Hunt Down Rose

Chapter 6: Shattered Memories

Tis already Saturday, I woke up around 8:30 a.m. half-naked wearing only my pants—with the lights of the crypt flickering on my eyes, and the smell of morning dew on the roots clogging my nose. As usual, the coldness of the place radiates to the point that my breath could be seen as smoke. I went off the dental chair and looked straight in the mirror. There I saw Grimnoir dressed in formal wear, passively trying to fix his tie, tempting me to dress the same thing as him.

“You can’t convince me to wear anything formal you little s**t!” I said to him brushing my hair backward. My chiseled body could be seen perfectly, all full of scars and stitch marks from my previous engagements. I took a good look at it while stretching, snapping a few bones that were constricted by the cold temperature of the crypt.

Grimnoir grinned and replied, “Who says I’m convincing you? I’m just trying to establish how classy I am so stop bitching about it punk!”

Disregarding his words, I pressed a hidden switch behind the roots in the east section of the room. A waterproof painting is covering most of its tracks, making it completely invisible and low-key to visitors. A beeping sound could be heard as my large metallic cabinet slid aside, granting me access to the lower portions of the crypt.

Compared to my workplace, this room is renovated to the point that it looks like a large studio-type apartment but with more storage capacity. The walls are completely enclosed by reinforced gray bricks with the fifteen-foot stainless steel ceiling having the same color, and the floors are shockproof—making this the perfect place during earthquakes. More importantly, it has a shower with a working heater built-in, cabinets containing a great deal of my clothes and other personal effects (e.g. Perfumes, shaving cream, accessories).

I stripped off and immediately took a bath, using one of my old classical musk body soaps stored inside a humid-proof bag. The woody scent should be enough to fit my current endeavor since it is just a “simple” social event. Finishing everything and some petty rituals of mine, I dried up my hair, wore my clothes and slid a customized five-seven inside my pants using a concealed carry strap. Just to be sure, I also brought a multi-tool knife and some emergency morphine stims. 

“Everything is ready…” I said to myself as I took a good look in the mirror for the last time.

I chose a navy blue long-sleeved “Barong tagalog”, with Pintados designs embedded on the collars. The thickness of the cloth is just enough to emboss the curvatures of my muscles and prevent the sweat from manifesting outside. Closing the entrance to the room, I made sure that everything is set before I leave the place. Apparently, the estimated time of meeting is around 10:00 a.m. but I have to arrive early since I don’t want an earful of Elise in the morning.

Twenty minutes have passed, I’ve arrived here at Marikina city, sitting near the fountain, on the benches under the oversized clock that oversees the flow of people going to and fro. Temperature-wise, the weather is cool and the sun is being covered by the clouds. Rain is expected to fall later on at 6 p.m. so I better wrap everything up before that.

However, first things first… Where is she? It’s quite unusual for her to be late given that she’s the first person to scold me whenever I arrive late on these engagements. I assume she is literally taking her time to prepare… If it is the case then I better keep my mouth shut and just shower her with praises when she arrives, otherwise, I’m afraid of the repercussions. As I looked at the surroundings, I saw a black sedan suddenly park near the Jeepney terminals.

The backseat window slowly rolled down and there I saw Elise looking at me with cheerful eyes. As soon as I got inside the vehicle with Elise, it just so happens that one of her friends was the one driving. She looked at me with glistening eyes as if I’m a specimen of some sort.

Before things get awkward, Elise intervened and spoke, “Ehem… Thomas I would like you to meet Sabie, she has been my friend since grade school up until college.”

“Nice to meet you!” Sabie said with a smile as she grabbed my hands shaking it wildly.

“Elise here has been telling me so much about you for the past few days, and I have to say, words do you no justice.” She added, literally not letting go of my hand.

I just smiled back and nodded replying, “I don’t know how much is so much to be honest...” Really what did Elise tell Sabie?? I don’t think Elise knows much about the stuff that I’ve been doing for the past few months.

Elise pulled me away from her grasp, pouting like a child. “Don’t hold him for too long!” She said, scolding Sabie for her attitude towards me.

She went back to her seat laughing at Elise. “I’m excited to see what our other friends would say about this.”

“Can we please just drive, we are going to be late!” Elise leaned back on the seat while holding my arms close.

Sabie agreed and we immediately drove out, rotating to the west side, bound for Katipunan. Elise and Sabie were in the same school that’s also near the meeting place. A prestigious all-girl school that boasts both in academic excellence and extracurricular activities. I remember during her semestral breaks she would travel on specific locations around the Philippines to gather ideas for her next clothing line. Since she is a genius even at her own accord, she was able to gain consent to advance her subjects. I could say that she is more capable as a doctor more than I am if she pursued it wholeheartedly.

After several minutes we reached our destination quicker than expected since the traffic is oddly low. It appears to be a large house within one of the exclusive villages. The architectural design has a Spanish touch to it, the arcs and the color theme is warm and lively with palm trees planted within its lawn to give ambiance. As Elise and I got out, Sabie stayed to park the vehicle somewhere.

It was only at this moment that I realized Elise was wearing a semi-formal dress. A black overall with a Kimono approach on the top, and engraved lotus flower designs on the sash around her waist. The dress has a slit on both sides similar to Chinese dresses, which in my opinion matches her pair of stilettos, giving a sophisticated and erotic vibe to it. The back portion is exposed with only a lace to keep both sides intact. Her jet black hair with hazel nut highlights is tied up in a bun with a jade chopstick but there are portions of it that are curled freely, flowing gracefully to the flow of the wind. Her alluring bluish eyes shimmer gracefully as she tilts her head, wondering what I'm doing.

She then noticed that I was looking at her figure from head to toe. “You don’t have to stare at me for too long you know…” Elise said with her shyness getting the best of her, trying to look away at my gazing eyes.

I went close and gave her a head pat, “All these years you’ve been this pretty? My, my am I quite surprised!” I-I don’t know what to respond to her…

Her shy attitude switched to aggression as she kicked me straight on the heels to the point that I lost balance for a bit. Damn those shoes could kill somebody! I tried to gain my composure as she went close to the wooden gate of the mansion.

She turned around and grumpily said, “Come on here! There’s plenty more from where that came from if you piss me off!”

Her cute side is showing off, similar to how we met during our childhood. She never likes to be embarrassed by anyone so she would pretend to be angry and hide her face. However, I regret not seeing how that beautiful face came to be after all these years. I want to tell her why I had to leave and what happened, but doing so will cause her more harm than ease her worries… This is the hell that I will shoulder in order to make sure she is happy…

I simply followed as Sabie was able to catch up after parking the car on a paid space, several blocks away from where we are. Compared to her attire, Sabie is wearing casual wear similar to mine but it caught my attention that she has a duffle bag with her (I’m afraid of what’s inside…).

Elise and Sabie had me press the doorbell and in just several seconds, a man wearing a waiter’s attire greeted us. We went inside the mansion after Elise and Sabie showed their invitations, and then I saw a lot of well-groomed people on the ground floor. All of them are fricking wearing formal attires like this is a business meeting including the men that also came along with their partners.

(To Be Continued)