"This could not be happening." I uttered while putting the car into a halt. I'm not scared of Henry's legion of fans camping outside the flat but I'm scarier of seeing Christian outside the premises of Kerr. I'm not sure, but I have a feeling that he's keeping my tracks.
My thoughts were interrupted when I saw Henry crawling on his knees and instructing me to do the same. I may look like a fool but it leaves me no choice but to mimic him. I want to come out of this car alive and not covered in bruises.
Once inside the flat, I opened the paper bags that the Suarezes have given to me to brush off my worries. I'm delighted to see boxes of my favorite Danish cookies, bags of Hershey's, a small novena book and rosary, which I believe were from Mexico. My eyes grew wider when I opened the second paper bag. A Nine West wristlet and Thierry Mugler's Alien! God knows how keen I am to wear this perfume. I was trying my best to hold myself from spritzing it when I saw Henry fishing out a box of cookies from my paper bag.
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"Excuse me!" I interrupted him from stealing my parcel.
"You've got two boxes so I believe it wouldn't hurt if I had one for myself. Besides, in exchange of that, I'm giving you a can of British rice pudding. So is it a deal now?" He negotiates.
"Do I have a choice?" I howled to him, throwing a box of cookies to his chest.
"Thank you, love." He lowered his face to peck on my cheek and as his head of curls leave my sight, Mr. Lynch's face is slowly appearing before my eyes.
I cleared my throat as I adjust myself on the chair. Mr. Lynch walked pass us and tapped Henry on the shoulder and released a playful wink. I shooed Henry to join his bandmates and continued sniffing the purple bottle still mesmerized by its foreign quality that stimulates my olfactory organ.
I left the flat an hour early as there were some problems that needed to be fixed at the studio.
The stress level was indescribable when I arrived at the studio. The video walls are having technical problems with signals, specifically with All Caps video input that became the eventual result of file corruption. Congratulations to us! Every single video input that we have was all corrupted. My head was spinning due to the fact that the second performance night is already happening in less than 60 hours. But I am more affected because the video input's concept was a collaboration among All Caps members. I dug my face to my palms as tears start to brim my eyes.
"I know what happened. Stop crying, baby honey. Some things are really meant to happen." Henry locks me in his arms and I found isolation on the broadness of his shoulder.
"I've got you here. We make a perfect team, so please stop crying. You're crushing my heart. Please stop now." He consoles me as I felt his soft strokes on my hair.
"Oh shit! You're not my baby honey!" He cursed under my hair.
I was left dumbfounded by his reaction so I immediately untangled myself from his embrace.
"What did you say?" I asked in a still thunderstruck manner.
"I said, you're not my baby honey. My baby honey doesn't smell like that because you smell like plum drenched with warm vanilla not like a jasmine." He answered with sadness in his voice.
I knitted my brows still failing to comprehend what he had said. He then left a soft kiss on my right cheek before heading to the control room.
"I'll be back in a heartbeat. I'll just fix something so you don't have to cry no more." He assured me while making his way to the server room.
Half an hour later and he still hasn't returned. Anxiousness is slowly becoming a part of my system when I saw Henry shutting the server room's door with a satisfied look on his face.
"Problem solved!" He said gesturing a thumbs-up.
"But how?" I asked with brows knitted in doubt.
"If the old one would no longer work, then it's time to get a new one."
"Let me see how you've resolved it." I held the door knob to the server room.
"Let's just say that a little bird told me what to do." He winked before shaking his curls.
"I'm the line producer. I have the right to know what went on behind that door."
"Yes you are but I have the right to do sound check now with my bandmates, so if you will allow."
"I'm not holding you back from doing a sound check, what I want to know is how you guys have resolved the problem. You go south, I go north."
"All sixes." He uttered before dragging me back to the studio.
I didn't ask any more questions and just dug myself to work again. People may find my daily existence boring, but it's true. It's like everything is on repeat, just adorned with different stress boosters. And before I knew it, I'm driving myself again to Kerr.
Kerr. Kerr. Kerr. I don't know but I've kind of developed this kind of fear as my car hits the Kerr grounds. I've always been keen to learning, but now this institution is shooting fear down my spine.
Christian. I like his name, but not his excessive pride. We haven't had a proper conversation yet but I'm not really comfortable around him. The exact opposite when I'm with Henry. He might have almost raped me but I feel secure when I'm with him.
That's the moment when I fully comprehend what he meant when he said about plum and warm vanilla. But I was instantly ejected from my thoughts as I hit hard on my break. Christian and his motorcycle cutting my way to the south car port. Clenching my fists, I tried so hard to contain the anger that is slowly taking over me as I made my way up to the fifth floor. I could sense that he is tailing behind me so I just walked faster on my kitten heels. And as per usual, I began to exist under his gaze again, which I did until we had to go down for the second and last period.
I felt more comfortable as he sat at the farthest end of the class. I still could sense his gaze but the adequate distance between us is enough to calm me down.
A couple of hours more and we're done for the night. I walked as fast as I could, ignoring the people around me as I head to my car.
"Thank Jesus, hallelujah! Henry is here to save me. But as the distance narrows, the image is slowly revealing Christian leaning against my car.
"Hey, miss. I'm sorry for being a complete asshole for the past few nights. I know you haven't completely forgiven me for that. Zarene, right?" He then extends his hand.
I had second thoughts whether to shake his hand or not but there was a force, which drove me to reach his hand. And my eyes were immediately fixed on a very familiar band of ring on his thumb. I breath laboriously as our forefingers meet, connecting the two bands of rings that have been separated for thirteen years.
