Azora couldn’t make sense of what had been happening to her over the past few days. Every day, she would see Robert cooking in the kitchen, but in the blink of an eye, there would be no one standing there. Sometimes, she would spot Robert on the patio, sipping tea, and when she approached and blinked, there would be no one seated in the patio chair.
She was confused. She couldn’t understand why she seemed to be hallucinating like this. It felt similar to what had happened to her when she was locked in the guest room of the mansion. But logically, it seemed impossible.
Simmy was no longer around her, so it was impossible for someone to poison her again. And she didn’t suspect Robert. She had a great deal of trust in him. The man had promised her.
Moreover, she found herself becoming comfortable around him. He didn’t do anything that could harm her. He didn’t even order her around to buy groceries anymore. In the past few days, she had just been there in Robert’s house. They even started sleeping under the same roof because Robert didn’t push her back to the other house after each dinner.
So that afternoon, she found herself on the patio, gazing at the setting sun in the distance. The gentle breeze occasionally enveloped her. There was always the faint melody of familiarity that accompanied her.
She was waiting for Robert. He had said he had something to attend to and had advised her to stay at home when he bid her goodbye that morning. She shrugged. She didn’t bother asking what he was up to, and she was happy to stay inside the house. Her body had grown accustomed to spending the whole day indoors.
There were a few birds in the distance. She watched them and didn’t realize she was reminiscing about the happy times she and Japen used to enjoy. Her heart leaped as she pointed at the bird flying above the waves and then looked at the direction of Japen with a smile on his face. Their gazes met and he sighed.
Azora closed her eyes and took a deep breath. A single tear rolled down her right cheek.
She missed Japen.
After a few seconds with her eyes closed, she opened them. Quickly, she grabbed the phone Robert had given her the other day. She remembered Japen’s number by heart. Holding her breath, she tapped the numbers and called.
She held the phone to her ear and heard just one buzz on the other line. No answer. She tried calling several times more, but the calls wouldn’t connect.
Frustrated, she dialed Anya’s number, but there was no answer there either. She couldn’t reach either number.
She sighed heavily and lowered her shoulders as she placed the phone back on the table. She looked into the distance again. The birds that had been flying in the sky earlier were gone now. The surroundings were slowly darkening as the orange sun sank further away.
Suddenly, a voice spoke behind her. “There are a lot of mosquitoes here.”
She stood up and quickly faced the speaker. It was Robert. Her eyes narrowed as she scrutinized the man standing before her, making sure he wasn’t a hallucination.
But the man who looked like Robert chuckled. “Miss, it’s me.”
She blinked and smiled. “How long have you been here?” she asked as she approached him.
They walked together towards the open door of the house. Robert shrugged. “I know who the man you talked to at the store is.”
She looked at him. “Really?”
Robert took out something from his pants pocket. It was a folded picture. He unfolded it and showed it to her. “It’s him.”
She looked at the picture and saw the man who had been staring at her and talking to her outside the supermarket. “It’s him. Who is this man?”
“He’s a friend of Skylar Angeles. He’s from outside the subdivision. He’s a spy from Clasiso.”
She stopped in her tracks and stared at Robert. “That means they know I’m here.”
“Maybe yes, maybe no. They know you’re in this subdivision, but with so many houses, they’ll have a hard time finding you.” Robert grinned.
“But they know who you are! It’s easy for them to find your lot and block numbers!”
Robert’s amused smile vanished, replaced by a serious look directed at Azora. “This subdivision is mine. They won’t easily get close to my house.”
Azora fell silent at that. She stared into Robert’s eyes for a few minutes. She didn’t see fear or worry in them, which reassured her. She took a deep breath and walked towards the kitchen.
“Teach me how to cook now,” she said, opening the refrigerator.
After trembling in fear from a hallucination, she persisted in pestering Robert to teach her to cook. She succeeded in persuading him, especially since he couldn’t resist her persistence.
She focused all her attention on cooking, while Robert stood nearby, telling her what to do next. After they finished dinner, Robert volunteered to wash the dishes.
So she went to the living room and turned on the TV. She wanted to watch a show, but when she turned on the TV, her face was on the screen.
She suddenly froze in her place, staring back at herself on the screen, smiling.
“Daughter of a business tycoon in Cebu, missing!
Azora Sirai, twenty years old and the only daughter of business tycoon Alibata Briones. According to witnesses, on Sunday night, an unknown man and a woman resembling the victim emerged from the back door of a hospital. The two went to a darker part of the area, and soon after, a taxi sped away. The CCTV didn’t capture the taxi’s plate number, and the witnesses couldn’t recall it either.
The police are currently coordinating with the hospital to investigate the girl’s disappearance. Mr. Alibata, Azora’s father, has offered five million pesos for information leading to the kidnapper’s whereabouts and ten million for information leading to Azora’s location.
The only lead on the suspect is his black hair and tattoo on his right arm.”
Azora frowned at the news about herself. She was confused. She thought her father wouldn’t look for her if she left a sticky note on the wall. Why didn’t he care that millions would be lost just to find her?
Her heart suddenly pounded loudly, sending a slight pang through her chest. She touched that spot and stared blankly at the TV screen, now showing celebrities.
She pondered. Was it worth it?