The woman who uttered those words must be losing her mind. Esma’s eyes narrowed further at the woman still standing outside the mansion. Her master also remained at the mansion’s entrance, seemingly unwilling to let the woman exposed to the sun in.
She secretly sighed. She really didn’t know anymore why —
“Esma. Call Andrie.”
She nodded and quickly stepped away from the entrance. She didn’t want to get caught in the mess caused by the stranger woman. She ascended the stairs. It didn’t take long before she found her master’s son’s room upstairs.
Andrie Clasiso.
She was fortunate that her master’s son Andrie wasn’t hostile towards her. She knocked on the closed door. She waited for a few minutes before the door opened. Her master’s son appeared.
She smiled softly. “Your father is calling you downstairs.”
His gaze passed over her, then he nodded. “I’ll follow.” He closed the door again.
She shrugged. He wasn’t rude, but her master’s son Andrie was excessively cold. There really was an issue with their family’s social interactions. She sighed.
She headed downstairs first, and as she descended the stairs, she heard Andrie’s footsteps behind her. She breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that the young boy came out of his lair. She would be blamed again if she didn’t bring Andrie back to the entrance.
From afar, she could already see her imposing master’s back. She respectfully inclined her head and lowered her gaze.
“Sir,” she called out. “Andrie is here.”
She stepped aside to allow Andrie to approach his father.
…
Azora remained in her position. Under the scorching sun, her skin had been burning for a while. Her gaze remained downward, but when she heard footsteps approaching in her direction and stopped by Anthony’s side, she raised her eyes.
Time seemed to stand still as she caught sight of a man her age standing next to the man she detested. She blinked. Squinted.
“A-Anthony?” she whispered into the air.
She noticed her Anthony’s father smirked. “He’s not Anthony. He’s Andrie, my son Anthony’s twin whom you killed.”
It felt like venom was injected into her veins with his pointing finger and the tone of disdain in his voice. But she didn’t think about that and began to cry as she stared into the man’s eyes, so much like Anthony’s. The only difference was the red hair on the man she looked up to at the moment.
“Are you Azora Briones?” he asked.
She held her breath. Even the voice was the same, but it was too cold compared to Anthony’s.
She swallowed and nodded. “A-Andrie?”
“Her skin is already reddening. Shouldn’t you let her in?” Andrie asked his father.
Azora blinked. Because of what he said, she felt the warm and humid atmosphere. Her skin stung. When she looked down at her arms exposed to the sun, she saw that they were red. She hadn’t seen her skin turn red since she was at a resort in Badian, where Japen took her. She was slightly shocked. She bit her lip. Right. How is Japen doing?
“Go inside,” Andrie’s voice interjected in her mind. “You shouldn’t die in the heat of the sun because we’ll imprison you.”
She raised her eyes to Andrie. “W-What?”
He grinned, mocking her condition. “You killed my twin, Azora. You deserve to be imprisoned.”
She blinked again. Her? Did she kill Anthony? As far as she remembered, she didn’t kill him, so why did the Clasisos suspect her?
And why was she standing under the scorching sun? Wasn’t she here to explain? To say that she and Anthony had no relationship? That Anthony was just joking with Skylar when he said he had a girlfriend? And Skylar just misunderstood, thinking she was Anthony’s girlfriend?
“Mr. Clasiso –”
But he interrupted what she was about to say. “Enough.” He took out a recording pen from his pants pocket. “I recorded everything you confessed earlier. We have evidence against you, Azora Briones, so admit your crime.”
She blinked in shock. No. What did she say earlier, and why were they pushing her to be the killer?
“No. I didn’t do it! I came here to explain that I am not your son’s girlfriend. Skylar assumed things wrongly, so please, believe me that Anthony and I had no relationship when he was alive!”
Anthony’s father chuckled. “Young lady, I clearly heard your confession.”
She bit her lip and furrowed her brow. What did she say earlier? The last thing she remembered was being inside a police car and the car stopping outside the gate.
Right. The police car!
She quickly turned around but became more confused when she saw that she was already inside the large gate, and there was no police car outside the gate. Did she think those two police officers were going to take her to her father after she spoke to the Clasisos? Why did they leave her?
“Are you looking for the two police officers? They left a while ago after you entered through the gate. They left you standing under the sun.”
She furrowed her brow even more deeply. Her gaze remained fixed on the large gate ahead and her back to the two Clasisos standing at the entrance. She didn’t want to show she was confused about what was happening.
She realized there were things and times she was forgetting, and she would be surprised to find herself in a different place, as if part of her memory had been erased and she would wake up in a new place – forgetting what happened between the last thing she remembered and the present she was seeing or hearing.
What was happening to her?