Mon Amour (My Love)

CHAPTER 50

ANGELO ROI

"Oh! Flowers." exclaimed Uncle Marco as he entered my office and laid eyes on a bunch of red roses perched on the shelf by my desk. "Who on earth are they from?"

"Can't rightly say, Sir," I replied. "They were delivered today, and the courier hadn't a clue about the sender. Truth be told, it's not the first time. I've been getting roses from some mysterious sender for a few days now."

"Why don't you put it in a vase? Para maipatong mo diyan sa table mo."

I shook my head. "No can do. You know I've got a nasty pollen allergy."

"Ah yes. But I know that most roses don't trigger hay fever."

"Even so, I'd rather keep me distance."

"Sayang naman. Your secret admirer will be sad to know na hindi mo naappreciate ang flowers galing sa kanya."

"I reckon I'm a bit past the age for secret admirers, Uncle," I said with a grin. "Not that I'm in the market for any."

Uncle Marco shot me a stern look. "If it isn't someone admiring you, it could be someone plotting ways to murder you."

"Pardon?" I almost got up from my seat because of what he said. "What are you talking about?"

Taking a seat and crossing his legs, Uncle Marco continued, "I'd suggest you bring it to the lab. Who knows, it might be poisoned. You're a scientist, so it should be easy for you. I remember years ago, someone anonymous kept on sending me expensive wines, and I just kept them in my office. It's not like I could not afford to buy my own but I just kept them, you know, just in case there would be a good use for them."

"And then?" I asked impatiently.

"One time, natabig ng janitor yung isang bottle. Nabasag. Nasugatan siya sa paa. Then after like several days, nainfect yung sugat. Nung pinacheck up, we found out na may lason pala yung wine na nabasag. You can imagine the stress and anxiety na dinulot sa akin ng incident na iyon. Akala ko, hindi na siya gagaling so how was I going to explain it to his family? So after that, I had the other wines tested. Turmed out, lahat, poisoned."

"Mon dieu. Why would anyone want to harm you like that? You're like the nicest and the most decent man I know."

"Yeah, we're nice and decent people, but we have lots of money, Angelo. And sometimes, you never know the evil things that people can do because of money. And having said that, take extra care, and yun nga, send the flowers to the lab. Good thing that you have pollen allergy. You would have sniffed it if you didn't."

"I'll do that later, Uncle. Thanks for the heads up."

"I'd also suggest that you hire bodyguards. Si Ricco, nakinig siya sa akin when I told him to get himself a bodyguard. I'm not sure if you already met him."

"Aye, I've seen him around. Hard to forget a bloke who made the news for waving his gun about."

"He did it to protect Ricco. At least alam natin what he can do for Ricco's sake."

"I don't know. I'm not sure I can trust that Pyponco lad, to be honest."

"Or maybe you're just prejudiced."

I threw him a pointed look. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. Ang alam ko lang, he's being there for Ricco, na hindi magawa ng ibang tao para sa kanya. Instead, sinasaktan pa ang damdamin niya."

I couldn't muster a reply. The room's atmosphere turned tense, and it seemed like Uncle Marco was quite upset.

"Kawawa si Ricco. When you and Kuya Rodel left, dinala niya ang burden. He was thinking, kasalanan niya kung bakit nangyari ang mga bagay na iyon. And imagine kung paano niya pinilit na ipressure ang sarili niya – from someone na walang pinag-aralan to someone na hahawak ng pinakamataas na position sa company na sad to say, iniwan mo, Angelo."