed at the kitchen table then ran around the kitchen out of a sudden. Though alone in the kitchen, he remembered the times when he and Rodolfo prepared their meals while dillydallying and laughing hysterically over the jokes that they told each other. Both ends of his lips stretched and almost reached his ear, capturing those blissful moments.

            That late morning was Rodolfo’s fourth morning in In Me Guarda. After the night that he fell asleep on Matt’s bed while sharing body heat, they slept separately. It makes Rodolfo a bit sad, for he wished to be in the same bed again with his friend and take things to another level. But, unfortunately, he was afraid.

            Of course, it was always Rodolfo who took a very long time, preparing himself for anything. Whenever he went with Matt, he had a hard time picking on what to wear, and style his hair. He wanted to look his absolute best in front of his friend. On his family trips, he wasn’t like this.

            While Matt walked out of the kitchen and went to the living room near the foyer, waiting for his friend to come downstairs, he couldn’t get his mind out of the memories he had with Rodolfo. And that smile that he made in the kitchen remained on his face. With so many happy things that he could have remembered and smile at, his memories with Rodolfo made him smile like this. He took his moment sitting on the sofa, waiting. Not a long moment after,  he went back to his phone and called Dhan. It did not take a while for the other party to answer the call. First ringback tone and Dhan take the call, answering;

            “Good Morning, sir.”

            “Matt, please. We talk about this,” said Matt, half irritated by Dhan calling him sir when he told his personal driver that he should address him by simply his name, Matt. But it did not destroy his happy yet late morning.

            Dhan made a sudden urge so that Matt will tell why he had called him, “Sorry, Matt. It won’t happen again.”

            “Are you busy?” asked Matt kindly.

            “No,” Dhan answered right away. He hated it, but it was a lie.

            “Are you sure?” Matt asked for certainty.

            “Yeah,” said Dhan without passing a second.

            Matt sat in silence, thinking. The way Dhan answered him disturbs him that something wasn’t right. Then, Dhan spoke again. Every word he threw seemed nothing was wrong. His voice was normal.

            “I am with my sister here at the hospital. The doctor said that my mother is getting better every day. With that, I am looking forward to her standing up on her own feet. And that is a big thanks to you. If my mom needs any assistance, my sister would be here to help her.”

            “This is nothing much, actually,” replied Matt. After hearing about Dhan’s mom, he decided to talk about some other things instead of saying that he needed a driver to go to the airport. “Just calling to ask how you and your family are doing. Also, I remembered that you called me last time.”

            “Oh, right. Yeah,” Dhan remembered. “Chairman Davis called me, asking if we’re together. He sounded worried and was panicking because you were sick. Sorry for not being able to check on you that night. I was here, looking over my mother while my sister was at home, resting. Anyways, are you okay? What happened?”

            “No problem. I’m fine,” said Matt. “It’s just a cold, and, uhmm, my temperature dropped below normal. You know Rodolfo, right? My friend from college. He was with me so, everything was good.”

            “Good thing, he was there,” responded Dhan in relief.

            Out of the blue, Rodolfo appeared in the living room where Matt was. Matt was stunned to see Rodolfo’s outfit almost the same as his’s except that Rodolfo wears a brown watch. That very moment, his heart began to sprint. Their eyes were stuck, staring at each other. One minute later, Matt remembered that still have an ongoing phone call with Dhan.

            “Sorry,” he apologized for a short delay in response. “Well, I hope for your mother’s full recovery. I’ll be going now, Dhan. If you need anything, give me a phone call. Alright?”

            “Yeah… sure,” Dhan stuttered. “Thank you, Matt. A lot. Bye.”

            Matt ended up with the phone call and looked at Rodolfo once again. His excitement rolled over, and suddenly desired a hug from Rodolfo. But he did stop himself from doing so. His heart was still running fast. Rodolfo felt the same way that his friend feels. They are mutually in love. But they have not shown a sign of any. Both were afraid.

            They sat on the sofa.

            It was Matt who talked first.                   

            “Excited for the next trip?”

            “I couldn’t be more happier with you,” Rodolfo said.

            They stopped. No one had talked. Matt was in a deep electric shock to hear Rodolfo say that. And then, Rodolfo, who was feeling stupid, blabberingly corrected what he had just said. Rodolfo does not want to change it because he really meant it. But, judging his friend’s reaction, he thought that Matt didn’t like it. He felt ashamed.

            “I mean… with, with you, guys. – you and, uhmm… Hailey. That was what I m-meant. You and Hailey are my friends.”

            Shyly, because of the reaction he was about to make, Matt bowed down and spoke, trying to put his voice on a normal voice with a smile, “Yeah, I totally get it. Shall we go?”

            “I guess so,” responded Rodolfo, who was embarrassed inside.

            Matt stood up, pocketing his phone while Rodolfo looked at the random things just to avoid his friend’s gazes. At the chandelier, the sofa table, the paintings that were properly hanged up on the walls, the flowers, the indoor plants, the carpet, the television. He even looked outside, not minding that there was a wall of black stained glass. Mortified and nervous, he talked to himself, “I should choose my next words.”

            That moment when Matt stretched his hands, reaching the door handle of that large pivot door of his mansion, his phone on his pockets rang. He took out his phone, turning to face Rodolfo, trying to catch his eyes. When he answered the call, it was the other party that talked first. A female’s voice, familiar to him, spoke with her emotion of sadness. It was Hailey.

            “Hi, Matt.”

            Downhearted to hear it, Matt, who was partially pissed off because of Rodolfo avoiding his eyes, passed his friend, going back to the living room. He left Rodolfo at the foyer, talking, “Hey. Is everything okay? We are about to go.”

            Normally, Hailey would raise her voice to her utmost glee. But that day, her voice became sadder and low as she continued to speak.

            “I think, I think I can’t go,” began Hailey. Then corrected herself, “No. No, not ‘I think’. I really can’t go.”

            “Hailey, why?” Matt asked for any reasons from her.

            “Lots of school work,” Hailey spoke. “I checked my notes last night and I saw that I have tons of pending essays and another case study that is needed to pass this coming Monday.”

            “But, Hailey, we prepared for this. You wanted this trip, I know it. We planned for it, and everything is settled. Can’t those essays and case studies be wait ‘till Friday?”

            “No, Matt. I have to – ”

            “I’ll talk to your professor now. I know you knew his email. I could send him one email, and he and I are good to talk.”

            “You can’t do that.”

            “Why not?”

            “It is the same professor you had an argument with after you got late on the first day. Remember at the lecture hall where the university held its first seminar for freshmen?”

            Matt recalled everything, saying, “Yeah. I do remember the embarrassment and fury that I have.”

            That made Hailey laughed quietly. Matt waited for her response, but she did not. Then, he saw Rodolfo staring at him, listening closely to the conversation. Finally, Matt caught those beautiful eyes. Matt kept his eyes on Rodolfo and said to Hailey over the phone, “Okay. Although I know that your professor will still listen to me, we will cancel today’s plan and move it to next weekend. Rodolfo and I will go straight to your place and help you with those works. How about that?”

            “No, no. You can’t come here!” Hailey instantaneously cried out.  “You can’t help me with my works either!”

            Strange. This was the only word that Matt could think of. He was suspecting something else other than Hailey’s tons of essays and case studies. Listening to Hailey’s despondent voice and unexplainable reasons, there was definitely something going with Hailey. Also, there was another thing that came across to Matt’s mind. The university burnt down, and all classes were suspended. It gave him awareness and thought that Hailey was lying.

            “Wait, hold on. Are you sure that you have to pass it on Monday? We have no classes. Hailey, what is happening?”

            There was silence for a short moment. She was probably unready to give excuses about it. Or was she?

            “I know, I know,” Hailey seemed to know what to say. “This professor demanded and showed us a letter signed by the president saying that everything should be passed online. Like everyone else in his every single class, I am also angry.”

            “Unbelievable,” replied Matt, who couldn’t believe it. Because of this information that was unlikely to be true, he asked, “And the president signed it?”

            “Yes. Crazy, isn’t it? But I do understand it at some side.”

            “Why can’t we help you with it?” Matt was sounding smart, investigating.

            “I don’t want to bother your time at things that will surely make you feel tedious. Plus, I assure you, these works are cursed. Once you started it, you won’t finish it.”

            “Then we definitely need to help you You won’t make it to Monday alone. I am really eager and looking forward to this trip.”

            “What I meant was, you don’t know the subjects. We are in completely different classes and everything we learn is completely different. These works are pretty sure hard to understand for both of you. Extremely hard. So, you can’t.”

            “Fine. We’ll move the trip to Tuesday then.”

            “Tuesday. Okay, got it!” Hailey forced herself to say it as cheerful as it should. “Gotta go. See you on Tuesday. Bye!”

            While Hailey was talking, Matt heard another person talking. Not just a normal talked, but a voice of panic followed by a screeching wheel of a pushcart. He heard it louder in his head than Hailey’s voice. While it was a small voice from the background, he could not forget those three words he just heard before Hailey hanged up the phone straight away. “We needed more!”

            He overthought concerning the voice a bit. Maybe Hailey was in the grocery store because of the sound of the wheels that were in a hurry, and someone yelled that they needed this particular item more. But Matt asked himself, “Why was that person needed to yell in panic inside a grocery store? What was happening? A panic buying?” On other thoughts, maybe he heard it on a person on the television talk. But, that again, leads him to another question as to the voice he heard does not really sound like it came from the television speakers. “But, I swear, it was real. Or was it?”

            After the end of the call, Matt saw himself as a person receiving lies. He knew that something was going on with Hailey, and the school works were just an excuse that she made up. At last, Matt felt what Hailey felt when he said that the tickets he bought for their trip were from the money that his parents had given him. Just mentioning Matt’s parents was a big lie already. They were dead long ago. That also gave him a strong feeling and spirit that he needed to reveal himself to Hailey. About who and what he was.

            Matt looked down, still thinking about it while holding his phone with both hands, and realized that Rodolfo was not with him anymore. He looked around. As he stood up to find Rodolfo, Rodolfo appeared, checking something on his own phone. Then Rodolfo glanced at Matt.

            “Where were you?” asked Matt.

            “In the kitchen. Had a glass of water,” Rodolfo answered, giving his phone to Matt to show something. “Look. Hailey sent me a picture of her.”

            It was truly a selfie picture of Hailey, making the peace sign on her hands while everything around her was papers and a laptop on her front. She was sitting on her bed. Matt noticed her smile. It was a legitimate smile but he wondered why Hailey’s voice on the phone was different. Her voice a while ago did not match with her stunning smile at the picture she sent to Rodolfo. After seeing the photo, there was a notification sound on Matt’s phone.

            Following the minute after, Matt returned Rodolfo’s phone to Rodolfo and looked over his phone. There was a message from Hailey, and when he opened it, a photograph of her showed. It was no different from the photo that she sent to Rodolfo. Only the angle had changed, and there was no peace sign on her fingers. Above the picture was a chat message, saying, “Right on papers! Tuesday is good!”

            Matt reluctantly handed his phone to Rodolfo and said, “She sent me a photo of her too. Do you reckon she’s okay?”

            “Of course. Here’s the evidence,” Rodolfo replied while pointing at his friend’s phone. “Come on, you knew her. She really cared much about her marks!”

            “I know it, alright? But it wasn’t you who talked to her. It was me. And I can tell that something is wrong around her,” Matt received his phone back.

            “How so?”

            Matt remembered once more the squeaking wheel on the floor and the voice of a person in sudden uncontrollable fear. Despite the photo that Hailey sent to them, he was not convinced that Hailey was good. Also, Matt recalled how Hailey hurriedly hanged up the phone yet have time to take a selfie and sent it to them. After a moment of silence, he answered his friend, “Nevermind. What’s the plan now? We’re off to this city on Tuesday.”

            “I don’t know. Get out of the city without her?” questioned Rodolfo, who wanted to have time alone with his friend.

            “Do you think it’s a good idea? I mean, Hailey might get jealous,” responded Matt, pocketing his phone.

            “We’re not going to Miami without her, of course. I’m suggesting places just beside New York. How about Pennsylvania? Or Toronto?” Rodolfo began proposing places.

            Matt was undecided about the given places. He wanted to get far from New York. While thinking of something else, the university summoned up in his mind. “How about we visit our university’s twin brother?”

            Rodolfo crumpled his face out of confusion and asked, “What do you mean by a twin brother?”

            “A twin brother, yeah. Like the World Trade Center, only these universities were thousands of miles apart,” explained Matt, feeling excited about the idea.

            “Why? Where was its twin brother located?” Rodolfo looked for more details about the university’s twin brother.

            “Los Angeles.”

            “No. It’s too far. I said beside New York. We won’t make it there today, I suppose,” declined Rodolfo.

            “Come on. We have private jets! One call, and we’re good to go. We’ll be back by tomorrow,” said Matt as a response to his friend.

            “Right,” Rodolfo remembered that he has a billionaire friend. “We’re going now?”

            “Hold on,” answered Matt, sitting back at the sofa. He took out again his phone from his inside pockets, dialled something, and put the phone on his ear. A female voice answered his call.

            “Good Morning, this is NY’s Airline. How may I help you?”

            “Hi. Good morning,” Matt greeted back. “I asked for a reservation of three seats to Miami last Thursday night. It was all paid through an online bank, I believe?”

            “Your name, please, sir.”

            “Matt Williams.”                                                

            A moment of quietness dropped.

            “Yes, CEO Williams. All reservation is in good care. We expect you to be here before eleven this noon.”

            “Yes, thank you,” replied Matt kindly. “About it, I would like to cancel our flight and give our tickets for free to those people who might need to get out of the city. As you well know, this happens to me every time, and I’d like to apologize for it.”

            “Certainly, CEO Williams. We’ll look forward to your next bookings! Thank you for calling us. Goodbye!”

            “Of course,” Matt answered back, and then ended up the call.

            Rodolfo talked while Matt made another call, “You are giving free tickets?”

            “Shh,” Matt gestured him to stop talking as he put again the phone on his ear.

            “Good morning, CEO Williams,” a man answered.

            “Good morning, Martin. Is Terrence with you? I need a flight right now to Los Angeles,” Matt replied to Martin, one of his two hardworking captains.

            “Yes! I told you! I told you he needs us today!” Matt heard Martin shouted. It perplexed him then he realized that Martin’s reply was not for him. “I’m sorry, CEO Williams. We are actually at the hangar now, preparing a private jet for you.”

            “How do you know that I am going out of the city today?” asked Matt in amazement.

            “My instinct tells me,” Martin replied, chortling.

            “Well, I love your instinct. And you and Terrence bet for this if your instinct is right? Or not?” Matt asked again with a smile on his face.

            “He loses again.”

            “How much?”

            “Don’t worry about it, CEO Williams. We reduced the sum of money on our future bets. Just a $100,” Martin said, full of happiness, taking his moment of win. “What time will be your arrival here, sir?”

            Matt gazed at the huge, three-dimensional clock on the wall. An hour hand points nearly on nine while the minute hand was pointing at eleven. “Give us an hour.”

            “We will see you in an hour then.”

            “What do you want me to do? Ask for a refund on the tickets? Those tickets were non-refundable. I may have been entitled to refund them, but it was already more than 24 hours since I booked them. Plus, it’s good to help someone you doesn’t know. Their gratitude is what makes me happy. We can reserve another three for Tuesday,” Matt suddenly spoke to Rodolfo after hanging up the phone. He did not forget Rodolfo’s question so, he answered it. Before Rodolfo could reply, Matt marched forward, saying, “Come with me.”

            Rodolfo followed him without talking. Matt led Rodolfo upstairs and to his bedroom door. When he opened the door for Rodolfo, Rodolfo made a mystifying face and was hesitant to come inside. Matt waited for him at the door while his right hand was gripping the door handle and eyes at his friend. The moment made Rodolfo felt awkward. Feeling nervous, Rodolfo came inside, and Matt closed the door.

            The following struck Rodolfo in total bewilderment. Matt slid his dressing room door to his right, motioning Rodolfo to follow after him. The lights opened automatically. Without hesitation at that time, Rodolfo had no chance but to follow. It was again that big mirror attached to a wall that they saw first, followed by long sections of cloth shelves full of hangered cloths. They saw their reflection.

            Matt walked straight to the location of the mirror, looking to his left, passing the glass display tables that stood on the centre of the way where his collection of different watches and smartwatches and other men’s accessories were. That section was a section of his formal suits and anything related. He picked a navy blue suit, navy blue pants, a white long sleeve shirt and a black necktie from the shelves. He took of the hangers of the clothes and returned them to the bar. As he looked back at the door, he saw Rodolfo standing, watching him.

            “What are you waiting for? Pick something you like. This is the only section where you can have your desired suits. I assume that you know already about the other sections of this room,” he told Rodolfo, hands were full of clothes he had just taken.

            “No way. We are going on suits?” asked Rodolfo in total lack of credence. His eyes were shining.

            “Of course. We can’t present ourselves like local visitors when it is time to visit an old industry and another company we used to own,” Matt remarked.

            “Are you saying that you used to be a president of the twin brother’s university? Like how you became the university president before Mr Cauffman?” Rodolfo could not believe what he was hearing.

            “Whoever the president of one of the two is the president of the other,” said Matt, walking nearer to Rodolfo. “I was an ex-president of the university here. Therefore, I was an ex-president of its twin brother. Did I never mentioned about it to you? I was once become a board of trustees before becoming the president.”

            “I am certainly sure that you did not,” said Rodolfo, who was listening closely. “You did mention that you were a president before, but you never introduced its twin brother or never told me about you becoming one of the board of trustees.”

            “Okay. Now that you knew about it, grab a suit,” Matt pointed to the suits that were hanged up on a hanger. “Don’t worry. We’ve seen each other’s bodies. We are on the same body type and muscle sizes so, every suit will perfectly fit on you.”

            Rodolfo moved closer to the shelves, still hesitating, and questioned, “Can’t we have a less formal one to wear?”

            “If you wished to stay at the hotel while I visit our old company, you could,” Matt curved his lips down, not because of disappointment but an expression.

            “Fine,” Rodolfo was setting aside his hesitation. “I’ll take a suit.”

            “Fabulous! Make it quick. We still have to choose our shoes and things we should wear from here,” Matt was referring to the things that were inside of the glass display tables. After he spoke, he went to wear the suit he took.

            It did not take Matt a while to wear them on. Five minutes later, He came back to the main section, the section of suits and other formal wear, and faced himself at the huge mirror on the wall.  He arranged his sleeves, collars and his tie. From behind, Rodolfo appeared. While he was on his way to the mirror, he was already arranging himself. Rodolfo wore a black suit, black pants, a white sleeve, and a navy blue tie. They took their moment in front of the mirror.

            Afterwards, Matt took Rodolfo to the section of business shoes. The shoes fall into four sections. The first section was filled with athletic and hiking shoes, the second section was full of running shoes, the third one was sneakers, and the last section was full of business shoes. They also vary in colours. Matt handpicked the brown, leathered shoes. He waited for Rodolfo to select his preferred shoes, and he, too, took brown, leathered shoes but with a touch of black. Next, they went on the sofa that stood at the end of the shelves. It was like a living room sofa style.

            Near the sofa was another plane vertical body mirror where they checked themselves with their shoes. Afterwards, Matt and Rodolfo went back to the main section again. From the glass display tables, Matt took a tie clip and wore it. Rodolfo followed him. At next, Matt selected a gold cufflink and put it on. This time, Rodolfo did not take any from the table of cufflinks. Matt ordered Rodolfo to wear anything he wanted from the table display, but Rodolfo refused after wearing the tie clip. It may be because he was too shy to wear things from his friend or just simply does not like it.

            Lastly, Matt walked to where his collection of watches and sunglasses. With two hands, he took two handsome, luxury watches from the glass table and gave the other one to his friend. Rodolfo accepted it after a short pause. But Rodolfo took the sunglasses without a time of uncertainty when Matt handed him one. They wore their accessories and looked at themselves in the mirror for the last time. Just like a suited lawyer, or an agent, or business partners, or grooms, they were attractive, well-proportioned, gorgeous, and hot.