Sunshine

XXII

“ALEJANDRO Salazar. He is sure a lost to the team. He is still yet the most loyal dog to us. Of course next to your lesbian lover. Find out who tattled on where we were meeting. There could be a rat inside our den. How dare…”

Just like everyone else, Olivia Magbanua’s head are kept low as she talks to the woman who kept herself in the dark. Seeing only her sparking black stilettoes, Olivia mentally counted its price and compare it to hers. The Stuart Weitzman pair is sure more expensive.

“I understand. But do you have anyone you suspect?”

“Why are you asking? It’s your job.” Olivia pursed her lips. She stayed quiet as she knows an instruction will follow. “I’m actually thinking of whether you report to me once you found the rat. But nevermind. Do it yourself. You know what you should do.”

Olivia nodded. It’s always been like this. The woman who’s orders she follows and whom she only knows by the name Queen’s Spear is never been curious about the identity of anyone. She has killed a bunch but don’t know even the first name of anyone of them.

“But, should we disguise it as part of the serial killing?”

“Hmm.” That signaled the Queen’s Spear was thinking about it. Olivia waited. “That will make it more fun, right?”

“I figured too.”

The laugh across the room made Olivia shiver. This woman is sure scary, she thought.

“You surely know what to do. Damn I love you.”

“WE have something to do.”

Olivia announced as she went back to her apartment. She caught Alex on the kitchen preparing dinner. The smell from the boiling pot made her realize she’s hungry.

“What is it? Anyways I’m sorry about last time.”

Olivia’s forehead crinkled on her as she untied her heel straps. “For what?”

The heels finally let go of her feet letting her to take a good look at Alex. She added a raised eyebrow on her. “And what’s with that face?”

Alex continued to stare at her blankly while standing stiff. What bothered her more is her eyes blinking non-stop. “Hey stop that. What the f**k are you doing?”

Olivia went to her and snapped a finger on her face. Finally she went back to normal. “Oh, you’re here? Let’s have dinner together I’m almost done here.”

Olivia took a step backwards as Alex faced her back on her and resumed to cooking. She cursed on her breath.

“What the f**k was that?”

LUNCH break came and so the police station have become scarce of people especially the Special Task Force Team’s office. The Kahilom Police Station had at least 3 eateries nearby which are always filled with mostly policemen, public transportation drivers, university students, and sales persons from the nearest establishments. To avoid the expected crowd, Adrian Dela Vega purposely woke up early this morning to cook himself lunch to pack with. And besides, he and girlfriend Mathilda also agreed to call each other on the phone over their lunch.

“Really? What did you cooked?”

“Pancit guisado. I had it for breakfast too with bread.” Adrian shared. He slurped the remaining noodles on his lunchbox and rinsed his mouth with the bottled water. “What about you? What are you having?”

“Chowking’s Chow Fan, delivered.” Mathilda on the other line sighed. “Now that you mentioned, I think it’s been a while since I cooked. My busy office life forced me to live on deliveries.”

“That’s sad. But don’t worry. Let me do the cooking for you.” Adrian turned off the loudspeaker and brought his phone to his ear. “And speaking of, can I come to your place tonight?”

“Of course, you silly. Just when did we require permission to visit each other?”

Adrian echoed Mathilda’s laugh. “I just meant to check on your availability.”

“I know I’ve been busy. I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for? Being busy is not something to be sorry for, love.” Adrian immediately scolded. “And lunch break’s almost done, eh?”

“So yeah let’s work! See you later, love.”

“See you.”

Their afternoon call ended with a soft laughter from both. Carlos who happened to walk on him commented. “So you are actually capable of falling in love. I’m sorry for judging you last time.”

“What the f**k dude?” Just like that Adrian’s smile evaporated. He can’t help but roll eyes at Carlos. “I know you and Juan are like this to each other but please don’t include me on your cheesy corny brotherhood. You can’t do that to me.”

Carlos decided to tease him more and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “But why? You already called me dude!”

“Don’t touch me I’m meeting her today.” Adrian wiggled to escape from Carlos. He teasingly pulled Adrian closer which made the latter growl.

“Why bother? When you can just shower later.”

“Oh, please.” Now Adrian actually used strength to throw off Carlos’ arms from him resulting Carlos to stagger. That made Carlos laugh his ass out. “Just great. f**k you.”

“YOU’RE already here?"

Mathilda said as soon as she arrived home. Adrian took a quick glance to her and greeted.“Welcome home!”

“Were you early or am I late?” Mathilda joked as she put her heels on the shoe rack behind the door. “And what are we having for dinner tonight, chef?”

Adrian looked at her and smiled. “Can you check if this taste okay?”

Adrian scooped from the simmering kare-kare and hurriedly went to the door with the steaming ladle. Mathilda Gomez laughed at the sight of her frantic boyfriend on her pink apron. Smiling, she took the ladle and nodded in approval. “It’s great! Just let it boil down a little.”

Adrian nodded and almost ran back to the kitchen. Him looking like an excited kid on her kitchen took down the entire day’s stress. Her smile grew bigger in her own thoughts.

“That’s enough. Now you can turn that off.”

Mathilda watched Adrian turn off the stove and took initiative to set the table. In no time they started eating dinner. Unlike earlier where they arranged to talk over lunch, tonight they are just quietly eating. But it was a comfortable silence.

“I never thought I’ll find you like this.”

Mathilda spoke. Her plate is now half empty as so Adrian’s.

“Is this very unusual of me? Fine. I’ll cook more.”

Mathilda smiled and swallowed what’s in her mouth. “I know why you’re doing this. You feel sorry, right? That you made me dig for information.”

“I shouldn’t have done that. I’m really sorry.” Adrian’s head went low, gripping hard on his spoon. Mathilda sighed.

“I’m glad I’m of help, Ad especially with the kind of job you have. I’m actually glad I can assist you in any way.”

Adrian lifted his head. That showed his moistening eyes and trembling lips. “I’m scared. I forgot what they are actually capable of. My greed could have put you in danger.”

Mathilda stood up and stood next to Adrian and locked him on her embrace. He weep in her arms like a child.

DESPITE their night starting with tears, Adrian left Mathilda’s apartment smiling and with an embraced heart. Though he still feel bad for involving Mathilda on his mess, her smile and laughter tonight managed to melt a big portion of it. Instead of weeping over it, he became more determined to protect her more.

He entered the police force because he thinks the job is cool. Protecting the country and its people is a cool job. But now he also found the woman he should protect more than anyone with his life. His heart felt full with the thought.

His phone rang so he took off his right hand on the steering wheel and swiped the screen answer. He didn’t actually looked at the screen but knew it was Mathilda due to the customized ringtone.

“Miss me already?”

“Adrian. Are you already away?”

The tone of her voice wrinkled his forehead. “Why? Is something wrong?”

“Can you come back? I think there’s someone at my door---”

The loud bang and scream from the other line shook his entire world.

“Help!”