Third Person POV
After class, Lucien wasn't able to take Astraea home because of an emergency in their family kaya si Elara lang ang nagbantay dito.
Sobrang seryoso si Lysander nang tawagan siya nito kaya hindi makapokus si Lucien sa pagmamaneho. Pagkadating niya sa buuilding ng Lardizabal Security, sumakay siya sa elevator at pinindot ang emergency button kaya tumigil ang elevator tapos ay may kombinasyon siyang tinipa na numero tapos ay may biometrics na lumabas sa ibaba ng mga numero. Lucien put his finger on it, he felt a prick and seconds later, may nagsalita.
"Lucien Ares Lardizabal." He stepped back nang mawala na ulit ang biometrics at umandar na ang elevator.
This part of the system are only for the Lardizabals. Not even the Corpuz knows about it. They trust the Corpuz but you can never be too trustful of anyone, not even a friend. Lalo sa mundo nila.
"Lysander, what happened?" Lumingon lang ito na sinundan ni Lucien, there he saw a picture of one of their people. Dead. Almost unrecognizable because of the bruises he got. "What happened to him?"
"I assigned him to investigate the whereabouts of Hera Montecillo."
"And they killed him?"
"They killed him. With a little note from Hera." May binigay na selyadong papel si Lysander kay Lucien.
---
This was fun. How have you been, Lysander?
-Hera Montecillo
---
"She's not taking us seriously, Lucien. She's playing with us." Inis na sinabi ni Lysander.
"That's how she has always been."
Hera Montecillo never take everything seriously, dahil wala naman itong pake sa kahit ano, she treats everything as game, and people as her pawns. At ganong klase ng tao ang mahirap kalabanin, they don't think of the damage, they only want to win. Mahirap kalkulahin. Mahirap tantyahin.
"So what's the plan? It's obvious that Hera wants blood. Hindi yan titigil."
Hindi makasagot si Lysander, for the first he didn't have any plan. Hindi niya mabasa ang gagawing kilos ni Hera, which is supposed to be the first thing you need to do in making a strategy, i-analyze muna ang magiging kilos ng kalaban ang base your plan on that. Pero hindi niya ang ang magiging kilos ni Hera, so he's stuck. All he needs to do is plan for defense, nothing for offense.
"Just strengthen the security," wala sa sariling banggit ni Lysander.
"And then what? Hindi tayo pwedeng maghintay lang, Kuya."
"I can't think of anything. Yun lang ang magagawa natin sa ngayon."
Kinuyom ni Lysander ang kamay niya, Lucien got even more worried. His brother is the mind behind all of our mission, we rarely fail because of his strategies, and now that he doesn't have any, pakiramdam niya ay talo na kagad sila sa labang hindi pa naman nagsisimula.
The silence was filled when Lucien's phone rang. Si Astraea iyon.
"Bakit?"
"Come here! I need your help." His mind immediately drifted, mula pag-aalala sa kawalan nila ng plano ay biglang nagkaron ng mapaglarong kislap ang mata niya.
"Wow. Kamahalan, ano pong maipaglilingkod ko sa inyo?"
"Just come here!" At binaba na ng dalaga ang tawag.
"Kuya, aalis na ako. Hinahanap na ako ng alaga ko."
Lysander didn't care at lunod pa rin sa iniisip niya kaya umalis na lang si Lucien. Ang lawak ng ngiti niya paalis sa building hanggang sa makarating sa bahay nila Astraea, kaagad naman siyang pinapasok ng guard dahil kilala naman siya nito at pagdating niya sa sala nila ay natanaw niya mula doon sa garden si Zepharos at iyong Zeus.
---
Lucien:
Nasa baba na po ako kamahalan.
Kamahalan:
Go upstairs. It's the firat door on the left.
---
Sinunod niya ang sinabi ni Astraea at umakyat, at kahit hindi sabihin ni Astraea ay alam naman niya ang kwarto nito, una ay dahil sa nakita niya sa CCTV at huli ay dahil sa halata namang sa kanya yung kwarto na yon dahil sa kulay pink na pinto at may nakalagay na 'Astraea' na nakasulat pa sa glitters. Kumatok siya at sumigaw lang si Astraea na pumasok siya kaya ginawa niya, there he saw a sulking girl in pink on her bed munching donuts.
"Anong maipaglilingkod ko, kamahalan?" Inirapan siya ng babae at nilapag ang box ng donut sa lamesa sa tabi ng kama niya.
"He doesn't like me!"
"Who doesn't?"
"Zeus! Nag-usap kami kanina and obvious na ayaw niya sa akin. He said na ang out of touch ko raw, and I need to get out more to know the reality."
Kinuha niya muli ang donut at kumain, at muling inalala ang nangyari kanina. Nasa sala siya nang dumating si Zeus at nanonood ng TV, Zeus waited there for Zepharos and Astraea made a comment tungkol sa news para magkaron sila ng pag-uusapan.
"Ano bang pinag-usapan niyo."
"Kasi, we were watching news, and to sound smart I made a comment about dun sa balita tungkol sa mga poor people who are getting monetary help from the governmemt na nagrereklamo. I told him kung why naging problem pa ng government if they have like huge family, the government didn't ask them to keep making babies naman. And then he explained to me that it's because their poor, and it is always been known daw na poor people tend to just breed, the government should have done something daw about it like give more employment and such and that if they didn't want people to keep making babies, they should just pass the reproductive thingy." Huminga pa si Astraea dahil sa dinami ng sinabi niya. "Then of course I wanted to defend my stand, so keep mumbling things that until I said that they shouldn't just have a family, and thatnis whynI think he got a little mad, and then he explained more and then the last thing he said is that ang out of touch ko raw masyado and should get out more to see the real estado raw ng mundo. "
Hindi sigurado si Lucien kung saan siya matatawa, sa kinwento ng dalaga o sa itsura ni Astraea habang nagkukwento. He just laughed there, and Astraea couldn't be more embarassed at herself.
"Why are you laughing?"
"Ang panget mo kasi." Nagulat si Astraea sa sinabi niya at kinapa ang mukha.
"What?" Umalis ito sa kama at tumakbo papuntang banyo at ilang segundo lang ay sumigaw. "Oh my God, I look horrible."
Lalong natawa si Lucien at sinundan ang babae, naghihilamos na si Astraea, he just watched her amusingly.
"Is my face okay na? Do I look alright na?"
Ngumiti si Lucien. "Wala namang nagbago. Panget pa rin."
"Ikaw ang panget! Kapal ng labi mo!" At nilagpasan na siya ng babae habang nagpupunas ng mukha.
