Chased (BS#4)

H- Help

UMAYOS ng upo si Clarine habang isinusuot ang seatbelt. Hindi pa rin nawawala ang kakaibang init sa kanyang pisngi. Para bang nanatili na iyon doon mula pa kanina. She glared at the sinner who committed this grave sin. How dare him say those words?!

Me? Fall for him? How on the fucking world would I do that?

"Where do you stay?" he asked breaking the silence creeping the whole time. Kasalukuyang nakatigil ang sasakyan dahil sa namuong trapiko. Nagkalat ang nagpupunuang bus at jeep pati di mabilang na taxi at private vehicles sa daan.

"Tagaytay. I stay there for now. San Jose, Tagaytay. You can use my locator app. I've pinned the location." Pinaandar niya ang nasabing application at inilahad dito. He did not took it but he just nod.

"I know San Jose. I have a villa in Tagaytay and I'm quite familiar with the place. You can just tell me where your house is once we're there."

"Okay..." Ibinaba ni Clarine ang cellphone at ibinalik sa kandungan. Now she quite regret not staying at Trex's place for the night. She can't use her own condo since it was rented out just last year. The contract is in effect until next mid year. Hindi naman niya inaasahang magtatagal siya sa bansa.

"You live with you family?" tanong nito, diretso ang mga mata sa daan. Umuusad na ang trapiko at unti-unti nang lumuluwag ang daan. He maneuvered the vehicle to the right.

"No."

He took a quick glance at her.

"Living with my family means I can't do everything as I please. I may be at my late twenties pero sa bahay ng magulang ko, nobody's recognize as a licensed engineer or a master's degree holder. Lahat iyon, anak nila Mama. If one should stay under that roof, one should follow rules extended to that roof." For someone as restless as her, that's a big no.

"Not a bad idea. Maybe I should convince your father to take you back in?"

Sinamaan niya ito ng tingin. He just smirked at her.

"So you got a master's degree?"

"Yeah. I got bored. I thought I'll do it. It's just two years, anyway."

"Did you stay during that?"

"No. Yes? For quite some time? Only during when I had the class. Mostly I'm on out of town. Why, you ask?" Nakita niya ang pagsilay ng ngiti at ang iling nito sa sagot niya. Nagkibit lamang siya ng balikat.

"I never thought the elusive daughter of Cristobals would pick a master's degree over rolling around on a pile of snow. And what? You got bored? You got bored so you took a master's degree. Lots of people will stab you for hearing that."

She rolled her eyes. "I did worse than that." He glanced at her again. She decided to tell him. "I bought a mansion in Tagaytay because I have nothing to do in Manila... Now I'm going back to that mansion."

She heard him chuckle.

"Did you regret it?"

"Did I regret it?" Ulit niya sa di makapaniwalang tono. She was young then and had not-so-bright ideas of handling her finances. Technically, her finances were a wreck. If she hadn't seen how hard her brother worked for the family, she wouldn't have taken this finance management, seriously. Nakita niya kung paano saluhin ng kapatid ang responsibilidad na dapat siya ang umako. She saw how he was dedicated and how he loved what he does. Nakita rin niya kung paano nito ibalibag ang mga kakompetensya nila sa industriya. Trexton may be a softie for his woman but definitely not when it comes to business. He sure would eat them alive like a snack left in a fridge.

"I thought of selling the mansion. Too many times. Even had it renovated. Twice. My cousins loved that house. They even used it as a weird meeting place. Kapag stress sa pamilya o sa trabaho o kaya'y gusto lang uminom at makipagkwentuhan, doon sila nagtatago. I even left the spare keys so they can still use it even when I'm not here. If only it didn't grew on me, I would very much sell it."