Quest For Justice

CHAPTER 7: MEET OLIVIA LIBARA

True beauty cannot be seen by naked eyes, but by eyes that pierced through the soul.

Cassandra seriously stared at herself in a big mirror before her. She admired her own reflection in the mirror which she hadn’t done for a while. She’s indeed a beauty, and that beauty would be temporarily hidden in connection with the plan. Hindi siya magpapa-panget dahil walang kasambahay na maganda, kundi dahil kailangan niyang itago ang katauhan sa ibang katauhan. As if she could be prettier, she had no other option.

“Ma’am, sigurado po kayo sa ipapagawa ninyo sa buhok niyo?” kuryusong ani ng babaeng hairstylist sa salon na pinuntahan niya, mukha itong nanghihinayang.

“Yes, please, miss. No more questions,” she said without any reaction when the truth was kahit siya ay nanghihinayang din pero para sa plano, she would do it.

The hairstylist started cutting her hair short. She took heavy breaths while looking at her long silky hair being badly cut through the mirror in front of her. Her heart was broken. She wanted to stop the hairstylist but she couldn’t.

Finally, the hairstylist was done. The hairstylist brushed her fingers through her now short hair, smiling adorably.

“Ma’am, you still look beautiful with short hair,” ani ng stylist habang tinitingnan nito ang repleksyon niya sa salamin.

“Exactly. Kaya hindi pa tayo tapos, miss. Ipapakulot ko pa ‘yan. ‘Yong kulot na messy. Parang witch. ‘Yong it looks like hindi marunong magsuklay ang may-ari ng buhok.” Siguro naman ay she gave a detailed instruction. Baka kasi mamaya, maganda pa rin siya.

She saw the hairstylist’s forehead creased sa repleksyon nito sa salamin habang nakatingin ito sa buhok niya, medyo natutulala.

“Excuse me.”

“Ah, sorry, ma’am.” The hairstylist snapped back.

“Ah, ma’am. Kung hindi niyo po mamasamain. Pwede po bang magtanong?” The hairstylist inclined her head.

Cassandra rolled her eyes. “Ano ‘yon?”

“Brokenhearted po ba kayo? Na-ghost? Iniwan? O pinaasa?” The hairstylist narrowed her eyes as she waited for her answer.

But Cassandra just burst out in laughter. Humalakhak siya and that made the hairstylist assume she was crazy because of being brokenhearted.

“Hahahaha! Hay naku! Sige na, miss. Just do what I instructed you,” Cassandra said while forcing herself to stop laughing. It’s just that she found the hairstylist quite ridiculous for questioning her that.

Na-ghost? Siya ang ng ghost. She was in a relationship with this guy from the Engineering Department way back in college. One-month pa lang sila noon when she ghosted him. Bigla niya nalang pinutol ang communication nilang dalawa dahil he was boring. Iniwan? The longest relationship she had with a guy was almost a year. From her old workplace. But, she wasn’t in love. She just used the guy to her advantage. Anak kasi ito ng boss niya. Bago pa man sila mag one-year, she left him sa ere. She never regretted that even if the guy was so good to her. Pinaasa? Lahat ng mga nanligaw sa kanya na hindi niya sinagot pinaasa niya. Paano ba naman kasi, ang hirap-hirap para sa kanya na sabihing ‘wag na lang silang manligaw at hindi niya rin naman sasagutin. What she told those guys, “’Pag mahal mo, ipaglaban mo.” That badass girl enjoyed collecting broken hearts. She never knew what true love was. She believed because of her late parents. But, she had never experienced it yet herself.

The hairstylist was done. The hairstyle was a total mess. But her face wasn’t. So she asked for someone to do her a thick eyebrow henna tattoo. It looked very natural on her. She hesitated to laugh at herself in the mirror because it would seem like she was bullying her own self. Still, she had to do something with her skin because she was naturally porcelain white in complexion like the color of Korean nationality. Her skin was so smooth and her face had no pores and her cheeks were naturally pinkish. It was indeed a hassle for her to make her face look ugly.

“How to have pimples?” she sadly mumbled to herself while looking at the mirror.

The girl who did her thick eye-brow tattoo tilted her head and frowned upon in curiosity. Kahit sino naman kasi ay mapapaisip if some girls want to have pimples when it is the thing every human being wants to remove from their faces kapag nagkaroon.

“Ma’am, bakit gusto niyong magka pimples? Eh, kami nga ay kung ano-anong skincare nalang ang sinusunod ma-achieve lang ‘yong ganyang klaseng skin ng sa inyo,” anito, nanggigigil na parang sa loob-loob nito ay sinasabing ang unfair ng mundo.

“Girl, you don’t need a skincare routine to be beautiful. All women are beautiful. Just be confident.” Cassandra winked at her.

The girl blushed. She was happy to hear such comforting words from a gorgeous lady. Girls tend to get more flattered to receive a compliment from their fellow girls than men.

After her business at the parlor, she went to her dermatologist. Not to have a facial but to ask her derma doctor to do her fake freckles that would stay for some time. She achieved it. Now her total transformation was achieved. At least now she looked a little less pretty. Her naturally white and straight teeth stayed as they were. Pwede na, mukha na siyang ipinanganak na hindi kagandahan sa itsura niya ngayon. Tony was not with her at that moment because he went to do some transactions. Cassandra called him and he said he would be done by 6 p.m., and she’d just wait for him at the office. Tony also asked her to send him pictures with her new feature. So she hurried to the nearest photography shop. She took some photos and had those saved in her phone device then sent them to Tony.

She had lunch with her aunt at an Italian restaurant. Her aunt wasn’t surprised with her new look, she already told her last night. Veronne didn’t disagree with her plan. Her aunt trusted her and she’d always got her back. They stayed in the resto. for only a couple of hours because Veronne had a court trial at 3 p.m.. Her aunt was handling a serious case at the moment. Veronne was handling a case of a 7-year-old child r***d victim. The child was not an ordinary child. She was the youngest child of a famous businessman. Kaya lately, hindi sila masyadong nagkakausap ng masinsinan nito because she was always busy and exhausted.

Cassandra wanted to go shopping after they had lunch kasi mabo-bored lang siya sa office without Tony there, pero nawalan siya ng gana because at the restaurant, a number of judgemental eyes looking at her were communicating disgust because of her looks. Siguro they were confused how could an ugly girl eat in an expensive restaurant tapos kasama niya pa ang napakaganda niyang aunt. Swear, she was annoyed of those kind of people, akala mo naman kung sinong magaganda at gwapo.

There was this little brat kid around 8 years old na nakasabay nila palabas ng restaurant and then the kid called her “Ugly girl” like a really mean girl habang hawak ng mommy nito ang kamay nito. Then Cassandra raised a brow at the kid.

“You’re uglier.” She told the kid that made her cry.

Cassandra stopped herself from laughing when the child cried because she felt satisfied at the sound of the child’s sobs.

“How could you bully a child?” The child’s mom scowled at her, napakasama ng tingin nito sa kanya.

“Alam niyo ang problema sa inyong mga magulang, you’re considering your child being ill-mannered. It’s disappointing!” Cassandra yelled back at the mom.

“How dare you?” The mom exclaimed in annoyance.

“You’re being scandalous. People are looking.” Veronne meddled in a calm voice.

The mom stomped her heel in annoyance and dragged her daughter with her. The child looked back at Cassandra, frowning in frustration. Cassandra stuck her tongue out to tease the child even more and she cried again. Cassandra laughed delightfully.

So ganito pala sa feeling ang nahuhusgahan dahil hindi ka maganda? For the first time in her entire life, Cassandra finally experienced how to be bullied because of an ugly look and she swore to the heavens, it felt unlawful. But never in her entire life that she ever demoralized somebody who didn’t look attractive to her. She always thought that true beauty cannot be seen by naked eyes, but by eyes that pierced through the soul. Ang panlabas na anyo ay nagbabago as person grows older. But, a beautiful soul will always be beautiful.

She drove her wheels to the office building instead of driving to the mall. She badly wanted to go shopping to de-stress because those bothersome people at the restaurant brought her temperature up and she needed to cool down. Shopping could do it for her pero baka mas lalo lang maraming mapanghusgang magaganda at gwapo doon sa mall. ‘Wag na lang. Imbis na mag-cool down siya ay mas lalo lang tumaas ang temperature niya sa galit.

She arrived at the office at 3:00 p.m.. She counted on her fingers how many more hours she had to wait for Tony. It’s too boring to be alone. She never wanted to be alone, she never dreamt of being alone, she was scared of being alone. Because whenever she was alone, the memory of her yesterday became very vivid that it awoke her anxiety.

She dialed on her iPhone, Tony’s number. But he wasn’t answering. She dialed again and again, but again he wasn’t answering. She had nobody to call whenever she was alone besides Veronne and Tony, and Dianne. Dianne’s Tony’s wife who’s probably still at work as a bank teller at this time of day so she wouldn’t bother calling her just because she felt the gradual awakening of her anxiety. It’s been a while actually. It’s because of nervous tension that didn’t occur often, just occasionally. What happened to her at the restaurant somehow contributed to it.

Cassandra didn’t notice how much she was sweating and she looked really pale. She removed her heels then wipe her sweat. She started jumping after that. That was her way to get rid of negative thoughts that caused her nervous tension. She breathed heavily as she jumped. When she stopped, she was catching her breath. She rested for a moment and then turned on the speaker and played her Spotify playlist. Drive You Home by Jackson Wang played in the background. Music also comforted her. Malakit tulong ang musika sa pagpapakalma sa kanya. She reached for the small towel she hung at the arm of the sofa and used it to wipe her sweat. She sat on the sofa and closed her eyes until she slowly fell asleep.

“Atty., wake up.” Tony made her voice as soft as possible, not to startle the sleeping Cassandra as he shook her shoulder slowly.

Cassandra opened her eyes and at the sight of Tony, she felt relief. She straightened hurriedly.

“You’re here?” She smiled widely.

“Why? What happened?” Tony looked worried. He knew about her anxiety.

“I’m fine. I’m not alone now.” She shrugged.

“Next time, let’s just go together. I couldn’t answer your call because I was talking with my informant. Were you scared?” Tony was still worried, he sat beside her and lightly tapped her back.

Cassandra smiled. She was blessed to have a kind and caring assistant like Tony. He was a good older cousin. Tony and Cassandra were blood-related. Si Tony ay anak ng kapatid ni Atty. Jeah Bernardo. Ang nanay ni Tony ay isa sa mga malalapit na kapamilya sana ni Cassandra who didn’t claim her when her parents died. Pero wala na sa kanya ‘yon. The important thing was Tony, her cousin, cared so much for her. They didn’t meet accidentally, Cassandra personally looked for him for a reason beyond blood relation and decided to keep him by her side as her personal assistant.  

Cassandra leaned on his shoulder and Tony tenderly patted her head. She tried to hide it to not worry him but her emotions betrayed her and she sobbed.

“Hush now. I’m here, Cassy. I’m not going to leave you alone again.”

Tony called her “atty. or ma’am” at work or whenever he wanted to, but he called her Cassy outside work. He was supposed to call her ma’am because they were still at work. Their monkey business was still work. Though she needed a family at that moment, and Tony just made her feel she had one with her by calling her with her nickname.

Cassandra was comfortable enough that Tony was now with her. She hurried to her office chair and sat.

“You didn’t say something about my looks, Ton.” Her face twisted into an ugly grimace.

“You know what, I was all ready to tease you but you ruined it.” Tony sniggered as he sat in the client’s chair in front of the lawyer’s table.

“Now that I’m fine, don’t you dare. Know what, I encountered this brat little girl at the restaurant where I had lunch with mom and she bullied me. Told me, ugly girl.” The same angry face she showed at the child who bullied her was still the angry face she flashed as she talked about it.

“Inaway mo ‘yong bata?” Tony facepalmed.

“I told her she was uglier. Duh!” She rolled her eyes meanly.

Tony looked up at her. “Ang sama mo.” He snickered at the annoyed look on her face.

Tumayo si Tony at may kinuhang maliit na suitcase. That one suitcase he was always bringing when in business. He sat back on his chair and opened the suitcase. Cassandra’s eyes heedfully followed his hands fiddling with things inside the suitcase. He first plucked an ID. A fake ID to be specific. He clipped it with his fingers and briefly displayed it before Cassandra’s eyes before he placed it on the table. Cassandra immediately took it.

She eyed slack-jawed with surprise at the fake ID that looked very similar to an original one. It was a fake UMID ID. She excitedly read the descriptions beside the picture on it that she sent to Tony kanina lang. SURNAME: LIBARA / GIVEN NAME: OLIVIA / MIDDLE NAME: GALANG / s*x: F / DATE OF BIRTH: 1992/ 05/ 19 / ADDRESS: BARANGAY LEYO VILIKO CITY LAMERIA PHL 8090

“Ton, ang layo naman ng Lameria province. That’s a two-hour airplane ride from Sekyu.” Cassandra frowned and paused for a while until she realized.

“Ahhh, para malayo nila akong mabuking.” She nodded, understanding it clearly.

“Of course. Tapos number ko ang naka-register bilang family mo na nasa Lameria. Para ako agad ang iko-contact nila if ever something happens, ‘di ba?” Tony shrugged his shoulders confidently.

“Genius!” Cassandra smiled.

“Olivia Libara.” Cassandra pronounced her new name with an accent. The humble name sounded expensive because of how she pronounced it. OW LI VYE LIB EYR is how she pronounced the name.

“Hindi ganyan, atty., O LIV YA LI BA RA.” Tony emphasized every syllable.

Tony also provided some more fake IDs: Philhealth, high school IDs that were perfectly made look old. Good thing that employers like Guzman family were very generous when in terms of benefits because when you were hired by them, automatically they would pay a whole year of your social benefits including SSS, Philhealth, and PAG-IBIG in one shot. Tony learned from Cassandra to be always two steps ahead. He had talked with the heads of the different offices to confirm an Olivia Libara. Money is the best manipulator. Of course! There were also fake certificates, high-school yearbook, etc.

Other than that, everything else was perfectly planned always two steps ahead.