Malediction

A Theft's Vacation

“Fresh air and freedom, at last.” Amanda Pelaez sighed in relief, or Mandy, as her fake ID states, after a half hour passed. I continued to drive across the land and showed Mrs. Pelaez the whole scenery. Today, I was her exclusive guide and golf car driver for the whole tour of the three-hectare exclusive hotel and resort with a tropical contemporary vibe. She was a woman of few words, and a gaze so addictive that can make someone uneasy and unsure of their presence with her. The pictures I saw from my research didn't do her justice. She was an entirely different person beside her husband and alone. In Governor Pelaez's arms, she was timid and smiley, but off camera, she was an intimidating sophisticated woman with taste in high fashion.

After the tour of different activity areas and a variety of pools, she went back to the hotel. As soon as she saw Jerry Gonzalez, she threw herself at him like a damsel. We were all paid to shut up and forget about this but Tim didn't miss a beat. He was one of the helpers in the lobby, just two meters away from the scene. With his hidden camera, he took one of the many pictures we would soon have.

A few days before our targets visited the location, we went here to be trained as employees. Andrea was well known and didn't want to take the risk, so Tim and I separately applied as temporary support staff in the Masfino Hotel in San Rafael, Bulacan. This was where Jerry Gonzalez and Amanda Pelaez, his affair, planned to have their alone time together, under aliases and far from the Visayan province they were known in.

Jerry Gonzalez was known to be a man of his word, with a clean record from his humble beginnings as young barangay captain to sterling reputation as a mayor of the city of Ormoc. Now, he plans to advance as governor, stealing Elo Pelaez's position…and wife apparently. The relationship seemed eccentric to me at first, but after knowing that the support Elo had to get where he was now was from his wife, it made sense, regardless of their 9 year age difference.

Jerry needed to widen his circle and Amanda needed attention. It was beneficial. It's just that Amanda had a lavish lifestyle that he had to accommodate. Some of his businesses were falling short, so he took it from taxes.

"Everything here is beautiful, dear. You were right. Traveling locally was better than abroad if it came to resorts for a few days." Amanda sounded pleased. "Of course." Jerry just side smiled and wrapped his arm loosely to her waist. As they walked to the elevator, she looked back to the lobby, to me. She smiled.

Tim saw this too. He gave me a sly smile, knowing what the cougar meant. Youngblood. Well, for her, I guess.

______

After giving me an identical keychain that Amanda kept by her side, Tim carried on with his pictures late that night after instructing me to switch it and know what it was that she treasured so much. The couple enjoyed the private pool, kissing. He was a pro. No one suspected his actions as he went to work like any helper would. The other staff minded their own business, so it was easy for him to blend in.

I, on the other hand, had been close to Amanda's personal assistant, Sandra. She was easy to please. She was a naive city girl trying to build a career from her political science degree. "So, she had a Birkin bag from both of them, you say?" I asked her casually, as I stood beside her on an open balcony, looking down from the lovers enjoying the pool. "Yeah. A concrete bridge project got delayed because of that. She didn't care one bit about the citizens risking their lives with a rope bridge." She said with contempt. Obviously, she just loved talking sh*t about her boss. Sandra was sick by how pretentious Amanda was but couldn't say a word in front of her because she was too scared for her life.

"If the people knew where she got her dough from, they'd probably make her into a Birkin bag too." We laughed until we heard Sandra's name from the woman below. She immediately stopped and hurried to her boss without saying goodbye.

I slowly moved far from Amanda's view of the balcony. I turned off my audio recorder from my backpocket without removing it and walked away.

___________

It was 6am in the morning. I was by the employees' mini stay-in house sipping my coffee. My 'work' here was not until 8.30am and there are only very few tourists that come by the hotel today. Company gatherings were so many for the past week that the Masfino needed seasonal staff. Luckily, we needed it too, for other reasons.

As I continued to savor my coffee and the serenity around me, I thought about how Manunulat had the information with him. The accuracy was terrifying. He could've had so many connections to get what he had, or he/she could've been really good at hacking. It's just the island that bothered me. What was it about? Was he playing with us on some sick game he planned to harm us? What was his association with Andrea anyways? Did she really not know him? I was lost.

And my mind, the pressure was building in it. I was trying to remember things about myself. I couldn't retrieve any memory from how Andrea and I came to be, aside from a few pictures she showed me. My old phone was lost on the island and I thought I never needed Cloud as backup. Whatever notes I had back then was lost. Andrea told me she loved the short poems I made for her before, but had things encrypted in it that she never asked what they were for for the sake of my privacy. Now, I had no idea either.

My memories of my past were very vague, and surprisingly my social media account didn't tell much about it either. It was all recent, and no relatives at all. It was difficult to have bits and pieces that can't give the whole picture.

A notification from my phone broke my chain of thoughts which made me happy. My mind was about to explode. It was from Andrea.

'I'll pick it up later. I'm on my way.'

I was happy to hear from her, despite it being purely work. Maybe asking some questions after work would clear my mind.

__________

Tim and I decided to stealthily pass our work to Andrea at different times when she enters the main building later as a tourist. We waited and did our ‘jobs’. We had observed that Sandra had been going and out of the hotel as per Amanda’s request for various things. It was business, papers of it and her husband asking for her presence. Sandra was trying to keep it quiet but the signal was weak so she walked with her phone up, talking to Elo Pelaez in speaker. The employees tried to keep it together but their suppressed laughter was slipping because Sandra's pathetic attempt to cease her boss’ husband’s rage was comical. Employees tried to help but she was so focused on pacifying Mr. Pelaez that she couldn't understand why they were reaching out to her. They didn’t understand the conversation, and were totally unsuspecting of what was really happening.

Andrea showed up just outside of the lobby as this transpired. Tim helped him lift her bag and slipped the memory card in one of its pockets while everyone was entertained by Sandra's misfortune. I walked to her, greeting her as a guide, and handed her a rolled map of the hotel containing the sleek digital recorder. She held onto it as we walked to the receptionist.

Sandra came running to our direction, tripped and hit Andrea. They quickly stood and picked their things up from the ground. I tried to help. The digital recorder was near Andrea, I eyed her to catch it. In a few seconds, everyone was fine.

“I’m so sorry for that but I need to go. Bye!” Sandra said as an attempt to apologize. She ran to her boss once more. Andrea was unable to say anything because of this. She just took her keys and went to her room, just a floor below the scandal that’ll make the headlines soon. I stepped back and followed her with my eyes. She was a true paraluman, regardless of the realistic platinum blonde wig she was wearing.

__________

Afternoon that day, my phone chimed again. It was probably from Andrea. I opened my phone to read the message. It wasn’t good.

‘She had the same one. The PA and I switched recorders.’ My throat went dry.