*Zackyro's Point of View
"Boys?"
Agad kaming napalingon nang marining namin ang boses ng taong naging dahilan kung bakit sumisigaw si Hue kanina. From the moment she came in, as if she's someone we never knew because of the way we look at her.
Hue is currently staring at her.
Rye and Axe are both trying to lighten up the mood by giving her a hug, while me, on the other side, decided to watch all of them on how will they start the conversation about the truth.
"Tita."I decided to greet her and nod. Agad naman din siyang tumango sa akin, bago muling lumingon sa taong kanina pa siya hinahanap.
It's up to you, Hue.
"What are you gu-"
"Do you have a son?"I silently scoffed at Hue, who didn't really had second thoughts to ask that directly to her. Tita Avani's face suddenly changed when I diverted my attention towards her.
Kitang-kita ko pa kung paano siya napahigpit ng hawak sa magkabilang braso niya habang kaharap niya kami, pagkatapos niyang marinig 'yon. Her face was full of confusion, but at the same time, she somehow seemed to know thar this day would come.
Napatingin siya kay Axe na naghihintay din sa sagot niya. She suddenly released a deep sigh.
"What do you want to know?"Diretsuhan niyang tanong. Nagkatinginan kaming apat nang marinig 'yon mula sa kaniya.
"Do you have a son?"Inulit ni Hue ang naging tanong niya kanina. We saw how her face hesitated, but she took a glance to each one of us before answering.
"Yes, I have."Tita answered us lowering her head down, while her voice was full of sadness and longing.
That girl sure was right. Nilingon kami ni Hue nang napagtantuan niyang tama nga ang sinabi sa amin ng babaeng 'yon kanina.
"The Onyx have him, right?"
Agad na napaangat ang ulo ni Tita Avani nang marinig niya ang mga taong may hawak ng anak niya. Her eyes widened upon hearing that from Axe.
"H-how did you k-know?"She stammered.
"What's his name?"Sumabat na ako sa usapan nang mapansin kong balak sabihin ni Rye na ang babaeng 'yon ang may dahilan kung bakit nalaman namin ang dapat naming malaman.
Tinignan naman ako ni Rye na punong-puno ng pagtataka ang mukha.
I don't know what just gotten into me that made me stopped him from saying that it's her, but I don't think Tita Avani doesn't need to know about it. Besides, that girl surely was something after everything that she did. But there's still something about her that makes me curious.
Parehas kaming tinignan ni Tita Avani, pero binaliwala niya lang 'yon.
Napabuntong-hininga siya at tinignan kaming apat.
"Azraell. Azraell Carter."
Hearing what name she just blurted out, made me to look at her in confuse. Azraell?
"Why didn't you tell us that you have a son?"Tanong ni Axe sa kaniya.
"I already did."Ngumiti naman siya nang sagutin niya ang tanong na 'yon. Nagtaka kaming lahat dahil sa naging asal niya.
"You did what?"
"I already did told you before that I have a son. Don't you remember Craig?"Halos manlaki lahat ang mga mata naming apat nang marinig namin ang pangalan na sinabi niya.
Nagawa pa naming magkatinginan na parang alam na namin kung sino ang tinutukoy niya na anak niya, pagkabanggit na pagkabanggit niya palang 'non. Damn.
Kuya Craig is Azraell? Tumingin ako kay Tita Avani nanf biglang sumulpot 'yon sa utak ko.
Aside from the four of us growing up together, we've also met Axe's older cousin which is Kuya Craig, whose name is actually Azraell.
And as far as I can remember, Kuya Craig was the late heir of the Carters.
The heir before Axe. But after becoming the heir of their family, we suddenly didn't heard anything from him.
"How did that happen?"Wait. That means?
"Azraell portrayed himself as Axe, just to save him from being tracked down."Simpleng sagot ni Tita Avani sa aming apat, sabay tingin kay Axe na halos nakatulala na ngayon habang nakaupo.
"You know how our family handles everything when it comes to security. The Onyx didn't know Axe's identity since he's been under a lot of securities after knowing that he's the next heir, and it costed a lot more after what Azraell told them to do."
"Besides, Axe was out of the country with his parents that time making it easy for Azraell to portray him."Paliwanag ni Tita Avani at halatang tandang-tanda niya pa ang bawat detalye kung anong ginawa ng anak niya.
"But how? The Onyx knew that your son was the late heir of the Carters, both of their names are also different. How could your son portrayed Axe, in the first place?"
"That's why Azraell portrayed himself as Axe with a different name. He has been also wearing masks whenever the Onyx tried to tracked him down, just to get the heirloom from him."Nagkatinginan kami.
"You see, the Onyx needs to know about every heir and heiress of each families within their target list. So that includes full database informations, it usually serve as their remembrance about who to track and who to not."Nilapitan niya si Axe na halos hindi na namin alam kung nagsasalita pa.
Nilingon niya kaming lahat bago magsalita ulit.
"They care about names, but they value the surnames that you're entitled with. That's why Azraell didn't bothered to showed up anymore to avoid any circumstances that might lead the Onyx in knowing the truth."Sabi niya.
"The Onyx may seems so easy to be tricked, but they can be very dangerous."Dagdag pa ni Tita Avani na agad ko namang nakuha kung anong gusto niyang sabihin sa amin.
I scanned her and carefully look at her. Bakas parin sa katawan niya ang ilan sa mga pasa na ginawa sa kaniya ng mga lalaking 'yon.
The ambush. Making an ambush was just easy for them, and what happened back there earlier and from Tita Avani's office was just pieces of their doings.
If itsn't because of that girl, as much as I don't want to admit it, we might as well ended up just like what they did to Tita Avani even though we could handle them.
"The Onyx also cares about connections, that surely serves as their advantage. That's why I warned you."Dagdag pa ulit ni Tita Avani.
That's why they attacked us.
Tumingin ako sa labas ng bintana nang maalala ko na naman lahat ng sinabi sa amin ng babaeng 'yon.
Kuya Craig is Azraell, that's it. Funny now it made me realized when I remembered how Kuya Craig insisted to introduced himself to us back then, when Tita Avani was about to.
He already planned this, all along.
He already planned to be Axe, with the Onyx getting to know what's the name of the next heir even though it's not the real name. So currently, the Onyx know that he's Axe who is the real heir, but with the name whom they thought is the real heir.
Hitting two birds with one stone. He already knew what will happen. Clever.
* * *
BINABASA MO ANG
His Aphrodite
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