Until The Very End

CHAPTER 13: Back to New York

            “Hey!” Rodolfo shouted happily.

            The suspension week that Mr Cauffman, the president of the university where Matt had gone to, gave had already ended.

            Matt and Rodolfo’s camping trip ended at noon the next day. As planned, the very same chauffeur that drove them to the entrance of the National Park picked Matt and Rodolfo to went back to the Grande Palazzo. After they arrived at the penthouse, Matt and Rodolfo prepared themselves for a flight back to New York. They agreed to spend the remaining days of their suspension week on their own alone. Before the flight, they had dinner at the private restaurant of the hotel. Grande Palazzo had three restaurants inside – two of them were for the hotel guests, and the other one was for business meetings in case the board of directors needs a private conversation while having a meal and for loyal hotel guests. Loyal hotel guests were the hotel guests who had been checked in on that hotel for over six months and above without checking out. Rodolfo was the luckiest new hotel guest to enter there.

            They came back to New York using the private jet they had used to go to Italy. They were both asleep and tired when they landed on the hangar. Matt had instructed the pilot to go straight on the hangar.

            Now, they were back at their university and can’t wait to see if there were any changes. Matt heard Rodolfo’s voice as he parked his cheap car at the parking lot. He took his school belongings and placed them inside his backpack. He thought he woke up late and rushed to the university without having his breakfast.

            As usual, Rodolfo stayed at the parking lot to avoid Zander. He approached Matt on the car window while he closed his notebook and pocketed his pen.

            “Hey,” Rodolfo said again, smiling.

            “Hey,” Matt repeated without looking at his friend.

            “Why were your school things in a mess?” Rodolfo asked after seeing Matt’s school things scattered in the back seat of the car.

            “Wait, why aren’t you in your first class?” Matt asked back.

            “Why would I go?” Rodolfo answered in a question form. He looked at his watch and said, “I have no intentions nor into cutting classes but, we are twenty-seven minutes early.”

            “What?” Matt asked, lacking in belief. He suddenly stopped.

            “You thought you’re late, didn’t you?”

            “I haven’t got my breakfast yet,” said Matt, closing his backpack. “How stupid I am not to properly check the time earlier.”

            “Well, there’s a café nearby,” replied Rodolfo. “If you want, we can go together.”

            “Let’s go real quick,” Matt went out of the car. Rodolfo nodded.

            They walked fast to the café. It wasn’t far. The inside of the café was nearly full of college students. Matt went instantly to the counter, ordered a cappuccino and a single croissant, and looked for a seat after. While looking for a table, they spotted Zander and his friends staring at them. They looked back for three seconds and went on again looking. Just when they sat down, Matt’s breakfast was served. They were seated far away from Zander.

            As soon as Rodolfo saw the croissant on their table, it reminds him of their time in Italy. He automatically smiled while Matt thanked the crew.

            “Don’t you want to eat?” asked Matt as he took his first bite at his croissant.

            “I’m good,” answered Rodolfo. “I ate already.”

            “Do you think Zander will leave us in peace?” Matt was uncomfortable in his seat and inside the café. “I see revenge in his eyes.”

            “We can take him,” said Rodolfo, taking out his phone.

            Matt stopped talking for a minute and looked at Rodolfo’s notebook, which was on top of the table. He grabbed it while Rodolfo was busy on his phone. But Rodolfo was on an alert that he immediately took it away before Matt could have open a page. Rodolfo placed it again on the table and went back on his phone again. Matt finished his croissant silently.

            Matt attempted to get Rodolfo’s notebook without being noticed by his friend. He sipped his cappuccino noisily to inform Rodolfo that he was busy with his breakfast. At this attempt, Matt was successful. He opened the front cover of the notebook. It was completely blank. Rodolfo felt strange while he was on his phone. He gazed at Matt to see why Matt was in total silence. Just then, he saw his friend holding his notebook. Before Matt could flip another page, Rodolfo yelled while he hastily took his notebook away from Matt’s hands;

            “NO!”

            Everyone in the café looked at the two. Matt and Rodolfo stopped dead, looking at each other.  A few seconds after, Rodolfo asked Matt;

            “Did I just… shout?”

            While nodding with eyes fixed to his friend, Matt answered, “I think you just did. Don’t tell me everyone is looking at us.”

            “I wanted to tell you that they’re not, but this is not the perfect time to lie,” Rodolfo came closer to whisper.

            “Okay, okay,” gritted Matt. “Act normal while we get out of here.”

            Rodolfo nodded. They got up on their chair, took their backpacks and wore them. Everyone’s eyes were still fixed to them as they walk directly to the door of the caféteria. Matt looked straightly at the door, wishing it would walk nearer to them. Rodolfo rests his right arm on Matt’s shoulder and said loudly inside the café;

            “Well, we’ll just go, and go, and uhmm – uugghh!”

            Matt stroke Rodolfo’s stomach with his elbow to shut up. That’s before they reached the café door. Everyone in the café was confused, including Zander and his friends. Then, Rodolfo asked silently, moaning in pain;

            “What was that for?”

            “I said normal. Act normal,” responded Matt in almost a whisper.

            “It was normal,” Rodolfo said, massaging his stomach.

            “You look stupid, not normal,” whispered Matt on Rodolfo’s ear.

            Rodolfo made a disgusting face and replied, “That hurts.”

            “So sorry to say it, but everyone can’t deny it,” said Matt, looking at him.

            “No,” answered Rodolfo. “Not that. My stomach hurts. Are you made of steel? Metal? Or something?”

            Matt smiled with a little laugh and responded, “My apologies again. It’s the only way to shut you up right away.”

            “What do you mean ‘only way to shut me up right away?’,” questioned Rodolfo.

            “Let’s just go,” Matt continued to walk.

            Rodolfo followed him, still massaging his stomach.

            Before they could reach the door handle, a female voice called. It wasn’t sure who it calls to, but Matt and Rodolfo turned around to see where it came from.

            “Hey, guys!”

            Matt and Rodolfo looked everywhere. On the big table that was full of college students, one woman was standing, waving his hand in the air. She was looking at them. When Matt and Rodolfo saw her, she took her backpack and laptop and came to them. She wore a smile of excitement as she approached the two. It was no other than Hailey Amber. 

            “Hey, good to see you two back here.”

            Matt smiled, and so did Rodolfo.

            Matt followed her by saying, “Yeah. Good to see you too, Hailey.”

            “Yeah. How is everyone when we were gone?” asked Rodolfo randomly to join the conversation.

            “I think It’s more exciting if I ask you two how’s your week has been,” replied Hailey.

            The two looked at each other. Hailey seemed to know about how they spend their week. She watched them exchange looks. Then, she leads the way out. Rodolfo and Matt went after her. They were walking at her back while Hailey waited for one of them to start talking. The three already entered the campus, but still, none of them talks. Matt doesn’t want to. It will leave Hailey a lot of questions when he told about him and Rodolfo going to Italy that fast.

            Matt excused the two to go on his locker. He doesn’t actually have any business to do with his locker. He just wanted to get out of that none-talking, awkward situation with Hailey and Rodolfo. But Rodolfo said he had also something to get in his locker. Because of that, Hailey said she’ll be waiting for them to get their things in their lockers, then tell her about their Italy trip. Matt kept wondering and asking himself how did Hailey know about their trip to Italy. Rodolfo was looking nervous than confused. Hailey waited for them while they pretend to get something from their locker and put them in their backpacks, and then, something saved the two.

            Without one minute had passed since the bell rang, Hailey rushed to her first class. Matt and Rodolfo went to their first classes after few minutes had passed. Matt’s first class subjects were boring, as always. He used to sit at the back just to either nap or pretended to be actively participating in the class. Together with his classmates inside the room, they waited for their professor. They waited for more minutes. But no professor opened the door to their room and greeted them. A half an hour had passed and still, there was no professor.

            Since there was no professor for that subject, he took out his laptop and opened it. Using his phone, he sent Rodolfo a message saying that he had no professor for the first subject. The message was marked ‘seen’, meaning Rodolfo read his message, but Rodolfo didn’t reply to the message. Matt focused on his laptop while his classmates talked to each other. He was checking his company business. About to go and check on his e-mails, a high-pitched women’s voice came and asked. It was late when he realized that a woman with frizzy black hair, dark shiny skin and white working teeth sat beside him. Her accent and English wasn’t perfect.

            “What are you doing?”

            “Oh, hey. I didn’t see you there,” Matt closed his laptop instantly and avoided answering her question. He made a sudden nervous giggle.

            “Me got here just now,” the woman spoke, smiling.

            “Well,” Matt began but don’t know what to say next. After thinking, he continued, “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

            “My English bad, sorry, but me understand you then everyone speaking English,” shared the woman who kept on smiling at him.

            Her smile made Matt uncomfortable, “No need for an apology. It’s perfect. I can totally understand you.”

            “No, no. Not,” she shook her head. “Trust me. Me trying to cope with this. Me friends there teaching me.”

            “Interesting,” said Matt glamorously. “That’s how real friends should be, right?”

            Matt put his laptop in his backpack. The woman watched him. This made him uneasy. They sat for minutes. Matt did not see that the woman beside him kept on looking back at her friends who were secretly giggling. The woman crossed her legs, acting cute in front of Matt. Matt sensed it finally. This woman is flirting with him. The woman thought Matt was into it, so she made even more cute poses on her seat. But in reality, Matt wasn’t into her. He spoke to the woman a few minutes later, standing up and leaving his seat. It was a lie.

            “Excuse me. I am actually waiting for a phone call from someone and it is really, really confidential. If you’ll excuse me – ”

            “But wait,” suspends the woman, holding his wrist. “Me one question. Can I?”

            “Sure, sure. Let’s hear it,” replied Matt. He was talking fast.

            “This handsome who you always with you, he your boyfriend?” asked the woman.

            It was the time Matt had finally seen her friends looking at them. He was stunned by her question. After a second, he answered, “No. He’s my friend. My best friend. He’s not my boyfriend, and I don’t have a boyfriend. Never has.”

            The other four friends of the woman came and joined their conversation. They seemed kind and has good humour. One of them spoke after Matt. She said, “Really? But you two look perfect together.”

            “WHAT!” His eyes balled larger.

            “Come on,” said another woman. “Don’t be shy to tell us. You two are both cute.”

            He took a step back from the women, breathed heavily and replied, “Wait, wait, wait. Who in this university would think of that.”

            “Ughh, everyone thinks you two are in a relationship,” another one spoke while she walked beside Matt.

            “But if you say not true, me and friends here,” said the woman who came first to him. The same woman who has bad English. She winked at Matt after, smiling.

            “Yeah, you can ask us out,” one of them replied, excitedly. “We won’t mind.”

            “Uhmm, I really need to go,” Matt responded to them, forcing himself to smile. “Someone will call in any seconds now and it has to be… private. You know what I’m saying, right?”

            The women nodded, then he left them. His other classmates were having little chit chats, and others were on their laptops, studying. He pulled the door open and went outside of the room. The outside was empty. He checked on his messages, hoping that Rodolfo had reply already. But there was none. It was still marked as ‘seen’.

            He was thinking about what the women had said to him. He’s asking himself why would like them thinks that he and Rodolfo were boyfriends. There was a gurgling sound in his stomach a few seconds after while walking. On his way out to have food again, he passed the bulletin board of the university. He reads all the messages and the announcements attached on there. As he stays there longer, it was getting tedious.

            When he read enough, he did not read all of what was on there, he went to the same café that he and Rodolfo had gone to earlier. It was outside of the university, so he had to walk. Unlike before, now it has no people except him and the two crew on the counter. He ordered a cinnamon roll and a bottle of water. While eating, an unexpected phone call came. He was just lying when he said to the women before that someone will call. And yet, it surprised him that there actually was.

            The caller was Mr Petterson, Rodolfo’s father. It has been a week since their last talk. Matt always planned on checking on them, but when the time comes where he needs to make a call, it slipped away on his mind, causing him to forget about Mr and Mrs Petterson and Bonnie. He swallowed the food in his mouth and answered the phone immediately. He quickly looks around, double-checking if there were any people around him. When there was none, he made his first response, deepening his voice a bit than the natural.

            “Hello?”              

            “Hi, CEO Williams, Good Morning,” Mr Petterson replied through the phone.

            “Please, just call me, Matt,” Matt suggested, half irritated.

            “Matt, right. Okay,” Mr Petterson said. “Matt, well, I’d like –“

            “How’s Bonnie?” asked Matt instantly. “Is she fine? Does the operation went well? Is there anything she needs? Or is there anything you need there? How are y’all there?”

            “One at a time, please,” responded Rodolfo’s father. “I can’t answer your questions on one go.”

            Matt calmed down and breathed in. He waited for Mr Petterson to answer his questions. Mr Petterson paused their call for a minute. After, Mr Petterson came back to the phone again and spoke;

            “Bonnie’s fine. We are all fine here. Yes, the operation went well. Bonnie’s heart got finally replaced by a new and healthy one. But she’s still not awake. And we have got everything we need. Thanks to you. It is Rodolfo that me and her mother were worried about.”

            “What? Why? Rodolfo and I just talked earlier. He seems good and fine,” replied Matt, looking at the café door.

            “He’s fine when he is with you. But since we left New York, he’s been calling me, asking how’s her little sister,” Mr Petterson’s voice was sad and worried. “He has been calling me. After I tell him that her sister is fine and doing a good job, he will start telling his story about what you two did in Italy.”

            “I think it’s a normal thing for him to get worried, especially it is her sister that he is worried to,” said Matt plainly.

            “No, Matt. He has been calling us once every hour, asking the question all over again, and I think it isn’t normal. He even called when you two were on the camp in Italy,” said Mr Petterson. “And he does this every night. We can hear him crying at night. And when we asked him what is wrong, he would answer nothing. That is what we are worried about. We know that there is something in his “nothing”. Also, we can feel that he’s not eating during dinner.”

            “Is he also like this during the daytime?” questioned Matt.

            “No, no. He’s fine and normal during daylight. We suppose it’s because he is with someone. He’s with you,” Mr Petterson answered.

            “Okay, I get it,” replied Matt, thinking of where this will go. “And what do you want me to do with him?”

            “Matt, we ask for too much already, but I do hope you wouldn’t mind this one,” talked Rodolfo’s father over the phone.

            “Anything, please. Rodolfo’s my friend,” responded Matt, looking down at his food.

            “We would like Rodolfo to stay at your place until we came back there or he became better, please,” said the father. He stopped for a moment and asked Matt, “Will you take care of him, please?”

            “Sure,” replied Matt, happily. “I’ll tell him later, and tonight, I’ll pick him up from your place.”

            “Oh, there will be no need for you to tell him. I’d like to inform him myself. I also got something to say to my son,” pleased Mr Petterson. “Thank you so much, Matt. You are such a good person.”

            “It’s nothing. Is there anything I can help you with aside from helping Rod?” Matt asked more.

            “There’s none, Matt. There’s none,” said Mr Petterson. “Thank you very much, son.”

            “You’re welcome. Call me if there is anything you need. I’m hanging up, we’re actually back at school now,” he informed Mr Petterson that their suspension week had ended and that they were back at the university.

            “Okay, okay. Good luck with your studies,” said Mr Petterson.

            Matt hung up his phone. He was sad to hear about his friend crying every night. He finished his food in the café thinking about what Mr Petterson had said concerning Rodolfo, his friend. Feeling stupid not to know about this, he was angry with himself. He went back to the university with a crumpled face. He attended his classes in a bad mood. He can’t wait for the nightfall to come. He can’t wait to talk with Rodolfo.

            After hours, their classes ended. It was a time for them to get home. Matt waited for Rodolfo at the parking lot. From afar, he saw Rodolfo approaching together with Hailey. He went out of his car before either of the two could talk to him. Hailey must be there because she wanted to know about Italy. He looked from Rodolfo to Hailey. After one second, he smiled and said;

            “So, let’s go eat something. My treat.”

            “Perfect,” Hailey exclaimed excitedly.

            Rodolfo smiled.

            “Well, let’s get in the car,” he told Rodolfo and Hailey. When they were all inside, Matt asked, “So, where do you guys want to eat? Don’t think about how much the food costs. It’ll be under my wallet.”

            “Oh, I know this really good restaurant where my mother used to work. She got no problem with the restaurant. She just left her job over something that makes her happier. But I assure you guys, it’s good and uh, the atmosphere is highly comfortable,” Hailey said. Her presence lighted the mood of the two. The way she talks has a lot of energy. Good energy.

            The rest of the trip was filled with silence and throwing awkward looks at one another. Among the three, Rodolfo didn’t talk much. He was sitting at the back seat beside Hailey, facing the window. Matt, however, replied few little words whenever Hailey asked something. But mostly, she kept her mouth shut ‘cause she too was looking outside the window.

            They arrived at the restaurant that Hailey was talking about. She did not disappoint Matt and Rodolfo’s expectations whilst in the car. It was fancy, lavishly decorated, and, indeed, the atmosphere was friendly and welcoming. Fresh flowers were placed on a glass vase on every top of the table. There was a piece of classical music playing when they went inside. Hailey has a great taste at restaurants, Matt thought.

            The three sat at the table next to a window. They had chosen that seat to watch people outside while they wait for their food. Not a lot a moment after they seated, a waiter came with three copies of a list of their menus. The waiter gave it to the three. Since they haven’t got a proper lunch during lunchtime, they ordered late lunch food.          While they waited for their linner, It was Hailey who spoke first. As usual, her voice was in an excited tone with a smile every after words.

            “So, what happened to Italy?”

            Matt, who couldn’t take thinking how did Hailey knew about it, asked her, leaning over the table, getting one glass of water that the waiter had served to them first, “You know, I’ve been thinking it the whole day, how did you know that me and Rodolfo had gone to Italy? No matter how hard I thought of it, and as far I can remember, we never told anyone that we are going to Italy, except my secretary and Rodolfo’s family. Are you a family friend? Just curious.”

            Hailey chuckled nervously, “No, no. I’m not a family friend of theirs. Well, if I am, then I would be much more closer to Rodolfo.”

            “Okay, okay. I get it, but how did you know?” Matt asked the same question.

            “Haven’t you seen it?” answered Hailey in a question form.

            “Seen what?” Matt echoed Hailey’s last words.

            “Don’t tell me you’d been off to any social media of yours?” questioned Hailey, taking her phone from the inside of his bag.

            “Yeah. There’s nothing good to see in social media these days, is there?” he asked, looking at the two.

            Hailey gave her phone to Matt. She showed him a picture posted on social media. A picture of a back of a young man from head to toe, standing while carrying a camping backpack. The man was standing near a tree facing a beautiful view of a coastline. Matt swiped it to the next picture. The next picture showed a different man in the woods. His pose and the camera angle was the same as the first man in the first photo. Then Matt remembered the outfits. The first photo was a picture of him while admiring the view of the coastline that Rodolfo had seen first. The second photo was of Rodolfo, standing in the woods. It looks like the photo was taken by himself.

            Matt moved his eyes to see who posted the pictures. It was Rodolfo. Rodolfo posted the pictures and it reached nearly a hundred hearts. He read the text below the photos;

            “Going on a camp with him here in Italy!”

            It finally came to Matt how Hailey knew about their trip to Italy. He wanted to read the comments on the post but decided to read them later on his own phone at home. He gave Hailey her phone back and look at Rodolfo, who was smiling nervously at him. Matt continued looking at him, probably a signal to say something. After minutes, Rodolfo spoke;

            “Alright, Matt, I’m sorry. I know you hated it and I shouldn’t ~”

            “What?” asked Matt, aghast. He can’t let Rodolfo finish before he spoke. “Who said I hated it? I’m a bit upset for not tagging me.”

            Hailey looked from him to Rodolfo. Then, after a few minutes, she laughed hard and loud. The two joined her after. When the laughter dies out, she said, “Yeah, you should've tagged him. His picture was on the post.”

            “I thought, I thought you hated it. I thought you don’t want your pictures being posted online. You didn’t have a profile picture of your own face. That’s also the reason why I took pictures from the back. So that no one recognizes you,” stated Rodolfo. He almost ran of breath while talking.

            “Ooh, but she did recognize me,” responded Matt, smiling.

            “Promise, I didn’t. You had your big camping backpack on your back. I did know because there was only one person that Rodolfo would agree to go on camping with,” said Hailey, pocketing her phone.

            The waiter came with their late lunch. Matt and Rodolfo told Hailey about their trip to Italy, but not all. And they tell so many lies like Matt told that they didn’t use a private jet to go to Italy. Instead, he explained their struggle at the public air transport and inside of the public aeroplane. They told her they stayed at a low-class hotel, not at the penthouse. They did everything to hid Matt’s real identity.

            But something bothered Hailey. She recalled what Matt had mentioned. It was when Matt talked about who only knew about their trip to Italy. He mentioned earlier “except my secretary and Rodolfo’s family.”. She asked too many questions about the phrase ‘my secretary’. Matt thought of a better idea of how to cover that one up. He said that it was actually a family secretary. He only used the term “my” because he was talking to the two. He said that if he used the term “our secretary”, it would sound like the secretary was working for them three.

            Hailey was still confused. She asked herself if there was such a family secretary. Later on, she convinced herself that maybe there is. Then she enjoyed her linner, just like the other two.