Chapter 25

Euclid looked at the child's angelic face leaning on Maria's shoulders. He doesn't understand why he felt a sudden warmth inside his chest when he saw the child. It was a part of him that blossomed upon seeing her. He stepped forward to look at her carefully, but Maria stepped back.

"She's fine," Maria said in a stern voice and tightly held the child as if he would take her away from her.

"Who are they?" The tricycle driver that approached Maria asked and glanced at them. "Are they harassing you?"

Fred snorted, then looked at the rusting tricycle of the man. "Do you have a license? You're driving an unregistered vehicle."

The man's expression hardened. "Why are you asking?"

"They're… they're my new employers," Maria said before Euclid could reply to the man. "They gave me a ride home…"

"Really?" The woman that brought Maria's adopted daughter looked at him closely and then shifted her narrowing eyes at Fred. "Hey, I think I know you. Have we met before? Or, did we bump at each other somewhere over the rainbow?"

His hopeless romantic partner laughed at the woman's lousy joke. "You must have seen me in one of your surreal dreams. You know, something like astral projection?" Fred said in his most groovy tone of voice. "What's your name again? You looked familiar too."

The woman knotted her forehead. "Ah, never mind," she said and gave them again a once over before looking away. "Maria, I think we should invite them to our house before all our neighbors wake up and gawk at them."

Maria nodded at them and continued walking. The tricycle driver waved at the woman and walked back to his tricycle, but Fred stepped on his way.

"Not so fast—"

Euclid pulled his partner's collar and dragged him away from the man. "That's not part of the assignment."

"Come on, Euclid. That man said something against us," Fred said when they stopped in front of a small classic-looking house.

Maria's friend unlocked the door's small padlock and pushed it open. "Come in," she said and widened the improvised wooden door. "Come in before the bitches see you."

It was a two-story apartment. But, the ceiling was so low that he and Fred have to keep their eyes on the roof when entering the house to prevent hitting on something hung on the ceiling.

"Did somebody see the two of you outside? Because with that kind of business attire, I'm sure Maria would get criticisms—"

"Wendy…" Maria scolded her friend with a look. "Refrain from something that they're not interested to hear."

"That's it, your name is Wendy," Fred said. "We bumped at each other at the Philippine Heart Center's driveway, right? It was you, the girl with half-moon-like eyes."

Euclid knotted his forehead. "At the Philippine Heart Center? What are you doing at that hospital?" he asked, pointing at Maria.

The woman named Wendy looked at Maria. "We have a friend who works there as a doctor… and we paid him a visit that time," she said, but Euclid knew that she was lying. He can see clearly the way she changes her head position. "Right, Maria? We visited Dr. Connor?"

Maria nodded. "Yes," she replied quickly.

"Who's Dr. Connor?" Euclid asked, but Maria ignored his question.

She then brought her adopted daughter to a small room near the small kitchen. The house's space was just as tight as the room in cheap hotels with a plywood division for bedrooms. There was a small window with long floral curtains that could block not only the sunlight coming inside but also the air.

"By the way, Maria hasn't introduced me to you properly," she said and smiled at them. "I'm Wendy, Maria's best friend. And, the guy that approached her a while ago is Robert. He's a friend, a butler, and a driver."

"Wendy, what?" Fred asked.

Wendy shrugged her shoulders. "Just Wendy."

Euclid wanted to ask if she's also Sara's older sister, just like what Maria told him about Sara's background. But, Euclid changed his mind. He glared at the flowing curtains on his back that kept blocking his eyes.

"Why don't you open the curtains? The room's hot temperature must be the cause of the child's fever," Euclid told Wendy, catching the curtain's end and putting them away from him.

Wendy shook her head. "We preferred them loose like that. The nosy people outside are always gawking at Maria whenever she's here, making us uncomfortable to move around." She went to the mini kitchen that looked like just a cupboard for him. "Do you want coffee?"

Euclid didn't answer. His mind got occupied by what Wendy told them about the people around this neighborhood that bothers Maria. Euclid felt terrible for all of these things that Maria was experiencing.

"I want coffee," Fred said and raised his hand. "Just a little sugar—no, make it two teaspoons. I want to take a nap." He tapped the small couch and was about to lie down when Wendy stopped him.

"What are going to do?" she asked in surprise, hands propped on her waist.

"I want to rest my back. I'm exhausted," Fred replied casually. "Why? Is it forbidden here to rest?"

Wendy raised her eyebrow. "Tell me, who are you and why you're with Maria?" she asked. "Those neckties and businessman looks won't fool me. Tell me, are you one of the organizations that—"

The door from the bedroom opened. "Wendy, I'll tell you who they are."

Maria stepped out of the room. Her long hair was already pulled in a messy bun. Euclid watched her saunter towards them, for a moment, he did not see the Magdalene, what he sees in front him was the girl that he met at the shore of the Balesin Sea in Quezon Province.

"Maria, I hate to see that expression of you," she said and continued making their coffee. "Spill it, I'll listen."

Euclid watched Maria's chest raised and fell. Her hands trembled on her side in too much tension that she's feeling right now. Euclid wanted to reach for her hands and held it tight. He yearned to caress her skin and calmed all her worries. He wanted to take her in his arms and held her still until all her fears washed away. But he can't. Euclid couldn't do it because Maria's heart was far from his reach now.

And, he doesn't know why…

***