Safe In Your Sound

Chapter 11: Plan

Erica overheard Lucas and Hope talking as she went for the door. She was kind of expecting that it would be Orly but as Hope says the man wouldn't be home at this time, then who could possibly be the person outside?

She held the knob but didn't turn it yet. Now, she questions why there isn't a peephole on the door. It would've been very helpful for times like this.

She sighed as she slowly opened the door and her eyes widened in surprise.

"What are you doing here?" Erica exclaimed in shock, letting her mouth dropped open.

But it seems like she wasn't the only one who was surprised with the sudden meeting.

"Erica? What are you doing here?" the visitor asked back, stressing on the pronoun.

"Well, I-I live here..." Erica replied innocently.

"You live here?!" the guy surprisingly exclaimed.

"Who is it, Erica?" Lucas shouted from the dining, interrupting the two of them, which just made Erica's situation worse.

"Who is that?" the visitor asked, trying to look inside the house but Erica blocked his view, knowing he might get a wrong idea.

"What are you doing here, Andres?" she asked the man who seemed confused as to what's going on. But before he let his curiosity eat him up, he recalled the reason why he was there in the first place.

Andres showed the paper bag he was holding since earlier that Erica failed to notice at first. "Orly told me to bring these for Hope. He said she's with their neighbor but I never thought it would be you..."

Erica's eyes drifted to the brown bag with a signature head of the fast food mascot, still speechless.

"Uhm..." Andres tried to peek inside but Erica blocked his sight again.

She took the bag from Andres. "Thank you, Andres. Uh... Tell Orly I said thank you as well."

Andres chuckled. "Okay. But, do you really live here? I mean, h-how long have you— oh nevermind. I'm being too nosy," he laughed.

Erica tried to smile but deep inside she was hoping that Andres would leave soon but she knows she can't shoo him away because that would be rude.

"Uh, alright! I'll get going now! I still need to run a few errands," Andres smiled. Erica nodded rather relieved that he decided to go. "Take care. And thank you again!"

After Andres left on his motorcycle, Erica immediately closed the door and walked back to the dining with the food in which the smell of the fried chicken and gravy are starting to diffuse in the air making the little girl giddy.

"Hmm! Fried chicken!" Hope licked her lips as she eyed the brown bag that Erica was carrying.

"You ordered?" Lucas questioned and Erica shook her head.

"No. Orly bought them," she replied.

"Papa? He was here?" Hope looked at her instantly.

Erica chuckled. "It was from your Papa but someone else delivered it here," she explained.

Hope nodded and as soon as Erica put the bag on the table, the girl quickly took it and was the one to take the boxed meal out from it. There were two meals which Erica thought was supposed to be for her and Hope.

"You're not going to eat the food I made?" Lucas asked when Hope pushed her plate with the guy's dish.

Hope got flustered for a moment, her gaze travelled from the fried chicken her father bought and to the chicken adobo Lucas had cooked.

"After I finish this," Hope smiled sheepishly which made the two adults laugh in awe.

They had a quiet meal since Hope was too engrossed with her food. Even after finishing the fried chicken meal, Hope went straight to finishing up her adobo lunch too. Erica was fascinated at how Hope could eat that much.

Erica and Hope went back to finish their painting afterwards.

After finishing her own masterpiece, Hope made herself comfortable standing in between Erica's thighs as the latter apply final touches on her painting. The girl was in complete awe as she watched Erica's hand candidly stroke the brush on the canvas. She even copied the way her hand moves, waving and swaying smoothly in the air which made Erica chuckle.

By the time Erica was done, Hope was already yawning in front of her. It was a half past two in the afternoon and she figured it was the girl's nap time. But Hope, even when her eyes were droopy, still insisted to play so Erica just went with it.

They played Jenga with Lucas in the living room but they haven't even finished their first game, Hope already dozed off on the couch.

Lucas and Erica chuckled softly as they watched the girl sleep soundly.

"The little scammer had fallen..." Lucas whispered.

"Hmm. I already knew she would fall asleep sooner or later when she said she wanted to play," Erica said, not taking her gaze off from the girl and with a genuine smile plastered on her face.

She has always find children very endearing especially when they're asleep. They are like sleeping angels from heaven that gives off happiness even without doing anything.

"You like children, huh?" Lucas spoke after a while. It was only then when she realized she was watching Hope for some time now and almost forgot that the guy was there.

She smiled. "I guess so..."

Lucas smiled but furrowed his brows.

"Having a child around takes my mind off things. They're lovely and very fun to hang out with, maybe that's why I like them..." she explained, whispering softly as her gaze never left the sleeping girl.

Lucas chuckled lightly. "Yeah. You seem to be worried about a lot when you first arrived here. When you smile, your eyes don't. But when you met her, your eyes beamed too."

Erica recalled her first day there and she agrees that she really had a lot of worries back then. She's still worried until now but it lessened as the days passed by peacefully.

"And she seemed to like you a lot too," Lucas added with a slight frown that Erica failed to notice.

"It's been a month since you came here. But, have you explored the city yet?" he asked carefully watching Erica's reaction.

Erica thought for a moment and realized she haven't done that yet. She had only been around the marketplace and nowhere beyond that. She spends most of her free time at home, with her brush and canvas. Now, she realized she's not actually doing what she should be doing on a vacation. She was doing what she used to do back in Manila. Nothing new, only that she's in another place.

Thinking about it made her face palm. She'd been living this life like how she lived with her father. She was never free. She was still locked up in the same mindset her father has set up for her.

"If you haven't then how about we go for a little tour around the city? What do you say next Sunday?" Lucas solicited when he saw Erica fell a little dramatic over it.

She lightened up with Lucas's offer but quickly frowned after. "That's next week," she uttered as if it wasn't obvious making Lucas chuckle.

"Yeah, it's next week. Why? Do you have any appointment then?"

Well, yes, actually. Her mind said. She glanced at the sleeping girl before looking back at Lucas. "I kinda promised Hope to spend the weekend with her next week."

It was Lucas's turn to frown. But he redeemed himself right away. "Ah, is that so? Then we can do it the next next week. If you're free, of course," he said.

Her face lighted up and she immediately said yes. She had nothing to do anyway so might as well go tour around the town.

~*~

"So, you mean to tell me that Erica is now Hope's babysitter?" Andres probed when Orly cleared up the misunderstanding but it seems like the former still fails to take the point.

They are now standing outside the fast food restaurant that Orly works in as a part-time. His shift has just finished for the day and he was ready to go home. He thought Andres wouldn't come back that afternoon but he was wrong. The latter actually waited for him just to ask why Erica was at his place which wasn't true by the way.

He explained that they are not living together, but rather they are just neighbours.

"No. They only spent the day together like what Hope wanted. This is only for today," Orly sighed heavily, not knowing how to explain it anymore so that Andres could understand.

"That's the same! I thought you hated women but now you're leaving your daughter—"

"I only did that because that's what Hope wants. You know how I will try to give her what she wants," Orly said.

"Yeah. Even a mother?"

Andres' question made Orly stopped. "You know that's not what I meant."

Andres raised an eyebrow. "I bet Hope already said she liked Erica. Am I wrong?"

Orly sighed, not sure if that was in disbelief or in defeat. He never knew talking to a friend would be so frustrating more than talking to a child.

"Don't give your daughter false hope, Lean," Andres said, seriously now.

Orly doesn't know how many times he sighed because of that. And as much as he doesn't want to go through the same conversation with her daughter again, he thought he needed to talk to her again.

He went home and fetched Hope from Erica. He thanked the latter for taking care of his daughter that day, very shy and embarrassed because of that favor. Although Erica assured it was fine, he was still a little uncomfortable with it.

"Are you okay, Papa?" Hope asked suddenly.

They were having their dinner and she was just telling her father about what they did that day when she noticed Orly wasn't that attentive with it. He was only quietly nodding at her story and he seems to be deeply thinking about something. It made Hope worried that her father is under much distress.

Orly smiled but he was obviously not happy.

"What do you want to do on your birthday? It will be next week. Do you want to go to somewhere or..." Orly asked instead, changing the subject. He smiled as Hope's expression lit up and became excited.

He smiled too, expecting that she would say she wanted to go to Baguio for her birthday. He was so sure about it as it was what she told him last time.

"Actually I already have something to do on my birthday, Papa," Hope said very cheerfully.

"Oh? What is it?"

"Hmm, it's a secret. I won't tell you until Friday because I have a feeling you will only try to avoid it," Hope changed her mind about telling him right away, like what she told Erica earlier.

"Why would I do that? It's your birthday," Orly reasoned out.

Hope pouted and squinted her eyes at him. "Still. You have to wait until Friday, Papa. I will only tell it to you then."

Orly laughed. "Okay, okay."

It kind of relieved Orly when Hope refrained from talking about Erica that night. He assumed that maybe she did understood what he was telling her for several times already.

"What are you doing there?" His eyes widened in surprise when he entered the personnel room and saw Erica almost lying on the floor.

"Uh.. I dropped my ring and it rolled under the lockers..." Erica honestly replied worriedly that he assumes that it must be very valuable to her.

He knelt and crouched down on the floor too to see where the ring is. It was already at the end of the wall and though it was just an arm reach, their arms couldn't fit in a two-inches gap of the lockers from the floor.

"I'll try to move the lockers," Orly said after checking for it himself.

"Can you?" Erica uttered in little doubt which made Orly raised an eyebrow. "I mean, it's heavy. You might need some help."

"Then help me," he deadpanned.

"You could've asked me nicely," Erica muttered.

"You're the one who needs help here," Orly mumbled back.

They exchanged glares before they even went to "help" each other. Orly was already in position to pull the locker while Erica was still thinking where to put herself, like what part of the locker should she pull though?

Orly was watching her be confuse and find it very funny and amusing. "I'm going to pull it now," he said, pursing his lips together.

Erica immediately held unto the locker and Orly could just close his eyes and mutter a soft curse when he saw how awkward she looked as she stood there with arms extended and hands softly resting on the cold metal plate.

"I'll push from this si—" she wasn't able to finish when the locker moved away from her in a swift second.

Her face heated up in slight embarassment because of that.

"Can you see it now?" Orly asked which snapped her out and looked quickly on the floor.

"Not yet..." she replied and with that Orly pulled the locker more away from the wall and the ring showed up.

"Okay, I see it!" Erica picked the ring up from the floor right away and smiled to her ears as she blew away the dust from it.

"Thank you!" She turned to Orly who was watching her silently with a ghost of smile on his lips.

"Your welcome," he said before pushing the locker back to place.

It was already five in the afternoon when he looked at the clock above the door of the room. He took his ragged small back pack that he always bring to work and brought out his keypad phone which some of the keys have already fallen out.

He was to going to call Lucas and ask if Hope wanted anything when he felt someone watching him. Of course, who would it be other than the woman who is there with him?

He glanced at her and saw her looking at the phone in his hand. Suddenly, he felt the rush of embarrassment flow to his head.

He cleared his throat when the woman didn't even bat her eyes as she stared at his phone as if she finds it amusing or yet, disgusting.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" he asked.

Erica snapped her head up to look at him and shook his head abruptly. "No, thank you. I-uh..."

He shot an eyebrow up waiting for her next words.

"Uh.. by the way, did you say yes to Hope this weekend?" Erica having nothing to say, asked about Hope instead.

Orly's brows creased. "This weekend?"

"Yeah, on Sunday," Erica mentioned rather nonchalantly which made Orly fell more confused.

"What's happening on Sunday?" He asked.

Erica's brows furrowed as well when she noticed how lost he is. "Didn't Hope tell you?"

She thought Hope had already talked to him about it but guess she was wrong on that part.

Hearing Erica's question sparked the answer on Hope's plan for her birthday and he didn't even have to think of it twice because he was sure, it is what he thinks it is.