Chapter 19
Frozen pictures don’t stay frozen all the time. Perfect moments aren’t that perfect after a few seconds or so. My perfect gaze with Angelo didn’t last more than thirty seconds when Jay walked through the hallway beside my room.
He staggered forward and slammed the door shut. Gelo and I quivered from our position, embarrassed that my brother saw us. I had to explain what we were doing at that exact moment. He had to believe that it was an accident.
"What the fuck were you doing earlier?" Jay asked. He wasn’t mad, but his crimson face was solemn. He didn’t like what he had seen earlier.
"Nothing. We tripped over each other, "I answered quickly." Jay won’t hurt Gelo physically, but if Felix finds out about what happened, I don’t know if Gelo could step inside our house again.
"She’s right." Gelo glanced at me. I liked how he helped me with explaining it to my brother.
Why was I so nervous about what might happen? Our explanation wasn’t a lie. We did trip over each other. It was an accident caused by me. Gelo wasn’t the one to blame here. And he never touched anything on the surface of my body. He is the kind of guy who doesn’t intend to touch a woman’s body pervertedly.
Jay sighed in relief. He brushed my hair, a sign that he trusted and believed my explanations earlier. "Fine. Be careful next time. The two of you are lucky that I was the one who saw what happened earlier. I’m afraid of what Felix might do to Angelo if he is the one who saw the two of you. God, I thought Cath was growing up. " He touched his neck as if he had earned a fever for what happened. "I cooked something. Eat it after you’re done here. But the food’s going to be cold, so finish the cleaning later. "
We agreed with what Jay said. For that brief moment, we clenched our teeth and sat down to eat the lasagna and fried chicken on the table. Felix was watching soccer at the time, but he joined us for our "lunch and snack." Felix, who had no idea what had happened, was the only one who was constantly talking. Angelo impressed me with his ability to respond to my brother as if nothing had happened.
We return to cleaning after a brief break for lunch. While Angelo assisted me in carrying heavy objects, I wiped those things in my room that could be wiped with a wet rug. We worked well together on this ostensibly cleaning project.
We should change the color scheme of your room. Are you the one who prefers pastels or neon or disco? "
"I prefer vintage," I explained."You know how to paint walls?"
True, We learned that from Nana. Perks of staying with your grandparents. "
Painting my room was the last thing on my mind. If I'm alone, that task would be impossible to complete in a day. While Gelo was asking if I was just painting my nails, which was a difficult and time-consuming task,
By three in the afternoon, Felix showed up at the entrance of my room. I was a bit confused the moment I saw him. We didn’t notice him easily because the both of us were already in the flow of cleaning my room. Our brains don't have room for any distraction.
"Your brother is downstairs, Angelo," he said, "He calls you."
Gelo creased his forehead. He must be thinking about why Sage was looking for him. Sage never looked for him or even cared for him. I don’t want to judge Sage, but he wasn’t social enough to look for his brother. This is important for Gelo and his family. Instead of finishing the last tenth of our cleaning, I followed Gelo downstairs, where Sage was waiting and talking to Jay. His eerie voice talking to my brother was audible inside our house.
"Sage," Gelo uttered his mysterious brother’s name.
Sage easily picked up the conversation. These brothers have instincts that connect the both of them. Jay and Felix had that too. They can easily understand what the other was about to say with just a few words."Dad’s home."
At that moment, celebration sparked on Gelo’s face. It wasn’t something he expected to do. The news he must have been hoping for for a long time. How long was his father not at home? A month? three months? Six months? A year? few years? Because his reaction was priceless, comparable to children waiting at the gates of their houses for their mom and dad. When I was in kindergarten, I would always play a game about who in my family would be the one to pick me up. It’s going to be Dad as usual, except if he has something important to do. It would be Mom, Felix, or Jay, sometimes all of them.
"I’ll just go home, Cath," he said as if he was asking for permission from me. Who am I to stand in the way of a friend who misses his father? He has every right to leave me and welcome his dad. Gelo disappeared in a second. Sage was the only tyrant left inside the house.
This is an important day for our family. Nana would like the three of you to join us later for dinner. Before you left, Dad wanted to see the three of you again.
"Thanks for the invitation. We’ll surely be there later. " Jay widened his smile. We watched as Sage exited the house. We don’t have any plans later, right? I already said yes to Sage. "
Felix shrugged. "I guessed we didn’t plan anything for the past few days. Since Mr. Tyrant is home, we should cook something for later. " He turned to me. "Cath?"
Sure,! Help me with our favorite pastry. "
It hadn't been a very long time since we last baked a cake. We made a special one for Mr. Tyrant. We made sure that it was well cooked so that as soon as they tasted it, they would enjoy our mini offering. I bet Nana would cook a lot of food later. Felix helped me with the dedication on top of the cake after we spread chocolate frosting around it.
To Mr. Tyrant,
May you always be a father to Minnie, Sage, and my best friend, Gelo.
best friend? Is it right to call him my best friend? I don’t have any great friends except for him, so I think it’s acceptable to label him as my best friend. Why am I overthinking things? It’s just calling him your best friend and nothing more.
....
The black dress was too formal for a casual party. Who would dare to wear one to a regular dinner with a neighbor? I should’ve already picked the clothes that I’m going to wear for an hour or two, but I was stressing myself out. Picking a pair of clothing made me lose my mind.
"Cath, are you done?" Felix asked. He’s outside my room. I wonder what he’s wearing now so I could have an idea of what to wear for myself. Guys do have an easy choice of clothes. Any type of clothing is appropriate for a man. But for the ladies... ugh...I don’t know what to wear.
"In five!" The black dress with dark purple polka dots would have been my best pick for today if we were going to attend a party. It’s only dinner! Attire doesn’t matter. The important thing is to show up there and try to socialize with them. Maybe I'm stressing myself out because he's such an important person to my friend.
In the end, I wore a pink posh shirt matched with lilac shorts. My clothes looked good. I don’t know if I look good too. I never saw myself that way. I was not a sizzling campus princess back then. On the other hand, calling myself ugly was a negative habit I stopped doing. I learned that no one is bad-looking. It’s just that there are judgmental people out there who throw shade at people who don’t reach their beauty standards.
"You look prepared," Jay uttered when I got out of my room after wearing my chosen outfit. To match his style, he wore a yellow-printed shirt and pastel orange shorts. Felix wore a similar one, but his was blue and green. They have a regular outfit, yet I wore something a bit more.
"Is there a problem?" I’m afraid there is because their eyes were amused by what I was wearing.
Felix shrugged first. His actions were a relief to me. "Nothing. We’re going to a dinner a few blocks from here, yet you looked like you were going a mile from this town. "
I sighed. I'm sorry. But should I change?"
"No. That’s fine. They will notice how pretty our princess is. " Jay moved towards me and brushed his hand through my hair. He treated me like a puppy. When he was close to me, I could notice how American he looked. I have a tall nose and height, brisk walks, and a puffy face.
"Let’s go?" Felix grabbed the cake we baked earlier. We placed it inside a box that we found in the kitchen. We’re glad that Jay likes to store boxes, though we weren’t exactly sure how the hell he was going to use them. He tells us it’s for emergency purposes. It’s an emergency now, and we used the box for a wonderful one.
Felix was in front of us when we left our house. Jay made sure the front door was locked as I clung to his arms. He had tough and muscular arms. I don’t know how he got that. I haven’t seen him exercise intensely at home. Maybe he’s visiting one for all the times he wasn’t at home. That thing wasn’t my business at all.
The night was dark. At this moment, the safest places to be were either at Nana’s or ours. Our houses were far from the next neighbor. If we continue walking to the pathway ahead of our house, we won’t be able to see anything but fields. A coliseum of fields of wheat waiting to be harvested. I don’t usually pay attention to the place during the day. On some occasions, farmers are doing the rounds around the field. I don’t know if they’re wolves as well.
The last story I knew about a farmer and a wolf was that the wolf ate the farmer’s sheep.
....
Nana was the one who opened the door when we called from outside. She looked different than she usually does. He had makeup and lipstick on; his face was fairer than before; his hair was entangled like tentacles. At this age, I bet she wasn’t the one who did that to herself.
"You look gorgeous, Nana," Jay said.
Oh, don’t say that, dear. It’s Minnie who did this to me. She said she’d comb my hair, and the next thing I know, she did this to me! That dumbass lady. I hate what she did to me.
I hadn’t seen Nana this annoyed with her grandchildren. Maybe she hated fixing herself up and Minnie forced her to do so. I restrained myself from laughing.
"You look good with that," Felix added to what Jay had said. "Thanks for inviting us to dinner. We brought a cake for your son-in-law. "
"Oh, Raphael would love what you bring. Come on in now! Enjoy our home. " Nana leaned over to us and whispered, "And the food I cooked for all of us."
Jay wasn’t shy as he was the first one to enter the house. I’ve been here before, but it feels different every time I enter. I clung to Felix’s biceps as we entered their kitchen. Mr. Raphael Tyrant was sitting on the leftmost chair. Angelo, Sage, and Minnie were sitting near the sink. The three seats in front of them were empty. So I guessed that was our place, so we sat comfortably without asking.
"Good evening, Mr. Tyrant," Felix, as the oldest of the three, was the one who greeted Mr. Tyrant.
Gelo’s father resembles his oldest son, Sage, but as an older version. His face was a bit nicer, yet he had those rough features that Sage has. His eyes explained what he was feeling right now. Going home was a rare occasion for him, and he loved to celebrate it with his family and the only neighbor he could befriend. Does he know who Mom and Dad were? Did they meet before they left this town? Has he seen me since I was a child?
There are a lot of things clouding my mind, but the question I do want to ask is if he knew who did that horrible thing to my parents.