Friday, 6:15 A.M. (Birthday celebration)
Ara's POV
"Damn it, Clarisse! Didn't I tell you already that I don't trust that brother of yours?!"
"Why do you have so much hatred for my brother?"
"I'm a lawyer! I know that Roli isn't innocent."
These were the shouts that reached my ears the moment I opened my eyes. I could clearly hear their argument from the next room.
"So, what are you trying to say, huh? That my brother is a criminal?"
"I handled his case, remember? I didn't see a shred of truth in his testimonies."
"If that's the case, then why did you win it for him? What are you really trying to get at?"
"All I want is for... your daughter to stay away from him!"
"What?" Nana's voice was already trembling.
Daddy Roger took a deep breath before speaking again. "It's risky. Ara might just end up in danger because of him."
I heard Nana start to cry. "What are you say─" She couldn't finish her sentence because of the sobs she was trying to suppress.
"I'm sorry, Clarisse. B-but that really is my conclusion regarding his case." Daddy's voice suddenly calmed down.
"You think... he could actually kill his own wife and child? What do you take us for, huh? Murderers? Crazy? What?!" Nana's voice rose.
"Will you please just shut up!?" After that, they suddenly went silent. Their argument came to a dead stop. "It's Ara's birthday today. I don't want to ruin her day just because of our fighting." Daddy suddenly calmed down. I heard him leave the room, leaving Nana behind crying.
After a while, I slowly rose from my bed to head out of my room. It's Friday, and I have school. I moved quickly and tended to myself and my school things. I intentionally slowed my movements to wait for their fight to subside before I finally joined them at the table.
When I reached the dining area, I was surprised to see Nana. It was as if nothing had happened and she was happy. It seemed like she and Daddy hadn't just come from a serious confrontation. She welcomed me with a hug. "Happy birthday, Ara."
Nana's hug felt wonderful; her body was so soft. But I felt a greater sense of joy when she handed me a gift. It was a medium-sized box wrapped in simple but beautiful white paper. "What is this, Nana?"
"That's my gift to you," she said with a smile.
I hurried to open it and a pair of red shoes was revealed—the doll shoes I wanted so much. The moment I saw them, I hugged them out of sheer happiness. "Thank you, Nana!"
But alongside the joy I felt at that moment was the even greater happiness I saw in Nana's eyes when she saw how much I loved her gift.
I couldn't explain how even her eyes were smiling while watching me. Because of this, I couldn't help but glance again at the shoes Nana gave me, and that's when I realized that the things she gave me for my birthday were always the color red.
Once I was finally seated at the table, I couldn't stop myself from asking her. "Nana? Where's Daddy?"
"Left early," she said while busy serving our breakfast. "That's how he is. You should be used to it by now," she added.
"Nana?" My voice was sad.
She stopped what she was doing. She sat down and faced me. "I know, you heard our argument."
I looked down and couldn't find the words to speak. Meanwhile, Nana just sighed and moved energetically again. "Goodness! Don't mind your Daddy. You know, he's just jealous because you give more attention to your Uncle Roli than to him." Moments later, she sat in front of me. "It's because he has no time for us anymore."
When Nana said all that, I couldn't respond. I didn't know what I should say. I didn't know how to answer her. There were things I wanted to ask but couldn't bring myself to mention.
Nana looked at me as if she were reading my mind. After a few seconds, I heard her take a deep breath. "Your Uncle Roli is not a murderer," she said seriously. "My brother is not a murderer." After that, she sipped the coffee she had prepared.
"B-but Nana, everything is still unclear to us. T-the disappearance of his family was so sudden." Finally, I grasped what I wanted to say.
"But it is clear to us that they are dead." She stood up again and got some water. She paused for a moment while looking out the window near our kitchen. "Even if their bodies weren't found, the authorities are certain they were murdered."
"Uncle Roli is a good person, Nana. He couldn't do that to his family." Though I was on the verge of tears, I forced myself to speak.
Nana smiled. "I know."
"M-maybe Auntie Laurie just left him?"
She sighed again. "You know... you're still too young for this kind of conversation, aren't you?" She reached for my nose and gave it a pinch. "The best thing to do is finish your food and go to school. Mrs. Ocampo might scold you because you're late again."
Oh yes! Mrs. Ocampo, my thick-lipped teacher. I really needed to hurry.
I ate quickly and took a jeepney after getting ready. The jeepney I caught was fast, but still, I was late!
Nothing much out of the ordinary happened throughout my day. Same lesson, same classmates, same routine—in short, nothing new. The only thing different was Mrs. Ocampo because she was kind to me the whole day. Maybe because it was my birthday. I knew she knew about it because her daughter Janice, who is my best friend, is my classmate. Actually, there are three of us in our friend group—me, Janice, and the inactive one, Rene.
Everyone was excited for the end of classes because of my birthday party at our house. But me? I wasn't. There was only one person I wanted to see and be with on my special day, and that was Uncle Roli. But contrary to my expectations, he didn't show up. He didn't pick me up. Not even a simple text or greeting.
Like my past birthdays, Daddy wasn't there again. He was busy with work and had no time for me. But Nana, she never left my side. She's always there, especially on the important days of my life like this.
I didn't enjoy my birthday party even though all my classmates attended along with Mrs. Ocampo. But I didn't let it show. I received many gifts, but only one gift truly made me happy—my red shoes.
It was 11 in the evening, but sleep still hadn't overcome me. I know... there was still a party downstairs. Only Nana's friends and their respective husbands remained at the party, drinking. By now, they were probably drunk, including Nana.
Nana kept trying to get me to go down and face the guests, but I wasn't in the mood. My feelings were in turmoil, and my heart was racing. And even if I didn't admit it, I knew exactly why I was like this. I knew why my mind couldn't be at peace and why I felt like a child who didn't get what they wanted. It was because of Uncle Roli.
I couldn't stop the tears from falling because I was hurting and lonely. But suddenly, my spirits lifted when my cellphone's ringtone echoed from under my pillow. Someone was calling me. I couldn't contain my excitement, so I quickly answered it.
"Happy birthday, Ara," he greeted me from the other end—it was Uncle Roli.
When I finally processed that it was him on the other line, I was overwhelmed with joy, but I couldn't utter the right words I wanted to say in response.
"Are you okay, Ara? Sorry, because─"
"It's okay!" I didn't let him finish what he wanted to say. "What matters is that you called." After that, silence enveloped us for a moment.
"Ara?"
"Goodnight Uncle Roli."
"No! Ara. Let's meet. I know you're upset with me. I'll make it up to you."
"But Uncle, look at the time. Maybe─"
"I'll wait for you! At our usual meeting place." After that, he was gone from the line.
I didn't think twice and immediately moved to change my clothes. I decided to wear a simple sleeveless shirt and denim jeans. I also decided to use the shoes Nana gave me.
I knew Nana would be angry if she found out I went out in the middle of the night, but I had no choice. I needed to see Uncle Roli. I needed to be with him.
I quickly reached our usual meeting place—at the eatery not far from our town. We often eat goto here. Sometimes mami, especially when we stay out until dawn.
Finally, I saw him. He's sitting on a stool, waiting for me. When he saw me, he immediately stood up from his seat. And there he was, my love. Yes, my boyfriend.
And my Uncle.
Like the same old days, his style was still the same. He wore a black tank top and faded denim pants paired with simple slippers. As usual, he was wearing his black hat. He was truly handsome, and I could say he looked like Imran Abbas, especially since he was over six feet tall.
I was only eighteen, but my transition into womanhood was evident in my physical appearance. Perhaps that was also why he loved me. I could say that I looked like a full-grown woman in the eyes of anyone.
I didn't notice that he had already approached me. He quickly hugged me tightly and then whispered to me. "I love you, Ara," he uttered.
Because of this, I couldn't help but smile. This was far better than being with my friends earlier at my birthday party. When he pulled away from the hug, he took my hand and pulled me away from that place.
"Wait, Uncle Roli!" I tried to stop him. "Where are we going?"
"Just come with me," he replied while still pulling me along.
"I thought we were going to eat at the eatery?"
"I'm taking you to my palace."
Because of what he said, I stopped and halted my steps. "Where?"
"In the province where your Nana and I are from..." He looked down slightly. "Where we grew up together back then."
"But─"
"Don't worry. I'll take care of your Nana. She won't worry once she finds out you're with me, right?" he explained to me with a smile.
At that point, I couldn't refuse what he wanted and just nodded. I also didn't mention anything about Nana and Daddy's argument regarding him.
Our trip lasted four hours before we finally reached their province. Our hands were inseparable during the trip, so it was unavoidable for some of the other passengers to stare at us.
Before reaching our place of stay there, we had to wait for an hour at the terminal for the vehicle they called a "baby bus" there. Every trip had a set schedule. When the vehicle started moving, I couldn't help but doze off. Because of this, I didn't realize that I had already rested my head on Uncle Roli's shoulder. The trip took over five hours before we finally reached our destination.
The mansion we arrived at was large. We stayed at a hacienda, and Nana had once told me about this place. According to Nana, it supposedly had five rooms.
The furniture was antique, and the old style of the mansion was prominent. It was covered in cobwebs, and many relics could be found in every corner. The place was vast and, in fact, had a second floor. It was obvious that this mansion had been through a lot and was left behind by time.
Soon after, I saw the peaceful sunrise. We arrived at dawn because their province was quite far from our current home.
"Stay here for now and rest. I know you're tired." Uncle Roli hugged me from behind. "I'll just go buy some food in town."
"Is it far, Uncle Roli?"
"The trip is only thirty minutes. I'll be back in an hour," he replied affectionately.
"Okay." I faced him. "I'll just do some cleaning here for now." Then I gave him a sweet kiss on his lips.
He returned the kiss but pulled away immediately. "Clean that one room first." He gave me a meaningful smile. I returned the sweet smile and nodded. Moments later, he left.
After Uncle Roli left, I immediately toured the whole house. I wasn't wrong in my assumption because the place was indeed large. But after going around the entire house, I was puzzled because I only saw four rooms when I knew there were five.
Anyway, I first cleaned the room at the far end of the second floor. I couldn't explain the smell coming from that room while I was cleaning it. I wasn't sure if it smelled rotten or fishy. All I was sure of was that the scent was pungent and stung the nose.
But what caught my attention more was a line of ants heading in one direction. I followed where they were going with my eyes and saw they were heading toward a hole in a wall. I tapped it to disturb them. Perhaps that hole served as the ants' nest.
I immediately exterminated the busy ants using kerosene I found in a cabinet. Along with that, I quickly swept away the dirt and dust in the room. But despite this, the pungent smell didn't go away. The longer I stayed, the more it wafted through the air.
Like a rotting animal.
My thoughts were cut short when I heard a noise from downstairs. I hurried down, thinking Uncle Roli had arrived. But I froze when I saw a young girl running toward the kitchen.
I was momentarily stunned but quickly regained my composure. How was there a child inside this house? Moments later, I followed the child and saw her enter a cabinet under the sink.
"Kid?!" I called out to her while slowly tracing the direction of the cabinet where she hid.
My two eyes clearly saw her enter the small cabinet where she squeezed herself in. I estimated the child was only about six or seven years old. She was only wearing a knee-length duster and was barefoot.
"K-Kid? Come out of there," I ordered. I couldn't explain why I felt like I couldn't move my feet, but I still forced myself to walk.
Slowly.
Bit by bit.
Until I was close to reaching it—the cabinet. Five more steps.
No!
Four more steps.
But why was it like that? Why wasn't she moving? "Kid?" I called out to her again.
Three more steps. Two.
One.
I slowly held the handle of the cabinet. I was determined to open it no matter what happened. But as I was about to open it, my heart pounded even harder.
Why?
Whatever! I'm going to open this.
I was just about to pull it when suddenly...