GAMBLE: Rule of Cards

MEET YOU AGAIN

“Of course, kuya,” Dennis replied with a smile. “You can count on me at times when you’re short,” he continued. Despite being younger, Denton admits that Dennis thinks more maturely than him, and that he is not ashamed of but instead, proud of. Denton has gone through a lot of losses, and the only one who stood beside him was his brother, Dennis. They are the building blocks of each other, the two of them depend on each other. The two of them communicate with each other excellently. They seldom fight, but they immediately reconcile. Whenever there’s something wrong with one of them, the other one honestly points it out. To compare, their bond is like concrete, it’s hard to break.

After the breakfast, Dennis and the other members went back to their places, leaving the three, Denton, Sandra and Paul, in the dining area. “When do we start?” Paul asked Denton who was deeply thinking. “I mean, we should be deciding when to start already. The game itself is so hard to prepare, what more the preparations for the pre-games. Also, we should be finding enough players already. I did not really know how I was recruited back then, the only thing I know is that I was drunk by the time they gave me the invitation.”

“As far as I know, I was invited while I was eating inside a fastfood chain, that’s when I was fired from my work, after they knew my secret,” Sandra replied. Both Paul and Denton nodded to Sandra’s remark. They already knew Sandra’s secret, and they have no other choice but to respond with a nod since it still hurts Sandra everytime it is being discussed. “You, Denton, how did you get recruited? Do you have a story?”

“I was looking for a job at that time, and I failed to do so. That was after Dennis scolded me for being a gamble-addicted, and he never knew I lost all the savings my wife saved for our daughters’ future. Since I am afraid Dennis would know, I tried looking for a job, but I was unable to do so. While resting, an old man approached me and left me the invitation as a note. I was not really sure of entering the game but since Denise was hospitalized, I have got no choice but to try all the means of getting quick money,” Denton replied. “Overall, we are recruited in a kind of the same scenario, Sandra.” Denton paused for a minute before he continued on talking. “About your question, Paul, I am not sure when we can start, to be honest. They said that they will be calling me for further adjustments and announcements but it has been three days since they last called. I guess I will just wait for them to call me.”

“Cool, let’s just wait for them to call you,” Paul replied. Both of them started on leaving the dining room. They still have jobs to do inside the company. Both Sandra and Paul work under Denton. They are the pioneers of the employees of that company since they are the people who Denton knows at first. As the company started on growing, bigger and bigger, people started on approaching them, as they introduced new work for struggling fellows. Although they gave others chances, Denton tried to keep job positions for the families of the eliminated players. Speaking of the players, Denton never got a chance to meet even one of the family of his rival, Hector. He was sorry about Hector, who was eliminated as he defeated him in the last game, so he wanted to give his family a job under his company… but unfortunately, he found no one.

Two days have passed and the two gentlemen have never contacted Denton yet. “I’m actually kind of worried that they haven’t been calling me yet,” Denton told himself. He is laying down on his bed, trying to keep all the worries away from him as he tries to rest after finishing work early. He is looking at the call logs of his phone, trying to find if there is a call that he failed to answer. “Maybe they are doing something before I replace him as the game head. I should not be worrying about them, but it has been five days since they last called me.”

He placed the phone on the bed, beside him, and heaved a deep sigh. He was about to take a rest and was about to close his eyes when his phone rang. He immediately stood up and answered the phone. “Hello, Mr. Mayfly,” that one familiar voice muttered. “I know that we have been snobbing you for five days already and we are sorry about that. We have been busying ourselves in the renovation of the game hall before you formally sit down on the position. We don’t want to add any more burden on your administration and I hope you could understand that.”

“I totally understood that, but you should have called for updates. I have been waiting for your call since we last met and I did not receive anything,” Denton complained. “I know I have been overacting and complaining but I was just pressured by the job that I will be handling. Since I have planned everything that will change in my daily life, I was afraid that all the plans that I thought of would be thrown to waste if you change your decisions. I know that I have thought of this as a ‘no-choice’ but I am now dedicated to it and I don’t want my dedication to be wasted.”

“We know and we understand your complaints, Mr. Mayfly. As a spokesperson, I would like to express my apologies on behalf of my boss,” the spokesperson replied. As he heard the apology from the spokesperson, Denton immediately calmed himself. “Since I am here, I would like to tell you my reason for calling. My boss wanted to invite you to the game hall again tomorrow. We will be picking you up like how we used to. There must be no reason to decline. See you tomorrow.”

“I will,” Denton replied with utmost adoration. The phone call ended with Denton’s reply. The spokesperson chose to end the conversation with Denton’s last remark. He immediately placed himself on the bed and tried to close his eyes. Since he was already sleepy before the spokesperson called, it was not really a bother for him to immediately sleep after closing his eyes.

The morning after, he woke up early and prepared himself, trying to prepare his own before the two of the gentlemen arrived. He was walking his way out of the house when he stopped at the receiving area. “What the f**k?” he asked the two of the gentlemen, sitting down on the soft sofa inside Denton’s residence. “I woke up early and prepared myself so I don’t get embarrassed just to know that you have already entered my house without even telling me to do so. Did Imelda let you enter? Is she still afraid of you?”

“The answer to the first one is, we let ourselves in. I think we are really welcomed in this house, so we made the move,” the resigned game head replied. He scoffed after seeing Denton shook his head in disapproval. “The second one, that I am not sure about. She never let us enter the house, we just broke into your house since the gate is open. I am thinking, hypothetically, she might still be afraid of us, since she is not here yet.”

“Next time, if ever there will be, be sure to call me or tell me that you will come over. I don’t want anything like what happened to Imelda. Poor woman was too scared of her life. Don’t terrorize the people here, since some of them don’t know you, I am asking you this favor,” Denton replied. Only the spokesperson nodded his head as a response. The resigned game head was busy looking at his nails, awkwardly. “Okay, where are we going? Are we going to the game hall now?”

“The game hall is now yours, Mr. Mayfly, we have no connections there already. Also, the yacht that is used for transportation is now named under you, so it will only come here if it is called by you yourself,” the spokesperson said. The two of them stood up and guided Denton out of his house. There lies the car they used already, once, to go somewhere. “We are going somewhere somewhat interesting, Mr. Mayfly. We will be meeting a lot of people.”

Denton’s brows furrowed. “Where are we going? Who are we going to meet?”

The resigned game head looked at the rear mirror and took Denton’s attention. Denton, who was at the backseat, looked at the resigned game head like they were having a staring challenge. “We are going to meet our employees that you first met. I bet you know some of them when you saw them…”