Normal Life
CHAPTER 19: Normal Life
– LIA –
ALTHEA bombarded me with questions when we entered her house. She just wouldn’t stop talking and interrogating me about who the man is.
When we reached her dining area, she started getting plates and utensils for the both of us. However, she is still eager to squeezec information, or gossip, about earlier and what happened to me on the last two days.
“Come on, Lia!” she exclaimed while putting rice and chicken adobo on our plates. “Is he a suitor of yours?”
I playfully rolled my eyes at her while trying to hide myself. “He’s not my suitor, okay? He’s just…” I stopped talking when I realize that I don’t know what my relationship to Kelleon is.Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.
Is he a friend? Nah, he’s not on my definition of friends.
Colleague? But we don’t have a common denominator to call him like that.
Do we have a mutual understanding? But he never told me that he likes me, and I didn’t tell me that, either.
My flirt? He flirts with me and I flirt with him, too.
Kidnapper? I guess this choice makes sense. He kidnapped me twice, though.
“He’s just you’re what?!” Althea asked me impatiently. Her eyes are widened at me, as if she was telling me not to mess up my answer.
I pursed my lips. “Do you remember that man I told you about when I was in Spain?” I asked her back.
Her eyes furrowed and she finally sat down in front of me. “Yeah,” she answered as she scoop a spoonful of rice. “What’s with that?”
I take a deep breath before answering. “It’s him.”
Her spoon stopped mid-air and she just stared at me. It took her a moment to register what I said.
“Is he the driver or the hot man?” she asked, not blinking.
I smiled a little and blushed. “The hot man.”
Her mouth widened and the loud sound of her spoon dropping to the plate covered the whole dining area.
“What?!” she exclaimed. “It’s him?!”
I nodded while stopping myself from smiling. Althea is still looking at me with her mouth opened.
A few seconds later, she composed herself and sat properly. I raised my eyebrows went she grabbed her phone and started typing something.
After a while, I felt my phone vibrated. I took it out and I shouted at Althea.
“What did you just send?!”
She turned up her head to me and looked at me like she was innocent. “What?”
“I saw your message in the group chat!” I exclaimed. “Lia’s having a relationship with her kidnapper. Really?!”
“What? It’s true,” she said, making me almost lose my mind.
“No, it’s not!” I shouted, losing my composture.
“But you just confirmed it!” Althea started to give off the same energy I’m giving her.
“I just confirmed that he is my kidnapper, but we don’t have a relationship!” I answered her. “We’re not in a relationship!”
“Oh, right,” she said mockingly. “Your kidnapper, who you don’t have a relationship with, drove you to my house, reminded you to take care of yourself, and called you ‘mi amor’. Yeah, you two are not really in a relationship!”
She rolled her eyes on me. I stared at her, can’t believe on what she said. I mean, it makes sense but those are just speculations! She misunderstood it!
I took a deep breath to calm myself. I’m sure that we’re not angry at each other. We’re just having a simple misunderstading. I tried to put my shoes on Althea. I know that she’s just worried of me.
“Listen to me first, okay?” I asked her calmly. She nodded and leaned on her chair. She even crossed her legs as if she was interviewing me.
“Kelleon and I are not in a relationship,” I started. She was about to say something when I shushed her my putting my pointing finger on her lips.
“First of all, he drove me here to make sure that I won’t escape. Aside from that, he also gave me a bodyguard who will monitor my movements 24/7. She just out there and watching me,” I continued. “Second, he told me to take care because I also told him the same. Basic manners, duh?”
“And the mi amor part? Hmm?” she asked.
“He’s just teasing me, okay? I teased him a lot earlier in his house and he’s trying to get even,” I responded.
Althea wasn’t pleased to hear my explanation. It looks like she is trying to find some holes in it. However, after a few moments, she didn’t argue with me anymore.
“Okay,” she said. “If that’s what you said. I’ll buy it.”
Even though I’m sure that she don’t really believe, I just shut my mouth and continue on eating.
We were in the middle of eating our lunch when we heard several knocks on the door. I was about to stand up but Althea insisted.
“Ako na magbubukas,” (I’ll open it.) she said. “Baka mamaya ‘yung kidnapper mo ‘yan.” (It might be your kidnapper.)
I rolled my eyes on her, but a part of me is happy if that’s really Kelleon. However, that hope was crushed when I heard my friends’ voices as Althea opened the door.
“Hoy! Ano ‘yong chat mo ha?” (Hey! What’s with your chat, huh?)
“Pinatulan mo ‘yung kidnapper mo, Lia?!” (You agreed to be with your kidnapper, Lia?!)
“Dapat kasuhan ‘yon ng kidnapping!” (He must be sued for kidnapping!)
I massaged my temple as I bit the thigh part of my chicken adobo.
This is gonna be a long day.
ALMOST A WEEK passed since I talked to Kelleon. As was said by him, Danica really guarded me. There are times when I was in a public spaces like the city square or mall and I spotted her, blending with the crowd. Once she saw me looking at her, she bow and smile formally.
Danica really respected my personal space as she guarded me at the same time. I’m just worried if she’s having her sleep. She can’t be guarding me the whole day! She also needs to rest.
During this week, I went back to my usual routine. I also went back to my house since I convinced Althea that no one will kidnapped me anymore. Thankfully, she agreed, on the condition that I will update her thrice a day.
Today, I’m going to work since we have a new case to investigate. The investigation about Denisse Cantos or Dennise Cruz was postponed because of the big cases that was assigned to us. I didn’t mind it since I know that Kelleon is also looking into it. Although, he hasn’t contacted me for these past days, which made me sad.
But who am I to demand?
While locking my door, I noticed a box on the side. I almost stepped on it.
It was the third time that someone put a box in front of my house. The first one is a very durable notebook. I don’t know what it’s called but the pages cannot be ripped, unless you use a scissor. It also doesn’t get wet even if you soak it in water.
The second one is a black Louis Vuitton Montsouris PM backpack. It looks so beautiful and it suits my tastes. I can also put a lot of my everyday stuffs inside. I’m not sure if the bag is a real LV or a duplicate, but I don’t care anyway.
On the third day, a sling bag came. It’s a Michael Kors one. It’s brown, made with leather, with a gold metallic strap. Good thing that my phone, earphones, and wallet fitted inside, or else I’m gonna give it to Althea.
I bent my knee and pick the box from the ground. I carefully opened it. The thing inside made my eyes widened.
It has three black Parker Classic pens. These are the pens that I want to buy for so long! It’s just, they’re too expensive and I’m afraid that they will be emptied easily since I write a lot of things.
I grabbed one of the pens and kissed it. If the person who gave me these pens are also here, I will also kiss him or her.
I put the pens in my bag and walked away. I looked at the house besides mine. It’s currently under renovation. I heard that there will be a new person in our neighborhood.
I just home that he/she is a fan of videoke, though. I’m doing that every night.
A LONG DAY passed and I was stretching my back while walking towards my house. I was happy that we were able to solve the serial murder case that we have been solving this week.
I looked at my right arm that was wounded by the suspect earlier. He’s trying to escape and even hostaged an old woman. I jumped on him from the second floor of his apartment. Thankfully, the old woman wasn’t hurt by my impulsive decision. The suspect was arrested after a short while and was unconscious since his head hit the ground. His knife touched my arm when I landed on him so it was cut.
The wound isn’t that deep but it hurts a little, especially when I try to rotate my wrist. It was covered with a huge bandage. I’m lucky that I didn’t lose a lot of blood because of that.
Suddenly, I stopped walking when I saw a familiar man standing in front of my house.
“Kelleon?” I called him. I blinked a lot of times to check if it’s really him, or if I’m just hallucinating.
He smiled at me and waited for me to stop in front of him.
“Buenas noches, mi amor. Do you mind joining me for a dinner?”