Unseen Strings

Chapter 2: inarrestabile

“Hija, may nag-papabigay nanaman sa’yo.” I woke up from the deafening knocks on the door.

I rubbed my eyes as I stretched my arms out. Did I hear it right? Again? Bakit parang ang dami atang oras ng lalaking ‘to para mag-padala lagi ng kung anu-ano sa’kin?

Still sleepy, but what there’s nothing I can do but to get up and open the door. I didn’t bother to fix my pajama that got wrinkled from my sleep. I opened the door and immediately saw the package that Manang Belle was holding; it’s quite big compared to the other gifts I received from Von. I wonder what’s this, this time.

“Thank you po, Manang Belle.” I said as we exchanged smiles with each other. Aalis na sana siya ngunit may naaalala ako bigla kaya humabol ako ng tanong dito.

“Did you see someone po nung nakuha niyo ‘to, Manang?” I asked in curiosity. I’ve been receiving these kinds of gifts and packages, but I still don’t know what’s his face like or whatever. It’s really making me curious, I never got curious like this, no one did.

“Pasensya na, Ma’am. Pero wala po akong nakita at pina-abot lang ‘yan nung guard sa labas.” Tumango na lamang ako. Ilang beses na ‘tong nangyayari, hindi ko alam kung sa tao nga ba ‘to galing at bakit gano’n kabilis kumilos ‘yon?

Nang maka-alis si Manang ay kaagad kong tiningnan ang package na ‘yon.

It was a box, named ‘chanel’ on it. As I opened it completely, I saw a bag, the ‘Chanel Tweed Quilted Mini Rectangular Flap’ colored in pink, which is my favorite color, and inside there was a note written in Italian.

“Meglio che tu usi questo, so che è il tuo colore preferito.”

- Von.

Nang makita ko ang note ay hindi ko mapigilang hindi i-ikot ang mata ko sa irita. Pa’no ba naman kasi, kagigising ko lang at ito ang makikita ko, hindi ko maintindihan, dagdag pa ang sulat niyang akala mo kinder ang nag-sulat.

Kaya alam ko na agad kung kanino galing, Kay Von, no doubt. At wala naman kasing nagbibigay sa’kin ng mga ganto, hindi rin ako nag-order online.

No one could translate this for me, so I quickly took my phone and went to Google and scanned the photo to translate it for me. This is what I always do whenever I want to read what’s on his note.

“You better use this, I know it’s your favorite color.” Translated to English.

What? Napaka-kapal ng mukha, how dare you to boss me around?

T’saka sino ka ba? I’ll never use your things! Kung pwede lang sana na isupalpal ko sakanya mga gamit niya. Kahit na mawalan na ako ng gamit, I’ll never use something from him!

Ilang beses ko nang sinubukan hulihin kung sino ba ang nagpapa-dala ng mga regalo na binibigay sa’kin pero I always failed to catch him!

I wonder why he’s too smart. Perhaps he’s a snatcher? A criminal? What is he really?
I tried reviewing the cctv, but there’s no one, or sometimes there’s no record—it probably got deleted.

So, I’m making speculation, he’s a hacker?
I tried thinking of something, at naisip kong subukan na kausapin siya. But I don’t know why, till I saw a sticky notes on my nightstand.

“What do you want? Bakit palagi kang nagpapadala ng mga ganito, are you bored? Fyi, I’m not interested in you, and your things, you better get these things, or I’ll throw them away.”