Deceive Me, President (COMPLETED)

XXIV: Caught Red-handed

A/N: May nilakad lang me today aaaand I did some chapter content outlining earlier (kaya medj natagalan yung update) kaya it's official, we're ending DMP at 35, excluding the epilogue of course. And grabeeee happy 300+ votes and 2.9k reads sa ating lahattttt kaloka kayo mga badingggg! Thank you po sa paghihintay at pag-aabang! Pardon me for the grammatical errors and misspelled words.

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"Ma'am, kami na ho riyan. Nakakahiya po sa inyo..."

Leni is in the middle of cooking lugaw, which is quite known as her specialty, in Marcos's kitchen. She was chopping some parsley as she put the finishing touches on the meal that she had been preparing. Medyo malapit nang maluto kaya naghinay-hinay na din siyang maglinis ng kanyang pinaglutuan and at the same time, constantly checking its boiling too.

She went into detail with one of the security guards and told the whole story of how she ended up with their boss. Mas mabuti nang malinaw ang lahat kaysa sa kumalat pa ang mga chismis na wala namang katuturan. They were open at hindi naman nila nilagyan ng masyadong malisya ang paghatid nito sa bahay. They even questioned how Leni could have forgotten that Bahay Pangarap was meant to be his home at this point, and how it was only recently that she realized it. Siguro'y dala na rin ng pagka-rattle niya sa estado ng presidente.

"No, it's okay. Hindi naman 'to parte ng trabaho niyo. You don't have to," she sweetly uttered.

"Mas lalo ka na Ma'am, hindi niyo po kaano-ano o naging kaibigan si Sir pero inaalagaan niyo po siya," napakamot na lang sa ulo ang gwardiyang iyon.

Bigla siyang natigilan sa paghihiwa ng mga ilang segundo. Leni was absorbing what did the guard just observed and found herself puzzled with that statement. Tama nga naman, sino ba ako sa buhay ni Bongbong Marcos? Why was she going to such lengths for him without so much as giving a thought to what it would mean for her own hereafter? Agad niyang binawi ang kanyang mapagtanong na ekspresyon at binigyan lamang ng isang maliit na ngiti ang lalaki.

"Darvz! Halika muna dito!" one shouted.

Agad itong napalingon sa tunatawag at bumaling ulit ang tingin kay Leni, "Sigurado po ba kayong okay lang kayo?"

She consecutively nodded, "Sige na, you can go."

"Naabala pa ho tuloy kayo..." he trailed off. "Hayaan niyo Ma'am Leni, wala pong makakaalam na nangyari ito bukod saming mga nakaduty ngayon."

Discretion. As much as she's uncomfortable keeping secrets, she knew they had to.

She opened up the casserole's cover and stirred it smoothly with a ladle. Nang makita niyang sakto na sa lapot at medyo malambot na ang mga sahog nito, she turned off the stove, grabbed a bowl and poured a serve on it. She garnished it with salt and more pepper together with the finely chopped parsley that she did earlier. She smiled upon seeing how pretty her plating was.

To complete the meal tray, she did the liberty of opening their refrigerator and found some ripe oranges and green apples inside. She took out one of each and cut it into small bites, enough for the sick President to softly chew one. Leni also found some calamansi, grabbed two handfuls of it, and made it into a sweetened calamansi juice in order to help soothe his throat. Nagdala na rin siya ng isang basong tubig at tuluyang umakyat sa kwarto nito.

She was relieved that the aircon wasn't turned on. Baka lumala pa ang nararamdamang ginaw nito pag naiwang nakabukas. The fact that the door wasn't locked at her convenience was also a source of relief for her, especially considering that she had her hands full. There was Bongbong lying down his bed, softly pulling up different layers of his blankets. His feet were still shaking all by themselves although his snoring was pretty evident. Nilagay niya muna ang tray sa gilid ng kanyang higaan at binaling ang atensyon sa natutulog na Presidente.