Between Three Hearts

7

Zoning out on my suitcase, I'm totally lost. Olive is my only friend and the only person that could help me, but she's in Manila with her parents. Fat chance she can help me out of this mess.

A measly grand left from Dad's handout. How far can I stretch that?

I'm kicking myself for not swallowing my pride and saying sorry like they wanted.

NOPE!

No way!

I'll beg if I have to, but apologize to that woman? Never gonna happen.

She started it, I just dished it back. No way I'm saying sorry to her. Ever.

Mid-thought, my phone goes off. Nearly jumped out of my skin!

Unknown number. Usually, I'd ignore it, but this caller was persistent. Fine, I'll bite.

"Who's this?" I snapped, answering.

"It's Marcus—"

"Marcus who? Don't know any Marcus!" I hung up, fuming.

"Scammer alert!" I muttered, tossing my phone in my bag.

These con artists are everywhere! The nerve, trying to fleece me when I'm broke—

Hold up. Marcus?

I scrunched my face.

Mayor Marcus?

Holy guacamole! Could it be him?

But why's he calling? After ratting me out to my parents, he's got some nerve!

The audacity!

Hmph! Let him try whatever he wants!

But my phone's at it again. It's him.

Ignore, ignore, ignore!

Two, three, four... ten missed calls. On the eleventh, I cave.

"What's your deal? Why the spam calls?" I played dumb.

"Hazel, it's Mayor Marcus!" he announced.

"Oh!" Faking surprise like a pro. "My bad, didn't catch that. Thought you were some scammer. Your voice is kinda similar to this con artist who tried to pull one over on me." Total fib, but hey, gotta get my petty revenge somehow.

Truth is, the sound of his voice, whether heard face-to-face or through a telephone, never fails to captivate me, but I wasn't about to let him know that. I was still mad, after all. Or was I?

"So, what's the deal with this call?" I asked, trying to sound chill while secretly wanting to give him an earful.

Gotta keep my cool, though. Deep breaths, Hazel.

"I heard that you parents kicked you out?"

"Oh, wow! News travels faster than my Wi-Fi! Hashtag blessed," I quipped, worry and sarcasm battling it out in my head.

"They told me—"

"Well, congrats, Mayor! Mission accomplished. If that's all, I've got a tiny problem called homelessness to solve. Toodles!"

I was about to ghost him when—

"Hold up—"

"What now, Mr. Mayor?"

"My place is open if you need it." Talk about a plot twist!

I was speechless. Like, actually speechless. Me!

"If I'd known they'd kick you out, I'd have kept my trap shut earlier." Guilt was practically oozing through the phone.

"What's done is done, Mayor," I said, thinking about both his snitch move and what happened yesterday. "Let's pretend it never happened. I've got my own mess to clean up. Thanks, but no thanks. Bye-bye!" And just like that, I hung up.

Someone give me an Oscar for that performance!

I grinned, imagining a standing ovation. Then my stomach decided to do its best whale impression.

Reality check! How far can I stretch this measly thousand pesos? It's almost noon, and my tummy's staging a revolt. Time's flying, and I'm still clueless about where I'll crash tonight. Food first, though. Maybe a full belly will kickstart my brain into problem-solving mode.

* * *

What time is it? It's late afternoon already. I've been hanging out at this restaurant where I ate for a while now. I've ordered several desserts, but I still can't think of a solution.

My thousand pesos has dwindled to just five hundred.

In a few hours, it'll be nighttime, but I still don't have a place to stay. I might end up sleeping on the streets.

I glanced at my suitcase, and while staring at it, an idea suddenly popped into my head.

I quickly stood up, approached my suitcase, and hastily opened it. I went through my clothes one by one.

I smiled widely when I saw that most of my newly bought clothes were inside. Of course, all my clothes are branded and not cheap at all.

Now I know how to survive!

I immediately hailed a taxi and had it take me to the plaza.

Upon arriving at the plaza, I looked for a good spot. When I found one, I opened my suitcase, took out the cardboard and the marker I bought.

FOR SALE: BRANDED CLOTHES

I placed it in front of my open suitcase.

"Friends, come buy, branded clothes, very cheap!" I accompanied it with a loud shout. "Buy now, buy now! Very cheap!" No more shame, I need money.

At first, no one paid attention to me, they just passed by, but when one person approached and bought something, more people gradually came over.

Even though I was selling the clothes at a loss, I really have to. I needed quick cash, so I couldn't be choosy about the price.

The clothes in one of my suitcases were almost gone when two policemen unexpectedly approached me.

I was still smiling, thinking they would buy too, but—

"Miss, selling here is not allowed," said the policeman on the right. Based on his nameplate, his surname was Suarez. He didn't look angry and seemed kind, but I still couldn't help feeling scared.

"What? Really? I'm so sorry, I didn't know."

The other one, whose nameplate read Gomez, raised an eyebrow. "You didn't know? Well, the one who complained told us you're always set up here."

Compared to his companion, he was grumpy.

I was shocked by what I heard. "Sir, I promise this is my first time here, and I really didn't know it wasn't allowed," I defended myself.

"It's better if you explain yourself at the precinct," Gomez replied, looking like he had no intention of being nice to me.

"Sir, maybe you could let it slide this time, I really didn't know it wasn't allowed," I pleaded.

The two policemen looked at each other. Suarez seemed like he wanted to give me a chance, but Gomez clearly didn't.

"We can't. If we let you off, we'll be the ones scolded, and the others we've caught before will be angry."

"Sirs, please..." But it really didn't work; they started packing up my suitcase.

"Just come with us peacefully," Gomez said.

I looked around. If I made a scene, it surely wouldn't help and might even make things worse, so I thought it best to just go with them. I'd plead at the precinct, and surely I wouldn't be jailed, maybe just fined—wait, fined?

Oh my God! It looks like all my hard work will just go to them.

At the precinct, my guess was right. They wouldn't jail me, but I needed to pay a fine—shockingly, they were asking for ten thousand pesos, so I couldn't help but argue.

They probably saw that my belongings were expensive and thought I could afford it, that's why they're asking for such a large amount.

These policemen, really!

"Sir, the fine seems too big. Almost all the money I made from selling my things will just go to you!" I argued with them.

"Miss, that's really the fine, and you're not paying us directly. You'll pay at the cashier, so there's a receipt, and you'll see that's really the implemented fine."

"No! I won't pay that much," I insisted. Of course, I wouldn't agree. The reason I sold my things was to have some starting money, and now it would just go to the fine.

"Well, we have no choice but to jail you."

"What!?" My eyebrows furrowed. "I told you, it's my first time there. Don't you have any consideration for a first offense?"

"But the witness told us you're always selling there."

"That's not true!" I insisted. "Is it okay if I call someone to prove that it's really my first offense?"

I didn't want to ask for help, but I didn't want to lose ten thousand pesos just because of someone else's lie.

I had no one else to call who could prove that the report to them wasn't true except for the one person these policemen would believe.

In less than ten minutes, the one I was waiting for arrived.

"Mayor?" They were all very surprised to see him.

Against my will, he was the only one I could think of to ask for help who the police would believe.