Detective Rivalry

Chapter 14: The Game of Royals

Felicine

The sun light coming from the window woke me up. I saw Tita lying down on the couch, still sleeping soundly.

I rubbed my eyes with my hands and fixed my hair. I stood up and went to the bathroom located inside of the private room I am in to brush my teeth.

After brushing, I went back but didn't lied down, instead, I boiled some water and prepared a coffee for breakfast. Kumuha ako ng tinapay na dala ni Tita kagabi at pinalamanan ito ng peanut butter.

My gaze went to the wall clock. Its short hand was pointing at the 6 and the long hands was pointing at the 7. Its 6:35 am in the morning.

While spreading the peanut butter on the sandwich, my eyes caught Tita, sitting down on the couch.

"Good morning Tita!" Masigla kong bati sa kanya. "Kain ka po."

"Good morning Felicine. Salamat!" She said cheerfully. Pumunta naman siya sa direksiyon ko at kinuha ang isang cup na may tinimplang kape at isang peanut butter sandwich.

Sinabayan ko si Tita sa pagkain ng almusal. Nagkukuwento-kuwento rin siya ng kung ano-ano at matamang nakikinig naman ako sa mga ito.

Hindi nagtagal ay nagpaalam siya na babalik na siya sa apartment upang maligo at bantayan ang ibang tenants. Nagpaalam muna siya sa akin bago lumabas ng pinto.

Pagkaalis ni Tita ay bumalik ako sa higaan at kinuha ang aking cellphone. I opened it and tapped the facebook app. I scrolled and scrolled through my news feed just to entertain myself from the boredom.

"Ang boring!" I said to myself. Bakit pa kasi 3 days akong magsstay dito? Ang boring tuloy.

Napatingin ako sa orasan at nakitang 9:15 am na. Bigla namang bumukas ang pinto at nakita kong pumasok sina Cali at Eudayme.

Cali was wearing his gray shorts with a plain white t-shirt as his top. His hands were on his pocket shorts and the bruise on his right lip can be seen, he didn't bother to cover it up with something. 

Eudayme was wearing red shorts and a blue t-shirt with pink stripes as his top and carrying a black sling bag and a plastic full of fruits.

"Good morning Felicine!" Eudayme greeted, wearing a wide smile.

"Good morning." I greeted back. Cali sat on the couch while Eudayme headed towards the table to which the basket of fruits that was bought by the inspector yesterday was located. Inalis niya sa plastic ang mga prutas na dala niya at inilagay ito sa basket. Kumuha naman siya ng isang apple.

"You feeling better?" Asked Eudayme, he sat on the couch beside Cali.

"Yup!" I answered with energy. "By the way, what's inside of that bag?" I asked him and pointed at the black bag near him.

Kinuha naman niya iyon at binuksan. "Its a chess board." Sabi niya at inilabas ang board pati na rin ang mga chess pieces.

"Because of that board, we did not arrived in here at exactly 9:00 am." We heard Cali said. Nakita kong napakamot sa ulo si Eudayme.

"Sorry na." Eudayme apologized, turning to him.

"What happened?" I asked. Hoping that they will answer it this time without them insulting each other first. They both turned to me.

"We were supposed to meet at 8:00 am in the mall but he did not showed his face to me. I decided to go to his apartment. I arrived and I ended up seeing his room in such a mess, some of his clothes were on the floor, some are flying-"

"Do not continue, please?" Eudayme requested.

But the former didn't listened. "-I saw him throwing all his clothes, I asked him 'what are you doing?' then he replied 'finding something special to me.' I-"