A Twist Of Time

twenty three

Turns out that the only reason Sergio spent his morning with Jane and Hisako was that he wanted to help cooking breakfast, though ending up to be more of a nuisance than a helping hand. I was able not to anger him about the letter but right after breakfast, Margaux and I discreetly rushed out of the kitchen and fished for the letter inside the lobby trashbin, finding the letter crumpled and dirty. Margaux panicked and took the paper and me to her room, where we thought of countless ways to fix the ruined letter.

"How about we, uh, rewrite it?" I suggested, my face resting on my chin, elbow atop her dresser table.

"No. Have you seen that woman's handwriting? It has her style, only her style, that no one can copy. And besides, if I could actually copy her penmanship and pretend I'm her, I could've done so and sent Sergio countless letters telling him to do useless things."

I sighed. I was staring at the stack of books on her bed, my hand tapping impatiently on my chin. "What about we put it under those books over there?"

Margaux took a look. They were a stack of hardbounds enough to crush somebody alive. "That's the least stupid idea we've thought of all day. We've got to use it somehow."

Someone started knocking on the front door of the palace. Margaux almost ran to get it, but I pulled her back and motioned my head to the books, saying, "Get that letter in shape before going outside."

Margaux groaned in frustration and took the letter from my two fingers holding it in place. She placed it between the pages of a book in the bottommost part of the stack, flattening it out before doing so. "There. That should do it."

"I just hope it actually does," I said while noises could be heard outside. "Sergio seems serious about that letter."

"He's always serious. Maybe that's why his mother gave him his name." She sighed. "Let's go outside and check what's happening. I'm curious."

I followed her outside and the front door was wide open, air blowing freely inside the palace. Margaux tilted her head in confusion and opened the door, then closed it.

"That's weird. I could've sworn I heard someone. May tao sa labas," (There's someone outside.) she whispered with a confused look evident on her features. "Come with me, I'll go check."

We wandered outside, our feet barely making any noise, blending in with the tranquil silence of the Malacañan. I was looking for the noise which occupied these same walls earlier, but only the creaking of a door nearby could be heard, wood scratching wood. Margaux pulled my arm and ran until we were in front of my door and only eight doors away from Sergio's room.

"Be quiet. It's coming from there." She pointed to the same room I was thinking about. I did as told, but I was too curious to stay still. I ran to the door quickly, Margaux whisper-shouting "no!," and opened it. There, Sergio was standing with a woman in front of him, and that woman seemed to be leaning in to kiss him.

Want to know the worst part? He looked like he was ready.

"Excuse me?"

The lady turned around. She seemed shocked, but this emotion was erased as her lips formed into a smirk. "Hello, dear!"

"Don't you dare call me 'dear.' I'll have you run over like a deer in headlights if you don't get your hands off of my man the moment I count to three," I hissed.

It was long since I spat words like venom from my mouth; never did I expect that it would be because of a boy. And I kept telling myself that I would never do that.

"Valerie, calm down. She wasn't going to kiss me, alright?" Sergio now walked to me, holding both of my hands. God, everything happening seemed so cliché I could write it down on a book and sell millions.

"Yes. And pigs can fly. Congratulations, your logic totally makes sense. And I thought"—I laughed painfully—"I thought no secrets. Pathetic."

"No secrets. She isn't a secret. Let me explain—" but Sergio was cut off.

"Valerie! Don't you dare!" screamed Margaux from the threshold, breaths heavy. I shook my head.

"So I'm in the wrong? It's me? You know what? You could be helping your country during the war right now. But you're here. If you didn't love me, you could've told me."

"I would never. I would be lying if I said that."

"Then don't tell me that you don't love me. Tell me that you loved somebody else more than you ever did for me. That I'm an extra. Let me guess, how long has she been secretly loving you?"

Another voice barged in. Jane was now beside Margaux. "Valerie, stop. You're making a fool of yourself."

"And it's me? It's me?" I turned to Sergio, who had eyes full of tears.

I didn't care.

"Maybe it is," he whispered.

"Then it is. It's settled."

Margaux walked over and pulled my arm away and outside. I was strong.

But my eyes said otherwise.

I was crying because of a boy. A boy.

And I felt weak.

"You shouldn't've done that, Val," Jane said, catching up to us.

"You didn't even know who that woman was," Margaux added.

I sniffed, then rubbed my eyes. "Who was she?"

Jane looked at Margaux, as though she was looking for approval. Margaux looked down first and nodded shortly.

"Remember that letter he got this morning that was from that yours truly woman?"

"Please don't tell me that she was that."

"Unfortunately, she was."

"But that doesn't change the fact that the lady was about to kiss him. His promise about no secrets was useless. I wish I never met him," I hissed.

"If you never met him, you never would've met us," Margaux replied.

"Then I wish I could bring you to 2016 and we can be friends there and not here in this hell."